They had this.

Her and Jay, Intelligence and Liam, the veritable army that was on her side. They had this. But that did not mean she wasn't pissed off that this was a thing that needed to be dealt with in the first place. Especially since while not unavoidable she could have at least been given a heads up.

"What do you mean he's in Chicago? How did he even get there?"

"How about we start with how you didn't think to tell me he'd gone all Kujo?!"

"Tessa, if I had known this had anything to do with you of course I would have told you." Dimi insisted, clear offense in his voice which made her feel better, but only marginally. Especially as he continued. "But how could I? We all just thought he got tired of taking orders. He'd been growing restless the last few years."

"By restless you mean more violent."

"Yes."

Great.

She had a psychotic murderer intent on flaying her alive. Or some other form of torture. Probably a few.

Just great.

"Did you know he video-taped his… sessions?"

The silence on the other end of the line said he hadn't, and was as sickened as she had been. Rare for people used to such sadism but then Volya was his own breed. "I am sorry you had to be shown that."

"It wasn't just me Dimi. He projected it in front of a whole fucking precinct!" Her shout had her sucking in a breath, her anger, and humiliation, tempered by the violent promise in his own voice.

"What do you need from me?"

"I need to know if anyone in your organization is helping him. Specifically Alexei. And it needs to be done quietly." Tess stressed, until a pair of strong arms wrapping around her waist and settling atop her twinging stomach calmed her nerves.

Jay.

She knew it wasn't fun for him to listen to conversations he couldn't understand but he didn't seem bothered, at least right now. Seeing what had been done to her might have temporarily chased off her own nightmares but it wasn't much help when they'd run right to him; three times last night she'd woken to her name, once screamed, once choked and once a terrified whimper that nearly turned her into a blubbering mess. Not to mention the eight other times she'd woken from her light dozing by his hands desperately reaching for her, or his arms flailing as he tried to find her. He hadn't spoken of his dreams but he hadn't had to, and though he'd tried to resist her comforting him he'd quickly given in, needing her reassurance more than he did his normal stoicism.

It was one thing to hear about what Volya had done to her but now that he'd gotten a glimpse of it those images weren't ever going to leave him.

Which was why she was going to kill him.

One of them would, she wasn't picky and to her mind Jay had just as much rights on his head as she did, a thought that comforted her as she and Dimi finished discussing logistics. And as did his head pressing closer to hers when he realized she was done. "Is Dimitri in on it?"

"No. He just didn't feel the need to tell me Volya had gone insane and murdered his associates there because he hadn't thought he'd come here."

"Are the two related?"

"Someone's responsible for putting a half a million in his bank account."

His slow inhale had Tess gripping him tighter, just like he pulled her closer. Both of them knew how bad that was, and how much worse it could get, was going to get, just like they knew how little there was they could do about it. At least with the current information they had, or lack there of which was why after a short minute of squeezing each other they broke apart and made for the 21st. Except they only got as far as the elevator before Aelin cut them off, giving Tess as hard a stare as she'd ever been given before she started telling them how she felt about being kept out of the loop.

Loudly.

It wasn't the first time the cat had put her in her place, and she hoped it wouldn't be the last, though again it was as effective of a dressing down as she had ever gotten. Sometimes she thought more so, which should be the opposite case since her human family was able to express their disappointment much more clearly, but since Aelin was most often on her side it hit harder. And when she saw the genuine hurt in the felines eyes she knew how badly she had hurt her. How badly they had because Jay was getting yelled at too, a bit unfairly in her opinion since he'd just been following her lead but she supposed it was fair that Aelin wanted to drive her point home to both of them. Which was that she was no longer willing to be left behind.

Considering how many times in the last year one of them had come home injured she was surprised she'd let it go on this long. Thankfully she didn't stay mad for too long, she curled up in her lap as they drove to the precinct, tail high as she sashayed into the bullpen beside them, to Voight's clear disapproval.

"Seriously?"

