An undercover operation by Jay and Adam goes awry and Jay is kidnapped. Can the Unit find him soon enough before he ends up like the other victims?
Disclaimer: This fanfiction is just for fun. No money made, no Copyright infringement is intended. All characters belong to their respective owners.
Diese Fanfiction-Geschichte wurde lediglich zur Unterhaltung geschrieben und es werden keine materiellen Vorteile durch sie erlangt. Mit ihrer Veröffentlichung im Netz werden keine Verletzungen der Copyrights beabsichtigt.
The only living thing
/
"Oh, what do we have here?", the woman pulled the car key out of the pocket of his jeans. "Is this... a listening device?"
With eyes wide open and heart pounding wildly, Jay watched as she looked at the object. Then she, in turn, pulled something out of her pants pocket and disappeared from his sight.
She was pretty, slender, about thirty years old, southern type with long dark hair.
Something cracked. It sounded like she had opened the plastic cover around the car key. He wanted to turn his head to see if he was right. But he could not move. His body just wasn't responding. The drug they had given him was still working as strongly as it had about an hour ago when he had woken up again.
"Well, well." she said quietly, probably more to herself. "I was right. So you're on to us..."
She reappeared in his field of vision and looked down at him. He held her gaze while his breath, coming in short, frantic bursts, showed his tension. She crouched down and gently ran her fingers over the side of his face.
"Shhhh, it's all right. I'm not mad at you.", she smiled smugly. "We're going to play a little game with whoever's listening on the other side, okay?"
She pulled something out of the back pocket of her jeans. Then he felt something touch his leg. Shortly after, all the muscles in his body tightened painfully. He heard himself groan as she sent another jolt of electricity through him, sending him back into unconsciousness.
/
"Where the hell is he?", Voight was upset. "We should have stayed on him!"
"Sarge...", Adam began apologetically, as he pressed an ice pack to the back of his head. "I-"
"Leave it, Adam. Just, leave it.", Voight hissed at him. "Apologies and excuses are of no use to Halstead now."
Hailey's heart was pounding in her throat. She was shaking, but she didn't want the others to notice. She was just as angry and frustrated as her Sergeant. And she was worried.
Jay had been gone for almost 10 hours, and they had lost the signal from his cell phone as early as that night. His listening device had only worked as long as he had been within a certain radius of the receiver. So they had no idea where he had been taken to.
She tried to suppress her personal feelings and fears as best she could. She had to proceed rationally now. But she felt it wouldn't take much more for her to lose her composure. They had to find Jay, because if he was going to die, if he was no longer going to be a part of her life, then-.
Once again, fear gripped her heart like an iron claw. She cleared her throat and forced herself to shake off the dark thoughts that constantly plagued her. She had to be professional about it. She was a Detective, damn it. They were the best unit in all of Chicago. They would find Jay. They had to.
They had all known the risk Adam and Jay would take, when they had gone undercover on this case. But they had seen no other way out; there were already too many victims.
Every week, young white men disappeared from a certain part of the city, and their bodies turned up days or weeks later like discarded trash in some dark back alley. Pumped full of drugs, abused, eventually dying of an overdose.
"I wish it they had taken me," Hailey heard Adam say softly, and she gave him a worried look when she realized the statement was meant for her.
"Adam, no...," she shook her head sympathetically and swallowed.
He was blaming himself. He and Jay had been out together when someone had ambushed them.
They had made it a point to get the perpetrators' attention. They had been drinking and making their way back to their cars in the dark every night. Everything had been a set-up, well rehearsed. They had all been ready to react.
And yet, somehow, the perpetrators had managed to catch the two of them off guard in a moment of surprise.
Voight hadn't heard Adam, but the bystanders had. Hailey watched Kim slide her hand over his arm before they all refocused on their boss.
"Three days. With luck, Jay will have three days before he resurfaces in a dumpster like Jake Russell or Peter Dorfs.", Voight pointed to the photos of the numerous victims stuck to the fallboard. "I don't want Jay to be next."
