Warnings: cyber attack on emergency services, 911 outage, operational chaos, arrest of suspect, high-stress emergency environment
Series Masterlist
“Platt called, we’re all to come downstairs ASAP,” Mouse announces to the bullpen, after hanging up. Curious looks are shared, but everyone including the Sergeant moves.
Sergeant Platt stands behind her counter—in front of her nearly the entire shift of the 21st District. Sober faces all round—bracing for bad news.
“The 911 server got hit by a cyber attack. It’s expected to go down in the next half hour. This means some 911 calls will still come through. But they will have to be handled manually. Yeah, I’m talking pen, paper and maps—it’s going to be messy and chaotic. People will make mistakes. And 911 calls will be delayed; some might not go through at all. Every officer available will be out on the streets. Keep your eyes open out there, have each others backs and keep radio use to a minimum,” she nods.
Officers shake their heads in disbelief and get going. Voigt turns to his unit, “That goes for us too. Team up, suit up and get going. Mouse, you head over to dispatch. See what you can do to mitigate this attack. If you find something call me or Jay.”
“Well, this is going to be fun. Please, get these servers back up fast, Mouse,” Jay sighs and lays a hand on Mouse’s shoulder.
Mouse gives him a tight smile, “I’ll do my best, Jay.”
A short drive later Mouse walks into the CECC (Chicago Emergency Communications Centre). As he enters the command room, the shift supervisor exits it. After being assigned a work station, he sets up his laptop and gets to work.
15 minutes later the server goes down under the sustained Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. The focus is on redirecting the traffic to keep at least the phone lines online. It becomes clear the incoming lines are not the target. The attacks focus on the dispatch infrastructure itself. The part of the infrastructure that handles call logs and dispatches.
“Well, that’s strange. Now, why would someone do that?” Mouse mumbles and starts a log file to catalogue spikes in the traffic. Once that’s done, he gets his backtrace programs running and picks up his cell.
“Hey Jay, this DDoS attack is strange. They are targeting the dispatch specifically. I set up a log file. As soon as that’s complete, I’ll check for patterns.”
“When will the servers be up again, man? It’s chaos out here. We just had three units assigned to the same traffic accident.”
“I’m on it. The backtrace is running. Once it’s donne we start blocking their access. Currently the server is still getting too many pings at once.”
“Pft. Okay, just make it fast, please?”
“As fast as possible, Jay. You know me.”
Mouse has barely returned to his work when he is hugged from behind.
“I’ve missed you like hell! It’s sooo good you’re here!” the woman with a 911-Operator badge greets him. Then she kisses him on the cheek.
“Hey, there. I’ve missed you too.” He takes a quick look around. “Are you on break?”
“Of course, or I wouldn’t be here,” she answers little offended.
He turns to her: “I have a backtrace program running, so I can take a few moments.”
“Come on then!” Grabbing his hand she practically drags him out of his chair, towards the hallway.
Half an hour later Mouse is back at his station, a slight rose tint on his cheeks. Checking the progress of his automated programs he nods.
“That’s what I thought. The traffic spikes when coverage shifts. But which area are they trying to expose?” he taps his fingers on the desk and brings up the patrol grids. After overlaying them with traffic surges he smiles.
“Hey, Jay. They are targeting the Art Institute. They’re spicing traffic to expose the patrol grid there.”
“The Art Institute? That makes sense. Any idea who is behind this?”
“Someone with plenty of money. The equipment for an attack like this isn’t cheap. That rules out the colleague kid from last week.”
“The one with the credit card scam?”
“Yeah.”
“He lawyered up fast and expensive. Got off cheap. If you think it could be him, look into it some more for me.”
“Well, the coding is almost an exact match. I’m on it.”
As Mouse detects the next traffic spike, he calls the Sergeant.
“Voight, we have another spike.”
“Copy that. We’re gonna check the Art Institute.”
Some minutes later Jay calls, “Mouse, are there any venues at the Institute today? We’ve got a catering van idling here.”
“Checking...that’s a negative, Jay.”
