CHAPTER TWO,
gouging eyes
ANTONIO RACED DOWN THE street, ignoring every speed limit and law in the book. Once in front of the bakery, both he and Ariella threw their car doors open and sprinted inside where Laura was already panicking and pacing the room.
When she saw them walk in, she rushed over to them and pulled Ariella into a hug which surprised her, but she didn't mind, "You have to get him back. You have to." Laura begged.
"Yes. We will, I promise." Ariella nodded.
"What do we know?" Antonio asked right off the bat the moment Laura pulled away from Ariella.
"There are no cameras in the alley," Voight announced as he walked into the bakery, "We're checking the streets on both sides for ATM video."
"Neighbors?" Ariella asked.
"One lady gave us a white van, but no license, no driver description, nothing. Detectives are rolling, squads are canvassing the area and knocking on doors, checking for cameras. Someone's on the pods right now. We have security cameras out front, - but nothing in the alley."
"Para Laura, para Laura!" A man begged, being held back by an officer.
"Let him in. Let him in!" Voight nodded to the two officers. They stepped away and let the men rush in, and hand Antonio the paper.
"Pulpo free by midnight, or your son dies." He translated.
"Oh, God." Laura looked like she was gonna be sick.
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Everyone stood somberly in the squad room, upset for Jules' family and the Dawson family, "They took Antonio's son." Voight announced, "And they took my own, as far as I'm concerned. Nothing else matters till we get Diego back. Nothing."
"Sarge," Jay started, "So this all started with Rev and Coop getting their heads chopped off. And both did essentially the same job for Pulpo, mid-level distribution, right? So we know Pulpo's cleaning house. And what do you do when you get rid of old furniture? You got to bring in something new. This guy stood out. It's Ernesto Milpas. He was running 15 corners between 22nd and Kedzie when CPD pinched him in '09." He held up a photo of the guy.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was on that bust with Jules," Antonio glanced at the photo.
"He was released last year," Jay stated.
"He was a climber," Antonio nodded.
"Maybe he's looking to get promoted," Erin suggested.
"He's the best of a lot of bad options," Jay said.
"What do we have on him now?" Voight asked.
"PO's got an address that's a year old," Jay announced. Voight grabbed the picture and slammed it on the board.
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Al and Adam were dressed as homeless people while everyone else was stationed in their cars. Ariella kept glancing over at Antonio, who kept his eyes on the front of the building, "We're gonna get him back." She told him.
"You don't know that."
"I do."
"You don't." Ariella nodded. She didn't take his curtness offensive, "That's him," Antonio announced into the walkie-talkie. Adam slowly approach him, but when the guy clocked him, he bolted and Adam went right after him.
"What the hell is he-"
"Everybody, go, go!" Voight shouted, and Antonio started the car, and they drove towards the warehouse where the guy had run in.
"Suspect is on foot out the southwest side of the warehouse," Erin announced, so they drove to the back of the warehouse, meeting up with Kim and Kevin. The two of them raised their guns.
"Coming out!" Al announced, his hands raised, "He's in the wind."
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"Hey. You okay, kid?" Voight asked, as he approached Erin, Jay, Adam, and Al, who was on the bridge, catching their breath.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm an idiot, but I'm fine." Erin shook it off.
"Hey, it wasn't your fault. Trust me." He assured.
"No sign of Diego that he was ever here," Ariella joined the group of them as they all regrouped.
Antonio stormed over, anger plastered on his face, "We had him! What the hell was that?" He launched himself at Adam.
"Hey, I made a move," Adam shrugged.
"Take it easy," Voight held him back.
"A stupid one!" Antonio retorted.
"Take it easy, take it easy," Voight tried to calm him down.
"Let's not forget who let herself get jumped!" Antonio glared over at Erin who had gotten hit in the head with a pipe.
"Hey, I-" She tried to fight back, but Voight held her back.
"Detective Dawson, Detective Rivera, this is Burgess. You're gonna want to see this." Kim's voice came over the walkie-talkie.
Ariella and Antonio wasted no time and sprinted it into the warehouse, the team following not far behind them. Kevin and Kim were standing in front of one of the rooms in the warehouse and pointed inside where Jin was.
"Please tell me you have something," Ariella begged, and Jin flipped the computer around, showing them a video. Diego was tied to a chair, duct tape around his mouth. The man in the back was speaking in Spanish.
"Translation," Voight demanded.
"Scream, and we cut out your tongue," Erin translated.
"Daddy, Ariella. They say they're gonna kill me, daddy." Diego begged.
"Check out the paneled wall. That's not here." Jay pointed out.
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"All right, go through this one by one," Voight demanded. Boxes upon boxes were pulled out of storage, and Ariella felt like she was forgetting how to read names due to the amount of CI forms she had read, "See if anyone crosses with Pulpo or Ernesto."
"Okay, look, remember, the red-tabbed files are the CIs that have been paid out, okay?" Jin asked, "And you hey, no. No, no, no, no. Those don't go in that pile. You gotta keep it separate, or you're gonna get it confused - with the other ones, and you-" He tried to reprimand Adam.
