Holy Crap. I got so many reviews with that last chapter. (It's probably 'cause of the cliffhanger...yeah...sorry about that...) Anyways, let's talk about this weeks Chicago PD episode. I don't know about you guys, but I just had to get this off my chest. I loved Mouse's character...like a lot. His dynamic with Jay is great and I want to know more about the whole medical discharge and- Ugh- I just need to know more! Sorry. I'm so interested by this storyline.
Anyways, back to I Dare You to Move. I really hope you like this chapter. It means a lot to me. This week's song is Dead Hearts by Stars and is such a beautiful song that you should all check it out! Now...on with the chapter.
Chapter Eighteen: Did They Seem Too Real To You?
(Dead Hearts – Stars)
Voight and Olinsky hopped out of the car, Lee abruptly following suit. The three younger cops pulled put behind them and quickly did the same, getting in a circle with the senior detectives.
"Let's do this quickly and let's do this now," Voight began. "As planned, Roman, I want you and Burgess to work solely on clearing the area of civilians, start with the outside of the building. No one gets in this building and you two keep an eye on anyone who gets out. Valerie does not get away from us this time."
"Jasmine is to be arriving soon," Olinsky reminded them. "You two do not follow until she arrives and the area is clear of any and all bystanders. Is that clear?"
"Crystal," Burgess agreed before rushing off with her partner, shouting at everyone to clear the vicinity.
"Alright now, Atwater, you're with us. I want you to follow us closely, but you're number one duty is to watch Lee. He does not leave your sight." Voight stared right at the civilian. "You," he emphasized, "are to stay with detective Atwater at all times. No exceptions unless I specifically say otherwise. Is that clear?"
Lee shrugged. "If I see Valerie-" he tried.
"I said," Voight threatened. "Is that clear?"
Lee sighed in defeat and nodded.
"You are not a cop Lee," Voight reminded him. "You are not trained for this. This isn't just a simple spat between you and her. There are innocents lives on the line. People could die. I need to know that you understand that you can't expect her to step down just because you bat your eyelashes and tell her you love her. She's too far for that to work."
Lee nodded once more. "You're the boss," he stated in understanding.
"Stay close," Voight told the three before approaching the two bouncers of the club. "And follow me." He didn't even look at the two built men, simply flashing his badge and walking by. Atwater and Lee followed closely. Olinsky, who was taking up the rear, stopped before the two men.
"We have reason to believe there is a bomb threat at your club," he explained, pulling out his phone. "Have either of you seen this woman?"
The first bouncer shrugged, but the second nodded. "We've had a large crowd tonight, but yeah, I think she arrived just a few minutes ago. If I remember correctly, she was wearing a large, bulky jacket."
"So she is using a bomb..." Olinsky muttered under his breath before turning back to the bouncer. "Thank you. Now get clear of the premises, and make sure everyone walking down this street knows to steer clear."
Both bouncers nodded in agreement and hustled off. Olinsky entered the club to see Voight kicking the DJ out of his booth as Atwater (with Lee glued to his hip) slowly made their way through the area, instructing everyone to get out. Olinsky acted as a strainer, checking each person who passed him to go to the doors. None of them were Valerie. After a few minutes, they had everyone in the main bar/dance floor area cleared and decided to regroup.
"The blue prints said that the VIP lounge is just through that door, up those stairs and down the hall," Atwater explained. "I'd say that's our best bet."
Olinsky explained how it was likely she was using a bomb based on what the bouncer had told him. Lee confirmed the theory, explaining how Valerie only ever wore tight-fitting jackets.
Voight turned to Lee as they gathered in the doorway, at the bottom of the stairs."Talk to me Lee. Do you have any idea how she might go about this? Would she plant the bomb and run?..."
"I wish I could tell you," Lee sighed. "She's never done anything like this before."
Olinsky put a hand on the man's shoulder. "Anything you can tell us will help. This is all seems very personal. So, I'm guessing she'd want to confront them head on. Hold them hostage in a sense."
"I- I don't know," Lee admitted. "I- I still can't get my head around this whole idea of her...of her..."
"It's okay," Voight sighed. "Let's just do this." The detectives all began to head up the stairs.
"She..." Lee stammered, causing the three to pause and turn back to him. "She's always been very jumpy when called out on a lie. I mean...she doesn't lie much, but when she does, she can be very confrontational. Not always, but most of the time. I don't know if that helps, but-"
"Jumpy how?" Voight asked.