“Understood. Olinsky says they’ve got a police scanner. That’s got to be our guys.”
“Shit, hold on, Jay. Seems this DDoS attack is coming from our college kid. At least the signal bounces from an apartment near campus.”
“Uff, we’re stretched thin here,” Jay sounds tired. “Sergeant, Mouse narrowed the attackers signal down to an apartment near campus?”
“Alright, take Lindsey and arrest this kid. Getting 911 back up is a priority. We’ve got these two.”
“Yes, Sergeant. Mouse we’re on our way over there.”
“I’ve heard. I’ll keep you in the loop if anything changes.”
“Hey man, we got the kid. What shall we do with his laptop?”
“Close it, unplug it and put it in an RFD-bag. I’ll check it later.”
“Copy. We’ll transport him over to the precinct.”
“Yeah, now that he’s out, we should be back online in about an hour.”
Close to an hour later, Mouse shuts his own laptop and moves to the call centre. Scanning the room full of exhausted but relieved Operators bringing their systems back online.
He stops behind the chair of the Operator from earlier and puts his arms around her. She jolts.
“Hey! Mouse?” She jumps up and hugs him tight.
“Thank, you. Thank, you! You brought our servers back!”
He hugs her back, “You’re welcome, Spot. It wasn’t just me. Jay actually arrested the hacker.”
“Yeah, fine. I’ll thank him later. And who caused this whole mess,” she leans back to look at him.
“The colleague kid from a week ago.”
“A colleague kid? But why?”
“Attention. Showing off.”
She shakes her head, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Her line rings and both separate, “See you later, Mouse.”
Warnings: cyber attack on emergency services, 911 outage, operational chaos, arrest of suspect, high-stress emergency environment
Series masterlist
“Platt called, we’re all to come downstairs ASAP,” Mouse announces to the bullpen, after hanging up. Curious looks are shared, but everyone including the Sergeant moves.
Sergeant Platt stands behind her counter—in front of her nearly the entire shift of the 21st District. Sober faces all round—bracing for bad news.
“The 911 server got hit by a cyber attack. It’s expected to go down in the next half hour. This means some 911 calls will still come through. But they will have to be handled manually. Yeah, I’m talking pen, paper and maps—it’s going to be messy and chaotic. People will make mistakes. And 911 calls will be delayed; some might not go through at all. Every officer available will be out on the streets. Keep your eyes open out there, have each others backs and keep radio use to a minimum,” she nods.
Officers shake their heads in disbelief and get going. Voigt turns to his unit, “That goes for us too. Team up, suit up and get going. Mouse, you head over to dispatch. See what you can do to mitigate this attack. If you find something call me or Jay.”
“Well, this is going to be fun. Please, get these servers back up fast, Mouse,” Jay sighs and lays a hand on Mouse’s shoulder.
Mouse gives him a tight smile, “I’ll do my best, Jay.”
A short drive later Mouse walks into the CECC (Chicago Emergency Communications Centre). As he enters the command room, the shift supervisor exits it. After being assigned a work station, he sets up his laptop and gets to work.
15 minutes later the server goes down under the sustained Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. The focus is on redirecting the traffic to keep at least the phone lines online. It becomes clear the incoming lines are not the target. The attacks focus on the dispatch infrastructure itself. The part of the infrastructure that handles call logs and dispatches.
“Well, that’s strange. Now, why would someone do that?” Mouse mumbles and starts a log file to catalogue spikes in the traffic. Once that’s done, he gets his backtrace programs running and picks up his cell.
“Hey Jay, this DDoS attack is strange. They are targeting the dispatch specifically. I set up a log file. As soon as that’s complete, I’ll check for patterns.”
“When will the servers be up again, man? It’s chaos out here. We just had three units assigned to the same traffic accident.”
“I’m on it. The backtrace is running. Once it’s donne we start blocking their access. Currently the server is still getting too many pings at once.”
“Pft. Okay, just make it fast, please?”
“As fast as possible, Jay. You know me.”
