Chapter Text
It was pushing on a month by the time TK was at his wit’s end. Going no contact with Carlos was something TK was aware had to happen, but he didn’t realize just how long the undercover op would last.
The 126 had been asking questions about Carlos’ whereabouts meaning TK had to lie to everyone and say that he was out of town assisting on a case. When Carlos obviously wasn’t answering texts from anyone, TK had to cover for Carlos and say that the case was highly sensitive and no one involved in the case was using their personal phones.
Paul could tell that TK wasn’t being honest, but if TK was lying, it was for a reason. When TK and Carlos had broken up, TK refused to even mention Carlos’ name, but this time around, TK was pretty much okay with talking about Carlos, though he was a bit evasive with his answers.
By the time a month since Carlos had gone undercover was approaching, everyone from the 126 could feel the tension and stress radiating from TK. Though he was still excellent at his job and was focused when he needed to be, it was the down times that everyone could see he was struggling.
“Alright TK, jig’s up. I can see the tension in your shoulders a mile away, so either you start talkin’ or I’ll drive myself down to the police station myself and get some answers from them.”
TK looked up at Judd from his place on the couch, finally noticing everyone was surrounding him with concerned looks on their faces. “The police aren’t going to tell you anything. They won’t even tell me anything.”
“Well then you better start talking.”
“That’s just it, I can’t. I don’t know anything. All I know is that Carlos had to leave and I can’t talk to him at all.” TK’s voice started rising towards the end, his emotions threatening to take over after being shoved down for so long.
“Okay, okay, just take a breath.” Tommy’s comforting voice reached TK’s ears as she took his hands into hers. Taking a few deep breaths, TK finally grounded himself enough to be able to speak again.
“Thanks, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled.”
“Nope, you have nothing to be sorry for. I think letting your emotions out has been long overdue.” Tommy said with a soft smile. TK looked around as everyone nodded in agreement, finally locking eyes again with his captain.
“I don’t know what to do,” TK finally let out, “I know I can’t contact him and I know it’s for his safety, but I’m worried. What if something happens and no one tells me and I can’t be there?” The tears TK had been trying to keep at bay finally started to fall.
The 126 stood by in support as TK let out the emotions he had been harbouring since the day Carlos left. Nancy moved to sit beside TK, placing a hand on his back as she comforted her partner. Eventually, TK’s cries slowed to a stop and he went to apologize, but protests from everyone interrupted him.
Marjan spoke up from her place beside Judd. “TK, we’re not going to even try and say we understand what exactly you’re going through, but we’re all here for you.”
“Seriously, whatever it is you need, we’re here.” Paul chimed in.
“Thank you guys, really,” TK said with a soft smile. “I don’t know how I’d be handling things if it weren’t for everyone.”
“That’s why we’re here, TK. We’re not just coworkers, we’re family. You said so yourself. That means whenever you need us, we’re going to be there for you.”
Before TK could say anymore, the alarm rang throughout the station, signalling both fire and paramedics were needed. Gaining his composure quickly and slipping back into his mask of professionalism, TK grabbed the keys to the ambulance and hopped in the driver’s seat.
They had received a call from dispatch that a runner had seen two men laying at the bottom of a cliff but couldn’t tell if they were alive or not. At the scene, it was decided that TK would repel down with Marjan and Paul to check on the two men.
TK could feel the adrenaline start to pump through his veins as he geared up. Though he loved being a paramedic, sometimes he missed the adrenaline rush of being a firefighter.
Clipping himself to the line, TK got ready to start down the cliff towards the two men who still hadn’t moved from their positions. Knowing that wasn’t a good sign, TK did his best to make it down the cliff as quickly, but safely, as possible.
Once reaching the bottom of the cliff, TK, along with Paul and Marjan, made their way towards the two men laying face down in the dirt. TK ran over quickly, but when he got close enough, he could immediately tell the injuries on the men weren’t just from the fall.
Checking one of the men’s pulses, TK found none and radioed dispatch so they could send the coroner and police. TK looked over and saw Marjan shaking her head no as she finished checking the other man’s pulse.
“Dispatch, this is paramedic Reyes-Strand, make that two DOA. You also might want to send out a detective, I’m seeing days old wounds on both bodies and ligature marks on their wrists and ankles.”
“Copy that paramedic Reyes-Strand, police and the coroner are on their way. ETA 15 minutes.”
TK stood up from where he was kneeling and helped Paul and Marjan bring over the basket stretchers so they could get the bodies up the cliff for the coroner. It didn’t take long to get the stretchers situated and hooked back up to their line which TK was silently thankful for because although TK wasn’t a coroner, he could definitely tell the bodies were at least a day old and it was not a pretty sight.
Once topside, TK gave his statement to the detective on scene and was about to head back to the ambulance when an SUV pulled up to the scene and an older man and a younger blonde woman stepped out.
TK stopped to see who else would be showing up to the scene and got nervous when the officer speaking to the two people pointed directly at TK. Turning slightly to face Nancy, TK whispered quietly, “Who do you think those people are that just showed up?”
