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Catch me if you can

Summary:

"I ran away from Mrs. Claus, and I can run away from you I can, I can. Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!“

“Jay?”
“Yeah?”
“He didn’t show up for work today. He’s already three hours late. I’m starting to get worried. This isn’t like Will.”

After rounding up the gingerbread man murders, the intelligence team goes back to their usual routine of life. When Jay gets a call from Dr. Natalie Manning that his brother did not show up for work today, a game between the cat and the mouse begins. A game that all started with a man made of gingerbread.

Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter Text

“I’m never eating gingerbread anymore.”
Jay Halstead sat down behind his desk to start on a day filled with paperwork, while other members from the intelligent unit dripped into the office, one by one. Ruzek disappeared into the kitchen to get everyone a fresh pot of coffee, while Attwater and Upton stared at the board filled with information from their last case, a case the newspapers had named “the Gingerbread murders,” because on multiple crime scenes they’d found men made of gingerbread.
“I used to get my kids gingerbreadmen with christmas, but I think I’ll pass this year,” Antonio muttered.
“After cases like this I want to lock my niece away in a closet, so no one can get to her,” Burgess said while she looked at the photo of a sixteen year old girl with her eyes literally burned out of her head.
“Luckily we put the guy in prison.”
Voight walked by, on the way to his office. “I want everyone’s files finished by the end of the day. Don’t wanna get Lugo on our ass.”
Jay opened some stuff on his computer, reminding himself this was one of the reasons he did this job. Unfortunately the media had caught glimpse of this case sooner then expected, which had made it only more difficult to catch the guy. There had been six bodies, spread out all over the city, murdered in the most horrifying way, but presented like a piece of art. With every body they had found, they’d found a gingerbreadman.
Next to him, Ruzek and Antonio started to talk about a football game from last night. Burgess asked Upton about her weekend.
The funny thing was the victims had no connection to each other. All they had had -according to their provider- was a ten second phone call that according to a potential new victim had been existing from one sentence. "I ran away from Mrs. Claus, and I can run away from you I can, I can. Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!“
Keeping an eye on the victim that had been targeted, they’d managed to get a hold of the murderer; A simple psychiatrist in his mid thirties. The world could be strange sometimes.
During interrogation he had confessed immediately, admitting he had committed the murders for fun. Life had been boring these days.


 

“You know Al, there is something I don’t like about this case.”
Hank had called in the older detective who worked in his team into his office, because the sergeant knew he would understand. Everything pointed into the psychiatrist his direction; he had been treating family members from the victims, his state of mind was a perfect motive -according to dr. Charles from MED, the man was a classic psychopath- , but something… His gut told him something wasn’t right.
“ I don’t know what it is, but something tells me… Didn’t we get off to easy?”
“Finding the right guy at the first try- I don’t really see where you want to go, Hank.”
“What I’m trying to say… The way he kept acting here at the precinct and how he tried to knock his newest target out… There is something about it I’m not liking.”
“You think we’re having the wrong guy?”
“I’m not sure about it, but I think we need another chat with our psychiatrist.” 


 

“Halstead.”
“Jay, with Natalie. I was wondering if you’d heard from Will today?”
“Nat, you see him more often then I do.”
“I know, but he didn’t show up for our shift today. He’s already three hours late.”
“You sure he didn’t overslept?”
“Jay, you know Will. I’ve never seen him get in late.”
“His first day in MED he was an hour late. He used to be late all the time for stuff.”
“He was supposed to be at Goodwin’s office for an evaluation at nine. It’s past twelve now. He would never miss that.”
For one hand, Jay knew that was true. Since his brother had started dating dr. Manning six months ago, he basically lived at the hospital. Missing an evaluation with Goodwin- That was nothing like him.
“Anyway, I’m slammed today, covering his patients and my own, so I was wondering-”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll call you when I’ve dragged his ass out of bed.”
Jay hung up, growled something and put his jacket on.
“Hey Antonio, could you run Will his cell for me?”
The detective rose his eyebrows. “Everything all right?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
Jay knocked on Voight his door and put his head around the corner.
“Sarge, okay if I run an errand? My brothers girlfriend called that he didn’t show up for work today.”
“Make sure you’re back before two.”
“Will do.”
“His phone is home,” Antonio told Jay when he passed by. Jay growled.
Will and him would be having a lot of trouble if he had gone back to his New York ways.

