CHAPTER THIRTEEN,
10-1
"IF I HAVE TO handcuff you to your desk, I will," Antonio told her sternly.
"I know. Stay on desk duty." She nodded.
"You shouldn't even be back at work." He reminded.
"I know. But if I stay home any longer, I won't ever go back to work." She pouted.
"I get it. He's cute, but you shouldn't be at work." He told her again, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"If you keep telling me not to go back to work, I'm filing for divorce and taking Luca." She joked.
"Just...be safe." He told her.
"I will. I'll be glued to a desk." She reminded.
"I love you." He told her, moving his hands from her waist to the back of her neck.
"I love you, too." She smiled, rising to the tops of her toes, and placing a soft kiss on his lips.
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Silence fell among everyone as they stood in front of the garage, waiting for Pulpo to arrive. Everything was tense since they were still looking for Munoz, and he was still out there killing people.
"I know emotions are high. Pulpo and his men cost us one of our own, nearly cost us a family member, but if you got into this profession expecting not to deal with scumbags, you got into the wrong line of work." Voight preached to all of them. Jin held up his phone, "Go ahead." He told Jin, who walked over, and opened the garage, "Listen... this is us doing our job." He told them.
They all watched as 2 prison guards opened the back of the van, and pulled Pulpo out. They pulled the mask off of his face, and he took a deep breath of air, "Antonio." He smirked, looking directly at Antonio.
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Antonio showed Pulpo a picture of Munoz, "Ah, yes. Gustav Munoz. "Bad, bad, bad person." Ha. It'll be good to get him off the streets." Pulpo said sarcastically.
"Where is he?" Antonio asked, not in the mood for any of his games.
"Ah, a business first. I need to make sure my deal is done. After that, I'm at your service." Pulpo told them. A car pulled up, and Belden got out.
"I want to see what you're giving him," Antonio demanded. Belden handed him the paper, and he read it over before handing it to Erin, who also read it over, then handed one of the sheets back to Belden
"Out of solitary, money to his commissary account, extra yard time..." Belden listed. Antonio read it over before handing it over to Erin. She read it over then handed one of the sheets back to Belden.
"It's all right." Voight voiced. Belden walked over to Pulpo.
"Conjugal visits? Has he got a girl on the side?" Erin asked Voight.
"Find out. We can use whatever leverage we can get." Voight said.
"Yeah, okay. I know just the guy. He's a hacker I busted a year ago. He's under house arrest." Jay suggested.
"Perfect. Go." Erin and Jay left. Voight turned back to Pulpo, "Munoz." He demanded.
"As you may know, I'm still a criminal, a shot caller... yes?... to the eyes of the people in prison, which is why the idea of pulling me out for a fake surgery was so smart. Thanks for that, Lieutenant Belden. How do you say in English what I'm getting removed?" He asked.
"Gallbladder." Belden answered.
"Ah! Yes. Vesicula biliar in espanol..." Voight stopped his rambling by punching him in the face.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Belden shouted.
"Munoz. Right now." Voight demanded.
"Of course. Um... I'm gonna need a cell phone, por favor." Pulpo requested.
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Voight held the phone to Pulpo's ear as he talked to whoever he was talking to, "Okay. But I want my own guy. Because I said so. His name is Tico. He can be trusted. Okay. Hey, I got to go. Guards are gonna come soon, and I gotta hide the phone." He looked over at Antonio and winked, "Bueno." He said something in Spanish before nodding and Voight hung the phone up.
"Who's this Tico you're sending over?" Antonio asked.
"You," Pulpo responded with a shrug, as of it was obvious.
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"The Latin discount plazas. At any given time, a tractor-trailer full of drugs is being dropped off at one of these 30 malls. The police never know which one." Pulpo explained.
"Neither do the traffickers. That way if anybody gets arrested, nobody can lead the cops back to the bosses." Sumner added.
"Oh, but my connection knows, and he says there's a shipment coming from Indiana today, and so here we go... Antonio goes to meet my guy. El Vaquero... the cowboy, if you will. El vaquero will give you the truck to drive. At the pick-up will be Marcos Robles. Robles is a high-level capo who's in charge of these drugs, and it will be there, Damas y Caballeros, where Gustav Munoz will be to get his cut. Easy as uno, dos, tres." He snapped.
