For some reason auto-correct keeps changing Dewitt to DeWitt for me. I've given up trying to fix it for now. My apologies!
Roy DeWitt shuddered at the reason he'd been called away from a staff meeting with the Chief.
Entering the busy bullpen and letting his eyes slide across every desk, he took mental inventory of who was accounted for and who wasn't. With six open murder cases in various stages of investigation, the reasons for the emergency were limitless.
Noting the thick fog that had encapsulated the city late this afternoon, he ran a nervous hand down his gray checkered tie, before nodding at Lessing, who was helping himself to some coffee at the refreshment table.
"They're over in the eastside meeting room, Lieutenant.", the African-American Inspector said and pointed his half full coffee cup to the room filled with people.
Spinning on his heels and painfully noting the absence of Haley, Hasseejian, Keller and Stone, he swallowed hard as he approached the scene.
Tanner was standing at the conference table, eyes glued on four young people of various ages, three males and one female. Judging by the heated arguing going on inside, and Tanner's deep scowl, things weren't going too well. Sekulovich guarded the door, his lips pursed to a thin line, a grim expression on his face as the kids continued their verbal exchange.
Roy took a minute to analyze both, their body language and facial expression. What he thought was a potential for a bunch of young clowns disrupting day to day operations at homicide, quickly reminded him of deeply traumatized victims of severe violence he'd come across during his time on the streets.
The lone girl was quiet, arms wrapped around her chest, shivering. One of the boys, a stockier type, was weaving back and forth in his chair, while the two outspoken ones wildly gestured around, repeatedly shaking their heads and pointing downstairs.
Swallowing hard, he knocked on the door, waited for Tanner and Sekulovich to acknowledge his arrival, before entering.
As the room fell quiet, Roy glanced back and forth between his two men, before addressing the crowd.
"My name is Lieutenant Roy DeWitt. I understand you've been requesting to see me. May I ask what this is about?"
"Roy Delaney, Andy Williams, Sandy Roberts, Gustav Carson.", the taller of the two young man with the short dark hair introduced his crew impatiently, as he if he'd been forced to do it several times already, "We were with Lieutenant Mike Stone and Inspector Steve Keller."
Hearing the names of his officers made DeWitt snap to attention, and he quickly approached the desk, leaning against it on his fists.
"They're claiming that Mike and Steve are in the hands of those organ traffickers they were investigating.", Tanner explained somberly from behind, his hand nervously holding onto the office chair.
"We tried to call you once we got back into Clear Lake but whoever answers your phones…well, they wouldn't put us through to you. Plus, I am sure we were followed, so we figured it was easier to head down here and talk to you personally. It helped to shake off our followers, at least. The Lieutenant told us to call you in case things went south."
DeWitt exhaled slowly, his blue eyes meeting Tanner's in equal apprehension.
"You guys are the Park Rangers?"
Andy, the slightly shorter one of the two nodded eagerly, before gesturing up north.
"There's a…an old farm house up in the mountains. Your men found it yesterday and they wanted for us to show them an easier way up. We already told Inspector Tanner all about that. Anyways, when we went there today, they, well, they found these two guys here. They'd been kidnapped. For their organs. The Lieutenant made us wait outside while they went in and next thing we know is, gunfire erupted and those two came running at us, yelling for us to get moving. A guy in a tow truck stayed on our tail for an hour or so, but we managed to shake him off. But that's why it took so long to get back into town. Now you need to send help up there. There's no telling what's happened to your detectives by now. All I know is that they didn't follow us. So either they're still in that house, or they got lost in the park someplace."
"Bill, have you tried to get a hold of them?"
Tanner nodded solemnly, before swallowing hard.
"I already talked to Dispatch, they 10-20'ed from the Clear Lake area around ten this morning, there's been no radio contact since."
"Yeah and if they're up in those mountains, they won't be able to establish much radio contact, if any. I told Mike I had a bad feeling about this case. Damnit."
Feeling his heart sink at the news, DeWitt turned toward Sekulovich, before clearing his throat.
"Art, see if Ron can operate a chopper at all in these conditions. Get me Lieutenant Sterns on the line, I need four units who can support us going north. Bill, grab Lessing, Higgins and Folkner, they should be available for support as well. I will talk to Conden and arrange for backup and a mobile communications van. I also want an ambulance on standby. In the meantime, let's get these kids here settled in case we need any more information."
"Lieutenant…"
This time it was the taller Roy who raised his voice, as he nervously kneaded his hands.
"Lieutenant, with all due respect, we would like to help. Andy and I. We can be of assistance in locating the house and using the most direct route. In this fog, you will have a very hard time running a rescue operation unless you are familiar with the area. We both are."
Hesitantly, DeWitt nodded as he watched both Art and Bill leave the meeting room to follow his orders. Checking his watch and noting that it was going on five, he clenched his jaws, before letting out a faint sigh.
"What do you think the chances are that they're still alive?"
Much to his anguish, DeWitt found his answer when he didn't receive one.