"She gets agitated, uneasy like she's unsure of what she's doing...at least...at first. After the first couple minutes she seems to get her stance back and gets angry. Really angry, and really sure of what she's doing."
Voight and Olinsky looked at each other. "So we have a small window to get to her, is what you're saying," Olinsky summarized.
Lee shrugged. "Whenever we fight, I either win right away or I don't win at all."
"That could be why she hid behind the lie of Essa's revenge. She was unsure of herself," Atwater suggested. "When we got to her, we were unable to talk her out of all this because she'd had time to come to terms with her own actions."
"Then we need to send Lee in right away," Olinsky suggested.
Voight shook his head. "Not a chance in hell."
Lee looked at the sergeant with panic, a gaze much like that of a cornered mouse. "You have to. It's our best shot to talk her down. Hank, you have to give me this chance."
"We don't know if she's even in there," Voight pointed out. "It could just be Horran and his men. I'm not sending you in their unsure of what you're walking into. The VIP room has no windows according to the blueprints. We'd be sending you in blind."
"I'll go in first," Atwater suggested. "I was with Ruzek when you spoke to Valerie. She doesn't know what I look like. I can wander in and if she's not there, I'll tell them I got lost and just leave."
"What if she is in there?"
"Hopefully she'll let me go, Maybe I can just walk out. As long as I 'don't notice anything suspicious', she might let me leave. Lee can go in, talk her down. It'll all be good. If she doesn't, I'll...bump into a chair to let you know to come in."
"You'll bump into a chair?" Voight repeated, unsure.
"Really loudly," Atwater promised with a small smile. "I got this boss."
"What if she does recognize you? What if she did her research on Intelligence and knows what you look like?"
"Look Hank," Olinsky added. "I don't like it either, but it's our best option. Atwater can handle this. So can Lee."
Voight surrendered. "Fine," he grumbled. "Go in, get out. That simple."
Atwater nodded. "I got this."
The van was still moving when Lindsay hopped out of the vehicle. She took half a second to regain her balance and took off sprinting. Ruzek was at her heels, jumping out with the vehicle still at a slow crawl. Dawson brought the car to an abrupt halt, ensuring the van would stay stopped, before following suit.
The street was empty except for their own van and the wreckage. Jay had managed to cause the wreck in an abandoned alley so there were very few bystanders watching the scene unfold. The car was lying on it's side, it had clearly taken quite some damage, but maybe, the detectives hoped, not enough for it to have been an explosion.
"Stay back!" A fierce, but frail, voice shouted. Dawson froze. Ruzek, upon seeing where the voice came from, grabbed Lindsay to stop her from approaching the wreck, since she sure as hell wasn't going to stop otherwise. Ruzek had to restrain her for a moment, but once her eyes locked on the source of the voice, she reluctantly stayed still and Ruzek released her.
"Good," Dante continued, loosely holding a pistol at the detectives. He looked like hell. Blood was running down his forehead like a stream and his torso was stained the same scarlet colour. And judging by the fact that he was coming around the side of the wreck with a severe limp, it was likely that he had broken something in one of his legs. "Now..." he stammered. "Now...just...just stay there."
"Dante right?" Dawson asked, swallowing back his worry for his friend. "We'll stay put. Just tell us if our guy is okay. Just tell us what happened."
"You!" The criminal shrieked. "Should not be making any demands! I have the gun!"
"That's cool man," Ruzek babbled. "Really, it is. We'd just like to know."
"You...you're just gonna let me get me your van and drive away. Then! And only then, will I let you check the wreckage to see if your friend is alive," Dante negotiated. "That's my only offer."
Ruzek swallowed hard, exchanging looks with Lindsay and Dawson. Dawson shrugged, reaching his hand into his pocket for the keys as he decided what to do. Lindsay's gaze was fixed on the wreckage, scanning for her partner.
"What about your friend?" Dawson asked. "What happened to Ripper?"
"This ain't about Ripper!" Dante shouted. "This is about me! Now kick over the keys, or stand there and wait." No one moved. "You want to play Russian Roulette with your bud's life, that's cool with me, but you better hope he's dead already...'Cause if he ain't, he's about to be."
"Ripper's dead isn't he?" Ruzek guessed.
"I said shut it cop!" Dante screamed as loud as he could, wincing at the pain it brought to his ribs.
"Man, you don't look so good Dante," Dawson pointed out. "You look like you need a doctor. Why don't you put the gun down and we can get you help."