Before Nancy had a chance to respond, the blonde woman from the SUV called for TK. “Paramedic Reyes-Strand?”
“That’s me.” TK responded a bit hesitantly.
“I’m special agent Jareau, this is special agent Rossi. We’re from the FBI, do you mind if we ask you a few questions?”
“Yeah, sure. I mean I already gave my statement to the detective but I don’t mind giving it again.” Looking over to Tommy, TK gave a quick nod to let her know he was needed for more questioning. Getting the go ahead back, TK walked with the two FBI agents over to somewhere more private.
“So Mr. Reyes-Strand -” JJ started before TK interrupted. “TK’s fine, ma’am,” he said with a smile.
“Okay, TK. What can you tell us about the bodies?” she continued.
“Pretty much what I told the detective. The bodies were cold when we checked them, but I found what looked to be ligature marks on both their wrists and ankles, which you wouldn’t get from falling down a cliff. I also found faded bruises and broken bones that had started to heal wrong. Bones don’t start to heal like that after a day.”
“Anything else you can think of? Even if it doesn’t seem relevant, it may help.” Rossi asked.
“I know I’m not really qualified to make this assumption, but it looks like they may have been beaten pretty badly, and for weeks at that. Those faded bruises? To me it looked like there were new bruises on top of old bruises, and one of the guys had a bruise on his cheek that looked like it could have come from a set of brass knuckles.”
“Have you ever seen anything like this before?”
“No I haven’t, not at this level. I’ve seen plenty of victims who’ve fallen down cliffs, but never like this. Usually when I see those kinds of injuries, I’m thinking abuse, but like I said, I’m not really qualified to make those assumptions.”
“No, that helps, thank you.” JJ responded. “If you can think of anything else, please give us a call.”
“Of course.” Giving a nod, TK turned back towards the ambulance after taking the card handed to him by the female agent.
“Dude, what was that all about?” Nancy asked from the passenger side of the ambulance.
“The FBI. They had questions about the bodies.”
“How did the FBI hear about this so quickly?”
“I have no idea.” That wasn’t the complete truth because TK did have an inkling somewhere deep in his mind that it had something to do with Carlos’ case. If that part of his mind was right, TK was afraid that something extremely bad was about to happen.
“Yo, dude, where’d you just go? You just missed our turn.” Nancy asked concerned.
Realizing she was right, TK shook himself out of his thoughts and focused back on actually driving back to the station. “It’s nothing, sorry.”
“Nothing my ass.”
“Alright kids, save it for when we get back to the station, please.” Tommy called from the back of the ambulance.
Knowing not to argue, both TK and Nancy stopped bickering and focused back on the road. When they got back to the station, TK started feeling on edge so he figured keeping himself busy by checking inventory and doing a light workout would be best for him.
TK did his best to ignore the glances being thrown his way by everyone around the station, but eventually he couldn’t ignore them anymore. “Is anyone going to say something or are you just going to keep looking at me?” TK said, not apologizing for the snippy tone.
“You’ve been weird since you’ve finished talking with the FBI and your poker face isn’t that great. Something’s on your mind, so spill.” Nancy had her arms crossed over her chest and the look on her face TK knew was one that meant she wasn’t about to take no for an answer.
“I-” TK wanted nothing more than to say that Carlos was actually undercover but he knew it would only put Carlos in potentially more danger than he was already in. “I can’t talk about it.”
“Bullshit.” Judd called out.
“Can’t or won’t, man?” Paul asked kindly.
“Both.” TK watched as Paul studied him, no doubt doing his thing, but TK hoped Paul wouldn’t call him out when he inevitably figured out what TK was hiding. “Look, I want to talk about it, get it off my chest, but I can’t. Not right now.”
“Alright, everyone back to work.” Owen called from his spot in the kitchen. For a second, TK thought that maybe his dad would come over and try and talk to him, but he never moved from where he was making his smoothie. “Typical,” TK thought before heading upstairs to start his workout.
TK was halfway through his cycling program when he noticed Paul walk up to him. Pulling out his airpod, TK gave Paul a half smile. “This is about Carlos, isn’t it?”
TK should have been expecting this, but it still caught him a bit by surprise. “Paul,” was the only thing TK could say, but it was confirmation enough.
“He’s undercover, right? That’s why you can’t talk about it?”
“I’m not even supposed to know, but I figured it out the night he spoke to me about it. It’s dangerous from what I can tell, and the fact that the FBI showed up today as quickly as they did? How can I not think it’s connected to Carlos?”
“I would have made that assumption too, but until we know for sure, you can’t worry yourself with the what ifs.”
“I know, I know. It’s just that I can’t help but think that way. When I radioed dispatch, I said to send out a detective because of the ligature marks, so why would the FBI show up so quickly, unless they were already in the area and knew something like this was about to happen. Carlos didn’t tell me the specifics of his case, but from how he was talking, it was a lot bigger than just letting APD handle it.”
“TK, you don’t know that for sure. You’re going to stress yourself out even more if you keep thinking that way.”
