Jay observes the regulars of the bar with fresh eyes now. Less detached than before and with a realization that they're the lucky ones. Whiling their days away drinking.
Yeah, one day if Terry carries on this way, cirrhosis will get him perhaps, but at least he won't die as prematurely as the others.
At least he's not hooked on Oxy.
Speaking of Oxy and the effect of it. There's a clatter of glass from behind him. Jay turns to Marcie who's bending down trying to pick up the broken glass with her bare hands. He's by her side in a second, crouching next to her and reaching for them.
"Go home, Marce."
She shakes her head, tears spilling down her cheeks, "I can't. You got another meeting soon, Ryan. I gotta stay here and tend the bar."
It's news to Jay re the meeting, but he doesn't say.
"Okay, well, take a minute. Get some fresh air and I'll clean this up, okay? If this happens when I'm not around, use the dustpan and brush, remember?"
She nods her understanding, though whether she'll remember Jay doubts it. She stands up, straightening her skirt as she does and then ambles toward the door in the corner.
Marcie's getting worse and it's like Jay's spinning around a thousand plates trying to keep her safe even while he wonders how much she knows. Flynn too for that matter and that's even before he thinks of Price and Barnet and the danger they present to him too.
Two hours later and Marcie's more composed, so he doesn't feel as nervous about leaving her as he takes the steps downstairs and into the room.
The same people there again, but this time Anthony's eyes avoid Jay's. There are dark circles under his eyes and he's shivering. Jay exchanges a brief look with Flynn and can see the way a frown pulls at his mouth for a second before Price slaps a hand on Jay's back.
"It'll be your time to shine soon, Foster, make sure you're ready, right Tony?"
Anthony doesn't look up and so Price calls his name once, twice but the third time he says it, it's with no semblance of familiarity or patience. It's like a whip being cracked against someone's back. The way Price's fingers press into Jay's shoulder painfully as he says it gives away the venom in Anthony's name alone being called even if the tone didn't.
Anthony head snaps up for a second at most as he whispers a quiet, "Yessir," and looks back down.
The temperature of the room never rises much above freezing the entire time they're there Jay imagines. It drops well below zero in that moment and as Price's hand lifts away from his shoulder, he's not sure he can predict what will happen next.
"Foster," Barnet says from across the room then not waiting for Jay to acknowledge him, he says, "You're not quite ready, go home. Be back tomorrow or when we tell ya. Marcie'll be good for tonight."
Jay narrows his eyes, studying every other person in the room, lingers for a moment on Flynn and Hunt. Jay Halstead wants to challenge the order. Wants to argue against it all and say he sees what's going on even though he's not sure of the intention right this second.
Ryan Foster would do that too, but Ryan Foster also needs this. Needs to not screw this up and so does Jay.
"I need the money," he protests, "Marcie needs my help too."
"Don't worry about the money, kid. Do what I say, okay?" Barnet holds the door open and Jay nods dumbly.
The dutiful soldier.
"Yessir."
Against his better judgement, Jay does what he's told and doesn't go back into the bar. Instead, he leaves via the fire exit and into the icy air where an idea forms on top of another. Jay runs, not sure he can do it in time but willing to try all the same.
Jay watches Anthony from his car as he leaves. Watching as he lights a cigarette and hurries towards the main road, his head down, occasionally taking a drag from the cigarette.
It's almost midnight and the streets are quiet tonight so it's easy to follow him. He's heading toward Sheridan Park, close to the place David Flynn's body was found. Jay makes a mental note to ask Intelligence to check the footage again.
He makes several turns before he gets onto South Racine St and that's where Jay slows the car, leaning across to open the window and calls out quietly.
"Anthony? It's Ryan. I wanted to talk."
Anthony stops for a moment, peering into the car before he shakes his head vigorously and walks faster. Jay pulls into the kerb, deciding quickly, gets out and decides quickly, gets out and jogs to catch up with the other man. He stands in front of him, his hand on his arm, which Hunt stares at as though Jay's an alien and shrugs it off.
"It's okay, man, I'm friendly, remember?"