Adam was pale and he looked like he was going to collapse at any moment. The doctors at the Med had just released him about two hours ago. Hailey felt bad for him. It wasn't fair that he was now the one getting the brunt of Voight's fury.
He had been through enough in the last few hours. The fact that he was here now was due to his sheer willpower alone. Adam had done nothing wrong. They couldn't have known that he and Jay would be ambushed out of nowhere by two masked people. That they would first knock him down, then immobilize him with a stun gun, and then inject him with a mix of drugs with a syringe.
Adam had no explanation for why they hadn't taken him. Why the choice had fallen on Jay. He didn't yet understand in his current state how lucky he had been. He was probably still in shock.
When they had arrived on the scene, Adam had been visibly confused. He hadn't been able to move, and his heart was pounding so fast and hard, that the paramedics had feared his circulation would collapse on the way to the hospital.
Several IVs with fluid and a tox screen had led to the doctors finally being able to give Adam the right medication. It was a miracle that he was here with them now.
But Hailey kept getting anxiety when she thought about what Jay might be going through right now. Alone, with no help and no medical care.
/
He felt someone lift him up. He tried with all his might, but he couldn't open his eyes and he was so incredibly dizzy. Every movement caused everything to spin over and over again and he wished they would leave him alone again.
His head fell into his neck as they now carried him on. He felt several hands that had slid under his back and thighs. Where were they taking him? Who were these people anyway?
Then finally, they let him go. He was let go and slumped powerlessly to the ground. He felt sharp stones digging into his back. The dizziness subsided and he tried to open his eyes once more. For a brief moment he succeeded, but he perceived only darkness around him.
"Okay, that's fine." he heard the voice of the woman he had seen briefly earlier. "I'll take care of the rest. Send the kid to the Police Station with the message."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" a male voice asked.
"If the cops want their highly decorated colleague Halstead back, they're going to have to decode my messages. And while they're distracted, make sure we finish our job. Get our money so we can finally get out of this godless, damn city."
"It won't be easy to get out of the contract sooner."
"I don't give a shit!" the woman snapped at the stranger. "The cops are after us and this is the time we say goodbye. Let him get his act together with the cops. We'll be long gone by then. Now go."
Without another word, the man left. Again, Jay needed all his concentration to open his eyes. This time he recognized the woman in the dim light. She was standing next to him, looking down at him at that very moment.
How did she know who he was? How did she know his name? And who was the man she worked for?
"Surprised?" her voice took on that dangerous, cloying undertone again. "I know all about you, your buddy Adam, and your little Special Task Force at CPD. But you have no idea who you're dealing with this time."
/
"Our strategy was good, Sarge," Hailey said. "Maybe we've just underestimated these people so far."
"You bet we underestimated them!" Voight returned. "And Jay may now be paying the ultimate price for it."
She stared at him and gritted her teeth. Jay wasn't going to die. They still had time. They still had plenty of time, didn't they? Three days minus the time they were already looking for him. That still left them over sixty hours. Time they could use.
Their attention was diverted when Trudy came up the stairs, a piece of paper and an object in her hands. "I have a message," she said, "It's about Jay. The kid who delivered the note slipped through my fingers and took off."
Her eyes and Hailey's met, and in that moment Hailey realized that these people knew Jay was a Cop. This was a disaster. It put his life in even more danger.
No longer able to hold back, she rushed forward and took the note from Trudy's hand before any of the others had even reacted. She registered that the object in her other hand was a broken car key. Jay's listening device. Of course... proof that he was an Undercover Cop. Damn.
She read the lines. Once, twice...
What was that supposed to mean? She did not understand what she was holding in her hand. Her hands began to tremble visibly and she felt tears welling up.
All the paper said was:
Jay Halstead. 51163.
4625
/
"Yes, that's it."
The woman held Jay's upper body upright by placing her hand on his chest and then leaning him back a little. He hated that she was touching him. And he hated that there was nothing he could do about it. While he was able to move a little again with a lot of effort, he still felt so weak and numb that he was powerless against her.