“No, I know. Thanks for not saying anything in front of everyone.”
“No worries, man. I don’t know how I’d be if I was in your shoes.” TK gave a soft smile to Paul, grateful for him talking to him privately. He watched as Paul walked back down the stairs before putting his airpod back in his ear and finished off his cycling program.
—
Once Paul had gone down the stairs, he watched as everyone tried to look casual, but he knew they were waiting for him to come back down and tell them how the conversation went. “TK just needs some space to regroup. Seeing the bodies and having to talk with the FBI threw him for a loop, especially after what happened before the call. That’s it.”
Paul figured they bought it for now, but any doubt would have to wait as the alarm went off, signaling only fire was needed for the call.
—
Carlos was surprised with himself. During the month he’d been undercover, he’d quickly climbed the ranks of the cartel, and had gotten close with Hayes and Derek. Of course, it helped that he was feeding them intel approved by his handler, but that was neither here nor there.
The one thing that Carlos was concerned about, though, was how comfortable he’d gotten being Emiliano. Sure he hadn’t actually killed anybody himself, but he had slowly stopped batting an eye when Hayes or any of the guys did it themselves. Before, it would have bothered him and he’d be arresting the men, but now he wasn’t really considering it.
The one thing keeping him centred and reminded him of who he really was, was TK. The thought of eventually being able to go home to TK once he got enough information on Hayes and Walsh was driving him to do his best, but still stay true to himself.
Carlos was lounging around the safehouse and decided to flip on the news and see what was happening in the city. His heart started pounding when he watched as the news reporter started talking about two bodies that had been discovered at the bottom of a cliff. Not hesitating, Carlos dialed Hayes’ number.
“Moreno, got more info for me?”
“We’ve got a problem. I just flicked on the news and they found the bodies we dumped at the bottom of the cliff yesterday.”
“Shit, okay. What are they saying?”
“They’re not saying much, but the FBI is here investigating.”
“See what you can find out, but don’t do anything stupid that’s going to get us caught, got it?”
“Got it.” Hanging up the phone, Carlos was about to make a call to his handler, but his handler beat him to it and called him first.
“Those bodies better not be your bodies.”
“They are.”
“Then we’ve got a problem. The FBI got into town the other day after their undercover agent failed to call in for the past couple weeks. We’re doing everything we can, but it looks like they’re going to take over the case.”
“Okay, is that not a good thing? They have a lot of resources that could help us take these guys down faster.”
“You’re not wrong, but that just means more people know you’re undercover. But speaking of that, you need to be especially careful. They knew which guy was the FBI agent.”
“Which means what exactly?”
“You weren’t there during the last interrogation before they were murdered, were you?”
“No. Wait, you don’t think he gave me up, do you? He didn’t even know I was also undercover.”
“No, but he knew that there was someone else undercover as well. If he gave up that information,” Carlos didn’t even need his handler to finish his sentence because he knew what the implication was.
“I’ll be careful. Listen, if something happens to me, you keep TK and my parents safe and you let them know that I love them, okay?”
“Just relax, try not to think about that just yet.”
“I know, but promise me you’ll keep them safe. That’s all I’m asking.”
“You got it. We’ll be in touch.” Carlos didn’t get a chance to say anything else as he heard the click of the phone being hung up.
Carlos took a deep breath before focusing back on the news and seeing if there was anything else they had to say about the bodies. Realizing that they had already finished coverage and had started on another story, Carlos turned the tv off and went to make himself a cup of tea.
—
The next couple of days went slowly for Carlos. Since the FBI were still in town investigating, Walsh had contacted Hayes and told everyone to keep a low profile until they left. They reduced the number of handoffs they did, and only went out when they had to.
When Hayes finally called an in-person meeting, Carlos was a bit nervous. Most meetings they had over the past few days were by phone, not in person. Getting himself ready, Carlos then headed over to the location Hayes sent. It wasn’t one they had been to yet, which made sense to Carlos. Considering the FBI was here, it would make sense for them to go to a location they hadn’t been to before, just in case the FBI were onto them and were watching them.
“Boys, listen up. I know we’ve been keeping a low profile but boss wants us handling a load of cargo that’s heading into town.”
Up until now, Hayes had always called their drug smuggles either shipments or handoffs, never cargo. This raised a bunch of red flags because APD had their suspicions that the cartel was also involved in human trafficking, but nothing so far had pointed to that; at least not until now.
“Mark, I want you and Nick to handle the load with Sam and Rob as backup in case things go south.”
“Where do you need me?” Carlos asked, realizing he was the only one who hadn’t been given a role yet.
“Actually, you and I are going somewhere else tonight. I know you’ve got friends with connections to the cops and I want to speak to them about what they know about the feds being in town.”
Alarm bells started going off in Carlos’ head. Hayes had never mentioned wanting to meet Carlos’ contacts, and judging by the look in Hayes’ eyes, Carlos knew that Hayes had made him. He must have figured out Carlos was the mole, but Carlos knew he needed to bide his time and play dumb until he could find the right moment to get away.