"I don't know you at all aside from two meetings and honestly, if you know them, you can't be that friendly."
Hunt looks away from Jay and around him as though he's checking for a tail. Someone to jump out and harm him as though Jay's laid a trap.
"What's going on? Listen dude, I'm in the dark here and the more I see you, the more concerned i get. Are you okay? You seemed scared tonight and I don't wanna get jammed up in some situation I can't get out of."
"It's too late for that, man, you're already stuck and there's only one way out."
"Okay," Jay says slowly and then shivers. Not just from the cold though he plays it like that, "It's damn freezing man, get in my car and I'll take you wherever you live, you can trust me."
"I only live a couple of blocks away and don't ask me to trust you. Please?"
"Couple of blocks'll be a lot warmer in my car though the heater's busted. It's still warmer than out here and I hear ya, I respect the distance, man," Jay takes a step away and off the sidewalk back toward his car.
Anthony stares down to the ground before he shrugs, defeated as though Jay forced him and he had no choice. He follows Jay to the Ford Focus and opens the passenger door and gets in as Jay starts the car and moves to pull away till Hunt leans over and puts his hand on the wheel, close to Jay's.
"Can we," haltingly he gets out, "Could we talk?"
Jay turns off the engine and nods, "Sure."
He turns to the other man but not before he notices as Anthony removes his hand from the wheel, the sleeve of the jacket riding up slightly revealing his wrist. Red marks similar to those he's seen before in people wearing handcuffs or any kind of restraint for a sustained period. David Flynn. Eddie Stapleton. Craig Farmer. Brian Townsend too. The marks aren't fresh as in tonight but they're newer than weeks old.
Jay swallows, observing Anthony who wipes at his nose, fidgets, sniffs loud, looking anywhere but at Jay.
"If it's not too late, if you got any place to go Foster, then you gotta go now. Get out of this city and go to the other side of the country, hell the other side of the Atlantic if you can. Any place outta this city cause if you don't, you'll wind up like me. You'll think everything is fine. Then one day you'll realize that actually it would be good if you took too much Oxy, if the cocaine is too pure and you take one little bit too much. It's better than this."
Anthony curses then and lets out a strangled sob and reaches for the door, "I said too much."
Jay reaches his hand out to stop him but he jerks away, holding the door open, "They'll take everything from you man, everything. I got friends searching for me. Found that out recently and yet if I contacted them I may as well put a gun to my head. I ain't gonna go the way the others did though. Not me. I ain't gonna be someone that gets dumped in some alley. Foster, you gotta make sure that doesn't happen to you either. Promise me? Don't end up like me, hell I'd take Iraq over this shit."
He has one foot out the door and Jay has maybe 1 second to stop him, "Let me help you."
The look Anthony sends him is disdainful, skeptical, and he chokes out a hollow laugh, "'less you're willing to pull the trigger, man. There ain't nothing you can do for me, all you can do is for yourself like I said, which is get the hell out of here."
"I know they seem harsh; hard even, but actually Flynn seems okay? Barnet too. Typical military men, right?" Jay tries.
"Flynn? Yeah, oh yeah, Flynn's fantastic. Man, if you're that damn dumb there ain't no helping you."
Jay thinks quickly of about one hundred questions to ask which start and end with Flynn, a creeping doubt in his head. What if Flynn's the biggest actor of them all?
The slam of the door startles Jay and seems louder than it should be and Jay reaches for his door to follow him again but he hears a loud 'Don't' and he listens. Obeys Anthony even though everything is telling him to follow and demand answers.
Instead, he thinks quickly, reaches for his phone in his pocket and waits for the other person to pick up.
"Yeah Hailey? Those searches of Flynn's bank accounts? I got an idea."
2 minutes later, Jay thumps his head against the headrest and then reverses the car, turning back towards where he came from. Like he's going around in circles or a loop and keeps coming up with different answers every single time.
There's a quiet buzz in the bullpen as everyone rifles through old bank statements of Price's and Flynn's. Barnet's too.