"Jin!"
"I told you-"
"Jin," Voight called again.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"What you got so far on the video?" Voight asked.
"Okay. It was recorded last night. There are some other voices in the distance on the audio track, so there's reason to believe that it was in a public place. The back room of a bar, maybe a motel. It's really not much to go on, though." Jin explained.
"Thanks." Voight nodded, "Halstead, Lindsay, come here a sec." The two detectives followed his orders.
"Hey, listen. Antonio, Ariella, I want to apologize." Adam started.
Ariella nodded, "Appreciate that, but please can we just get back to the files?" She asked.
"Right, yeah." He nodded, guilt flooding his features, "So what's your secret, man?" He asked, trying to break the tension.
"To?" Antonio asked.
"Keeping so many CI," Adam filled in.
"Never make them testify, and you never lie to them," Antonio told him.
"Sometimes you gotta be willing to toss a case to protect an informant," Al added.
"Cause sometimes when you really need someone, they're still there for you," Antonio stated as he pulled out another file and read through it.
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Ariella watched from her desk as Antonio went through his desk, looking for God knows what, and when he got frustrated with one of the files, he threw it across the room and slammed his hands on the table.
He immediately grabbed the phone on his desk when it began ringing, "Hey." He answered. The call lasted no longer than 30 seconds before he was grabbing his jacket and bolted down the stairs. Only 5 minutes later, he was running back up the stairs and into Voight's office, "Polk Hotel on West Adams."
When they got to the hotel, Antonio wasted no time shoving the photo of their suspect in the receptionist's face, "Hey, where's this guy's room?" The receptionist quickly took in their CPD vests, and nodded, turning to the wall of keys and pointing to the room number.
Voight and Antonio took one side of the hallway while Ariella, Jay, and Erin went down the other, all their guns raised. Antonio waited for the nod of approval before he was kicking the door in. They all rushed in, and when the whole apartment was cleared, they took in the scene in the tiny living room.
A chair was sitting in the middle of the room and Diego's apron from the bakery sitting not far from it, "He was here," Antonio kicked the chair in anger. He walked out into the hallway to get a breath of fresh air and spotted Ernesto at the end of the hall. Ernesto bolted down the stairs when he saw Antonio.
Ariella wasted no time chasing after him when she saw him bolt down the hallway. Once outside, Ernesto fired a bullet, but missed his target when Antonio tackled him to the ground, "Where's my son?" Antonio shouted in his face just as everyone else made it to the back ally of the hotel.
"Get outta here. Run!" Voight shouted at a homeless man who was going through the dumpsters. The man ran the other way. Ernesto said nothing, "He knows, Antonio. Do what you gotta do." Voight held out a knife for Antonio to take, "Do it," Voight egged on.
"Where the hell is my son?" Antonio repeated.
"Abogado," Ernesto demanded.
"No, ain't no lawyers around here, ese," Antonio shook his head.
"You got about three minutes till this alley's full of uniforms. Do what you gotta do." Voight insisted.
"I'll start with an eye," Antonio moved the knife closer to Ernesto's eye.
"Cut his eye out! Do it!" Voight yelled and Antonio almost cut his eye out but stopped himself.
"Come on! Come on!" Antonio flipped him over and shoved his hands behind his back.
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"Second time, Ernesto." Antonio was in the interrogation room with Ariella and Voight, "You're looking at life. But we can say that Pulpo came in, threatened you, and forced you to help them out."
"Abogado." Ernesto repeated.
"No, no! We're gonna talk about my son! Diego! Eight years old! Where I'm from, that's off-limits." Antonio shouted.
"Abogado." He repeated and Antonio scoffed, storming out of the room.
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Antonio and Ariella were sitting at their desks. While Antonio went through pictures, Ariella stared at nothing, too distraught to work, "He's in here," Kim led Laura, Eva, and Gabby up to the bullpen.
"Dad," Eva rushed up to him.
"Hey, baby," Antonio hugged her back.
"Hey. How you holding up?" Gabby asked, next in line to hug her brother.
"Not even thinking about that right now," Antonio shook his head.
"What are you guys doing here?" Ariella hugged Gabby.
"We couldn't sit at home another minute," Eva told them.
"What's happening? What do you know?" Laura asked. Antonio looked over at Ariella, who nodded.
"Come on. Let's go get you two comfortable." Ariella led them towards the breakroom.
"Here you go," Kevin dropped a couple of snacks from the vending machine on the table in front of Gabby and Eva.
"Thanks, but I'm not hungry, really." She smiled.
"What have you guys heard?" Gabby asked.
"Nothing we can say, other than the whole CPD is doing everything it can," Kim reassured.
Eva started to cry, "The last thing I told Diego was that he was annoying."
"What was he doing?" Kevin asked.
"Shooting laser bullets at me with a Lego gun." She answered.
"We'll find him, and he's gonna annoy you for years to come. I promise." Kevin told her.
"Yeah, I hope so," Eva nodded.