Chapter 2: Chapter 1

Chapter Text

“Matt? Man, calm down. I’m on my way.”
Antonio put his phone away and grabbed his coat.
“What’s wrong?” Kim asked.
“Gabby and Brett had been out on a call, but never returned. They found Brett in an alley, shot.”
“O my god.”
“Matt is going insane.”
“I’m coming right with you.”
Kim grabbed her coat as well, while Ruzek noticed an email in his inbox. He tried to open it, but at the same moment Upton knocked on the door of Voight his office, explaining what was going on.
“Let Antonio and Burgess report back in immediately when they’ve questioned Brett. If-”
His phone interrupted their conversation.
“Voight.”
A moment of silence.
“Halstead, calm down. Tell me what happend.”

His keys were making noise in the pocket of his jacket when he walked into his brother’s apartment building. His lucky brother had managed to get the place for half the price, because he had performed CPR on the landlord his wife while he had ran into her in a store.
They both had keys from each other their places, just in case something came up.
“If you overslept, I’m gonna feed you to your girlfriend,” Jay muttered while he put the key into the lock. When he opened the door, his brother’s apartment was quiet. Eerily quiet.
“Will? You home?”
Jay didn’t know what it was, but something made him grab his gun.
“Will, if you did something stupid-”
Jay checked the bathroom and the kitchen. Nothing. When he went into the direction of the bedroom, his phone went off. Without looking at the caller ID, he answered.
“Halstead.”
“I ran away from Mrs. Clause, and I can run away from you I can. Run, run as fast as you can! You won’t be able to catch me-”
Jay froze.
This could not be happening. This could not be happening.
The bed was perfectly made up. On the head pillow, there was a small gingerbreadman.


