A chance encounter with an old Army friend leaves Jay struggling to navigate the man's delusions while the team races against the clock to find him before it's too late.
Chapter 4 is here.
Read on Ao3 or below the cut.
His determination to keep his head down lasts about a mile.
He’s done plenty of treks before when his body wasn’t really up for it so the idea of pushing through pain, exhaustion and any number of other things isn’t really new.
But that doesn’t mean he likes it or that he has any patience for it when it is absolutely not necessary.
Red hasn’t even actually slowed down like he promised and Jay is starting to get a little pissed off.
“Can we take a break, man?” he asks, tentatively yanking against the rope around his neck without applying any sustained pressure.
Red glances back without stopping.
“You used to be able to go a lot longer before you started crying like a baby, Ricky.”
“Fuck you, man.” he says heatedly. “I fucked up my leg and I have a concussion. Sorry if I want to take it a little easier right now while nobody is actively on our tail so that I can maybe heal up a little bit in case they do catch up and we end up having to run for it.”
“You want a chance to leave some kind of clue for your stupid friends so they can find you easier.” Red retorts.
“Would definitely love to get my bearings a little bit before you gt us completely lost the way you did in ‘03.” Jay snaps back.
Red comes to a halt, turning to face him fully.
“Yeah.” He says, pulling the rope tight and causing the loop to slowly tighten. “There’s fiesty old Ricky. A real badass, huh?”
“You know I’m right.” Jay challenges. “Rest when you can. That’s always been the rule.”
Red raises an eyebrow and pulls the rope even tighter.
Jay feels the rough fibers start to dig into the tender skin of his throat.
“Fuck off, man.” He hisses, slightly breathless.
Red smirks.
“I’m the one with all the power here, Ricky.” He taunts. “You rest if I say you can rest. You walk when I tell you to walk.”
“I’m injured you motherfucking asshole.” Jay snaps.
“That never stopped you before.” Red snaps back with a tug.
“Yeah.” Jay says, wincing as a lance of pain rushes down his throat. “I can push through when it’s time to push through.”
He pauses, taking a few measured breaths.
“I can also tell the difference.” He growls.
Red slams him back against a tree, pressing right up into his face and bracing a hand on his shoulder before pulling sharply on the rope to finally close off his airway.
Panic rushes through him as he instinctively tries to take a breath and comes up short.
The pain in his wrist and knee are suddenly a distant, insignificant concern as getting oxygen into his lungs becomes his brain’s only priority.
He lashes out, landing vicious blows that Red seems to ignore entirely.
Time stretches out, every heartbeat prolonging as he struggles.
And then his struggles begin to fade.
Dark spots appear at the corners of his vision and he blinks rapidly, some part of him hoping that doing so will clear his vision.
The pressure releases.
The air that he sucks into his lungs is cool and fresh.
Top ten best air that he’s breathed in his entire life.
He sinks down to his knees, pain exploding back into his world as his right knee hits the ground.
He shifts his weight left, attempting to curl his broken wrist to his chest and stopping as the ropes binding his wrists cruelly remind him that isn’t an option.
“Funny how that works.” Red taunts, couching down in front of him. “How you suddenly become capable of fighting through the pain again when the right motivation presents itself.”
“Almost like I never fucking denied that, asshole.” Jay croaks weakly.
“Just because death due to strangulation is more imminent doesn’t make it more real.” Red scolds him. “The men who are after me will torture you and then they will kill you. And by the time they finally grant you the mercy that is death, you will have long been begging for it.”
“Torture.” Jay muses. “Like being forced to hobble along on a leg that’s really not up for it and being hit in the head repeatedly?”
“Oh shut it.” Red growls. “You know the kind of torture these people are capable of. This is nothing.”
“These people.” Jay mutters. “Won’t tell me who the hell these people are. Haven’t even seen proof that they’re real.”
“Getting sloppy.” Red tells him. “They were following us on the highway. Forced us off the road.”
Then where the hell are they?
Jay doesn’t voice the thought aloud. It’s pretty clear that the man’s words aren’t based in reality at this point.
The crash isn’t the clearest memory for him right now but he’s pretty sure Red had been swerving away from shadows when they’d gone off the road.
And that he would remember if someone had been following them given that he’d been looking for signs of life trying to decide whether or not to take his chances attacking the man.
“I can hear you sassing me from over there, you little shit.” Red growls, reaching out and pulling the length of rope attached to his wrists free from his belt and uncoiling it.
“I think you’ve rested enough.” He adds bitterly. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover if we’re going to make up for your little tantrum. Let’s go.”
Jay desperately wants to tell him to go fuck himself but with a sharp tug, the rope is causing the bones in his wrist to shift.
He struggles to his feet, holding his breath as he outs his weight on his bad leg.
Red doesn’t give him a chance to adjust, dragging him back onto the narrow trail.