She had put him in a sitting position before cuffing his hands behind his body. Now she was busy with a pair of leg cuffs, which she now placed around his ankles and snapped them into place.
"Nice, tight and secure," she said when she was done. She straightened back up on her knees and patted his cheek. "I don't want you to run away from us."
Her almost maternal tone made Jay furious inside. He would have liked to counter her, to argue with her, to try to negotiate. But he couldn't. He didn't know what they had given him. They had injected him at least three times in the last few hours. They wouldn't let him come down, and whenever he tried to say something, only slurred sounds came out of his mouth.
"Just one more thing." she said now, and Jay watched as she pulled something out of a bag.
It was a collar, he now realized. This was crazy...what the hell was happening here?
He closed his eyes and concentrated, as he convulsively tried to shake his head. "Nnnn..." He backed away as she approached again.
"Ah ah, that won't hurt.", she grabbed his hair and pulled him over so he slumped against her. She yanked his hair again with full intent, then said coldly. "This, this hurts. So behave."
He closed his eyes and let her put the collar around his neck. It was tight and he briefly felt panic building inside him that he wouldn't be able to breathe properly. But then it loosened and he calmed down a bit.
"Be good," she said, "If you tug on it, you'll slowly strangle yourself, understand?"
She lowered him back to the floor so he was lying on his side. Then she attached a thin, short chain to the collar, connecting it to the leg cuffs behind his back so he had to keep his legs bent.
She straightened up fully now and surveyed her handiwork. Jay tried to find a tolerable position, but with the drugs in his body, he couldn't properly coordinate his movements. He felt the collar tighten a little more as his legs twitched. Finally, he held still and he decided to wait until he had more control over his limbs before he would try to get himself from his predicament.
"We've tried this a few times before and so far no one has escaped us. I'm guessing it won't be any different for you. But even if you do, you won't get out of here without help."
Jay closed his eyes again. By now he had figured out where they were. It was a tomb. They were inside a Mausoleum, probably in an old and secluded cemetery.
He remembered the victims they had found so far. Now he knew where the dirt and ashes, the strangulation marks and the bondage marks they had found on the victims had come from.
They had taken him to the same place where the others had been held. That meant the team had no idea where he was.
/
"Okay, next to Jay's badge number, what does 4625 mean, what is that? An address? A locker number?", Voight glanced around the room as they all sat at their desks trying to come up with something useful.
Hailey, meanwhile, had to forcefully hold back the tears. What they had gotten there was nothing. How were a few numbers going to help find Jay?
This wasn't a ransom demand or a demand for the release of a detainee, no meeting place, no coordinates. It was nothing.
"I might have something here," Kim said. "4625 is an unknown shortwave signal that has been transmitting on this frequency for decades."
Kevin added something and stood up. "It's also called The Buzzer."
"The Buzzer.", Adam typed something on his keyboard. "We have a dozen offenders here in Chicago who call themselves The Buzzer."
Hailey was starting to get hopeful. Was this, perhaps, really a lead?
Voight stepped behind him and looked at the results on the screen. Kevin approached the two men as well, while Kim remained standing next to Hailey's desk.
"All pretty small fry...," Kevin muttered.
"What about him?", Voight pointed to a name. "Varese, was a big shot in the mob. Drugs, human trafficking. Could be our guy."
"Imprisoned since nine years," said Hailey, who had immediately pulled up the data.
Immediately, her newly blossomed hope sank again.
"That doesn't mean he's not doing business out of prison."
"But what does he get out of kidnapping men and pumping them full of drugs?"
"Someone must have kept his business going. Drug trafficking continues in the area where he used to operate," Kevin now said. "What if he has a successor who is ordering these kidnappings? Varese is certainly still making money from it. He'll be out in a few years."
"But why would the kidnapper give us a clue?" asked Kim now. "He doesn't want to give himself away, does he?"
"Maybe someone just wants to throw suspicion on Varese, too," Hailey mused. "What if someone is doing these kidnappings for Varese?"
