Relapse

Scratched, Bruised, and Bloody

Halstead POV:

"Okay, Ruzek, Atwater, and Burgess take the side. Antonio and I will take the front. Upton and Halstead go in from above," Sergeant Hank Voight announced. 

We were trying to take down a drug group. Narcotics had been on it for a while, but they couldn't take it down. They couldn't even ID any of them so now we were on the case. These people were clearly smart whoever they were. We didn't even know how many of them there were. My partner, Hailey Upton, and I quickly scaled the ladder on the edge of the building and opened the roof access door. Apparently this was where the operation was run. We quietly climbed down the stairs. Water from the pipes above me dripped rhythmically on the old cement floor. 

"We're in," I whispered into my radio.

We tried to be as quiet as possible, not wanting to alert anyone of our presence. We were surrounded by heavy metal doors anyone of them could be the one. Hailey and I split up opening door after door. 

"Top floor's clear," Hailey muttered into the radio. 

We ran down the next flight of stairs. I heard a noise from the first room. 

"CHICAGO PD OPEN UP," I yelled. 

1,2,3 I mouthed and I jammed my shoulder through the door. The window was open but the room was empty. I looked down out of the second-story window. Four masked people wearing all black were running. 

"Suspect on foot going north," Hailey said into the wire.

We ran down the last flight of stairs.  The other three sets of partners were already on chasing the suspects on foot. Hailey and I took the car following in close pursuit. 

"We lost them," I heard Voight say through the radio. 

We stopped and the car and waited for further instructions. 

"Meet back at the district we'll regroup there," Voight said.

Hailey and I turned the car around and drove to the district.  We walked inside and buzzed up. We were the last ones there.

" We were able to get a visual on one of them. White, male, 5'10" ish, maybe 180 pounds, muscular, dirty blond, tattoo on his neck, and blue eyes. The rest of them were faster and had masks on. We ran it through the system and we found this guy," Ruzek said sticking a picture on the whiteboard "Wilson Kemp, one prior for drunk and disorderly."

"So he went from drinking to selling busloads of drugs off the street?" Hailey asked. 

"Well he's not the brains of the operation I highly doubt that any of the ones that we saw today were the head of the operation," Rezuk retorted. 

"What about the other guys?"I asked.

"Like I said we didn't really see them, but we have a general height and weight for each. Two of them were pretty similarly sized weight wise. Muscular. One was shorter though maybe 5'7" and the other one was about the same height as Kemp," Ruzek explained. 

"What about the fourth one?" Dawson asked.

"Well he was smaller probably a teenager," Ruzek finished

"Okay go through Kemp's call logs see if you can find anything," Voight said and disappeared into his office.

-------------------------------------

After an hour of researching people, we got a ping on Wilson's phone. 

"Okay, let's rollout," Voight announced.

We arrived at the location and everyone got out of their cars. We were at an old abandoned building not unlike the last one we were in.

"This time only I go in the rest of you surround the building," Voight explained leaving us to spread out. 

I made my way over to the back exit into the alley. I waited by the exit for what felt like an eternity.

"Suspects are spreading out, 3 of them, not Kemp. Two are headed towards Atwater and the other is headed towards Halstead," Voight said.

 I grabbed my gun poised at the exit. Antonio joined me to help. 

I heard a gunshot ring out from the south exit.

"Shots fired by the police, one offender in custody the other on foot," Hailey's voice rang out over the radio.

Our door swung open and the suspect ran right into me. They immediately pivoted and they were off.  I turned and ran to follow.

"STOP, DROP YOUR  WEAPON, AND PUT YOUR HANDS ON THE WALL," I yelled.

They kept running and turned the corner and I threatened to shoot. Before I could take the shot the suspect ran into Ruzek and fell.

"Got the final suspect in custody," Ruzek breathed into the radio. 

" Let's see who's underneath the mask shall we?" Antonio asked.

The offender struggled but Ruzek had them pinned underneath him. Antonio reached down and pulled off the mask. Nothing, not all my years of living, not my police training, could have prepared me for who's face I saw scratched, bruised, and bloody, looking up at me.

"Erin?" We all asked astonished.