Ravaged // h.s. au

5.

Zayn

" Police!" I yelled, knocking down to the door, eyes immediately finding Rodriguez sitting in front of the TV with his two kids. He put his hands in the air instantly, as I grabbed him, pinning his arms behind his back, while Niall and Liam shielded the kids away from the scenery. Louis scanned the rest of the apartment, before coming to my aid.

" Okay, Rodriguez, we'll sit you down, and we'll ask a few questions, if you don't answer here, we can always take it back to the station and make it official, your call, am I making myself clear?" I was barely neutralizing my tone, as he nodded. I threw him back onto the couch, my gun, along with Louis' pointed at him. I could tell Louis was on the verge of shooting him, simply for allowing Joshua to get away with all he had done to us, but he refrained.

" Alright, now, want to tell me how the hell you managed to afford this new apartment?"

" I- the compensatory money I got from the station after retiring."

I removed the safety of my gun, triggering it, with a confident smile on my features.

" Want to try this again, Paul?"

" I- you have to understand, Zayn-"

" It's captain Malik, you son of a bitch! Talk or I swear to God I'll end you."

" I can't! He'll kill me!" I felt Louis' eyes on me, but I had to remain focused.

" Who's he?"

" I can't, my kids, please. I- I can't do it. I can't." The previously terrified man broke down, burying his face into his hands. I put my gun down, but Louis didn't, as I approached him, bending on my knees to be on the same level as him.

" If he doesn't kill you, I will, Paul. There's nothing I loath, more than a bad cop, and you, my friend, are the worst kind. An officer was shot, civilians was killed, along with those who were injured and traumatized in the explosion. I'm not letting him destroy any more lives. What I can do, is protect you. But only if you gave me a reason to. If not, then I swear to all that is holy, that I will make you regret it." It was silent, until Louis triggered his own gun in threat, and that was when he cracked.

" Okay, okay. I received a package with a check, and a phone number, the next day of the explosion. He told me what to do and what to write in that report. My wife didn't like it, and she threatened to come out with it, so he- he told me I had to leave her, or he'd kill her and my kids. I had to do it, I didn't have a choice. It's my family."

" Yeah, well, it's many other families that you helped wreck too. What did you write in that report that was untrue?"

" I wrote that his body was among those we found, but it- it was his son's."

" So, you mean to tell me, that he is still alive and out there? You manipulated police work, intentionally misguided us, and helped that bastard get away with it?" I was enraged by the audacity that man held. All I could see was Harry crying over his wife's unconscious figure, and Louis laying in that hospital bed, and all those people coming into the morgue to identify their loved ones. That man, did this, at least partially.

" I'm sorry!" He cried out, just as Louis' gun' bottom collided with his nose, breaking it. He put a hand over his face, barely holding back the flowing blood. Louis went to attack again, but I held him back, pointing at Liam and Niall to cuff Rodriguez.

" You're under arrest Rodriguez. I hope it was worth it."

" But my kids!"

" We'll protect them, because they didn't choose to have a coward of a father such as yourself." I hissed, turning away, before I had done something I would regret. Liam walked him out of the apartment, while Niall took the kids to his own patrol car.

" So what now?" Louis questioned.

" We need to look into this from the beginning. Right now, it's all a big mess, we need to break it down. We're going to need to question him further, but first, we need to get our heads straight. So, ready for an all-nighter?"

He nodded, " Wait, but we'll send Cleo home, right?". I chuckled slightly, shaking my head in amusement.

" Suck it up, Tomlinson."

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All files were sprawled on the conference table in my office; the case's file, Joshua's, his son's, Rodriguez's, Harry's and Gypsy's. We needed to narrow it down, in order to be able to trace all the steps that Joshua had taken since the explosion. Niall and Liam were running through Rodriguez's statement, Louis was on the phone, questioning Rodriquez's wife, while Cleo was stuck with Rodriquez's kids, until we found out what to do with them.

I rubbed my eyes in frustration. Nothing was making sense. There was something that we were all missing, and I found myself thinking back to all those late nights we spent together, in that same office, with Harry sprawled on the floor, papers burying him under, until we came up with a logical explanation, a story, that made it all reasonable. He was one of the best we'd ever had. I always told him that.

" We're missing something." I grunted, eying the papers again, hoping that somehow, something new would reveal itself. My phone rang, interrupting my train of thought.

" Malik." I blindly answered.

" Sir, we just got a call. There were gunshot sounds coming from Mrs. Rodriguez's apartment. She's dead."

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A/N: it's only gonna go downhill from here...

btw, I have till chapter 18 written, so how frequently I update, depends on you!

ily x