A chance encounter with an old Army friend leaves Jay struggling to navigate the man's delusions while the team races against the clock to find him before it's too late.
Chapter 3 is now up.
Read on Ao3 or below the cut.
Waking up hurts.
It isn’t just his head pounding this time – though it definitely hasn’t shut up – every other part of his body has joined in on the symphony.
Before he can collect himself and try to sit up, hands are grabbing at the ropes binding his wrists and pulling him upright.
Even then, it takes a moment to remember why there are ropes binding his wrists.
Red.
Is the man clinically insane? Suffering from some kind of condition that’s altering his grip on reality and twisting his memories and perceptions into something darker, something dangerous.
Or is he just run of the mill crazy? Misinterpreting benign things as proof that someone is after him.
He doesn’t think Redding had been assigned to anything in the years they’d served together that would have enemies hunting him down on US soil all these years later.
Was there something during his second or third tours that could explain why he’s acting like this?
He’s not sure either answer justifies injuring and kidnapping someone but he does believe that Red had been genuine in his assertion that his intention here is to protect Jay; even if he has to hurt him to do it.
He stops wondering about it when Red jerks hard on the ropes, dragging him up to his knees.
Pain that apparently just hadn’t broken through with the first pull explodes through his right arm.
Red lets go, leaving him sitting back on his heels for a moment and he studies the limb.
There’s the beginnings of swelling and redness around the ropes on his wrist and he groans.
It’s hard to say for sure but he thinks it might be broken; probably during the tumble down the hill as he was being tossed about, pulling harshly against his restraints
The left wrist is reddened as well but doesn’t show the same swelling.
Red returns, feeding the end of a length of rope around the bindings on his wrists and knotting it off.
“Dude.” he says darkly. “If you think you’re dragging me around using that..”
He trails off, no real threats to offer and the heavy awareness that he probably can’t do anything to stop Red if that’s the plan.
“If I have to.” Red says with a smirk. “But I think you’re smarter than that.”
Jay narrows his eyes.
“What does -”
He cuts off as Red throws the loop at the end of another length of rope over his head and then cinches it down loosely.
“If you do what you’re told – if you keep up with me and don’t tighten this loop past what’s safe – this will be your leash.” he explains cruely.
Jay bristles at the term.
He’s not some kind of fucking dog.
“You fall behind,” Red continues. “Tighten this up too much; then I have to switch to the one on your wrists which is a lot more painful, I think.”
He pulls on the rope and – feeling the rope around his neck tighten – Jay has no choice but to scramble painfully to his feet.
He doesn’t think anything other than his wrist is broken but his ribs and right leg aren’t fans of the movement.
His knee in particular protests taking his weight but holds.
Red coils up the end of the rope attached to Jay’s wrists, tucking it into the waistband of his jeans and then ties the end of the other around a branch on a nearby tree.
Jay tentatively reaches up as the man walks away, confirming his suspicion that the branch is too high up for him to reach the knot and untie it.
The rope is also too short for him to sit or even kneel back down so he’s left standing there, waiting for his captor to return.
When he does, it’s clear that he’s returned to the wreckage of the vehicle as the dark green backpack Jay had seen back in that old storefront is on his back.
“We’ve got quite a hike ahead of us.” he announces, untying the rope from the tree and twisting it around his hand. “Hope you wore your walking shoes.”
“I knocked around my bad knee.” Jay says weakly, knowing it probably won’t make any difference.
“Bad knee?” Red asks, freezing.
“When the IED hit our convoy.” Jay says, knowing Red would have heard of the tragedy. “All those Rangers killed.”
“Yeah.” Red says, eyes clouding briefly. “That was… lost some good guys. What… what’s wrong with your knee?”
“Bad dislocation.” Jay answers carefully. “Some torn ligaments. Took three surgeries to put it right and it’s never been completely the same. It must have hit the door.”
Probably more than once.
Red glances down at his knee for a split second, frowning.
“I don’t.. that sucks man but we… we have to get going. The crash will have drawn their attention. We need distance. And fast.”
Jay grimaces as the man tugs on his ‘leash’.
“I’ll keep it slower, pal.” Red offers. “But we have to go.”
With a sigh, Jay reluctantly starts to limp forward.
He has to watch carefully for a chance to fight back.
Red may look to be unarmed right now and with his back turned to Jay but the snare back at the storefront has reminded him of his old friend’s aptitude with traps and tricks.
He quite likely has some concealed way to ward off an attack, efficiently and brutally.
So Jay will wait – and watch – for the right chance.
A chance encounter with an old Army friend leaves Jay struggling to navigate the man's delusions while the team races against the clock to find him before it's too late.
Chapter 2 is now up.
Read on Ao3 or below the cut.
Hailey didn’t think too much of it when Jay texted her.
Yeah, she got permission from Voight to grab Kevin and go out to meet him but she wasn’t really worried.
Jay can take care of himself and she knows the storefront he’d been referring to.