“Yeah, sounds good.” Putting on a fake smile, Carlos followed Hayes outside. As Carlos turned to open his car door, he noticed Hayes’ reflection in the car window for a split second before he felt something hit the back of his head and his vision went black.
—
Carlos came to when he felt a harsh slap to his face. Blinking his eyes slowly, Carlos eventually lifted his head and came face to face with an angry looking Hayes. “So, you wanna tell me who you really are?” Hayes said with a sneer.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, it’s me, Moreno.” Carlos tried.
“Nice try. After that FBI rat finally said there was another mole, I knew it was you. I’ve always had my suspicions about you, but I’ve gotta hand it to you, you did a real good job of convincing me that I could trust you.”
“You can trust me, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t hand me that bullshit,” Hayes growled out as he yanked on Carlos’ hair, “I took the liberty of going through your phone while you napped and I found a number you kept calling conveniently after all of our meetings. At first I thought that maybe you were calling contacts, but then it dawned on me that you were probably calling your handler.”
“I’m - urgh - telling you I don’t know what you’re talking about.” That seemed to have set Hayes off because the sentence was barely out of Carlos’ mouth when Hayes swung his fist, making connection with Carlos’ cheek.
Carlos felt the skin below his eye split open from the force of the punch, but he forced himself to keep quiet, not wanting to give Hayes any sort of satisfaction. “You can keep playing dumb all you want, but I will figure out who you really are.”
Carlos smirked back at Hayes, “Good luck with that.”
Despite the hard punch thrown his way, Carlos didn’t regret what he said. Seeing the anger and rage in Hayes’ eyes at knowing he gave up information to a cop vastly outweighed the pain that lingered and the iron taste that quickly filled his mouth.
Spitting out the blood from his mouth, Carlos held eye contact with Hayes and studied the man, trying to figure out what his next play was. If Hayes was only planning on beating the information out of Carlos like he did with the other men, Carlos could handle that. Carlos had an agreement with APD that if he were to go no contact for longer than 48 hours, they needed to come looking for him.
Carlos couldn’t tell how long he’d been unconscious, but he hadn’t spoken to his handler since the previous afternoon, so hopefully it had been about 24 hours. If he was right, he only needed to last another 24 before APD started looking for him. Judging by the look of the room, he was in the same one as the FBI agent was, which meant APD would know this location because Carlos had mentioned it to them.
A punch to the gut pulled Carlos from his thoughts. “Whatcha thinking about, huh? Got someone at home you’re missing right about now?” Carlos looked at Hayes and could see the crazed look in his eyes. For the first time since going undercover, Carlos was genuinely scared. If Hayes managed to get Carlos’ real identity, TK would be in actual danger and he wouldn’t even know it.
Apparently either Carlos took too long to respond or his lack of a response was telling because Hayes snickered and said “Oh you do, don’t you. Well, I guess I’ll just have to figure you out quickly, won’t I. See, I know your types. You won’t start blabbing no matter how much I try to beat it out of you. Get someone you love involved? You’ll be singing like a canary before I even lay a finger on them.”
“Go to hell.” Carlos wanted to say more, but Hayes punched Carlos in the head again, but this time he had donned brass knuckles, knocking Carlos out the moment he made contact with Carlos’ head.
—
“Derek,” Hayes called out the moment he exited the room, “keep an eye on Moreno. I wanna know the moment he wakes up, got it?”
“Got it. What are you gonna do?”
“Call Walsh. He’s got a guy that should be able to tell us who Moreno really is within an hour.”
“Isn’t that going to cost you?”
“I don’t care about that right now. I’m one of Walsh’s best guys. I’ve got better things to do than beat up some random cop who’s in way over his head and is going to try and hold out just to prove himself. Besides, I’ve been meaning to beat up a face I haven’t seen before.”
“Whatever, it’s your funeral.”
“Just go do what I asked you.” Hayes ordered before pulling out his phone and dialling Walsh. “This better be good, Hayes. I’m a very busy man.”
“That kid, Moreno? Yeah, he’s the mole. He’s holding solid. Was wondering if you could get your guy to figure out Moreno’s actual identity.”
“And why can’t you do that yourself?” Hayes could hear the annoyance in Walsh’s voice but decided to ignore it.
“He’s the type that’s not gonna talk unless someone he loves is sittin’ across from him and is about to die. He can handle the physical torture but he’ll crumble under psychological torture.”
“Alright, fine. It’s going to cost you, you know that, right?”
“Of course, sir. Whatever you need.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. I’ll get my guy to find out Moreno’s identity and send it to you. Once you get all the information out of him, you kill him and come meet me. We’ll have a chat face-to-face about what you owe me.”
“Understood.” Hanging up the phone, Hayes looked into the room, smirking maliciously at Carlos’ slumped body in the chair.
—
JJ and Rossi had made their way back to the station after speaking with TK and having a look at the bodies. They were given the identity of the undercover agent before arriving on scene thanks to Garcia, and although the bodies were badly beaten, they could see that one of the bodies was the undercover agent.
