eight.

The bright lights filled the entire building. Machines making beeping noises and chatter was all that could be heard throughout the busy hospital. People walked in all kinds of different directions. The blonde girl made her way over to the desk when she arrived on the right floor of the hospital. Approaching the slightly tall desk that had been occupied by three different women in colorful scrubs.

"Name?" The lady that Pru stood across from asked without taking her eyes off the computer in front of her.

"Pru for 1:30pm." The blonde told the other women.

"Alright, Miss Upton. I just need you to fill these papers out and you'll be called in shortly." The women told her as she clipped the papers onto the clipboard and handed her a pen. Pru smiled at her in a kind manner before taking the clipboard and sitting in an empty seat in the waiting room. There were a few different moms scattered among the chairs. Some with their children or others with their round bellies. Pru couldn't help but smile at the thought of being farther along and showing. As Pru was finishing up the paperwork her name was called. Following a nurse into a room.

The nurse had gone over the common checkup things that they did at the beginning of any appointment. Then they excused themselves from the room, informing the girl that the doctor would be in shortly. After ten minutes a women in maroon scrubs and a white jacket walked into the room with her laptop. Her brown hair was tied back as she squinted, focusing on something on her laptop screen.

"Pru?" She asked as she did a second check on the screen.

"Oh, Upton. Is that any relation to..." The doctor stopped as she looked up at the blonde girl and nodded.

"Detective Upton? Yes." Pru responded.

"I can see the resemblance now. I'm Dr. Manning." The brunette doctor introduced herself as they shook one another's hand in a quick simple greeting.

"Nice to meet you." Pru kindly said with a smile.

"So you're here today for a checkup to see how far along you are. We'll get right to it then." Natalie Manning smiled at the other women.

+

Pru was sitting at her desk looking over the case file paperwork and what they currently had so far. Checking off certain boxes and writing things out on sticky notes that she needed to type up when she got the chance.

"Hey, Pru?" A voice pulled the girl out of the zone she was in. Her eyes instantly landed on her sister.

"Could you possibly blow up this image and make copies for everyone?" Hailey wondered as she dangled the flashdrive ring part off her index finger.

"Sure." Pru agreed as she took the flashdrive. Hailey sent a friendly smile her sisters way. Pru was able to send a genuine smile back. It was a work in progress for the sisters. Jay had been slowly talking Pru into letting Hailey back into her life. He had managed to get them together alone in a room to talk over the things they needed to. When he did that he realized it could either go really well and they would thank him or it would go really bad and they would maim him. He was still alive after it though so he felt slightly accomplished. But between the girls it was still a little rough around the edges. They were willing to work on it though and that's all that mattered.

After Pru had printed out the copies of the image, she walked back out into the bullpen. Looking around as her eyes fell on everyone.

"Alright. I got the clear images of Clyde Harris." Pru announced as Hailey walked towards her sister. Pru handed the stack of photos over before she walked back to her desk.

"These are from the Burger-N-Dash near the truck stop." Hailey told everyone as she began to hand out the copies of Clyde.

"Facial recognition matches Clyde Dupree. He's got a prior for ivory smuggling." Jay informed the unit on his deep dive on Clyde.

"Ivory smuggling? Is that a joke?" Al asked unamused.

"No, uh, he paid a $10,000 fine. He did 2 months probation." Jay replied.

"Jeez. Some lifestyle if you ask me." Pru mumbled.

"His new business model's pretty much the same. He just changed the cargo." Antonio stated his observation on the suspects profession.

+

When everyone was out chasing a lead on Clyde, Pru was finishing up the paperwork she had to get done by the end of the day. She was scanning over the computer screen for anything she missed when her phone went off. Turning to look behind her she could see Hank in a heated phone call. The girl unlocked her phone to find a text from Jay. He was asking her to search up Sanctuary Row and that they would all be back in a few minutes. She didn't doubt that him and Hailey would be back in a few minutes. Jay drove really fast. Pru personally never experienced it but she always sees him peeling away from the apartment or out of the district.

Pru had searched up Sanctuary Row which brought her deep into the dark net. The things she saw was rather frightening. People were seriously twisted as she scrolled through different things. Finally coming across the page Jay had wanted, the girl left it open on the browser but focused her attention on the bobble head on her desk. Adam had given her a Peter Pan bobble head the second day of work. She honestly loved it. Pru had no idea how he knew she liked Peter Pan at first but she only could assume that Jay or Hailey had told him.

So while she sat there hitting the head with a pen, Jay and Hailey had come marching up the stairs and soon everyone else started to follow. Jay made his way towards Pru then leaned down to look at her screen.

"Is that it?" Jay questioned and Pru nodded.

"Alright copy that link and send it over to my account then come with me." Jay instructed her. She clicked copy then dragged it over to mail and sent the link to Halstead's account. She got up from her spot as she followed him downstairs to the garage. Heading off into one of the side rooms to get situated.

Pru and Jay sat at a table in front of a laptop as Jay scrolled through the website. The two were deeply disturbed with everything that had been popping up. Pru made a noise when she saw the animal pictures and one was a snake.

"That's icky. And why use that as a packaging photo to sell a child?" She commented as she hid her eyes away from the picture.

"How did Clyde know we were onto him?" Hank's voice boomed outside in the garage. Voight, Antonio, and Hailey entered the room to join Jay and Pru by the laptop screen.

"Uh, he's cautious. Read the papers. Thinks three of his kids are dead. Knows the police are all over it." Antonio listed off all the possibilities.

"Sanctuary Row. This dark net stuff is pretty rough. I feel like I need a shower." Jay spoke up. Pru sniffed the air then turned towards the guy next to her.

"Well, you're right. You stink." Pru commented as his foot nearly took out her left ankle which was closest to him.

"Exotic animals. Royal Stripe Python. Female, ten years old. Pale coloring, well behaved. Very rare." Hailey read off one of the descriptions.

"He's talking about the kids." Antonio caught on to what Pru and Jay had already figured out.

"Yeah, he's got four animals listed. He's selling four kids." Jay told them.

"Click on this old link. How many kids has he auctioned off?" Hailey instructed as the past auction sales popped up. Jay began to scroll through counting each one.

"18." Jay stated as Pru held her stomach.

"This guy is sick." Hailey said.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Pru let out as she got up quickly and rushed out of the room to find the nearest trash can.

Edited: 5/15/2021