"Hey, come here." Pulpo walked back into the cell, "All the names match, so... pretty long sheets, especially with Robles. All Colombian descent, so pretty legit." Al explained.
"You up for this? I can pull another cop to go undercover." Voight told Antonio.
"I'll do it." Adam volunteered.
"Yeah? How's your Spanish?" Voight asked.
"No bueno." He answered.
"Munoz knows what you look like. You two went to fisticuffs." Al pointed out.
"I'm doing it. That way if it goes south, I have an excuse to break Pulpo's neck." Antonio nodded.
"This goes any different than Uno, dos, tres..."
"No need to finish your threat, okay? I completely understand the situation I'm in." Pulpo cut Voight off and looked behind Voight to Antonio, "Antonio. When you see the cowboy, tell him that Pulpo says Happy Birthday, then he'll know you're good." Pulpo told him.
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Pulpo sent them on in a circle, knowing Munoz wasn't gonna be there in the first place. He wanted them to do his dirty work for him, "This is Pulpo's baby mama and son, Osberto." Jay told Voight and Antonio.
"She here 'cause she wants to be here?" Antonio asked.
"No. We leaned on her. She's got a failure to appear off a DUI." Erin stated.
"Maybe played up possible jail time," Jay added and Voight patted his shoulder.
"You watch the kid." He told Ariella, and she nodded. She walked into the room, "Can you come with me, please, ma'am?" Voight asked Lina. She stood up hesitantly, grabbing her stuff. Ariella took her spot, sitting down next to the kid.
"Looks like it's just gonna be me and you for a while, little buddy." She smiled at the boy.
"Is my mom in trouble?" Osberto asked and Ariella sighed, struggling to find the right words.
"There's a bad man, and we're trying to stop him from doing more bad things, and your mom's helping us." She tried to explain it in the simplest way.
"Okay." He nodded.
"Okay? It's all right. Okay?" She reassured. He stood up, and hugged her, "Oh." She hugged him, back surprised, but accepting the hug.
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"8:00 A.M. be suited up and ready to go," Antonio announced to all of them.
"And we believe Pulpo?" Al asked.
"What is it Jay likes to say? He's the best of a lot of bad options." Antonio said.
"So we're just supposed to take his word for it even after he lied..." Antonio banged on his desk, causing Ariella, who was sitting in the break room to gasp and looked up, and everyone else to jump.
"You think I want to be dealing with this prick? Every day I look across the desk and I see a chair where my partner used to sit, and she ain't here because of him." Antonio stormed off.
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Ariella and Antonio were walking out of the precinct. He opened the door for her and she smiled, "Ariella." She turned to where she heard her name being called.
"Charlie." She looked at him shocked and surprised.
"I'm back." He told her. Antonio looked between the two of them confused.
"I'll, uh, I'll meet you at the car," Ariella told her husband, still looking at Charlie, shocked to see him.
"You sure?" Antonio asked, not really wanting to leave her alone.
"Yeah, I'm good." She nodded and sent him a reassuring smile. He walked out of the door, but not before looking Charlie up and down once more.
"Boyfriend?" Charlie asked as soon as Antonio was gone.
"Doesn't matter." She told him.
"No hug? Come on. Come on." He asked, and she sighed, walking down the steps and hugging him, "All right. Okay, where's the badge? I'm not gonna believe it till I see the badge. Come on." She pulled up her shirt, and showed him her badge that was attached to her waistband, "I still don't believe it." He scoffed
"It's funny how life works out, huh?" She crossed her arms, "You're not supposed to be in Chicago, Charlie."
"It's been long enough. I missed everybody, missed you and Erin, and, uh... well, I don't need to explain myself. I wanted to come back." She was waiting for the question she knew was coming, "You still in touch with Annie?"
"Yeah, Erin and I are." Ariella nodded.
"Yeah, I been looking for her too. You got her number?" He asked.
"You got to let me talk to her first." She looked him dead in the eyes.