Walking into the private room they were given, JJ and Rossi looked at the white board Reid was working on. “Boy genius, what have you got for us?” Rossi asked.
“Based on what we got from agent Roundtree’s handler and what Garcia could dig up, it looks like Roundtree was undercover for months trying to dismantle a cartel that had been expanding throughout the country and was doing well getting small groups brought down. His handler also mentioned that Roundtree was made aware there was another undercover agent, but wasn’t given the identity.”
Before anyone could say anything else, there was a knock at the door. Prentiss opened the door and let the detective into the room. “I’m sorry to interrupt your case but this is important. Your undercover agent was aware that there was another person undercover as well.” Detective Matthews said once the door closed.
“Yes, we already know this.” Prentiss commented.
“The other undercover agent is one of ours and his handler hasn’t heard from him in over 24 hours.”
“I don’t mean to be rude but why is that concerning? Check-ins should be happening once a week.” Luke cut in, confusion evident on his face.
“My officer was doing daily check-ins because of everything that was happening. Over the past couple of days he was growing increasingly concerned that his cover was going to get blown. I don’t know the officer that well but from what I’ve heard, his instincts are never wrong.”
“So why not pull him out? If he was concerned and his instincts are usually on point, why leave him?” JJ asked.
“We were confident he would be fine. He had gotten close to Hayes, the frontman of the faction, quickly and had gotten some intel on Walsh, who is the one we actually wanted. He was doing a good job and all we need is a bit more intel before we have enough for an arrest.”
“Wait, let me get this straight. You knew an FBI agent’s cover was blown and was being interrogated by Hayes before being murdered and he knew there was another person undercover, and you still kept your agent in.” JJ sounded furious, but no one stopped her now that she was on a roll.
“He has a job to do, and he knew the risks when he accepted.”
“And how many previous times had he been undercover?” Detective Matthews looked like a deer caught in headlights as he quietly responded, “this was his first stint.”
“His first time and you throw him into the deep end. Do you realize you’ve probably signed his death sentence by leaving him there, right?”
“I- look, he’s a good cop and was doing very well undercover. He never gave his codeword to get pulled out.”
“That’s not the point. The moment he said his cover might have been blown, you should have pulled him out. Regardless of how good of a cop he was, you don’t throw someone into a case like this who's never done something like this before.”
“Okay, I get it. We’ve tried his burner phone but it’s been turned off. The cameras we have in the safehouse show he hasn’t been back since he left this morning.”
“Did he give you any locations where the cartel frequented?” Reid asked from his place near the white board.
“He mentioned a breakfast place where they usually did their meetings and an abandoned warehouse just on the outskirts of the city.”
“Okay,” Prentiss started, “Rossi, Reid, and Simmons, you go to the breakfast place and Alvez, JJ, Tara, and myself will head to the warehouse.”
“I’ll get teams ready to provide back-up.” Detective Matthews said as he headed for the door.
“Good. Have them ready within the next 5 minutes so we can roll out.”
—
“Hayes,” Derek called, “We’ve gotta move, now.”
“Why?”
“The FBI is here and if Moreno told anyone anything, they’re gonna come looking here for him.”
“Shit, you’re right. Okay, I’ve got another warehouse that we can use that I never told Moreno about. We should be good there.” Before anymore could be said, Hayes’ phone rang, Walsh’s contact lighting up the screen.
“Sir.”
“Moreno is actually APD officer Carlos Reyes-Strand. Husband’s name is TK and he’s a paramedic. Father is a Texas Ranger.”
“Alright, thank you, sir.”
“Get the information out of him and then come meet me. You’ve got one week to get everything out of him before I come myself. Don’t make me go there.”
“Yessir.” Hanging up the phone, Hayes turned back to Derek. “Get him in the van and get him to the other warehouse.”
“What about you?”
“I’m gonna pay his husband a visit.” Giving Derek the location of the warehouse, Hayes then made his way to his car and plugged in the location of the loft on his GPS.
—
TK was making himself busy around the loft. Usually he’d be lazing around or working out, but with everything going on with the FBI and not knowing anything about Carlos, he needed to be distracted. He had considered having the 126 over and do a hang, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to handle the concerned glances thrown his way when they thought he wasn’t looking.
TK decided that maybe having Andrea and Gabriel over for dinner might be a good idea, so he got out the ingredients to make a pasta dish he’d finally perfected. Once everything was ready to go, TK called the landline for the ranch.
“TK, what can I do for you, son?” TK was surprised to hear Gabriel’s voice on the other end of the phone. Usually Andrea picked up the phone even when they were both home as Gabriel was typically doing things around the ranch.
“I was wondering if you’d like to come over for dinner?”
“We’d love to.”
“Perfect! How does six sound?”
“Whatever works for you, son.”
“Okay. If you want, you and mama are more than welcome to come over earlier and I can put out some snacks.”
“As long as it’s not too much of a hassle for you.”
“Trust me, it’s not-” a knock at the door interrupted TK, “sorry, someone’s at the door, probably just a neighbour.” Leaving Gabriel on the phone, TK opened the door and came face to face with a tall, burly looking man.