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After getting Ernesto to admit who had Diego, they got his phone number, "He's running. Nothing about Diego." Erin announced as they listened to the phone call.
"I've pinged his cell to the west Adams tower, triangulating with the city center," Jin said.
"I want men deployed to all major transportation routes out of the city Midway, O'Hare, I'm including all expressways," Voight demanded
"He's at Union Station," Jin announced.
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Antonio ran into the station, trying to find the exact location of the cellphone, "Everybody, hit the floor," Voight said into the walkie-talkie. They all walked around, looking for anything and when they did finally find the phone, it was in a trashcan.
"Everyone, fan out. He's gotta be here somewhere." Antonio instructed, all of them walking in separate directions. Ariella walked outside the station to where all the buses were and spotted Diego. Her eyes widened and she almost broke every protocol in the book but stopped herself.
"I see him. Boarding a bus for Indianapolis." Ariella spoke into her com.
"Wait for us," Voight demanded.
"Mid-America bus number 949 is now boarding for Indianapolis. Mid-America bus number 949 is now boarding for Indianapolis." The announcer announced. She hesitated but knew it was her only chance so she took it.
She walked on, smiling at the driver, and discreetly flashed the woman her badge which was on her hip, nodding her head towards the bus. The bus driver nodded and Ariella walked down the aisle, quickly spotting Diego with the man. She took an empty seat in the back, a few rows behind Diego. A few minutes into the ride, her phone buzzed in her pocket.
'10 mins' It read from Voight. She felt the bus stop three times and closed her eyes in relief.
"Looks like we're having engine trouble, folks. I'm gonna pull the bus over and take a look." The driver announced. Ariella looked out the window and spotted Voight's black car, "I've already called another bus to take you on your way, so it should be here in a minute or two. Don't worry." The bus was driven off to the side of the road, "Here comes the backup bus now, folks. Apologies for any inconvenience." There was a knock on the bus door, and Al walked on.
"All right, we're real sorry for the delay," He immediately made eye contact with Ariella, then looked away just as fast, "Folks, but we've got a tried and true new rig out here that'll get you where you're going right away. Now, what I need from all of you is to disembark, grab your luggage, and head on over to the next bus in an orderly fashion. Can you do that for me?" Everyone nodded.
"Thank you." He nodded and walked back off the bus. Ariella waited for everyone else to get up, but saw that Diego and the guy weren't getting up. Once everyone but them was off the bus, she got up and walked to the front of the bus, "So what happened with the engine? Pretty scary, huh?" Ariella asked.
"The engine just-
"Is everything gonna be all right back there? We are gonna get where we need to go on time, right?" She asked.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's gonna be fine." The bus driver reassured.
"Okay. Cause the second bus is looking-"
"Policia." The guy stated suddenly. He whipped out his gun and aimed it at Diego's head. Ariella whipped her out just as fast and aimed it at the man.
"Drop it! Drop it!" Ariella yelled.
"I swear I will kill him." The guy threatened, pushing the gun further into Diego's head.
"And I swear, I'll put a bullet in your head before you pull the trigger! Put it down. Put it down! Drop the gun." She yelled.
"I swear I'll kill him." He threatened even further.
"Rivera, hold on to something," Ariella heard Adam through the coms. She grabbed hold of a seat as Adam drove the bus he was in into the bus she was in. The guy lost his balance and let go of Diego, who ran into Ariella's waiting arms.
"Come here, I got you. Get down." Ariella hugged him close as she took rescue in a couple of seats. Antonio ran onto the bus and shot the guy, "You're okay." She whispered, kissing Diego's head, "Antonio, I got him! I got Diego!" Once Antonio knew the guy was dead, he turned around to Ariella, who pulled away from Diego so they could hug.
"Come here. Diego." Antonio pulled him into a hug.
"Daddy,"
"Come here, come here," Antonio hugged him tight.
"Daddy!" Diego hugged his dad tighter.
"Oh! You were so brave. You were brave, buddy. You were brave." Antonio cooed, pulling Ariella into the hug, and kissing her head.
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"Sorry about the smell," Kim looked into the backseat where Diego, Antonio, and Ariella were.
"I don't mind a bit." Antonio smiled happily.
They pulled up in front of Laura's house, "Diego? Diego. Oh, my God." Laura came running outside with Eva, and they embraced him in a big hug.
"Mom!" Diego bolted over to his mom.
"Oh, my God. I thought I'd never see you again."
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All of them were in their dress blues for Jules' funeral, "Officers! Attention!" All of them were standing in a line, "Present arms!" They all saluted and Jules' husband walked up, pulling the piece of tape off the wall, her name now engraved on the wall.
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"I've been given the go-ahead to run Intelligence - the way I want to run it. No interference. This is our unit now. You do things my way, our way, and you'll unclip your badge at night knowing you did right. The police standing next to you are your family. And to me, there's nothing more important. If you're in, stay here with me." Voight told the team.
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note.
hey! here's another chapter! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will see you soon my loves 💕💕
SHOW: chicago pd:
season one, episode two
"wrong side of the bars"
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