They'd been granted the warrants earlier to search further back, and it's been just over an hour of them inspecting the financial records.
Barnet's has drawn a blank so far.
Kev and Adam are searching through Flynn's. Kim and Antonio through Price's. While Al follows up Jay's other request to examine any footage they can pull from the night Flynn's body was dumped by the tennis courts.
Hailey's beginning to lose hope when Kev says, "Hold up, hey Ruz, check this entry," and she gets out of her chair, hovering as Adam stands behind Atwater.
"Yeah, yeah," Adam confirms then looks across to Kim and Antonio, "You two got February 15th 2014?"
"I do," Kim answers, "Just been through February 15th right?"
"Yeah."
Voight's next to Hailey now, watching as Kim's eyes scan the records and she shakes her head, "Nothing for February 15th."
"Try the 16th or 17th," Hailey suggests as she moves to her desk and peers at the calendar, seeing that the 15th was a Saturday.
"Ok," Kim acknowledges and falls silent for about thirty seconds.
"Five thousand dollars transfer what I'm looking for?"
"Yep," Kevin confirms.
Kim nods then frowns, confused, "Ok I got that but the account it came from? It's a bakery from what I can tell."
Hailey and Voight exchange a glance.
"What's the bakery called?" Voight asks.
"Best Bakes."
Antonio types quickly on his keyboard and taps the enter key and after a quick scan, he reads aloud, "Best Bakes, Chicago. Based in Edgewater," he slams his hand on his desk turning to his colleagues, "Owner who won a competition for best local business in 2011: Helen Flynn."
"Sarge?," Hailey starts as Voight holds his hand up in acknowledgement.
"Okay, okay. We need to widen the warrant to search that account too and we cross reference all those dates. I bet we find something that matches all those dates on and around the time someone bailed out Brian Townsend. Do it as fast as you can. Al, you keep checking the pod footage for that night, see if we can make an ID."
"I'll tell Halstead," Hailey says to the room, picking up her phone and dialling the number before she even finishes the 3 words.
It takes all the willpower Jay has in the world not to see Flynn again and demand answers. It takes more willpower still for Jay not to go to the bar and check in on Marcie.
On the 3rd day of resisting, he gives in and walks to the bar. Standing outside, seeing Marcie staring into space beside the bar as a regular waits for her to acknowledge he's there and to take his order.
He's about to push the door open when he hears his name.
"Peter said you were a persistent bastard. Come with me for a little while, Ryan," Jay turns around to see Price in a car that's way too expensive to be owned by a bar owner.
The way he looks at Jay. The way he repeats his invitation again. An order disguised as an invitation. One that allows no argument or refusal, it's so quietly, calmly menacing.
Jay peeks back through the door. Sees Marcie finally serving the guy who'd been waiting. Jay turns back toward Price and smiles, as genuine a smile as he can muster as he opens the passenger door and slides in.
Price drives Jay back to his apartment in silence. A smirk on his face as he pulls in and gestures towards the building.
"Barnet said it was nearby. We could've walked."
Jay says nothing until they're upstairs and in his apartment. The apartment he's made a little more homely with a coffee machine and the thermos next to it.
Some extra cushions that make the couch a little more comfortable.
There's nothing comfortable about being here right now, though. If Barnet's visit was bad, this is excruciating, and Jay's a cop. Undercover. Been there, seen it, heard it, been threatened by it and it still causes his nerves to thrum. If he put himself in the place of someone like Anthony Hunt. Someone like Marcie. It's easy to imagine they'd say anything, agree to anything, just to lessen the fear even by a fraction.
Price makes no pretense at getting comfortable. Stands in the doorway, blocking Jay's exit.
"Anthony says a lot when he's taken a little too much of the edge off with other stuff, he ends up going the other way entirely. I hope you realize that, Ryan."
Jay hides his confusion because he'd checked over and over last night that he wasn't being tailed and he gives nothing away now. Price's words are vague enough though that he could mean in general re Anthony.