“You TK?” the man asked in a deep baritone voice.
“I am, why?”
“I’m here about Carlos. I need you to come with me.” TK was glad he left Gabriel on the line so he could hear everything because TK’s gut was telling him not to trust this guy.
“What’s this about?” TK could just barely hear Gabriel telling him to keep stalling and he’d have APD over as soon as possible and he hoped they’d get there before things went south.
“Carlos was hurt during a call and I’ve been asked to escort you to the hospital.”
“And why hasn’t the hospital called me?” was apparently the wrong response because the next thing TK knew, there was a gun pointed at his chest.
“You’re going to come with me, nice and quiet. You make a noise and I’ll blow your brains out, got it?” Knowing better than to challenge the man, TK nodded and let the man drag him out of the apartment. Doing the best he could, TK slowly slid his phone into his pocket, keeping Gabriel on the line, hoping Gabriel could still hear what was going on and get APD there quickly. He wanted to keep Gabriel on the line longer, but when he felt the man shift, TK ended the call. TK silently thanked himself for doing so because the man grabbed TK’s phone a second later and stashed it in his back pocket.
The man then roughly shoved TK in front of him and into the elevator, keeping the gun trained on TK the entire time. When they made it off the elevator, TK made brief eye contact with the lady at the concierge desk and hoped that the panic and fear he put into his expression was enough to get her to speak up and talk to him, but she stayed silent. What TK didn’t see though was that the lady had reached for the phone as soon as they were out of sight and called the police.
Once outside, the man roughly shoved TK around the side of the building to the only blindspot where the security cameras couldn’t see. TK watched as the man pulled out his phone and dialled a number. “Walsh, it’s Hayes. I’ve got the husband. Bringing him now.”
At least now TK could cross off two questions off his lift. One, now he knew the man’s name was Hayes, and two, he knew he was about to be used as leverage against Carlos. He didn’t have long to dwell on that though because as soon as a van pulled up, Hayes started shoving TK towards it. TK did his best to fight back, but one pistol whip to the temple was enough to send him to the ground. The last thing TK felt was him being lifted up and thrown into the van before everything went black.
—
When Carlos came to, he was alone. Though he was glad he wasn’t waking up to Hayes using him as a punching bag again, waking up in a new, freezing room was somehow just as bad. Carlos figured he wouldn’t get a second of reprieve, but having the room freezing cold was not what Carlos had expected.
He couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but eventually he heard the door rattle before it opened. Carlos watched as Hayes walked in with a chair and held the door open for Derek, who was carrying someone over his shoulders.
It only took Carlos a moment to realize it was TK who was being carried by Derek. He felt himself lose his breath as he watched Hayes set up the chair opposite Carlos before Derek all but dumped TK onto it.
Carlos wanted to cry when he realized TK was unconscious, not just by the blood caked down the side of his face, but the way his body was completely limp. Carlos sat by helplessly as Hayes and Derek tied TK up and then slapped him in an attempt to wake him up.
Carlos didn’t know whether to feel grateful or not when TK finally groaned. While he was glad TK was waking up and that the head injury maybe wasn’t as severe as Carlos first thought, he was also frightened as to what Hayes and Derek had planned for the both of them.
“TK,” Hayes said once TK finally opened his eyes, “welcome back to the land of the living. Wanna say hi to your husband?” Carlos watched as TK’s head snapped up as he looked around for a second before finally landing his eyes on Carlos. Carlos didn’t miss the way his face paled and he grimaced as he moved his head, nor did he expect Hayes and Derek to miss it either.
Carlos was proven right when Hayes chuckled. “Sorry I hit you so hard, I just needed to keep you out long enough to get you here.” TK, despite it all, managed to send a scowl to Hayes that even Derek whistled at.
“Oh, this is gonna be fun.” Hayes smirked at TK before turning to Carlos. “Now, Carlos, I’ve gotta hand it to ya, you did pretty good. Even Walsh was impressed. I’ve gotta ask, though. Did you ever consider what would happen once I figured out who you really were? When I showed you the FBI agent tied up here and then I had you watch us dump the bodies, was that not enough for you to back out?”
When Carlos didn’t respond, Walsh decided some persuasion was necessary. Giving Carlos a brief smile, Hayes turned and walked behind TK, grabbing a fistful of his hair and yanking it back while pulling out a knife from his pocket and pressing it against TK’s neck. “Carlos, you can stay quiet all you want, but the longer you keep your mouth shut and don’t tell me what I wanna know, your husband is going to pay the price.” To finish off his threat, Hayes put just enough pressure on the knife to break the skin on TK’s neck, leaving Carlos to watch the little bit of blood start to run down his husband’s neck.
“Yes-”
“Carlos, don’t.” TK interrupted weakly. He wanted to say more but Hayes yanked on his hair again and pressed the knife a bit harder while whispering something in his ear that Carlos couldn’t hear. Whatever it was, shut TK up right away and left him with a look of fear in his eyes that Carlos wished he would never have to see again.
