Blood Runs Deep

Chapter 3: Pulpo

Chapter 3: Pulpo

Once we had walked out of sight from the apartment building Jay turned and looked at me. His jaw was set and his eyes were piercing right through me.

"What the hell was that?" He spoke through a clenched jaw.

"There was blood on his leg. Something was off. There wasn't a chance in hell I was letting you walk inside. We were told not to go in anyway! I should be the one saying what the hell was that?" I yelled back.

"I didn't see any blood. But if you say you saw it, then okay." He nodded, then stormed off in front of me like a small child having a temper tantrum. He think's I've just blown this entire operation to hell, but I know what I saw on  that guys pants leg. It was red and wet, it looked like blood. I trust my instincts. I know he doesn't know me that well, but he should trust my instincts as a cop.

We'd met up with rest of the group in the nearby alley way. We stood in a circle and all eyes were on me waiting for some sort of explanation.  "I spotted blood on the guys leg. The fact that it wasn't the guy Rev, that you showed me and we didn't know that guy made me...uneasy." I began to say only for Voight to hold his hand up in the air cutting me off. I thought I was about to get a verbal lashing or worse fired, but was surprised when it was the complete opposite.

"You don't have to justify it. You got a bad hit, you got a bad hit. Let's go in." He said looking at me, then everyone else.

It made me feel better for following my gut and not letting Jay go inside that apartment.

"Sometimes you have to make the calls. You did the right thing," Lindsey said looking at me from across the circle. She handed Jay and I our weapons back and we placed them back on our sides before she handed us bullet proof vests to put on.

"Maybe it looked like blood? That's not probable cause to force an entry." Jules said crossing her arms over her chest, skeptically looking around at everyone. Her platinum blonde hair blew in the breeze as she stared at Voight.

The subway train above us went by making it a little difficult to hear.

"He could have been marinating a chicken and spilled barbecue sauce on his pants." Antonio said throwing his hands in the air, sighing in frustration.

"I know what I saw and the vibe I got off that guy." I blurted out, without thinking. "Somethings off. He looked agitated. Hardly opened the door."

"We've got three O.D.'s traced back to the heroin Rev's moving. You want to wait for another kid to die?" Voight snapped letting his voice rise slightly.

"We'll do a knock-and-talk, all right? Whoever's in control of the apartment gets all squirrelly, we'll take it from there." Olinsky suggested looking around the group at everyone.

He was the voice of reason.

"It's pretty obvious the guys hiding something, I guess we'll find out if it's a Cornish game hen." I said channeling my inner smartass, and smirked at Antonio.

He rolled his eyes and mouthed 'ha-ha' nudging my shoulder. I slipped the bullet proof vest over my head and secured the sides against my torso. Without asking Jay reached over and made sure the straps into the back were securely in place. I froze at his unexpected touch.

"Thanks." I mumbled, glancing at him over my shoulder.

Jay nodded. "No problem."

"I'm not sorry for making the call." I told him.

I removed the beanie I was wearing and put my hair up in a messy bun.

"Look, I'm not upset about what happened up there. I just want this guy. My brother works at Med and these kids coming in off the street OD'ing are bad. There's a fifteen year old girl lying at Med brain dead right now."