Mouse has barely returned to his work when he is hugged from behind.
“I’ve missed you like hell! It’s sooo good you’re here!” the woman with a 911-Operator badge greets him. Then she kisses him on the cheek.
“Hey, there. I’ve missed you too.” He takes a quick look around. “Are you on break?”
“Of course, or I wouldn’t be here,” she answers little offended.
He turns to her: “I have a backtrace program running, so I can take a few moments.”
“Come on then!” Grabbing his hand she practically drags him out of his chair, towards the hallway.
Half an hour later Mouse is back at his station, a slight rose tint on his cheeks. Checking the progress of his automated programs he nods.
“That’s what I thought. The traffic spikes when coverage shifts. But which area are they trying to expose?” he taps his fingers on the desk and brings up the patrol grids. After overlaying them with traffic surges he smiles.
“Hey, Jay. They are targeting the Art Institute. They’re spicing traffic to expose the patrol grid there.”
“The Art Institute? That makes sense. Any idea who is behind this?”
“Someone with plenty of money. The equipment for an attack like this isn’t cheap. That rules out the colleague kid from last week.”
“The one with the credit card scam?”
“Yeah.”
“He lawyered up fast and expensive. Got off cheap. If you think it could be him, look into it some more for me.”
“Well, the coding is almost an exact match. I’m on it.”
As Mouse detects the next traffic spike, he calls the Sergeant.
“Voight, we have another spike.”
“Copy that. We’re gonna check the Art Institute.”
Some minutes later Jay calls, “Mouse, are there any venues at the Institute today? We’ve got a catering van idling here.”
“Checking...that’s a negative, Jay.”
“Understood. Olinsky says they’ve got a police scanner. That’s got to be our guys.”
“Shit, hold on, Jay. Seems this DDoS attack is coming from our college kid. At least the signal bounces from an apartment near campus.”
“Uff, we’re stretched thin here,” Jay sounds tired. “Sergeant, Mouse narrowed the attackers signal down to an apartment near campus?”
“Alright, take Lindsey and arrest this kid. Getting 911 back up is a priority. We’ve got these two.”
“Yes, Sergeant. Mouse we’re on our way over there.”
“I’ve heard. I’ll keep you in the loop if anything changes.”
“Hey man, we got the kid. What shall we do with his laptop?”
“Close it, unplug it and put it in an RFD-bag. I’ll check it later.”
“Copy. We’ll transport him over to the precinct.”
“Yeah, now that he’s out, we should be back online in about an hour.”
Close to an hour later, Mouse shuts his own laptop and moves to the call centre. Scanning the room full of exhausted but relieved Operators bringing their systems back online.
He stops behind the chair of the Operator from earlier and puts his arms around her. She jolts.
“Hey! Mouse?” She jumps up and hugs him tight.
“Thank, you. Thank, you! You brought our servers back!”
He hugs her back, “You’re welcome, Spot. It wasn’t just me. Jay actually arrested the hacker.”
“Yeah, fine. I’ll thank him later. And who caused this whole mess,” she leans back to look at him.
“The colleague kid from a week ago.”
“A colleague kid? But why?”
“Attention. Showing off.”
She shakes her head, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Her line rings and both separate, “See you later, Mouse.”
“See you at home, Spot.”
Header and Line Divider by the author
Writen as part of the Warmanjuary fic action Masterlist Warmanjuary
Trudy in plainclothes is my new obsession because what do you mean her badge pinned on her belt and a button down shirt with jeans in a non-domestic setting??? 🥰😩🤭🩵✨
Enjoy a nice little whatever this is for day 6 of the May Writing Challenge!
Grabbing his Sox hat, he stuffed the rest of his clothes into his backpack and zipped it up.
Stepping out in the early spring morning, he began his walk to the bus stop.
He really didn't want to leave if he was honest, but the yelling had gotten only worse since his mom got sick! It was like every little thing she did in his eyes she did wrong. And Will was no help, what with him spending nights couch surfing at different school friends' bedroom floors, claiming "sleepovers" or "late night studying sessions".