“You were right, we got the wrong guy. County jail just called. He hung himself in his cell.”
Voight cursed. Something was going on and it was nothing good.
“Halstead’s brother is missing. When he went looking for him he found a gingerbreadman at his apartment. We’ve missed something.”
“Burgess just called in,” Al told Hank. “I think you already know what they found on scene with Brett.”
He cursed again.
“All right, I want everyone on point,” he commanded the members from the unit who were still in the office. “Halstead is on his way back here while a team from forensic is working in the apartment from his brother, doctor Halstead. Antonio and Burgess are back on their way here as well. On both scenes a gingerbreadman has been found, while Gabby Dawson and Will Halstead have gone missing. I would also like to inform you that Isaac Idaho hung himself in his cell at county.”
“Are you saying… What do we have sarge? A copy cat? Did we have the wrong guy?”
“I don’t know, Upton,” Voight replied. “ I’m hoping on a copy cat, but it’s best to expect the worst.”
On multiple computers the notification for a received email sounded. At the same moment Jay walked back into the office. Voight his phone went off.
Caller ID unknown.
“Voight.”
“Ask your people to open the email.”
“Who is this?”
“You know who I am. I hope you can still run as fast as you did to catch my friend the bakerman.”
Adam, who gave a nod to Jay, was the first one to open the email. All colour disappeared from his face.
“So you’re our killer? Anything to confess?”
He made a “track this call” sign with his hands to Al, who got to work immediately.
“Not so fast, sergeant Voight. That’s not how we play the game. I suppose you already have someone tracking this phonecall, but it will only lead you to a forest in Brazil.”
“Boss, you gotta come see this.”
More people had opened the email on their computers. When Hank looked over Ruzek his shoulder to the computerscreen, he froze.
The mail had contained a link, leading to 8 live video streams.
“You’re having the email in front of you. Good.”
The 8 live videos showed 8 different locations, with 8 different people. Now they knew where dr. Halstead and Antonio his sister went.
“Listen up, sergeant Voight. As a lover from fairytales, I do love to play a game sometimes. You do need to know that I only explain my rules once, so you better pay attention. I grabbed a loved one from all your team members, who you can follow on the streams. They’re fine for now, but when the clock starts running, it could get a lot worse for them. Some of the streamers contain microphones so you can talk to them, but that’s only to make the game more fun.”
“What is it you want exactly?”
“Patience, sergeant. Patience. We’re not there yet. Let me take you through the feed first. On the first video we have someone familiar to you. I believe it’s been a while since you’ve seen him, haven’t you?”
The first stream showed his three year old grandson Daniel, playing with some toys in a room that seemed to be completely made from metal.
“ The more time passes, the colder your boy is gonna get.”
So the man took him through all the live streams. Ruzek Senior was put on a blood drain; Someone had locked him on a chair with an IV in his arm. The other end of the IV ended in a bucket, the bucket filling with his own blood. It went on and on like this. With each person, Hank got colder and colder.
“You know sergeant Voight, I have my people everywhere. I also believe that people are egoists. What willl you do? Save a family member so you can just feel good, or go after the bad guy?”
“Pal, you’re still not telling me what you want.”
“Fine then. Find your family members in time, because they’ll slowly start dying. If you find me within seven hours, all people you haven’t found yet will be released. After that, I’ll leave the country, and then it’s up to you to find their bodies. They will be presented like art in a museum.”
“How do you expect us to find them?”
“They’re somewhere in Chicago. You’re smart. Your team is smart. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Don’t try to be a smart ass on this one. I’ll know. That’s not how my game gets played. You’ll find some extra tasks on the way. Tick tock sergeant Voight. The clock is running.”
With that, the man ended the call.


“Voight, there is no way that I’ll let your unit work on this. I’ll bring in another team. One with a clearer look on things.”
“Commander, with all due respect, you’ve heard the recordings of the phone call.”
After the call, everything had happend in a rush. Of course, Voight had had no other choice then inform commander Lugo about the situation.
“Who says they won’t be killed if you put someone else on this case?”
“Hank, if I let you work this case, we both know it won’t go by the book.”
“Or, you let us work the case and you fire us if it doesn’t.”
That was something Lugo had not expected to hear.
“Did I just hear you say that?”
“Commander Lugo, this case is for me about my grandson. If it has to cost me my job, so be it. I don’t care. I think my team will share my opinion.”
“Then I’ll give you everything the force can give you what you need. Make sure you find your grandson in time, Hank. Find them all, and don’t let that son of a bitch get away with it.”
“Will do, commander. Will do.”

Chapter 3: Chapter 2

Notes:

I discovered I had forgotten to post a chapter here... Whoops. It should be correct now.

Chapter Text

“How can you possibly say that she’s better off then all the others? Antonio, what has gotten into you?” 
“Kevin, is Jordan gonna die?” 
“Is she gonna get back in one piece?”
“You’re gonna save my mom, right aunt Kim?” 
“Mom, we’ll get dad back. Just have a little faith, okay?” 
It surely wasn’t easy.
After telling Natalie the complete story, she had been silent for at least five minutes. It was something that terrified Jay to death.
“Natalie?” 
“Did Will tell you what happend last week?” 
Jay shook his head. 
“Owen called him ‘daddy’, while they were playing in the living room. He just turned two, he doesn’t know any better, and Will tried to correct him, but he didn’t stop, so he left it like that. Will didn’t know that I’d seen everything, but all I could say was thank you.”
Something crumbled inside of Jay.
“I love Will. I know he isn’t Owen’s biological father, but he loves him. I know that. We talked about it, and he wants to be the father figure Owen needs. I want him to be what Owen needs. I can’t lose that, Jay. Not again. If that happens, I think I’ll die.” 
“Hey, we’re not there yet,” Jay answered with a hoarse voice. “How long do you think you can keep it together?” 
“I don’t know, I-” 
“That’s not what I meant. How long can you keep it together to talk to him?” 
“I… What do you want me to say?” 
“Tell him you’re okay, and you know… Be you.” 