"Tell him." Jay told the cat and she didn't know which she found more amusing, the Sergeants shock when she started yowling at him, Adam's admonishment when she turned her attention to him for laughing or Vanessa's glee.

"That's fucking awesome." The younger woman whispered, grinning at the cat and her before she seemed to remember why they were there. "Did you find anything?"

Not enough, but she shared what they'd learned.

"Two weeks ago Volya apparently 'snapped', for unknown reasons, and killed everyone in his outfit- they've been looking for him since and had no idea he'd made his way here, which means he didn't go through their channels."

"So how'd he get here?" Kevin asked next, slowly stretching his hand out for Aelin to sniff before he cracked a smile and started scratching under her chin but as much as the sight warmed her it upset her too.

She'd never hesitated to include her with her own teams missions, so why had she with them? In the beginning she understood, trying to keep all those lines separate but the last few months she easily could have brought her here.

Should have.

"I was able to get footage of him sneaking off the tarmac at LAX- my guess is he used his own connections to hop into a cargo hold. And since I can't find anything of him leaving the city, or arriving in this one I'm betting he hid out in the back of a truck. On his own or with help remains to be seen."

"You can't think he's doing this alone." Hailey added, not a hard look but one that reminded her how fiercely she'd demanded Tess take their help. "Especially with the timing."

It was convenient timing.

Whoever was targeting her must be under the impression she was vulnerable after her ulcer, and physically she might be but that would never stop her from defending herself. Or others. And they were clearly underestimating her friends.

"No. I don't."

The tightening of their faces was painful but she appreciated the vigour with which they thew themselves into looking for more information, though it was hard to hold onto the surety that they had this when the more hours went by the less they knew. It wasn't like they were going backwards but it sure felt like that. She still had nothing to prove Alexei was involved, just that feeling that told her he was but for the chance he would slip up thinking he'd pulled one over on her she'd decided to focus her efforts elsewhere. Namely pouring over every camera she could access in the city, growing more infuriated when Volya didn't show up on any. And when Liam reported his men hadn't found anything in the sewers.

Maybe that was why she was relieved when she saw Trudy coming up with a small cardboard box in her hands, even if the Desk Sergeant seemed loathe to give it to her. "A little boy just dropped this off."

"You sure that's safe Sarge?" Adam asked, an understandable question but not only was she sure the woman had vetted it explosives weren't the enforcers style.

He preferred to see the damage he inflicted up close.

"No." She replied dryly, the kind of response Michal would've given but all sense of humour had left her. "I thought I'd bring up a Jack in the Box to my favourite people and just see what happens."

"You called us your favourite people."

Trudy raised her brows but before she could reply Voight stepped forward. "What does it say?"

"Malen'kiy golub. Little dove." Tess translated and it turned out she did have some laughter in her, albeit a pathetic one.

"Like from game of thrones?"

She was probably more like Arya than Sansa, though Daenerys was her favourite but all those comparisons died as she opened up the box and pulled out the little dead bird.

A dove.

She'd told Volya when he'd been torturing her that she'd done everything she had for peace, a concept that had made him roar with laughter and he may not be able to see her right now but she was sure he was laughing. She didn't say it but she was also sure she knew what was on the usb shoved down its throat, more painful than his last video which was why as soon as she played it she moved into Jay, needing the reassurance his presence provided. And it worked, reminded her that it wasn't her fault this psychopath had bought a bird just to videotape himself killing it but that didn't mean she wouldn't dream about the life leaving its eyes.

And she was definitely going to dream about the dark vengeance on Jay's face when the video ended and he stepped away from her, shocking everyone when he pulled out a knife she hadn't realized he'd taken to keeping clipped to his belt. She'd gotten him that knife. Hadn't ever expected him to use it the way he did, gripped tightly in his fist as he made his way outside until he was officially off police property, as he gave himself a matching cut on his left palm, his own bloody promise. And though once again she couldn't see him she was sure Volya was seeing them.

And knew his attention had just shifted.