─────❝2| A PAST TO FORGET❞─────
The Intelligence Unit was back in the bullpen, trying to figure out where could Pulpo be hiding. Marina looked up from her papers and to the stairs where Olinsky was arriving with a man behind him. She saw how the two newcomers were speaking with Sergeant Voight before Antonio started talking, bringing everyone back to reality and focus on the case.
"If D'Anthony was right, and he heard three voices in the apartment, Pulpo must have brought two hit men with him from Medellin," he said as he wrote two, big interrogation marks on the board below Pulpo's photograph.
"All right, just get this information to Lieutenant Belden in Violent Crime," Voight ordered. "Hey, have we gotten anything from his end?" he questions the team. They all shake their heads in denial, earning a look from Voight before Erin interrupted.
"Calls between Rev and Coop yesterday, only one other number called 'em both. It's a pay-as-you-go drop phone, signal's off, but it was purchased at a cell store in Greektown." Voight nodded while looking at the woman and back at the man standing behind her.
"Take Halstead. Check it out."
They nodded and grabbed their stuff before getting out of the bullpen. "Hey, I want the Canaryville out of you, not the Beverly, huh?" Voight called out to the new guy before going to his office.
"You got it, boss." The new guy turned to the detectives at the unit before introducing himself. "Hey, man. Adam Ruzek." He shook Antonio's hand before shaking Jules and then Marina's. "Adam Ruzek," he said, smiling at the Latina.
"Marina Cuevas, welcome to Intelligence."
The man sent her a smile before following Al to the locker rooms.
Once Lindsay and Halstead were back, they showed a picture from the guy that purchased the phone before pasting it on the board. "Colombian authorities I.D.'d this guy as Omar Rojas, freelance hit man," Halstead said.
"So Rev was the boss. Coop moved the merchandise. Whos' the next on the chain of command?"
"Well, that was the problem," Jules said, "Rev was only in town from Baron Rouge for a year. There was no structure to his crew."
Voight looked at her, and then to the rest of the team. "And nobody's talking?" They all shook their heads in denial. "All right. When Olinsky gets in, you tell-"
Once again, Alvin Olinsky rolled back from his desk, catching everyone's attention. "I'm right here."
Voight looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "Anything from your C.I.s?"
"No dice. Something about not wanting to have their heads chopped off," he stated nonchalantly. Marina rolled her eyes. This was getting to be a routine in this case, people wanting to be alive and too afraid to snitch on this crew.
"All right, get Rojas' image out there with Pulpo's citywide- all airports, train, bus stations, and keep hitting the bushes." Marina's eye traveled to the back of the room, where the Lieutenant from Violent Crime was. Voight guided him to his office, closing the door, leaving the group in the bullpen.
Marina scratched her head at the tense atmosphere and sat back down on her desk, handling the task Voight gave them. Not much time passed between the moment the lieutenant and Voight stepped into the office and when the lieutenant barged out, having a raging face plastered on his face. That's when Marina knew the conversation wasn't pleasant.
As the day came to an end, and not much more information about the case came through, Marina made her way to her apartment. She considered going to Molly's, the bar owned by Firehouse fifty-one's firefighters, due to Kevin Atwater having a gig there but she knew it wouldn't be a good idea. She knew herself and there was no way she was going to be okay if she went.
Her plans went down the drain when Erin Lindsey stood at her front door, ready to drag her to the bar. As much as she wanted to say no, Marina took one look at Erin's pleading face and gave in. She made herself a promise that it was only one drink for the night, and she was willing to commit to her promise.
Molly's bar was an amazing place where firefighters, doctors, and cops alike spent time. It was like they little sacred place. It was decorated with fairy lights, and for some reason Marina thought it was going to be empty, but it was the other way around. It was packed.
Paying for the full cover, which surprised both Erin and Marina, as Atwater was the one organizing the event, they found Kim Burgess and Jay in a booth, waiting for them. Jay sent Marina a smile, which she returned and made her way to sit beside Kim.
"Hey! We had to pay full cover at the door," Erin exclaims as Kevin makes his way to his coworkers.
Atwater smirks but doesn't drop his façade. "I'm running a business, detective." Marina laughed, eyeing the drinks around her, and took a deep breath. She was waiting a bit to order hers so she can control herself more.
"Atwater is the cheapest, I mean the cheapest guy you will ever meet." Kim didn't hesitate to tease her partner. "We drove- wait for it- we drove around for half an hour yesterday looking for an ATM that wouldn't charge him a withdrawal fee." Marina laughed at the story, amused with Kevin's antics.
"And there's a two-drink minimum, so start knocking 'em back." Looking at their face, he kept a blank stare. "I ain't playing." He directed his sentence at Marina, who had no drink in front of her. The woman sent him a look before he scurried away.
"Flight attendant," Jay said to Kim, continuing their conversation from earlier. They were talking about what they did before they became a cop, and to this day, Marina didn't like to talk about her past in the military.
"Uh, yeah, three years, waiting until I got into the police academy." Kim was very proud by her past but the detectives around her didn't seem too convinced about the job.