The intelligence office had gotten a great expansion. The room counted eight screens, each one in connection with one of the live streams, people walking in and out and the team walked around like they didn’t know what they were actually doing.
“Hey, how did it go?” 
While Matthew Casey was talking to sergeant Voight, Antonio came up to Jay, who sighed deeply. 
“You know Nat her kid?” 
“Uhu.” 
“He friggin loves that kid man. Nat basically told me she doesn’t know what she’s gonna do if she loses the guy she loves, again. If we don’t pull this off-” 
“Hey man, don’t start like that. We’re gonna find them. We’re gonna find them and then we end that son of a bitch who did this to them.” 
Antonio looked at him with puppy eyes, waiting for Jay to give him a fist bump . Jay rolled his eyes and did so.


“Will?! Will!” 
Jay sighed in relief when the video feed with his brother came up on the screen. 
“Jay, are you all right?”
“Did they do anything to you?” 
“No, no. I’m fine. For now.” 
“Man, what did they do to you? What happend? How-” 
“Jay, will you stop? That’s not how it works.” 
Will seemed pretty much fine. He was locked to a chair with handcuffs, but he didn’t seem hurt. 
“If I tell you anything that may help you find him, he drains this room from all the oxygen there’s left. Then I’m dead.” 


The only ones they had been able to contact where Ruzek his dad, Will, Gabby and Nicole Silver, Burgess her sister. They’d all been happy to be able to talk to them, but Jay, who had been in the army, wasn’t stupid. He knew why they could talk to exactly those people. They would be able to hear them die.
“Nat, we don’t know what’s gonna happen next, but I’m gonna need a favour.” 
“Sure, whatever you want.” 
“The department arranged a few safe houses for you guys, until all of this is over. Would you mind taking Burgess her niece and Adwater his sister with you?” 
“No, not at all,” Natalie replied. “Do you promise-” 
“As soon as we have him, I’ll let you know.” 
She gave Jay a hug. 
“Please bring him back, Jay.” 
“I’ll do what I can, Nat.” 


“What are you doing here? I thought you were on sabbatical?” 
A relief desk sergeant had called Trudy down from upstairs because “a familiar” face had requested to see her. What she had not expected where Peter Stone and Anna Valdez from the DA office. 
“Antonio called us. He didn’t say much, but-” 
“Shh, not here. Come, follow me.” 
Platt took Peter and Anna upstairs, explaining on the way what happend. 
“This guy… They thought they had the right one, and look at it now. If he notices us doing one thing he doesn’t like-” 
A shiver ran through her spine. 
“How’s Antonio holding up?” 
“His sister is chained to a chain that’s pulling her to multiple blades and saws in a wall, it’s like the friggin conjuring in there. How’d you expect he’s holding up?” 


“Isaac Idaho. I thought we had everything about this guy.” 
Ruzek and Al had gone to county to get more information about the psychiatrist. 
“We better get more information about this guy, we already lost an hour.” 
Al his wife was hanging above a gigantic bowl with boiling water. The more time passed by, the lower she would sink into the direction of the water. Adam didn’t get how Al could remain this calm. 
“I may know one guy who can help us out. But when we talk to him, I need you to shut your mouth.” 
“Why would I-” 
One look from Al made Adam shut his mouth.