Last night had been the last straw! His mom got violently sick in the bathroom and ended up throwing up blood. After calling EMS and faking nicietes, the minute the front door shut, the smile plastered on his dad's face dropped and he began screaming at the only other person present in the room....Jay.
Jay knew he was taking out his anger in some way, but claiming it's your child's - your own flesh and blood's - fault your wife got sick because he - the child! - asked for her to help him make lunch for everyone is just messed up.
So, when he overheard that his mom was in the clear and her vitals were returing to what they were before, he ran.
He didnt know where he was running to until his feet led him to the steps of the 9th District Police Station. Taking a breath, he stood tall, adjusted the bag on his shoulders and walked inside.
At the front desk, was a brunette, who looked like she had been awake for 36hrs straight and was about ready to go home.
"How can I help you?" She asked with a tone of lack lusterness.
Jay, fiddled with the strings attached to the straps of his bag and looked at the name tag on the desk sergeant.
"Ms. Platt" he began. If his dad taught him anything right, it was to always address someone with Ms. or Mr.
"I need help. My dad is abusive to my mother who has cancer and is emotionally abusive to my older brother and I. I'm running away" (oh the innocence of a 9yr old who hasn't learned to lie).
Sergeant Platt knew CPS would have to do a welfare check to check if the boy was telling the truth, but she also knew that CPS would probably not find anything substantial since the boy says it's mostly a domestic abuse of a parent and emotional abuse on the kids. She also was well aware that as a sergeant it was well within her rights to bring the child right back to the home and when CPS gets brought in they will most likely use the fact that the child admitted to being a flight risk as a reason his word shouldn't be trusted.
After a beat, she smiled and stated, "let me get my friend down here and we can all chat, is that okay?"
Jay just nodded and then followed her into a back room.
"What's your name?" She asked while they waited for her friend to come.
"Jay"
And before they could dive further into conversation, her friend - detective Al Olinsky - walked in.
After explaining the situation to him, the 3 of them talked in great detail about what Jay has observed in his own home, about how his mother is doing physically and mentally, about where Will has been staying, and how Jay feels about everything regarding the matter. To Jay, he enjoyed the fact that they took what he was saying seriously since he knew they could have just put him in a Patrol car and driven him back to Canaryville.
"Okay Jay, I know that your 9, but you seem smart enough to know that CPS will have to do a welfare check to make sure your story aligns. But I know they will send you back into his care. So I'm giving you my card cause the second things turn ugly and Im telling you they will, especially since you have alerted authorities to what's happening, you call me!"
CPS later that morning drove Jay back to his house on 47th and Wallace and after a quick check they determined that Jay was in fact safe in the care of his father.
Later that night, Pat Halstead put his hands on his child and beat him senseless,. fanning "you want something to snitch about? Well now you have something to snitch about"
Once his father left him alone, he pulled the card out from his jeans pocket and dialed the number on the card.
Standing in front of the 21st District, Jay took a breathe, adjusted his bookbag, and opened the door.
"Hi, my name is Jay Halstead. I just transferred from the Guns and Gangs unit at District 5. I'm looking for where the Intelligence Unit is" he said as he walked up to the desk. The desk sergeant was a brunette who looked crabby and one look away from killing someone with just her glare.
"Intelligence Unit is that way" she started.
Then it clicked, "wait, did you say your name is Jay Halstead? As in Jay Halstead who ran away from home at 9 and ended up at the Bridgeport police station?"
Jay stood stunned, "Platt?" He asked as tears welled up in his eyes. All those years ago, with Platt and Olinsky believing him, he not only got out of that house, but also decided he wanted to be a cop.
"You have to go upstairs, you'll be surprised to see who is working in the unit!" Platt stated while she hugged him.
Walking up the final steps to the bullpen, Jay took in the scene in front of him. A set of 10 desks separated in groups of 2's, 4 of those sets in the center of the room and the rest pushed off the side. Seated in one of the desks off to the side next to the file cabinet was none other than the man who saved his life,