"Okay...," Kim nodded. "The victims had been found with various drugs in their bloodstream. What if they were something like test subjects?"
Hailey stood up, suddenly excited. "Varese's people are testing new variations on them, fresh merchandise from foreign traffickers, whatever. That's why they always need new victims. Whoever's doing it for him knows now, though, that we're starting to trace them, and they want to run."
Voight nodded. "So they make sure we deal with Varese and his followers."
"Exactly."
"But then why did they take Jay? They could have given us those clues otherwise.," Adam said now. "Or they could have just run."
"Time.", Voight glanced at Hailey. "They still need time to leave. And that's how they keep us at bay. By looking for Jay and targeting Varese, our focus is no longer on them."
Hailey nodded in agreement. "Jay and Adam were also proof that we were on to them. They brought back Jay's listening device. They know his name and even his badge number. They want us to know they're not little ignorant nobodies."
"Okay. Let's talk to Varese," Voight decided.
/
"Once I'm gone, you'll have plenty of time to yourself," the woman knelt beside Jay, who still lay motionless on the floor.
She was filling a liquid into a syringe and he watched her with growing fear. What would she give him this time? Hadn't he already gotten enough? Would his body take this much longer?
"This stuff here," she began, "is pretty diabolical. Burns like fire in your veins. But then you'll sleep like a baby. And you'll forget about me... You'll forget all about this. I promise you."
Cautiously, Jay shook his head again. "Nnnno." he pressed out. "Sssstop."
She looked him in the eye. "I'm impressed. I didn't think you'd be able to talk again yet. Your body breaks down the drugs quickly. You´ve got a good metabolism. You would have been a good subject for our cause. It's almost a shame I can't take you with me. We could have had a lot of fun together. I'm into that kind of fun. I like it to be dominant..."
She grinned meaningfully, then focused back on the syringe.
"Always remember when you feel the pain that I could have killed you and your partner. I gave you and your unit a gift. Your unit is still going to land a big hit and they're going to pin the murders on him."
Jay once again mustered all his concentration. "Nno drugss ´ny more."
The woman glanced at the syringe in her hand.
"Oh Sweetie, you're almost breaking my heart. I wish that were possible... But I can't let you recognize me. This remedy guarantees me that you won't remember me. And you see that little box over there?" he followed her hand pointing to the opposite wall. "That's a transmitter. I gave your Unit a little hint."
She stroked his cheek again.
"They'll be able to hear you while you're locked in here alone. And I want to make the right impression after all. With this stuff here, you'll be screaming your head off for hours. And I want them to hear that. I want them to respect me, you know? And I like hearing you scream so much, too."
Jay's breathing quickened at her words and his fear now grew almost beyond measure. His Unit would be able to hear him? Hailey would be able to hear him? No... no, she wouldn't be able to handle that...that couldn't happen.
He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything more, she had sunk the needle into his upper arm and she was pushing the fluid into his muscle.
/
511.63
Jay Halstead.
The only living thing in the house.
For several minutes now, Hailey had been staring at the picture that Trudy Platt had sent her on her smartphone.
The boy had come back with a second message while they were on the trail of Varese's people and had arrested his second-in-command.
Trudy had been able to hold the boy this time. But it was just a random kid who had made a few bucks dropping off the two messages at the Precinct at certain times. He hadn't been able to recognize the man, who had been wearing a cap and hoodie. The man had given him the notes, the car keys and the money.
"Are you okay?", Kim stepped up to her as the others stood nearby and kept giving her concerned looks.
Hailey ran a hand over her eyes, pulled up her runny nose and nodded. "Why the dot between his badge number? Mhm?" she then asked. "Why the badge number a second time?"
Kim looked at her with regret and hunched her shoulders. She had no idea either.
"It's a frequency," Kevin came running up to her with the phone to his ear. He had a colleague from the District on the line. "It's a radio frequency and they're picking up something..." He listened and his expression changed from anticipation to horror.
"What?" asked Hailey impatiently.