The people from the intelligence unit knew Hank Voight had a secret safe in his basement. It was basically a publicly known secret. Some of them knew he used the money from that safe for special purposes. So he did this time.
“Everybody out. Now.” 
The bar he was definitely was one where drugsdealers made their money. At the bar, there was a young man who didn’t move an inch.
“Sergeant Voight, if you want to talk to me, you can also just ask nicely.” 
Hank, who really wasn’t in the mood, kicked the bar chair from under the guy his ass.
“Always good seeing you, Eddie.” 
“C’mon man, what are you upset about this time?” 
“Eddie, you gave me the wrong guy last time. If you don’t want a bullet between those two pretty eyes of yours, you’re gonna do something for me…” 

Chapter 4: Chapter 3

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

”Antonio, is it true there are kids involved in this?”
”Does it make you feel better if I answered that question?”
”I’m not the one chained to a wall with chainsaws.”
Antonio made a face.
”Sorry. You know me.”
”You probably know the answer already.”
”Don’t let me come before them, Antonio.”
”Gabby-”
”I’m serious. I… I don’t want to get rescued while some kids don’t.”
”Gabby, don’t talk like that. Please.”
”Hey big bro… I’m saying please too.”

When Jay came into the break room, he immediately saw there was something on Antonio’s mind.
“You got anything?”
“No. All my CI’s are too scared to talk. It’s like this guy has eyes everywhere.”
“Maybe sarge had more luck. We know Voight can be… Convincing.”
Antonio smirked. Saying Voight could be “convincing” was an understatement.
“How’s your brother holding up?”
“He thinks he still has a good five hours of oxygen. How’s Gabby?”
“She…”
Antonio became silent.
“She wants me to put the kids above of her. She said that if she makes it, but Daniel and Jordan die-”
“Hey man, we’re not gonna get to that point, all right? We still have time. We’re gonna find them and they’re gonna be okay.”
“They better be.”
The man left the break room, leaving Jay to get some coffee on his own. He sended a quick text to the patrolman guarding the safehouse Nat was at, receiving back an immediate “They’re okay.” He hoped it would stay like that.

“We got a hit. My man Eddie let every gang in Chicago know that we’ve put a bounty on the head of our guy. Some are still willing to do something for 500 grand.”
“Sarge, isn’t that-”
“Against the force its playbook? Yup. But my money, my rules.”
“Seeing your position, no prosecutor would think about prosecuting you,” Peter said from his side of the room. Hank made a “are you happy now?” face to Upton, who shut her mouth.
“While we’re waiting for that lead, where are we now?”
“Technical guys are still running for locations,” Ruzek said. “We should be getting a list any minute.”
“Anna went back to the office to get some files about similar cases,” Peter answered.
“Doctor Charles from MED is coming over to help out,” Jay added. “Other direct family members have been placed into safe houses.”
While the team kept discussing where they were at, Peter received a text from Anna. A picture.
“Sergeant Voight-”
At the same moment, Voight his phone went off. Caller ID unknown.
“Roll it.”
“You disobeyed me, Hank. You didn’t listen to the rules.”
Calls from the killer went on immediate speaker so everyone in the office could hear it.
“I told you people not to act like smart asses, like you are the invincible intelligence unit. I warned you. Now I fear there is no other way.”
“Someone, track this call!” Hank hissed.
“If there is someone you want to blame for the death that is gonna happen, blame the girl from the DA. She shouldn’t have been so full of herself. Now, look at those pretty video feeds.”
The screens from the feeds started to light up one by one.
“Eeny…”
Jay saw his brother was muttering something. He was praying.
“Meeny…”
Antonio saw tears streaming down his sister’s face.
“Moe… Who is gonna die?”
Al could already see it happen. It would only take a snap of his fingers to let Meredith fall into the water.
“Oh I know… That…”
Adam his dad looked into the camera.
“Makes…”
Jordan cried even more.
“You.”
“No, please don’t. NOOOO!!!”
The gas burners who had been above Nicole Silver her head gave a gigantic flame.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Everyone looked in awe as Nicole Silver burned alive.