"You gonna be like that? Come on. Give me a break." He begged.
"I have your number, Charlie. Erin and I will be in touch." Ariella told him. Charlie walked towards the door, but stopped and turned to her.
"I'm proud of you, girl. I'm serious. You made it out." He looked at her.
"Thanks." Ariella nodded, unsure of what to say.
"You're safe." He added. Ariella stood in her same spot, unmoving and not knowing what to do, so she grabbed her phone out of her pocket. While she was walking toward the car, she called who she needed to call.
"Hey, Ariella. What's up?" Erin answered.
"Erin, he's back. Charlie's back in Chicago." Ariella told her.
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Guns were being cocked together as they all got ready. Ariella watched with her arms crossed, scared for all of them. But, then again, she always worried.
"Francisco Heredia. Get a good look at him. Now we obviously want Munoz first before any shots are fired. Getting Heredia in custody is a secondary objective. It's gonna be a big crowd, lots of moving parts, so keep your eyes and ears open." Antonio told them all, pointing to the picture of Francisco on the board.
"All right. Hey, Jin, come here." Voight pulled Jin aside, but not before looking at Ariella.
"I know. I'll stay here and pray to God that you all stay safe." She nodded.
"Wow, Ariella actually listened." He joked, and the others smiled, while she rolled her eyes. Voight pulled Jin aside while Erin pulled Ariella aside.
"What did he say? Charlie" Erin asked.
"Nothing. He said he missed us and he wants to talk to Annie." She shrugged.
"Well, what'd you say?" Erin asked.
"That we'd talk to her first, and then we'll contact him," Ariella told her.
"Okay, good." Erin nodded and went to follow Jay.
"Erin, why is he back? He's not supposed to be here in Chicago." Ariella looked nervous.
"I don't know, Ari. But, we'll figure it out." Erin reassured her, hugging her. Ariella nodded and hugged her back.
Ariella let go of Erin with a smile, and turned back towards Antonio, "Hey." She smiled.
"Who was that guy last night? Charlie?" He asked.
"No one." She brushed it off.
"Ariella, I'm not stupid. You tensed up when she saw him." Antonio pointed out.
"Can we not talk about this here? I'll tell you tonight. I promise." She held out her pinky, waiting for him to link it with hers.
"Promise?" He asked, holding out his pinky, but not linking yet.
"Promise." She nodded, and he finally linked his finger with hers.
━━━
Long story short, Munoz fired shots, and in the end, ended up with a bullet in his skull. So, win-win for all of them, "You wanted to see me?" Ariella asked, walking into Voight's office.
"What's Charlie Pugliese doing back in town?" Vought asked, looking away from the window and to her. She shut the door.
She sighed, "I don't know, but Erin and I will handle it."
"The deal was, I take you in, he stays out of Illinois." He reminded.
"Like I said, we will handle it." She repeated.
"Don't go backward, Ariella." He told her. They heard gunshots and quickly ran downstairs. When they got downstairs, they saw Belden, two of the guards, and Antonio down.
"We got officers down!" Jay shouted, "You see anything?" He asked Erin.
"No. Nothing," Erin told him.
"Oh, my God." Ariella rushed over to Antonio, looking at the blood, "Antonio, God. Please stay with me." She begged.
"I'll go left." Sumner, Adam, and Al came from a different angles.
"No visual."
"Antonio's down!" Ariella shouted, putting pressure on his wound, "Please, baby." She cried.
"Hank?" Erin asked.
"Somebody call an ambulance!" Ariella shouted, putting more pressure on the wound.
"10-1, squad! Officer shot, 21st district at the roll-up!" Voight shouted in the walkie, "Come on. Come on!" He kept repeating, taking Ariella's place and putting pressure on his wound. He looked over to Ariella, who was panicking like no other, running a hand through her hair, getting blood everywhere.
"Please, God." She begged.
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note.
hey! so, cliffhanger. wow, some really bad luck for the Dawsons. both of them shot within the same year. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will see you soon my loves 💕💕
SHOW: chicago pd:
season one, episode thirteen
"my way"
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