"The hell you can! You'd just as soon dig my grave for me, you sick bastards!"
"Who's sick?!" Ruzek screamed, all will to negotiate flying out the window. "You're the one who's killing my friend!"
"You're the ones who don't care about him enough to give me the damn keys," Dante snapped. "Just toss 'em over, that's all I need."
Dawson let out a jagged breath, grabbing the keys in his pocket as he looked, frantically, at Ruzek. The younger detective nodded in approval, just wanting to check on Jay already. Dawson inhaled sharply and tossed the keys at Dante's feet.
"You stupid idiots," Dante said with a weak laugh, as shook his gun between Dawson and Ruzek. "I checked your friend's pulse. He's dead as a door knob." Dawson and Ruzek growled at the comment, while Dante just smirk sinisterly and bent down to pick up the keys.
BANG!
Dante looked down at his torso. More crimson began to ooze out of a wound in his chest.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The criminal staggered backwards as more bullets flew into his torso. Dawson and Ruzek turned in a mix of horror and sick satisfaction to the source of the bullets. They had both practically forgotten about her. Apparently, so had the gunman.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The two simply watched as Erin Lindsay, tears uncontrollably streaming her face, fired all the bullets in her clip into the criminal who stood before her. Even after she ran out of ammo, she just kept squeezing the trigger. The gun simply gave a clicking sound over and over with each squeeze, until Ruzek put his hand on the top of her gun and lowered it to the ground at her feet.
"Erin?" He asked quietly.
"Doesn't feel good does it?" she whispered, bitterly, staring coldly at Dante's limp corpse.
"Huh?"
There was no response.
Dawson rushed over to the gunman, quickly kicking away the gun (mostly out of instinct), but didn't bother to check for a pulse. Immediately after, he sprinted for the far side of the wreckage. Upon seeing Dawson's actions, Erin also rushed over to the wreck. Ruzek gave Dante's corpse on last look before also making his way to the overturned car.
"I've got Ripper!" Dawson called. The criminal was lying motionless pressed against the driver side window due to gravity and the car being flipped on it's side. He had clearly not been wearing a seatbelt and had been tossed all throughout the front of the car. Dawson crawled in through the smashed windshield and squatted over the body, checking the pulse. "He's gone," he announced.
Erin pushed past Dawson. The door to the back was firmly shut. Erin, moved to open it, but Dawson grabbed her hand, stopping her. She looked at him in horrified confusion.
"Look," he said quietly, pointing towards something that had been jammed in the door.
Erin's hand covered her mouth. "Oh my god," she gasped.
"What?" Ruzek called from just outside the windshield, unable to enter the car due to space constraints.
"It's a hand," Erin whispered in disbelief.
"Jay's?" Ruzek guessed.
Dawson laughed in disbelief. "That lucky bastard. The bomb didn't go off. He just got them to knock over the car somehow. He caused an accident, not an explosion. Look, Erin...the dead man switch...It must've gotten jammed in the door when it slammed shut during the crash."
"So he could still be alive on the other side of this door?" Erin whispered. "Jay!" She called, but there was no answer. "Jay!"
Ruzek laughed, almost hysterically. "I can't believe the bomb didn't detonate. That lucky son of gun, is buying me a lottery ticket after all this."
"If he survived the crash itself," Erin pointed out miserably. "And we can get his hand free from the door without detonating the bomb."
Ruzek's mood dropped. "I'm going to go see if I can pry the back doors open. Antonio? You want to give your sister a call. We're going to need some help." Dawson nodded and the two male cops headed off.
Erin ran her fingers over Jay's. "Come one Jay," she whispered. "Please hang on."
Atwater took a deep breath before he pushed on the VIP room's door. He let out a mental sigh when the door slid out, revealing itself to be unlocked. He entered the room casually, pretending to be texting on his phone and not paying attention.
"Oh shit," he blurted, looking up from his phones. "Sorry homies," he apologized as he looked around, doing his best to appear as though he was there by accident. "I was just here to find the bathroom. Guess I picked the wrong door, I'll just go."
"It's not a problem," came the voice of Valerie Marshall. He had tried to not linger his gaze on her too long, but the woman had appeared emotionally drained and tired.
Atwater gave a small smile. "Sorry again for interrupting."
"You could stay," someone blurted. Atwater, who was now facing the door hung his head, letting out a silent sigh of exasperation.
Atwater turned around, appearing confused instead of the nervous that he was. "I thought you were doing something...no...I should be going. I really have to go to the little boy's room anyways." He located the source of the voice. He recognized the face, but no name came to mind.