Burgess her cries and screams were to be heard through the entire building. Somewhere Jay hated himself. He hated himself because he was so damn relieved for now.
“At least Will wasn’t the one who burned,” a small voice in his head said. He knew he wasn’t the only one, because he had seen the same look on Antonio and Hailey their faces.
He wouldn’t forget the relief Will had shown on the feed.
He wasn’t dead.
He wasn’t dead yet.
“Will?”
With a worried look on his face, Jay checked the feed. Will had obviously been crying.
“I heard it. All of it.”
“Are you-”
“Jay, don’t make me yell. I’m this close to losing it.”
“Will… Please try to keep it together, okay? For me. For Nat.”
“Did she tell you what happend last week?”
Jay smiled. “She did.”
“Jay, if this goes wrong-”
“Will, you’re not giving me the “if I die” speech. I don’t wanna hear it.”
“I have a good four hours left Jay. I don’t want to end like a fucking vegtable.”
“You’re not going to end like that.”
“You don’t know what rolls by in the ED sometimes. I know exactly how it can end. But there is something you can do for me.”
“What’s it?”
“There are kids involved in this right?”
“Will-”
“Can you just answer me? Please?”
“Yeah. Adwater his brother and Voight his grandson, Daniel.”
“What happend to them?”
“I’m not gonna tell you-”
“Jay, make me happy that I wasn’t the one burning.”
That one hit target.
“They’ve locked Daniel away in a freezer somewhere. Jordan is about to be pulled apart, literally. We don’t know where exactly and we haven’t been able to find out yet.”
“Make sure you save them first, Jay.”
Jay sighed. Somewhere, he did not want to have this conversation with his brother, but he should also have seen this one coming. This was what Will had in common with Antonio his sister; They were medics. Always thinking about other lives.
“I know what you’re thinking, but how could I ever look Nat into the eyes if those kids die? Just… Please?”
“I… I’ll see.”

Not that much later, firehouse 51 responded to an industrial fire. Arriving on scene, the first thing chief Wallace Boden noticed was a trail of little gingerbreadmen, running from his spot to the entrance of the factory.

Notes:

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for reading :) Reading your comments has been an absolute joy. I'm sorry the latest update took a while, my uni life is more busy then you can imagine. After everything, I hope you like it :D

Chapter 5: Chapter 4

Notes:

I know updating took ages. Still hope you like it :)

Chapter Text

Natalie looked at the young teenager, who was playing with Owen and his boat. She enjoyed seeing them together. Would she ever have a little brother or sister for him to play with, together with Will?
That was only the question she was dying to know the answer from.
“Still nothing?”
Casey shrugged his shoulders.
“Nothing.”
Natalie growled something and sat back down on the couch.
“They’ll let us know when there is any news.”
“I highly doubt it’s gonna be any good.”
Matt looked at Natalie with question marks.
“You’re not losing hope, right?”
“No... It’s just that I’m scared that the one moment I pick up that phone, someone close to me died. Again. That’s what keeps happening to me.”
“Hey, Jay and Antonio are good in what they do. They’ll-”
“That’s exactly what I mean. Do you know how often I’ve seen Will’s brother truly scared? I never understood how Jay could always be so incredibly calm, but today was the first time I saw him truly terrified.
“Natalie?”
Kevin’s little sister.
“I can’t find anything to drink here. Would you like to help me look?”
Natalie managed to produce a soft smile.
“Of course.”
Natalie followed Vinessa into the kitchen. At the same moment, the phone that was on the table in front of Matt rang. It was the only phone in the safe house, with the intelligence team being the only ones having the number, in case there would be any news.
“Matt.”
He listened to what the voice on the other side of the line told him. He produced something that was a combination of a cry and a moan when he heard the core of the story. When he put down the phone, Natalie was staring at him from the door opening. Frozen.
“Are... Are the girls still playing with Owen?”
“Is... What did they say?”
“It’s not Will, nor Gabby. It was close though.”
“Matt...”
“They murdered Burgess her sister. They had to watch how she burned alive.”
Surprisingly, Natalie her face didn’t change. It took a while before she said something back.
“We have to tell her. If she notices we’re hiding something from her-”
“Even though how much I hate it, we’re not saying anything. Burgess is all over the place and wants Zoe to hear it from her. She’s not coming to the safehouse because it’s too dangerous right now,-”
Again, the phone rang.