"Flight attendant?" Jay questioned with slight judgement in his tone, masking it with his taking a drink of his beer.
"You can break my balls all you want, but I learned more about crowd control and conflict resolution and intimidation tactics-- traits that will serve me well when you guys detail me up into Intelligence. Hint, hint." Marina laughed at her eagerness to get to where they currently are and shared a look with Erin and Jay.
"How about you?" Kim directed the conversation to Erin, who squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. Her past was not something she wanted her coworkers to know about.
"Oh, I just kicked around, nothing glamorous." She took a deep sip from her drink before setting it down.
"You?"
Jay cleared his throat to compose himself. "I was in the military." Marina perked up when he said that. they may have been working for a while together, but they didn't know each other that well. So knowing there was someone that shared that military past comforted her for some reason.
"Me too," Marina said with a small smile. "Special Forces."
"Ranger," Jay said, also smiling at her from his spot.
"You guys ever see any action?" Marina laughed dryly. Did she see any action? What she saw still haunted her to this day and it's been almost six years since she left. It was a past she hated and regretted most parts.
"I did," Jay stated, not wanting to say anything else about the matter. Marina nodded in agreement as her form to answer the question.
"Ever see anything like you did today?" Marina adverted her eyes, instead focused on signaling Otis, one of the firefighter owners, to get her a beer. Kim noticed how uncomfortable the former militaries were that she felt bad. "I'm sorry. Forget I asked that. that was a stupid question."
The rest of the night went by smoothly, the conversation about their past forgotten as more drinks came and they were enjoying themselves. It's been a long time since Marina let go and felt free as she did that night. She was glad Erin dragged her there, she just hoped this night drinking didn't come bite her in the ass.
———
The next day was not as bad as Marina thought. A night of drinking with work the next day was not ideal, but she didn't have a hangover so that was good. She was currently in the car with Antonio, waiting for the new guy Ruzek to do the buy so they can bust the dealers to get information.
After they did the bust and took the dealer back to the precinct with them, Antonio and Jules were the ones in charge of questioning him. It was not long before they came out with the information they needed. "We're looking for a Shane Cameron. Xavier says he's been in hiding since yesterday."
"Yeah, but he has a flop house over at Addison. Might be worth checking out." Jules looks at Voight waiting for his command.
"All right, everybody vest up."
Marina was paired with Jules and Antonio and they were tasked to go to the apartment to have a little chat with Shane Cameron. As the three came from Vice, they knew each other pretty well so their relationship and partnerships came easy to them. They worked great together.
"Two b?" Jules asked to confirm she had the right information. Antonio nodded from behind her. They climbed the stairs all the way to the apartment. Marina stood close to the window with Jules in front of her, knocking at the door just as Voight's voice came through the radio.
"Terminate. Pull back. Targets may be in the building."
Marina raised an eyebrow at the sudden information and looked at Antonio with questioning eyes. The older man sent a look at her and back at his partner. "Jules." The blonde woman sent him a small smirk and turned to face the door once again.
A shot came through the door, hitting Jules on the neck. Marina dropped to the ground and scooted to the staircase, placing her hands over the injury while Antonio informed the situation. "Ten one, officer shot!" Marina stared at her hands, which were still against her neck and saw the blood pooling and coating them and she had to close her eyes for a second and take a deep breath to bring herself back to reality. You're not there, Marina. You're back in Chicago and you're in the middle of a job, is what she whispered to herself.
Marina didn't notice when Erin and Voight arrived and entered the scene, she only was brought back when Antonio urged her to stand up so they could bring the injured detective down to the ambulance. All the way downstairs, Marina's hands didn't move from the injury.
"We got to move! Get her in the ambo," Gabriela Dawson, the paramedic, and Antonio's siSter, said as together they placed Jules in the stretcher.
"She's gonna be okay, right?" Erin asked, holding on to a bot of hope there was.
"We go to go right now," was all that Gabriela answered. Erin rode with Jules to the hospital while Antonio, Voight and Marina went back to the district where Pulpo was now in custody.
Marina couldn't stop staring at her hands coated in blood; it bought horrible memories to her, memories she wanted to avoid and forget about all together. She didn't see Jules face back there, no, she saw her old partner's face and how he was gasping for breath before his life left his eyes. She entered the building and went to the bathroom in an instant.
Her breath hitched in her throat at the sudden flash of memories and a yelp left her mouth. She had this under control, there's no way this is happening to her right now. She took the soap and almost bathed herself with it, rubbing her hands together trying to get rid of any indication that there was blood there before.
"Come on, come on," she whispered to herself as the water ran and the clear liquid turned red until it was back to clear again. But she didn't stop, she needed the feeling to be gone again. To forget she ever had any blood in her hands.
She stayed there for what felt longer than a couple of minutes. She missed the call from Erin informing the team that Jules didn't make it, Voight's snapping at Lieutenant Belver, Antonio beating Pulpo and the heart wrenching call from Laura Dawson that Diego was gone.
She stayed there getting a grip of herself and remind herself that crying was never going to get her anywhere. Because as soon as she stepped out of that bathroom, the reality was going to smack her in the face.