He put his hand on the door knob and began to turn it when the voice spoke up again. "We could use an outsider's opinion."
"Nah," he said, slipping the door open.
"Maybe you should stay." Atwater froze. It wasn't the random member of the Colbalt's high ranking this time. It was Valerie, and if Valerie wanted him to stay, leaving could be just as dangerous (if not more so) than staying in the room.
"If you insist," he said he said with a smile, turning around. "But...could we make this quick? I do have to use the bathroom."
Valerie smiled. "Oh, we won't waste too much of your time. Please, take a seat."
Atwater grabbed the back of an empty chair and paused. He didn't want to bump the chair. He was nervous about sending the signal for Lee to come in, not wanting to put the civilian in danger. After all, the room was full of gang members who had a track record of killing just to be on the safe side.
The detective froze. Suddenly, he recognized the face of the gang member who had insisted he stay. It had been a while back, but Atwater finally remembered busting the guy for possession. Of course the charges hadn't stuck, but apparently, the gang member had remembered him.
Atwater stumbled, bumping into the chair as loudly as he could. "Sorry," he apologized, pretending to regain his bearings. In reality he just wanted to stay standing up, so he could make a run for it faster if Lee was unable to talk Valerie down.
"It's alright," Valerie said softly and eerily, almost like a possessed girl in a horror movie.
"He's a cop!" The gang member blurted.
Atwater attempted to play it cool. "Yeah, I had today off. Have we met?"
Valerie wasn't buying it. She rose to her feet, placing both of her hands on the table. In her left was a small, wired package of (what Atwater assumed was) C4. In her right was a 9mm handgun. She raised the gun so it was pointed at Atwater. The detective took a deep breath and raised his hands.
"You work for Hank Voight don't you?"
Atwater opened his mouth, but then the door behind him swung open and everything stopped.
"Valerie?"
"I think I've got the doors open!" Ruzek exclaimed, finally able to pry the back doors open.
"Great!" Dawson replied enthusiastically. "Gabby says the whole firehouse is on the way, paramedics and firemen so we can get him out of that door in one piece."
Ruzek swung the doors opened and stared in horror at the scene. There was so much blood he had no idea where any of it was coming from or how much of it was even Jay's. He rushed to his friend's side, panic flowing through him.
He repeated his friend's name over and over. "Jay, Jay, Jay. Come on."
Dawson also hopped into the back of the truck, as Erin shouted from the other side of the door between the front and the back. "Is he alive?"
Ruzek checked for a pulse. "Damn it Jay! I'm not getting a pulse!"
"I'm starting compressions!" Dawson announced. "Come on," he repeated over and over, as if the words could reach Jay's mind. "Come on!"
Ruzek only watched in sheer horror. He let out jagged breaths with each compression, shaking his head in disbelief, muttering the word "no" over and over again, under his breath.
Erin gingerly touched the part of her partner's hand that she could. She wiped at her tears, listening to the melody of compressions, Dawson yelling at Jay to "come on" and her own jagged breathing as more and more tears fell from her eyes.
Sirens could could now be faintly heard in the distance, but too Erin, they were a million miles away. They were as far away as she had been, when her partner decided she wasn't going to save him and that he had to save himself.
Well...that was dark. I really hate leaving you all with ANOTHER cliffhanger, two weeks in a row, but the showdown ended up being so long, I had to chop in in half in order to keep it's length consistent with all my other chapters. So...sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry, but I had to. Don't worry though. It's all going to be okay. I know that's kind of a spoiler for my story, but I think most of you kind of guessed it was all going to be okay anyways. Anywho, thank you all so much for the love and support, please keep it coming. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter will be up on Sunday, as always. (by the way, sorry is the whole accident, hand in door, who survived/who didn't, was really weird and just generally inaccurate...I know nothing about that kind of stuff.)
SIDE NOTE: NEW STORY
since this story is wrapping up, I wanted to give you a heads up on a new story that I already have the first chapter done for. It's really sad, but I feel like it's more true to how I write everyday...I don't know, it just feels more my style (if that makes any sense). It's going to be name A Black Wind, based on the song "A Valentine's Day" by Linkin Park. Feel free to check out the song if you want a small idea of what the story is about. It's only going to be 4 chapters. (or 1 if you all hate it. haha)
Next Chapter:
Chapter Nineteen: If Heaven's Grief Brings Hells Rain