Doctor Ethan Choi was surprised when he found a familiar face in the waiting area.
“Miss Valdez, what can I do for you?”
Her entire attitude... It was tense. It was like something...
“Can... Can we talk somewhere?”
Something was wrong.
“Give me just a minute.”
Ethan went over to Maggie, to see which trauma room was free.
“Ethan, we’re slammed and understaffed. We can’t just-”
“I’m gonna need to see her now, Mags,” he replied. “I think it would be wise if you called intelligence down here as well. Just look at her.”
The nurse saw what Ethan meant.
“I’ll make sure trauma 3 is free for you.”

Hailey wanted to do everything she could for Kim, but she knew they didn’t have the time.
“What am I gonna tell Zoe? I can’t let her go back to her asshole of a dad. Nicole would kill me out of her grave if I did that. What am I gonna do now? I-”
“Kim? Hey hey Kim. I know you are in an impossible situation right now. I know. I know you want to mourn. But even though how horrible it may sound, we can’t do that. Not yet. When we’ve found this guy, I swear-”
“What, we’ll make him pay? Believe me, he’s gonna do more then just pay for what he did to my sister, to all of our people. I’ll promise you that.”

“Then the gingerbreadman reached a wide river, but he didn’t know how to swim.”
Jay had been reading the story countless of times, hoping he could find a clue of what was about to happen. He knew people like this guy liked to get back to those stories, so maybe-
“There has to be a way to catch this guy,” Jay sighed. “What did we miss last time?”
“What you looking at?” Ruzek asked.
“I’m reading the gingerbreadman fairy tale. We didn’t do that last time.”
“You think it is gonna give us any clues?”
“Dunno, but in the story, the gingerbreadman came at a river which he didn’t know how to cross. Then a fox lured him into jumping on his back, which resulted in him eating the-”
Jay fell silent.
“Halstead?”
“I may have an idea where we can find one of our people.”

Chapter 6

Notes:

Hey everyone! I recently discovered that I had put the latest chapter on at tumblr ages ago, but I forgot to do it here. My inspiration for this story kinda bled dead, so I'm rewriting it during the last weeks of my summer vacation. I hope you guys like it and don't forget to give a kudos and a comment if you like this story! Kudo's and likes are what keeps me going :)

Chapter Text

Jay had remembered something.
The caller had called the man they’d caught at first “The baker man.” In the story, the gingerbreadman had been created by an old lady on a farm. If his theory was right…
“I sure hope you’re right about this,” Hailey said. “Let’s go.”
Under Voight his orders, they’d gone to the house of Idaho alone. They couldn’t take any risks with the lives of their loved ones being on the line. No one wanted another “Eenie… Meenie… Miny, Moe.”
For some people it was difficult to believe, -for as far as anyone knew, Will had been the nerd from the two brothers- , but when they’d been kids, both Will and Jay had been obsessed with detective stories. Their mom always read them for them when they went to bed at night. They’d taught Jay some psychopats had a crazy way of thinking.
“Any booby traps?”
Jay did their usual check up.
“There.”
There was a trip wire on the front porch. When Jay followed the wire, he saw it went inside. He wouldn’t be surprised that when activated, the tripwire would have caused a gun on the other side of the door to go off.
“There is something behind the door, but I’m not sure about what it is. It’s probably nothing good.”
“Would the windows be an idea?”
“And pulling all the attentions to us? No. I’m not taking any chances. We should try the back.”
Hailey and Jay walked around the house, only to find another tripwire at the supposedly kitchen door.
“Give me a hand,” Hailey said.
“What you wanna do?”
“Let me climb on the roof. I’m gonna try the first floor. I’ll dismantle whatever is inside and let you in.”
Jay helped Hailey to climb on the roof. She shot a window and let herself in.
“Anything?”
Their radio was silent. After a good ten minutes that felt like forever, they were running against the clock of course, Hailey opened the door.
“We have to hurry, this house is filled with guns.”
“You serious?”
When Jay got inside, he was actually proud of his partner that she’d managed to get him into the house in ten minutes. The house was filled with booby traps. He didn’t understand how this had happend. Since their bust into the house, the complete property had been sealed off.
There had to be a leak on the inside. There had to be a leak in the CPD. Someone was helping a lunatic in getting their loved ones murdered.



