Chapter Text
It all started with just another day at the office.
They’d arrested Landon Jameson selling heroin on a street corner but who they really wanted was his boss.
Wanted the person behind the batch of fentanyl laced heroin that was killing high school students across the city.
Landon had given up a name and now he was taking Jay to meet Tara Delacroix.
“Just remember.” Hailey says as she checks that the camera in Jay’s glasses is working. “Make the intro and then let him do all the talking. You’ll do fine.”
The kid is shaking. He’s scared of Delacroix and while they’ve convinced him he’s more afraid of prison, that they’ll protect him, Jay is worried he’ll change his mind again at any moment.
“How did we meet?” Jay asks.
“You’re dating my sister.” Landon mumbles. “Met her at the club she dances at.”
“That’s all you have to remember.” Jay says. “The rest is up to me.”
“You get that done.” Voight chimes in. “And keep your cool until the trade-off happens, you get your deal.”
Landon’s nerves seem to have settled by the time they park outside the meeting location and Jay sighs internally as he follows him inside.
Tara Delacroix looks the part, dressed in an expensive looking pantsuit and flanked by a pair of equally well-dressed bodyguards.
“Landon, sweetheart.” she says, hugging the man and kissing his cheeks. “It’s been too long, how have you been?”
“Good.” Landon says. “It’s been good. Helene got a job dancing at a club in Englewood. Met Ryan here.”
“You’ve brought a man who is dating your sister?” Tara asks, raising a slim, darkly stenciled eyebrow.
“He treats her right.” Landon says with a shrug. “And he’s got paper.”
Tara glances boredly at the bag in Jay’s hand.
“Be that as it may.” she drawls. “It takes more than money to get into my network. My brand means everything to me and I won’t sell it to someone who will cheapen it by cutting it with ninety percent baby powder before resale to increase profits.”
Jay has to fight an eye roll.
What’s cheapening her brand right now are the teenagers dropping like flies after using it.
But he keeps that to himself.
“An understandable concern.” He says. “What can I do to convince you that I won’t do that?”
Cool metal settles against the back of his neck.
He opens his mouth, his distress word on the tip of his tongue but Tara shakes her head minutely and he closes it again.
Thoughts of fighting back are forestalled as he hears footsteps approaching from the side.
He wants to turn his head, to scope out the new arrivals and to hopefully alert his team that something is wrong by bringing them into the camera angle.
A slight narrowing of Tara’s eyes puts an end to that plan and he clenches his jaw in helpless frustration.
Hands close around his wrists, pulling his arms behind his back and securing them with a zip tie that’s looped through his back belt loop.
“My dear boy, Landon, vouching for you goes a long way.” Tara comments.
The arms circle around him, bringing tape up from below the camera line to press over his mouth.
Tara walks forward.
“But it’s so hard to know if you can truly trust a person.” she says, a pout twisting her lips. “After all, I trusted Landon and look where that’s gotten me.”
Landon starts blubbering apologies and excuses next to him but cuts off as a harsh blow slams into him.
Tara reaches up to pluck the glasses off his face and turns them toward him.
“You see, Sergeant Voight.” she says with a scowl. “I don’t much like being lied to. And vermin like rats and moles will be dealt with accordingly.”
And then he’s being shoved forward, deeper into the building.
He forces down a rush of fear.
The team will be moving in, have studied blueprints of the building and will be using the information to anticipate their path and plan the best way to cut them off.
He holds onto that up until he’s shoved through a door that he doesn’t remember from the plans.
He’s helped down a ladder with ropes attached around his shoulders to a man climbing down behind him into what appears to be a subway tunnel.
About a quarter of a mile down the tunnel, he’s pulled up another ladder into what looks like a public park.
Instead of heading directly toward the parking lot as he’d thought, they pull him further into the park.
He sees a playground up ahead, a handful of children playing and starts to struggle against the hands holding him.
A punch slams into his gut and he drops to his knees.
“We don’t need to get any closer to the kiddos.” Tara says darkly. “Here is fine.”
A heavy hand presses down on his shoulder, keeping him down.
Tara steps in front of him, her hand covering his camera.
What does she want? It must be important to have kept her from ditching the glasses back at the warehouse.
Her hand slides out of the way.
“Why don’t you take a good, long look at the man you sent to his death today, Sergeant.” she taunts.
The barrel of the gun settles back against his head.
He closes his eyes.
So much for an ordinary day at the office.
Three shots ring out.
Voight bites off a curse as Hailey jumps out before the SUV is fully stopped.
He’d been about to suggest that she might want to stay in the car.
To try to protect her from having to see her husband’s body.
So much for that idea.
Patrol is already on scene, having responded to a shots fired call not long after those shots had been the last thing they’d heard before Jay’s camera had gone dead.
They hurry toward the cluster of officers just north of the playground and Voight utters a rare prayer that no kids had seen Jay being murdered in cold blood.
Even he’d been spared that fate, the camera redirecting just before the shots had sounded.
No call for a coroner has gone out yet but he doesn’t dare hope that’s a good sign.
“No body.” a patrol officer says, jogging over to meet them. “No sign of blood either but we’ve got what looks like three slugs embedded in the dirt and a shattered pair of glasses. Crime scene are en route.”
“Any witnesses?” Hailey demands. “Cameras?”
“Four kids from the playground. Two moms.” he reports. “But the adults don’t speak English and the kids are pretty freaked out. We’re pulling pod footage now.”
Voight lifts his phone, calling out for Kim to get over here. They aren’t waiting for a translator.
Jay’s still out there somewhere and they’re going to find him.
Now.