COMPLETED | Stay

Chapter 3: That Look

"The airline's sent me the manifesto." Cass said as the message came through.

"That was fast." Upton commented.

"What can I say, companies like me." Cass said with a smirk as she scrolled through the list of passengers until she found Oskana. "Okay, looks like our vic travelled with two other girls, Alina and Kateryna."

"I'm checking hospitals now..." Jay said. "Chicago Med admitted someone called Alina 4 hours ago." He read.

"Halstead, Mason, go see if she's awake and if she is, see if she knows what happened to Oskana or Kateryna." Voight ordered.

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"Will!" Jay called to a ginger-haired doctor.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" The doctor asked as he approached them.

"Will this is Cass Mason, the newbie in Intelligence. Cass this is my brother Will." Jay introduced them.

"Nice to meet you Will." Cass said, sending him a smile.

"You have a patient we need to talk to, Alina?" Jay asked.

"Looks like she was smuggling balloons of drugs, one burst in her stomach and she ODed. She's just woke up. I was about to call you guys." Will said, leading them towards a treatment room.

"Does she speak English?" Jay asked, realising English was not the main language in Ukraine.

"Surprisingly, she's pretty fluent." Will said, pulling the curtain back.

"Hi Alina, I'm Detective Mason but you can call me Cass and this is my partner Jay." Cass said, walking into the treatment bay followed by Jay whilst Will left.

"Cops? They said no cops." Alina said, clearly panicked.

"Who said no cops?" Jay asked.

"They said no cops or they hurt us." Alina said.

"I can promise you that you're safe here." Cass said.

"My friends, Kathryn and Oskana, they still have them." Alina said.

"Alina, I'm sorry to tell you this but Oskana's dead." Cass said calmly, placing her hand on Alina's knee. "But we need your help to find Kathryn."

"Okay." Alina said as her eyes glazed over with tears for one of her best friends.

"Were they in a car? Van?" Cass asked.

"It was a car, there were two of them in the front seats and we were in the back." Alina said. "Then I started feeling really sick and then I was here."

"What did the car look like?" Cass asked.

"Average." Alina said. "It was dark blue." She added after a few seconds.

"Did they pick you up from the airport?" Jay asked her, Alina nodded in response and Jay turned to Cass. "I'm gonna go get someone to check CCTV from the airport, see if we can follow the car to where they're holding Kathryn."

"Okay." Cass said to Jay before turning her attention back to Alina. "You're doing really well." She said with a kind smile. "Can you remember anything about the men?" Alina shook her head and a few tears slipped down her cheek. "Hey, it's okay to cry." Cass said, catching the girls hand as she went to try and stop herself from crying. 

"But you need my help to find Kat." Alina protested.

"I think you might've helped enough already." Cass said as she heard footsteps approaching behind her. The logical part of her mind knew it was Jay coming back from the phone call, but another part of her mind was telling her it was Ryan.

"They've found the car on airport CCTV and are following its tracks." Jay's voice, confirmed the logical part of her mind was right, she knew it was but was still terrified of the other option.

"See." Cass said, comfortingly running her thumb over the back of Alina's hand.

"I told them to text me once they get an address." Jay added.

"Okay." Cass said.

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It had only taken them a little over half an hour to follow the car around Chicago, past Med and the scene where they had found Oskana, to what appeared to be an ordinary house. Adam had text Jay the address and Jay and Cass had arrived at the scene first and were waiting for the rest of the unit for back up. As great as it was that they could save Kathryn now, it meant the case was over, add a few more hours of slow paperwork, a detour home and she would still be home by half five, six at the latest. Maybe she could go to the hospital and talk to Alina more, work out how they were recruited or she could go to Mollys with the guys. But if she went home with alcohol on her breath or slightly tipsy, she might not be able to make it to work tomorrow. She sat in the passenger seat of the car next to Jay who had been driving as she was new to Chicago and still learning her way around.

"You okay?" Jay asked, noticing how quiet Cass was and how vacant her eyes looked as she stared out the window.

"What?" Cass said, jumping slightly at the sound of his voice as if she had forgotten he was there. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine." She said with a reassuring smile, she wasn't sure who she was trying to assure, Jay or herself. Her prayers were answered when a few other members of the unit pulled up next to them, preventing Jay from questioning her further.

"There's been no movement since we got here." Jay informed Dawson and Burgess.

"Okay, we'll take the back." Dawson replied with a nod before parking their car in front of Jay and Cass. As Cass got out of the car Jay watched her, wishing he could've pressed her further.

"You coming or not?" Cass asked with a slightly teasing tone as she waited for Jay. Cass and Jay reached the front door and were preparing to knock then barge in when Cass stopped and tapped her ear then pointed at the door. An advantage of constantly listening to her fiance's movement around the apartment was that she picked up on quiet noises. Jay listened and heard quiet voices, he could barely hear what they were saying but he could tell from the look on Cass's face that she could understand every word. "They're about to cut her open to get the drugs." She whispered to him, Jay nodded, understanding the sense of urgency behind her voice.

"Dawson, we're going in." He said into the radio before proceeding to kick the door in. "Chicago PD!" He called.

"Copy, we've got the back door." Dawson's voice came through the radio as Cass and Jay cleared the first room before going into the kitchen. Kathryn was restrained on the dining room table, when they saw Jay and Cass the two guys standing over her made a run for the back door. Jay managed to catch one whilst Cass went to Kathryn. 

"One's coming out the back." Cass informed Dawson and Burgess via the radio before she began to use a knife she had grabbed off the counter to cut away the duct tape restraints. "You're safe now." Cass said, as she helped Kathryn up so she was sat on the edge of the table before slipping off her own jacket and wrapping it around Kathryn's bare shoulders, they had had her restrained in only her bra and jeans for easy access to her stomach.

"Thank you." Kathryn said, wrapping her arms around Cass in a hug. Jay wasn't positive that he had seen what he thought he had seen but he could swear Cass flinched as Kathryn's arms had moved towards the detective and then grimaced in pain as Kathryn tightly held on to her but if he had been right the emotions had quickly been hidden only milliseconds after they had shown.

"Come on, let's get you out to the ambulance." Cass said, ignoring the pain radiating through her body as she helped Kathryn get down from the table. Her eyes briefly met with Jay's and as soon as she saw that all too familiar look, pity mixed with fear for their friend , her eyes flicked to the floor. That look was what had gotten her the burn scars that marred her shoulder, that look she hated so much, the look that was the reason she had had to leave her friends behind in New York.