“It’s very easy, Hank. Do this one little thing for me, and I’ll set someone free.”
“I can’t just let someone be released from jail. You know that takes time.”
“I know you’re a man with many talents, Hank. Set Christopher Joe free within the hour, and I’ll make sure your grandchild walks free. Within two hours, someone else will walk. If not… Well, you enjoyed my previous game of eeny, meeny, minie, moe, right? I’ll contact you when I’ve seen Christopher Joe walk through the gates of county jail to his freedom.”
Hank smashed the phone back on the horn and cursed. When he got this asshole in his hands… Oh, it wouldn’t be the man his best day.
“I want everything we have on Christopher Joe, inmate from county jail. I want to have it now.”
Everyone went back to work while Hank spoke to Lugo, explaining the situation.
The sergeant was in a battle with himself. He wanted to save Daniel so badly, but he also had to think about the other members from his unit. 
“Hank, I want to leave this up to you,” Lugo said. “If you want to make this into an operation, you’ll have the full support of the force. If you want me to handle this and get this Joe guy outside so one of your people’s family members can be saved, I’ll take care of it.”
He didn’t want to take any risks, but this situation was so, so delicate…



They’d scanned the entire house. It had been Hailey who had discovered the entrance to the basement. When they went down the stairs, Jay recognized the walls. They were warm. Very warm.
“Jordan? Jordan!”
By a mircale, they’d found Kevin his brother Jordan. His arms and ankles were tied up to a machine that was slowly pulling at them, which would result in pulling him apart eventually.
“You… You work with my brother right? Come-on man, get me out of here! Please, I don’t wanna die.”
“Jordan, you remember me, right? I indeed work with your brother. I’m Jay, this is Hailey. We’re gonna get you out and we know it’s scary, but we need you to be quiet for a few minutes, all right?”
Jay his sniper instinct had kicked in, which told him the kid had to be calmed down before they dismantled the machine.
“Jordan, look at me,” Hailey calmed the boy while Jay dismantled the device. It went surprisingly easy. The rope let go of its tension. Hailey started to untie Jordan his ankles and wrists, which after he hugged her in relief.
“Atwater, we have your brother,” Jay radioed in. “I repeat, we have Jordan. Jordan is okay.”
“Atwater, we have your brother. I repeat, we have Jordan. Jordan is okay.”
Atwater and Ruzek were surveillancing the gates of county jail when they heard Jay over the radio. Kevin made a sigh of relief. Adam noticed he was shaking.
“Congrats man, that’s great news,” Adam said.
“Man, I just… Just knowing that he’s okay… I know we got to keep watch over the gates right now, but just…”
Adam managed to produce a soft smile.
“I get it man. It’s all right. When my old man gets out, I’ll probably be the same. If we put this off clearly, more people will walk out freely.”
The gates of the jail went open.
“Showtime.”



Hank had never thought he would ever make a decision like this one. This wasn’t like him. This was definitely not like him.
He had never done what the enemy had wanted.
A knock on the door.
Lugo had managed it within 30 minutes.
He knew he was selfish. He felt so, so selfish…
“Yeah.”
Halstead came in and closed the door behind him.
“I’ve left Hailey back at her desk so we wouldn’t put any attention on our selves.”
“Halstead, nice work with Atwater his brother. You’ve been updated on the situation?”
Jay nodded.
“Yeah, but Sarge… There is something else you need to know. I think we have a leak in the department. Someone here wants our family members dead.”

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