Copnapped

31

Jay was kicking himself. How did he let this happen? He'd spent so long wanting to be with Erin, having tried to make a life for himself here where he could forget about the Rangers and the FBI and just do some good in this world. He never meant to keep anything from Erin. Now look what's happened?

He didn't know what was in those letters, he didn't know how or who knew his real identity and his whereabouts but right now all he cared about was Erin. He grabbed his phone and started dialling Voight's number. The sergeant answered almost straight away.

"Erin stormed out, she's probably coming to see you." He informed his boss, he was slipping his boots onto his feet ready to go after her.

"I'll call you if she visits. You need to stay indoors."

"What do you mean? Voight?" He asked, but Voight had already ended the call. Jay dialled Erin's number only to hear it ringing in the next room.

Antonio was his third call, he answered after what felt like forever. Sounding more than annoyed to being called after 11pm. "What's going on?" He asked Jay, he figured it wasn't a social call.

"Erin stormed out and Voight is acting all weird. We have to go and find her."

"Why?"

"Because if we don't, the FBI might."

"The FBI? Are you high right now Jay?"

Jay groaned, "No! I'm not high."

"Then why are you going on about the FBI?" Antonio laughed, he clearly wasn't taking this seriously.

"I'll tell you when you get here."

Jay jumped into Antonio's passenger side and commanded him to drive around the block. Antonio listened carefully as Jay filled him in on his past. At first he thought Jay was pulling his leg, but he soon came around.

"If you were doing jobs with the feds, why'd you need me to get you into intelligence? Pretty sure your resume would have been enough."

"I wasn't doing the cop work, I was her back up." Jay admitted feeling a little embarrassed.

"Oh!" Antonio chuckled, slowing down on the side of the road when he noticed a woman walking on the footpath all alone.

"Erin?" Jay called out, the woman turned. It wasn't her. He sighed and Antonio drove off.

"We don't even know which way she went, why don't you call Voight? She's probably gone to see him."

"He said he'd call me if she turned up."

"Maybe he forgot."

Jay shook his head, "If she's there and he's not telling me. It won't be because he forgot. He'll do it on purpose."

"Why don't we stop by, see if she's there."

"Fine, but if she's not we aren't sticking around for Voight to attack me again." He muttered bitterly.

It was only a few minutes before Antonio was pulling up down Voight's street. He parked out front and they waited there for a few minutes. Jay unbuckled his seatbelt and announced that he was going in. Antonio stayed in the car and watched his friend walk toward the house.

Voight opened the door, "She's here." He told him, stepping aside. He looked over to Antonio in the car and shook his head.

Erin was sitting at Voight's kitchen table sipping at her mug of tea. She looked up when Jay walked in, and without a word she pulled out one of the seats for him to sit on. He grabbed hold of her other hand under the table and squeezed it gently.

"In future, when I tell you to stay indoors, that doesn't mean you can go outside with back up." Voight told him, making himself perfectly clear.

"Sorry."

Voight pushed the stack of envelopes in front of Jay, he handed him a letter opener but Jay ripped one open his hands.

Erin watched nervously as he scanned the pages, skim reading the whole letter. She worried about what it could say, but Jay didn't make a peep. He folded the letter back up and pushed it into the middle of the table.

"Stacy wrote the letters." He told them. "She's worried about some of the guys who were released a few months ago." He said quietly. Erin noticed that his face was slowly turning white.

"Jay?" She asked, just seconds before he slammed his fists against the table. "Hey!" She yelled trying to get his attention.

"I should have read these sooner. I thought they were someone taunting me." His voice was filled with emotion, like he was close to breaking down.

"Jay you didn't know." She whispered, grabbing hold of him by the shoulders. "Stop blaming yourself. The feds have got this."

He shook his head, "If they've got this under control then why are they here? Why are they shaken up that a cop has been snooping around their case?" He asked her, keeping his voice steady and calm.

Voight interrupted, "Jay you remember Tony Short?" He asked him from the other side of the room. Jay looked up at his boss who was leaning against the wall beside his fridge.

"Well yeah, he was a part of the whole thing. Stacy invited him around to our place a few times, why?"

"His son is in prison, for the kidnapping of you and Erin."

Jay's face dropped, he turned to look at Erin with fear in his eyes. "So you're saying that what happened to us wasn't as accidental as we thought it was?"

Voight nodded, "Tony had his son track you down but he couldn't touch you without you figuring out who he was. He met a few guys on the streets and they started taking hits on civilians. When Erin started investigating they could have taken her out, but they didn't. They wanted to get to Stacy through you, Erin just got in the way."

"Who is this guy? Would I recognise him?"

"He was the one calling the shots. Chances are you never came in contact with him."

Jay could feel his whole body shake, this whole time, everything they went through was his fault. Not Erin's. He couldn't even turn to face her, he was the reason she couldn't sleep through the night, and he was the reason why she was hurting.

"Jay." Erin tried to comfort him but it was too late. He felt like his whole world had just crashed down in front of him.

"Jay, there was nothing you could have done." She whispered, wrapping her arm around him. He shook his head, there was no way he could believe her.

"How do we make sure this guy gets what he deserves?" Jay asked Voight who cracked out in a malicious smile.

"You leave that to me."