Keeping It in the Family (Linstead)

Chapter 89

Lindsay was out on the streets of Chicago, helping with the search for AJ Styles, when she heard a radio call reporting an officer down and a suspect believed to be Styles having fled the scene on foot. She radioed in with her call sign and announced that she would be responding.

As she raced to the scene with the siren and blue lights on in her unmarked car, she felt anger boiling inside her. Not only was she furious that Styles had shot another officer and apparently managed to escape, she was also angry than an officer had been caught off guard by him. She asked herself what it was going to take for people to start paying greater attention to their surroundings the way she had been ever since Styles' spree had started.

By the time she arrived at the given location, there were several squad cards on the scene and uniforms had closed off the entire intersection, setting up a cordon to keep the public back. Lindsay could see ambulance 84, Sylvie Brett's rig, parked in the middle of the intersection. The action was taking place over on the far side of a black car, not a squad car as she expected.

"Sarge," one of the uniforms said, recognising her without needing to see her badge. He lifted the police tape up for her to duck underneath.

Just as she was doing that, her radio lit up with a report that a witness had called in to say they had seen someone matching Styles description driving away from the area in a dark green Jeep, and they had given a partial plate. She heard multiple units calling in to say they were responding, including Halstead and Purrazzo from her own unit. She was tempted to go herself, but she figured now that she was already at the shooting location she may as well check it out.

Making her way over to the scene, she hoped to find the officer in question alive. She had to wonder why whoever it was hadn't changed into uniform at their district, given everything that was going on. Then she rounded the back of the car and was able to see who Brett and Mikami were working on. Her blood ran cold. All of her criticisms were instantly forgotten. Zelina Vega was on a stretcher, her upper right side heavily bandaged, and with blood being transfused into her arm. She wasn't conscious.

"Jesus Christ. Z."

Brett glanced at her very briefly. "Hey, Sarge. Yes, unfortunately it's Z. Looks like she saw the shooter coming for her and tried to run, but didn't get very far. She's shot in the back. The bullet is still in there somewhere, and she's losing a lot of blood for this kind of wound. There's some serious damage been done internally. We've got to get her to Med, like now."

"Okay, go! Go!" Lindsay cried, although her input was hardly needed. The two paramedics were already wheeling the stretcher towards the ambulance.

"We'll do our best, but can't make promises. This is bad," Brett had time to say before she ran around to the front of the vehicle and jumped into the driver's seat. The ambo roared off up the street, siren wailing.

It wasn't often that Lindsay found herself stunned by something she saw on the job, but in that moment she definitely was. The last thing she had expected to see was Zelina, a team member of hers, and a friend, lying there dying. There was a large blood stain on the road where she had been lying before the paramedics had moved her, and Lindsay stood there staring blankly at it for a moment.

Then her professionalism kicked back in. She was a team leader, and this was a time to act like one. The first person who needed to be told about what had happened was Raquel Gonzalez. Lindsay knew what controlling that amazon was going to be her next problem. She was thinking about a woman who had murdered two people after her sister had been shot. Now she was going to be presented with a similar situation with her fiancée. She was practically guaranteed to go off the deep end. But first things first, she had to break the news. Walking back towards her car, she took out her phone and called Gonzalez's number. This wasn't a call to put out over the radio unless she had to.