«There you go, sit down", Kevin demanded, when he brought Marc into one of the interrogation rooms.
Marc scoffed and sat down. Adam walked in too and closed the door. Hailey, Voight, and Detective Mullins stood behind the glass window to watch them. Jay and Kim were in the other room with Ricky.
"So, Marc… you've been in the business for quite some time huh?"
Marc shrugged.
Kevin looked down and into the file in front of him. CPD knew about Marc and his business, but they've never had enough evidence to book him.
"Okay listen, we're not interested in that drug stuff. That's just a bonus. We know that you have one of our officers. Where is she?"
Kevin looked Marc straight in the eyes. For a milli second, he saw something flickering in Marc's eyes. As if he was surprised about that question. But in the next moment, he put on a smug smile.
"You talking about that girl, that ran from her apartment? She is a cop?"
Kevin and Adam both knew that he already knew the answer to his question. He was enjoying this. They didn't answer, instead they looked at him, and waited for an answer to their previous question.
"I knew it! One of my guys came to me and said that she seems suspicious. I told him to keep a close eye on her. He followed her one morning to a parking lot, where she parked her car and remained seated. He took a closer look and saw that she was on the phone. When she lowered it, there was Detective Mullins written on the caller ID."
He smiled again. Hailey felt a shiver run down her spine, and Detective Mullins' face dropped. Voight clenched his fist. Kevin and Adam just stared at Marc.
"My guy called me and told me what he saw. I ordered to bring her in. When they arrived at her apartment, she was home. They just wanted to say Hello, but that stupid little snitch had to run and make everything more complicated. One of my boys shot her, either in her arm or her waist, I don't remember…"
Kevin was breathing heavily by now and Adam had to put his hand on Kevin's shoulder to calm him. Marc caught up quickly and realized what was going on. He stared at Kevin, the greasy grin from before returning on his face.
"You like her. Is she your girlfriend?"
No one replied. Marc started to laugh. It was a frightening laughter.
"Oh boy… She is in trouble I can tell you that!"
He fell back into a fit of laughter.
"That's enough. Where is she?", Adam jumped in.
"You're not seriously thinking that I'm telling you that, right?"
Marc laughed again. That's when Kevin couldn't take it anymore. He slammed his fist on the table and looked at Marc furiously.
"Where is she?!"
Marc stopped laughing but he wasn't planning on telling them anytime soon. Now he was really enjoying this.
"You know what my men and I do to little snitches like her? We test how strong they are. Not physical strength, well that too, but primarily mental strength. We test how much it takes for them to sing like birds… and I can tell you", he said, while laughing, "that your girl is one of the harder nuts to crack!"
Kevin and Adam stared at him in horror. They tried not to think about what Marc and his men were doing to Vanessa. What she had to go through. On the other side of the window, Hailey had to focus on her breathing to prevent herself from throwing up. Detective Mullins leaned back against the sideboard, pale and breathless and Voight clenched his jaw.
"You know what? This little game that you're playing here isn't helping you in any way. But if you cooperate with us and tell us where your men keep our officer, we can maybe help you. We could talk to the state's attorney so that you maybe don't have to spend the rest of your life in prison. How about that?"
Adam knew he had to speed this up, otherwise Kevin would lose his temper. It was already a critical situation, but if Marc revealed more details, Kevin would surely lose it all. And Adam couldn't even blame him. If Kim were taken, he would behave the exact same way.
"You think I'm afraid of prison? Or that I care about whether I'm in prison or not? I've got no one out there. No one's waiting for me", Marc answered simply.
Adam sighed. He was running out of options, when suddenly the door opened and Voight stepped inside.
"And what about your daughter?"
Marc's face froze.
"Her name's Tara, right? She's 23 years old and in college… I think she wants to become a lawyer someday."
Voight's voice was sharp like a knife's blade. Marc looked at him, not daring to breathe.