It’s a small building so he wasn’t likely to encounter more than one or two people.
Then she gets there and he’s gone.
By the time she and Kevin have cleared the building, they’ve found several traces of him – his truck, his shattered phone, a trail of blood, and the remains of some kind of snare – but there’s no Jay.
“He tripped this.” Kevin murmurs. “Got pulled up by his foot.”
“And bashed his head against the wall in the process.” Hailey says darkly.
“Blood trail suggests he was carried out of here unconscious.” Kevin muses.
“Why though?” Hailey asks. “I can see a homeless person setting up a snare to keep from being attacked in their sleep or having their stuff stolen but why take him?”
“Maybe they saw his badge and panicked?” Kevin suggests.
Hailey shakes her head.
She can’t quite put her finger on it but this doesn’t quite feel like panic.
“We need to get crime scene out here.” he reminds her. “And call Voight.”
Hailey grimaces.
Calling for help feels like admitting that she won’t find her husband here.
She sighs.
“I’ll call Voight, you call crime scene?” she suggests.
Kevin agrees quickly, not wanting to be the one to tell their boss that the day has been derailed entirely.
That they’ll have to try to balance the case they were already investigating with looking for their missing colleague.
She takes a deep breath and then hits the call button.
“Voight.”
“Hey, we’ve got a problem.” she says carefully.
“What did Halstead drag us into this time?” he asks with a sigh.
“Not sure yet.” she says, biting back her annoyance with his attitude. “He’s missing.”
His breath sharpens.
“Missing?”
“It looks like whoever had broken into the building set up some kind of snare. Evidence suggests that he tripped it and was knocked unconscious.” she explains. “His phone is here and it’s been shattered.”
“Alright.” he says. “We’re on our way. You got crime scene on the way?”
“Kevin is calling them now.” she tells him.
“Start checking for cameras.” he orders. “We’ll be there soon.”
She hums a confirmation and then hangs up, turning to see Kevin walking back toward her.
“Crime scene is enroute.” he says.
“So is the team.” she replies. “Voight wants us to get a start on cameras.”
He nods and they walk back toward his car.
Jay’s truck is still parked neatly in a spot in front of the restaurant that probably still has their lunch sitting under a warming lamp.
Hailey finds herself staring at it while Kevin pulls out his laptop.
“I’m just gonna go check the truck.” she says finally, pulling out her keys.
Kevin frowns but eventually nods.
They haven’t recovered Jay’s keys which raises the question of why it wasn’t taken?
Was it just the knowledge that the truck would probably have a tracker – they had made sure to disable his phone before leaving after all – or was there something more to it?
She pulls on a fresh pair of gloves as she approaches, taking a moment to pull on the door handle and make sure the truck is locked before pressing the button on the keys to unlock it.
His keys, badge and handcuffs are sitting right there on the driver’s seat.
Her mind performs a quick inventory of what’s been recovered versus what he would have had on him.
His gun and wallet are still missing.
He still has his watch too but while it’s a nicer watch, there’s nothing that she can use to track them.
She can put an alert on his credit and debit cards and flag his weapon in case something related to it comes up.
Her stomach twists at the additional concerns that his gun in the hands of his captor might add to an already complex situation.
She closes the door, turning and walking back over to Kevin.
“We’ll want to have crime scene check the truck for prints.” she says, keeping her tone flat. “They left some of his belongings on the front seat so there might be prints on the door.”
“Yeah.” he says, similarly working to keep his tone even. “That would be good. Maybe identify this guy.”
He spins his computer toward her, pressing play on a view from a traffic camera that clearly shows a man walking down the alley from behind the abandoned storefront.
Jay is slung over his back in a fireman’s carry.
His face is obscurred by a scarf wrapped over his mouth and nose and a beanie pulled low into his face.
He walks directly to a car parked on the curb, pulling open the door and dumping Jay into the passenger seat.
He stays there for a moment, his actions mostly blocked from the camera by the vehicle itself but the way she can see Jay’s arms being pulled up paints a picture she doesn’t like.
Then he closes the door, opening the backdoor to throw a backpack into the backseat and closing the door again.
He jogs over to Jay’s truck, throwing the belongings that she’d found onto the seat and locking the door from the inside before closing it.
He returns to the small sedan, climbing into the driver’s seat where he ducks down briefly before sitting back up and driving away.
“I got a plate number.” Kevin says. “But that looked like he was hotwiring it to me.”
She has to agree.
“He knew it was there.” she comments. “Doesn’t look around, doesn’t look surprised when the door is unlocked.”
“Might of scouted it out in advance though.” he comments. “If you watch the way he moves -”
“Reminds you of Jay.” she agrees. “Could be military. But that means he’s been hanging around here for a minute. We’ll need to go back further on the cameras.”
“And still talk to the owner of that car.” he adds as a door slams nearby.
They look over to see Voight getting out of his SUV, Kim pulling her Lexus in behind him.