"Anyway, not here to talk about him. Here to talk about you and your potential. You excite me, Ryan, but you also concern me. Stop looking out for Marcie and let me deal with her. Stay away from the bar unless we meet too. You gotta be on call 24-7 and you gotta be prepared to be honest and serious with us all."
"But, Marcie needs help. She's gotten worse."
"So, we'll hire someone new for the bar. Someone to make the regulars look something less than half dead for once, perhaps. Put Marce out of your mind and forget about Anthony too."
Jay had asked Hailey to check each day for any suspicious deaths since the late night talk with Hunt. Feeling more certain something's happened to him though without a body, the only way he'll get any more sign of that is if Anthony shows or not at the next meeting.
Jay wants to argue. Figures Ryan would too but also Ryan knows as well as Jay to bide his time, time his arguments.
"Yessir," he agrees.
Jay wonders if Price's smile ever reaches his eyes.
"You learn quick, Foster. You start your tour in the next week. Don't leave your cell for even a second, you hear me?"
"Yessir," Jay repeats.
"Good then," Price turns and opens the door, though his hand pauses on the door and he looks back.
"Don't go near Marcie unless it's buying a beer on the nights of the meeting, you hear me Ryan?"
"I hear you," Jay replies.
The slam of the door echoes around the room as Jay pulls his cell from his pocket and lifts the phone to his ear.
The phone rings out for about ten seconds before a familiar gruff voice answers, ""Sarge, we gotta talk. I got an idea."
"Oh, thank goodness you're finally open. I'm so cold."
Marcie practically jumps out of her skin at the voice that comes from nowhere behind her. She spins around, stopping her attempt to fix the new poster with the latest drinks deals onto the window.
"Oh honey, I think you're in the wrong place," she says kindly to the stranger.
"Oh, that I'm sure of, me and my obsession with all things beginning with C. I'm Canadian," the stranger explains enthusiastically, "Could've been in Cincinnati or California, but no I chose Chicago in Winter. What an idiot, right? Anyway, this is the right place to be, even if it's the wrong city. Anthony told me all about it."
Marcie pales. "Anthony?"
"Yeah, you know him?"
"Well yes, but how do you know him if you're from Canada?"
"I'll explain later. For now, what do you say I help you with the poster and then you tell me if you could do with any help. I never worked behind a bar in my life, but I'm a fast learner?"
Marcie feels like she's been steamrollered. She's not sure how or why? Because she could do with the help. She misses Ryan more than she can say. Even though she'll see him tomorrow, it's almost a week without him except for 5 minutes here or there since she knows he was told to stay away. She doesn't just miss him in the sense of how he cleared up all her messes and covered her failings either.
It's the companionship that quells her biggest fears and doubts about this situation she's stuck in. Now she's without it and reliant on Peter and Mr. Price again, she feels fuzzy, unhappy and ready to break.
Look what happened the last time she trusted a stranger? It can't hurt and besides having someone younger, brighter and female could bring in more customers.
"I'll have to check with the boss particularly as you have no experience," Marcie peers at the poster in her hand, "But I suppose a few hours of me teaching you wouldn't hurt, right?"
The woman smiles and holds out her hand, "Thank you so much, I promise you won't regret it."
Marcie murmurs, "I hope not," as he shakes the woman's hand and adds, "I'm Marcie, what's your name?"
"Hey Marcie, I'm Paula." she replies as she takes the poster from Marcie with a smile and effortlessly fixes it on the window.
Marcie's unsure expression turning into a smile as the younger woman turns back to her then gesturing toward the door for Paula to go inside ahead of her.
Jay sits in his car a safe enough distance away to not interfere, slumped down in the driver's seat so he can't be seen. Radio in his hand, watching the events unfold.
Watching as Marcie follows the other woman inside. Starting his engine as he places the radio down on the seat next to him and hears Antonio's voice as he pulls away.
"Upton's in. The wire's working."
Eee! I hope you 'enjoyed'. So, H and J are both undercover now. We'll see what happens, how Flynn reacts and whether Anthony's still alive. And Jay starts 'his tour' next time round. Do let me know what you think, thanks for reading and take care and I hope you all stay safe xx