Kevin just glared at her and put the phone down. Everyone gathered around them now.
"What did you hear?" she tried to reach for his smartphone, but he pulled his hand away.
"You don't want to hear that, Hailey." he replied.
"Wha... why?" she frowned as tears welled up in her eyes again. "What did you hear, Kevin?"
"Screams." he replied. "Jay is screaming in pain."
/
His entire body was on fire... it came in waves. He felt like he was on fire. He tried to use the time between waves, tried to catch his breath, tried not to scream again. But after a few seconds the pain came back and it was so strong that he couldn't hold back then.
If the pain lasted longer, his body would tense up so much that the collar would cut off his air. More than once he had thought he would faint, but the waves had always subsided just in time.
Greedily, he had sucked in the dusty air, that hung in the Mausoleum like a dark curtain. He almost wished he would pass out so that all this would end. But he was afraid that he would suffocate if that happened.
His larynx ached and his voice was hoarse by now. He had no more strength. The woman had said he would fall asleep anyway... the woman. What did she look like again? He didn't know anymore.
A new wave of pain began and Jay clenched his teeth. It was already getting weaker... he felt it... the drug was wearing off. Wasn't it? He wouldn't scream this time. Maybe he could tell his people where he was? Where was he again?
He was alone, but they could hear him, the woman had said. Could Hailey hear him? For her, he wanted to be strong.
A tortured sound escaped his throat as the flames grew hotter again, and it wasn't even three seconds before he cried out again.
/
"I told you I had nothing to do with your Detective's kidnapping!"
Francesco, a handsome thirty-year-old, who by now was carrying on Varese's business, sat handcuffed in the 21st Precinct interrogation room.
"Then tell us who they hired to kidnap the men!"
"There are no names!" he replied. "Hell, I've only been presented with the results. I can't afford to have people killed by my stuff!"
"But innocent men being used as your guinea pigs and dying for it, that's what you put up with?", Kim replied sharply.
"They were homeless people, weren't they? Junkies.", apparently Francesco really didn't know exactly who he was working with.
"Oh, that makes it better?" she answered angrily. "And for your information. These weren't homeless people! They were men in the middle of their lives. Innocent people."
"Francesco, we're going to connect you to the murders either way. The only thing you can do now is cooperate with us." Voight now said.
"I'm telling you, I don't know any names. I've talked to a woman on the phone a couple of times. And other than that, only two men ever came in and they delivered the results."
"I want the phone numbers of these people, I want descriptions of the men, and give us the access code to your surveillance system so we can pull down video of the meetings. We're going to look into all your dealings, Francesco, and believe me, if you lied to me, then-"
"I didn't lie!" he groaned. "You'll see."
"Yes, we will," Kim now said.
"I'm cooperating."
"Do you know where the men were being held?"
"Some cemetery."
"Some cemetery? There are a lot of cemeteries in Chicago."
"It...," Francesco tried to remember something. "Call Tony, my caretaker. I think he sent the woman a key. Some building that belongs to Varese's family. I don't know anything about it."
"Tony? I want his number," Voight leaned down to him.
"I don't have it."
The Sergeant slapped the flat of his hand on the table and Francesco winced. "The number?"
"It´s in my phone, damn it," the latter replied, stressed.
Voight straightened up again and glanced at the one-way mirror. He knew Hailey was standing there with her heart pounding, watching the interrogation along with Kevin and Adam.
She immediately set in motion to retrieve Francesco's phone.
A graveyard... Her hands shook again as she unlocked the phone.
The only living thing in the house
Jay was alone, in a cemetery somewhere, the only living thing... all alone.
The screams had stopped, the others had said. Jay was silent now... too quiet. All they could hear was his strained, tortured breathing.
What had happened to him? She wanted to be with him. She missed him. She wanted to be there for him.
She cursed as she opened the wrong App because of her shaky fingers. Then Kevin appeared beside her and took the phone from her hand.
"I'll handle it," he said. "Go back. I'll call Tony."
She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Thanks, Kev."