"Other than you, she's got a lot to lose. If we bring her in because we think that she helps you selling your drugs… well, she won't become a lawyer then. She'll lose her permission to college and if the jury thinks she's guilty, she'll end up in prison, just like her daddy…"
"Stop! You can't do that, she's got nothing to do with this!", Marc screamed.
Voight slammed his fist onto the table just like Kevin before.
"Then tell us where you keep Officer Rojas or I swear to God, that I'll bring your little girl in!"
Marc's mouth became a thin line and he angrily stared at Voight.
"Fine, Adam, go get Tara."
Adam got up and started to walk out.
"Okay okay, stop! I'll tell you where she is, alright?! Keep my daughter out of this and I promise that I'll tell you where she is!"
All three men turned to face him and Marc finally revealed the address.
Whole Intelligence and a bunch of other units sped through the streets of Chicago to the address Marc had given them. Kevin was clenching the door handle so hard, that his knuckles were white. Adam drove as fast as he could but he feared that they weren't fast enough. Something felt terribly wrong.
"We're gonna get her Kev, okay? We're gonna get her!"
Adam tried to calm his friend, but he knew that that was an impossible mission.
When they arrived at the house, Kevin saw why his gut was telling him that something was wrong. The house was on fire.
"No", he whispered breathlessly.
Adam looked at Jay and Hailey, who have just arrived. They stared at the house in horror and shot a glance at Kevin. Kevin wasn't able to move, he just stared at the inferno.
Jay reacted immediately and took his radio.
"5021 George, we need assistance at my location, we've got a house on fire! Send truck, squad and engine over here and an ambo, now!"
"Copy 5021 George, units are on their way."
Then, Intelligence and the patrol officers started to knock on the neighbor's doors and told them to get away as far as possible.
"Ma'am, I need you to take your kids out of your house and run away as far as possible", Hailey said to a young woman, who held a baby in her arms.
"But why?"
"This house over here is on fire and there could be explosives stashed there. We don't know yet, so for you own safety, I need you to go", Hailey insisted and helped her down the stairs.
"Why would someone set that house on fire? There are people living in there", the woman asked herself quietly.
"What did you just say?", Hailey stopped her in the tracks.
"I saw some men walk in and out of the house. Quite often lately. I suppose they live there. Why, is there something wrong?"
"Since when do these men live here?", Hailey asked.
"A few days, maybe five or six, I don't really know. We don't really talk to others in this neighborhood, you know."
Hailey nodded and reminded her once more to stay away as far as possible. Now they knew at least that Marc hadn't lied to them.
Meanwhile, Truck 81, squad 3, engine 51 and Ambo 61 have arrived. Casey walked over to Voight and looked at him.
"What do we got?"
"When we arrived, the house was already on fire. Listen Casey, you need to be quick. Vanessa is in there!"
Severide looked at the house, then at Casey with a worried expression on his face and then finally back at Voight.
"How long has she been in there?"
"She's been held captive in there for a few days. But we don't know when the fire started."
Casey and Severide exchanged a few looks.
"Casey?", Voight asked worried.
"That fire looks bad. Really bad. If she's been in there since it started…"
He couldn't bring himself to say it out loud.
"What?"
"If she's been in there since it started, it's unlikely that she's still alive."
A/N: Oh guys, I know it's been way too long! I'm so sorry about that but I can tell you, that right now, I've got no more school, yeah 😊!
Can you believe it, I passed my Matura exams! In September, I'm gonna start studying so from then on, I can't really tell you how often I'll be able to post anything, but until then I haven't got too many responsibilities. Well no, that's not entirely true, I'll work in august to gather some money and until then I'll have to find an apartment in the city where I'll be studying , but aside from that, I'll have plenty of time to write.
I really hope that you're still with me and that this story is still interesting. As always, if you've got any ideas or wishes, let me know in a review or a PM.
I wish you all a good day 😊! ~ D