Snipers Of Chicago Season 2 (Chicago PD/Jay Halstead)

Chapter 20 "Puppet Master"

Watching Shaylynn drive away, Halstead pulls out his phone.
"It's Jay. Can you go over to the house and check on Shaylynn?" he asks, "Thanks!" he says after a few seconds.

~~~~~~~

Thirty minutes later, Shaylynn's buzzing Beth through the gate.
Walking to the front door, Shaylynn opens it watching Beth, carrying a sleeping Ellie, walk toward her.
"Come upstairs," Shaylynn whispers to Beth as she walks in.
Shaylynn closes the door then walks toward the stairs with Beth following her.

Walking up to a door, Shaylynn opens it and walks in.
Beth walks in behind her to see it's Jacquelyn's nursery.
Understanding what Shaylynn's getting at, Beth walks over to the crib and lays Ellie down.
Both women quietly walk out of the room.
"I'm surprised to see you still have Jacquelyn's nursery still together," Beth says as they walk down the stairs.
"I couldn't bring myself to change it," Shaylynn tells her as they walk to the living room.
As they walk in Beth sees Shaylynn has the TV on what looks like a live feed from a crime scene.
"Shaylynn, what's going on? Why did Jay call me and want me to check on you?" Beth asks when the Police Commissioner shows up on the TV and starts going on about the crime scene.
"Police Superintendent Kelton was killed tonight in a home invasion. He was a good man and did everything he could for the city he loved especially running for Mayor so he could make the city even better and safer. Sadly, his life was taken by those he wanted to help," the Commissioner tells the press.
Beth looks over at Shaylynn who has a pissed off look on her face, "He's making Kelton sound like a Goddamn saint!" Shaylynn says walking back behind the couch.
Looking at the TV Beth continues to listen to the Commissioner when a hole appears in the center of the TV and sparks shooting out of it.
Beth quickly turns around to see Shaylynn standing behind the couch with her gun that has a silencer on it.
"What are you doing?" Beth asks Shaylynn in shock that she shot the TV.
"I couldn't listen to the bullshit any longer," Shaylynn tells her.
"Then use the remote and turn it off," Beth tells her.
Shaylynn shrugs her shoulders, "Jay now has a reason to buy a bigger TV."
"What else is going on?" Beth asks.
"That asshole Kelton either killed or had someone kill Mary and kidnapped Jacquelyn. Mary's body was pulled out of Lake Michigan earlier," Shaylynn tells her, "I got Jacquelyn back from that prick!"
It hits Beth, "You killed Kelton."
Shaylynn shakes her head 'yes', "Right as I was walking out with Jacquelyn here comes the Intelligence Unit getting ready to storm the house. The prick got what he deserved! He wasn't a good man! A lot of the shootings that have happened, he orchestrated. That way he could come in and look like he was cleaning up the neighborhoods from gang violence when in reality he was the puppet master controlling the puppets strings!"
"But why kill Mary and kidnap Jacquelyn? He should have known when you found out that it was him, this was going to happen," Beth says.
"People do stupid things when they get desperate. He was falling behind in the polls and in his sick mind probably thought if he was the one to "find" the kidnapped granddaughter of Hank Voight who was backing Ray Price, that would raise his numbers," Shaylynn tells her.
"But did he seriously think you wouldn't come for him?" Beth asks.
"He was ready for me but he wasn't ready enough," Shaylynn tells her as she moves a picture on a wall to reveal a safe in the wall.
Opening it, she puts her gun away.
Closing the door, she puts the picture back up.
Turning around she sees the look on Beth's face, "What?" Shaylynn asks.
"How many of those do you have?" Beth asks.
"Pictures?" Shaylynn asks smiling.
Beth glares at her, "No, smartass! Safes?"
"A wall safe in every room downstairs. One in my room and my big one down in the basement that holds the hard artillery," Shaylynn tells her.
"And then a red button somewhere that controls a missile that shoots out of the backyard," Beth says smiling.
Shaylynn starts laughing, "I would love that!"
"Of course you would," Beth says laughing.

In the early morning hours, Halstead returns home.
He puts his coat away when he smells like something has been burning.
He walks throughout the downstairs trying to figure out where the smell is coming from when it leads him to the living room.
Turning on a little light, that's when he finds Shaylynn at one end of the sectional asleep with Beth asleep at the other end and the reason for the burning smell when he looks at the TV.
Before turning off the light he hears buzzing. He looks down on the table to see Beth's phone lit up and a picture of Severide.
Halstead picks up her phone, "Hello."
Severide doesn't say anything for a few seconds, "Who the hell is this?!" Severide asks.
"It's Jay," Halstead says.
"What the fuck, Jay! Why do you have Beth's phone? Is she alright?" Severide asks worried, "I've been trying to get ahold of her for the past couple of hours!"
"She's fine," Halstead tells him, "She's here at the house. She and Shaylynn fell asleep on the couch."
"And Ellie?" Severide asks.
"I would imagine she's up in Jacquelyn's nursery," Halstead tells him, "Do you want me to wake Beth up?"
"No," Severide tells him, "As long as I know they're safe and alright. Can't get any safer than being in 'Fort Knox'."
Halstead laughs, "See ya, Kelly!"
Halstead puts Beth's phone back onto the table.
He walks over to Shaylynn and kisses her on top of the head. Walking back over to the light, he turns it off and walks out of the room.