“Carlos, answer the question.” Hayes said with a bit more force.
“Yes, I knew what would happen if you figured it out and I wanted to back out but I didn’t.”
“And why didn’t you? You could have easily backed out and I would’ve let you.”
“No you wouldn’t have, you would have killed me the moment my back was turned.” Carlos said matter-of-factly. Both Derek and Hayes chuckled at that. “You’re right, I would have.”
Up until now, Derek had been standing off to the side, just out of Carlos’ sight, but when he came back over, Carlos realized why. Derek had been setting up what looked like a tray filled with different tools that Carlos figured were not being used for their intended purpose.
“See, answering my questions ain’t so hard now, are they?” Hayes smirked. Carlos had to bite back a sarcastic retort because he was confident it would go over well with Hayes and he wasn’t about to put TK at risk. Oh. Carlos finally understood exactly why they must have immediately gone after TK as soon as they figured out Carlos’ identity. They could torture Carlos all they wanted and he wouldn’t give them information, but Carlos would never let anything happen to TK.
“Now, let’s get to the real questions, and we’re going to play a little game. I’m going to ask you a question and depending on how you answer will decide what we do with TK here.” Trying his best to keep a neutral expression, Carlos nodded his head.
“Good. First question: How did APD find out about us coming into town?”
“I don’t know. They didn’t tell me.” That wasn’t the total truth, but Carlos feebly hoped it was enough.
“Wrong answer,” Hayes started, “Derek, why don’t you show Carlos what happens when he says he doesn’t know the answer to a question I ask.” Carlos watched as Derek walked over to TK with something in his hand. Carlos couldn’t see what it was, but as soon as Derek pressed it to TK’s neck and Carlos watched TK’s entire body tense, he knew it was a taser.
“Okay, okay.” Carlos said quickly. When Derek didn’t let up, Carlos shouted “enough!”
“Derek, stop it.” Hayes said belatedly. “So, you’re going to tell me the truth now?”
“Look, all they told me was that they had seen chatter and intel that you were planning on making Austin a new hub and they jumped on the opportunity. I have no idea where they were getting this information. I was on a need-to-know basis and apparently I didn’t need to know.” Hopefully Hayes could tell Carlos was being serious because Carlos was afraid something could happen to TK’s heart if he kept being tasered. He could only watch as TK slumped in the chair, chest heaving as he tried to take in a full breath.
“Fine. What kinda dirt did they want on me and Walsh?”
“Just enough to warrant an arrest.”
“See, now that’s just not a good enough answer for me.” Carlos didn’t get a second to protest before the taser made contact with TK’s stomach. Watching TK tense up again, eyes screwed shut in pain, lit a fire in Carlos.
For guys who seemed to know what they were doing, they were pretty dumb for only tying Carlos down with duct tape. Though they wrapped the tape around a few times, it was still pretty easy for Carlos to get out of considering they had him tied to a wooden chair that was slowly splintering. This entire time, Carlos had been slowly moving his wrists, trying to weaken the tape and rip it with the help of the splintering wood, which had proven successful when he was able to rip his wrists free.
Carlos took a couple of quick steps and tackled Derek away from TK. He’d admit, his plan wasn’t fully thought out, but the only thing that mattered in that moment was getting that taser away from his love.
Carlos would have loved to have begun beating Derek up, but a scream from TK stopped Carlos in his tracks. Disregarding Derek, Carlos turned around to see TK curled in on himself and Hayes holding some type of tool Carlos didn’t recognize. “Ah ah ah. I told you to play by the rules or else your boy would suffer the consequences. So tell me, why did you think this was a good idea, hmm?”
Carlos knew Hayes was toying with him, but the last thing Carlos needed was Hayes finding out about TK’s cardiac issues. Granted, TK’s cardiologist was confident that TK’s heart was still strong enough since TK was keeping up with everything the doctor prescribed and suggested, but still, anything could go wrong, especially if tasers were involved.
“TK has nothing to do with this. This is between you and I. Let him go.” If Carlos was beginning to sound desperate, he didn’t care. The only thing he cared about was TK’s safety, Carlos’ own be damned.
“I can’t do that and you know it. You’re smarter than this, kid. You’ve already seen how this ends. Both you and your boy are gonna end up dead regardless. The longer you keep putting that off, the more we’re gonna have fun toying with your husband.”
No, Carlos thought, the longer I keep playing this game, the more time APD has to come find us and arrest your ass.
“Hayes, you think you’re so tough with everything you do, but in reality, you aren’t. If you were, you’d be able to beat the information out of me by yourself. Instead, you needed Derek by your side and you needed to kidnap and hurt my husband in front of me. Does that scream tough to you?” Carlos was taking a big risk saying that, but if he could get Hayes mad enough to come at him, that would mean he was away from TK, which is what Carlos wanted.
Carlos wanted to keep going, keep egging Hayes on, but Derek had finally regained his bearings after hitting his head on the concrete from Carlos’ tackle. Derek grabbed Carlos from behind and yanked him down to the ground before throwing punches quicker than Carlos could block them. On a good day, Carlos would’ve had no problem keeping up, but being tied to a chair for God knows how many hours and a few good hits to his head were slowing him down.