/
Jay could not say how long he had been lying here like this. All he knew was that he couldn't open his eyes from fatigue and exhaustion and that everything hurt.
He felt like every muscle in his body had run a marathon without warming up first.
It was hard for him to breathe. Something was wrapped around his neck. His arms were numb, tied behind his body. Who had done this and why he was here, he didn't know. He didn't remember.
It was cold and quiet, wherever he was. He just wanted to get out of here. Home, to Hailey. He wondered if she was already looking for him. Whatever had happened, she had to be looking for him, didn't she?
When suddenly, after such a long time of silence, he heard noises, he flinched. What was that? Were they the ones who had brought him here? Or was it Hailey?
He tried to open his eyes, but he still couldn´t. He couldn't see who had come to him. But then he heard a voice... and he knew he was saved.
/
"Jay?"
Hailey was the first to rush inside the Mausoleum, gun drawn, as soon as the CFD had cleared a small entrance to the stone building. She didn't care how long it would take the others to follow. All that mattered now was that she could get to Jay.
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim light inside the building. It smelled musty and moldy and she had to cough after taking a few breaths.
She moved further inside and then she saw him. Jay was lying on his side, in front of a wall with stone graves.
"Oh my God!" it escaped her and she rushed to him.
Within seconds she was with him and she dropped to her knees. She was so relieved to have found him, to see him, to be able to touch him.
But his condition scared her. She couldn't really see him in the semi-darkness, but what she could see was the collar that was clearly choking him because it was connected to his legs.
It was a choke collar, which had been banned for dogs. What barbaric person had done this to Jay?
Her fingers trembled again as she carefully undid the clasp and finally pulled the collar away. Underneath, it exposed dark, bruised strangulation marks, and she knew that the skin would be undershot with red in the light outside. Just like the skin on his wrists and feet.
She couldn't hold back the tears now as she carefully placed two fingers on the crook of Jay's neck to feel his pulse. He moved as she touched him.
"Jay, are you awake?" she asked hopefully. "It's going to be okay. We found you...we found you. Can you hear me? Jay?"
He gave a short groan, but that was enough for her. He knew she was there. He knew he was safe. She quickly began to unlock the handcuffs with her key.
"We're going to get you out of here," she was sobbing now. Everyone would see that she was crying, but she didn't care. "We're going to get you out, Darling."
/
The woman smiled as she heard the Policewoman's words over the headphones.
She had continued to follow the events over the radio frequency.
It had all been very entertaining.
Varese's men were in police custody by now, she had her money and was on her way out of the country.
Her little diversion had worked.
Not for nothing had she been the best in her class. She could have been a chemistry professor. But somehow she had always been drawn to the dark side.
For years she had been earning a lot of money by mixing up new drug cocktails for these people or testing new merchandise.
The fact that she had finally shifted to testing the drugs on good-looking men, in order to satisfy her special needs at the same time, interested her employers very little.
She was providing them with results, and that was all that mattered.
In a few minutes she would board a plane for Venezuela and she´d go into hiding for a year or two.
She was pleased that the young Policeman had survived. He was a handsome fellow.
She smiled as she pulled the earplugs out of her ears and stowed the player in her purse. It was time to head for the gate.
An older man caught her eye as she was leaving the waiting area. He seemed to be following her. Shortly after, she spotted another man, a young guy who also didn't take his eyes off her.
Damn, that couldn't be. Were they Cops...?
"Going somewhere, Consuela?" the older man now addressed her.
She felt an uncomfortable twinge in the pit of her stomach as her suspicions were confirmed. Fear suddenly spread through her and she looked around. Could she still escape?
"I've placed men at the exits," the Cop now said. "You don't want to make a scene here, do you? There are children present."
She looked at him, still unsure how to react and what to do. She felt hot and cold all at once. "What gave me away?" she asked, her voice trembling to her own surprise.
"Tony, Francesco's associate, was a little more thorough than his boss," the man smiled. "I'm Sergeant Hank Voight. We should talk."
- THE END-