As Jay disappeared into the hallway and the door closed, Alex's face suddenly shifted from the sarcastic, confident teen to a nervous, anxious one. Without warning, a loud crash came from the stairwell, startling her. As a pre-programmed reflex, her eyes darted over to the door as her heart raced, anticipating the worst was coming for her now.
A loud crash came from the kitchen - a mug? a beer bottle? A lamp? who knew what it was this time that Pat Halstead threw at the wall.
Alex immediately retreated to the corner of her bedroom, sliding down and pulling her knees to her chest as she rocked back and forth, a hollow attempt to soothe herself. Her dad was in one of his moods tonight. It was only a matter of time now.
You can do this.
It's not like he's going to kill you.
You've made it through worse.
One day he'll drop dead and it'll stop.
Stay strong.
She went through her mental peptalk, bracing herself for what was to come.
Just as she was about to start her mantra over again, her bedroom door flew open, the handle pounding against the wall where it had already made an indent a while ago. Her eyes, laced with fear, shot up to the figure standing in the doorway.
Her father held a folded brown belt in his hand and a drunken look of evil across his face.
"Alex, we need to talk," he slurred.
The creak of a door yanked Alex from the clutches of her nightmare, disorienting her as she stumbled between past and present. Her breath hitched, and it took several seconds to steady her mind, to remember where she was - and where she wasn't. With trembling hands, she wiped stray tears from her face, glancing around the dim space. Slowly, reality set in: she wasn't trapped in her old bedroom, bracing for another beating. But the relief was fleeting. She was still trapped inside this cage at the police precinct.
Adam needed to make his way back to his car to get an evidence bag he left behind. He opened the door into the garage and started jogging through it, but immediately stopped when he saw a familiar kid in the cage.
"Alex?" he called out, clearly surprised to see her here. He hadn't been sure what Jay had done after he found her, but this was unexpected.
Alex jumped up when she recognized the familiar face. "Adam!" she called out, trying to move closer to the cage's door, but unable to due to the handcuffs. "You have to get me out of here," she begged.
He walked over to the cage cautiously. "What are you doing in there?" he asked, even though he clearly knew the answer. Her watery eyes didn't go unnoticed by him.
"Jay's lost his mind! Get me out of here." When he didn't budge, she quickly added desperately, "Please!"
The officer wasn't sure what to think right now; he had no idea whether he agreed with whatever Jay was doing or not, but that didn't matter. He wasn't about to put himself in the middle of it, and he had to respect Jay's decisions.
"Sorry, kid. I'm sure, uh," he looked around to an empty room. "I'm sure Jay will be back soon, okay? You're safe down here - nobody else can get in," he added, trying to give her some solace that she wasn't about to be jumped by true villains.
Once she realized that Adam wasn't coming to her defense, her guarded walls returned and she swallowed the lump that had been resting in her throat. "Screw you," she spat as she sat back down.
"Well, okay then. Just hang in there, kid," Adam replied as he started moving swiftly toward the exit. He wanted to help her out, but he also knew his place in all of this and it wasn't interfering.
Unable to contain her burst of anger, Alex yelled after his disappearing figure, "Fuck you!"
Adam gave a thumbs up in sarcasm as he exited to the parking lot to retrieve the bag. Once he'd secured it, he took the long way back upstairs through the front door, fully avoiding the garage again.
Alex sat back down and nervously bit her nails. She was alone - truly alone right now. It both scared the shit out of her and also made her pissed as hell that Jay would do this to her.
But not knowing what was coming - what was next - that filled her lungs with a panic that she couldn't shake.
After leaving Erin behind, Jay made his way down to the dungeon tech room. He stormed in to find Mouse sitting at his workstation, eyes focused on the multiple screens in front of him.
"Mouse," he called out as he rested his hands on the counter, anxiously tapping his fingers. He paused for a moment when he saw the redness and small trace of blood on his knuckles from punching the bulletin board. Not wanting his friend to see, Jay quickly removed his hands from the surface and shoved them in his jacket pockets.
Mouse turned around and his eyebrows went up as he went over to Jay in a rush. "Don't worry. All the footage has been deleted," he reassured quietly.
Jay nodded slowly - well damn. That hadn't even been on his radar but he was relieved that it was taken off his to-do list, and he wouldn't have footage from their street encounter hanging over his or Alex's head.
"Thanks," he replied genuinely as he removed the hidden camera from his jacket zipper. Jay took a deep breath, hesitating for a moment. "I need a favor."
Mouse was intrigued that there was another favor. "Alright. What do you need?"
Jay slowly sat the tiny camera on the counter, giving himself one last chance to back out of this plan before he voiced it out loud. However, the movement put his hand in plain sight. Mouse may not be a detective, but he was a trained soldier and paid attention to the details. "Woah, Jay, that's fresh." He raised his eyebrows in concern.
"It's nothing," Jay brushed it off. "I need–"
Mouse interrupted, "You didn't…." He trailed off with concerned eyes, regretting that he was even insinuating that Jay hit his own sister. But Mouse knew that the detective wasn't involved with any of the arrests, so the options were limited.
Jay huffed in annoyance. "Of course not!" Mouse held his hands up in surrender, signaling that he believed him. Jay continued, feeling a need to defend himself, "I didn't punch anyone, okay?"
Mouse nodded slowly as the puzzle pieced together - suddenly the loud crash he'd heard in the stairwell not too long ago made sense. "Got it." He looked Jay up and down. "You know I'm here if you need anything, right?"
Mouse had seen Jay on some of his worst days at war and after, and even he could tell that Jay was starting to come apart at the seams, even if he was keeping a stoic face. Jay simply nodded, acknowledging what was said but clearly ready to move on. "Thanks."
Mouse rubbed his hands together, ready to shove the feelings aside. "So, what's the favor?"
Jay took a deep breath; he had to go through with this part of his plan. He convinced himself this was for the best long term, even if it was only half baked and not well thought out like his plans usually were. He'd been itching to do this ever since Alex moved in with him, and his principles had convinced him to hold back, but today that all went out the window. He wasn't going to take any more chances.
"I...uh, I need you to install a tracker on my sister's phone." He pulled her cell out of his back pocket and tossed it onto the counter separating both men.
Mouse raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised. "Are you serious?"
Jay looked down, avoiding eye contact, "Yes."
Mouse shifted his weight on his feet, taking a moment to truly process this. "Jay, you know how invasive that is, right? I mean, even for us."
"I know, Mouse. I do. But she's been constantly lying to me and after today…I need to know where she's going, what she's doing."
"Have you tried talking to her?"
Jay's eyes snapped up and glared at him, clearly pissed that Mouse was asking if he'd done the more logical solution first. "Of course, but it's like talking to a damn brick wall."
Mouse thought for a moment, clearly conflicted. "Look, I can do it. Technically speaking, it's not a problem. But ethically...morally...you sure this is the route you wanna go? Once you go down this path, there's no turning back."
Jay's jaw set firmly, aggravated that Mouse - of all people - was trying to question his decisions right now. He needed this - even if it was more for his own sanity than anything at the moment. "Just do it."
Mouse sighed as he picked up the cell phone, "Alright. I'll get it set up. But Jay, be careful. This kind of stuff…it has a way of backfiring."
Jay paused for only a second before he turned and left the room, but that didn't stop the weight of his decision resting heavily on his shoulders as he headed upstairs.