He didn’t think Derek was going to stop, but a grunt from Hayes stopped Derek in his tracks. “Get him back up in the chair and tied up. I still need him to talk.”
Once Derek forced Carlos back into the chair and tied back up, Carlos looked right at TK to see him still half-curled in on himself and groaning in pain. “What did you do to him?” Carlos asked with barely contained rage.
“Oh, this is a fun new tool I picked up.” Hayes said with a dark smirk, “it simulates the pain of a bullet wound without actually causing all the blood, which is perfect.” Carlos wished he could wipe the sneer of Hayes’ face, but he couldn’t, at least not right now. He had to bide his time, figure out a way to get Derek out of the room before he tried anything again.
“Now, let’s get back on topic, shall we? Tell me exactly what dirt APD wanted on myself and Walsh or I hit TK here again.”
Carlos hesitated a moment, but when he finally made eye contact with his husband and saw the raw pain and fear in his eyes, he knew he couldn’t stall. He couldn’t hurt TK. He could never hurt TK.
“They needed confirmation you were moving drugs into the city and you were getting your orders from Walsh. They were hoping maybe Walsh would even show up in Austin and I’d get visual and verbal confirmation about his involvement.” Carlos finally settled on saying that much. If anything, Hayes had no idea APD was aware of their possible involvement in trafficking, and Carlos wasn’t about to reveal that.
Carlos watched as Hayes studied him for a moment before Hayes grabbed TK’s hair and pulled him up out of his curled position, ignoring the pained gasp coming from the man. “TK, is your boy here lying to me?”
“No,” TK gasped out, “He’s not lying, I swear.”
“And you wouldn’t lie to me now, would ya?”
“No.” Carlos noticed the slight tremble in TK’s voice as he said that one simple word. This isn’t fair. None of this is fair. I should’ve never taken this stupid assignment, Carlos thought to himself. If Carlos had known this was going to be the outcome, he would’ve never said yes. If Carlos had known TK’s life would be in danger and he’d be kidnapped, hurt, and tortured, there was no amount of promotion, money, nor accolades in the world that would get him to agree to go undercover.
“That’s good to hear. Too bad your husband here isn’t the same.”
“I told you the truth. I didn’t lie.”
“Isn’t lying by omission something you cops always chat about and arrest people for?” Hayes had this sinister look in his eye that shook Carlos to his core. He knew that Carlos also knew about the trafficking and now Carlos and TK were both screwed.
Carlos quickly tried to figure out a way to talk himself out of this, but he didn’t get a chance to before Hayes put the device against TK’s left shoulder, the same spot he was shot just a few short years ago. Carlos looked at TK and mouthed “I’m sorry” at the same time TK mouthed “It’s okay” before the device clicked and TK let out an animalistic scream before it cut off and TK slumped in the chair, unconscious.
“Well now that’s not very fun. Guess you and I can have some fun.” Hayes smirked. “Derek, why don’t you go and check on the rest of the crew while Carlos and I have a nice conversation while TK takes a nap.”
Carlos watched as Derek left the room and Hayes approached him with a predatory look on his face. This was what Carlos was waiting for, to get Derek out so he only had to take down Hayes, but with TK unconscious, it’d be hard to get them both out. Carlos knew he needed to wait for TK to wake up, the only question now being how badly Hayes was about to beat Carlos, and if he’d still be able to fight off Hayes once he managed to get free.
So, Carlos stared back at Hayes, keeping a hard edge, letting Hayes know he was ready for whatever was up Hayes’ sleeve.
As it turns out, Hayes wasn’t interested in using whatever tools were sitting on the tray Derek had set up. Rather, Hayes preferred to feel Carlos’ skin and bones break with his own hands. Carlos couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but after feeling his nose and cheek bone break, along with two of his fingers and possibly a couple of ribs, he was willing to bet it had been a while.
All of that was worth it though because Hayes was leaving TK alone. Carlos was actually a bit surprised, Hayes looked like he had completely forgotten about TK altogether. He hadn’t looked over to check if TK had regained consciousness, though Carlos wouldn’t put it past Hayes to assume TK would groan loudly when he came around like he did the first time.
Hayes had underestimated TK, because TK had come around a few minutes earlier, letting out a quiet groan, but a well timed grunt of pain from Carlos was enough to cover TK’s voice. Carlos secretly glanced at TK, hoping he was able to convey through his eyes that TK needed to stay quiet and pretend to be unconscious. He was glad when TK understood and kept himself still and slumped over in his chair, but he also hoped TK would stay quiet even when Hayes was punching Carlos.
As it turns out, Carlos didn’t need to find out because sounds of gunshots could be heard, along with a lot of yelling before doors were being broken down. Hayes barely had a moment to get himself behind Carlos, pulling a knife from his pocket and holding it against Carlos’ throat before the door got busted down and a chorus of shouts began.