thirteen.

The bullpen was filled with everyone walking back and forth. Building up the case more on what had transpired earlier in the day. A kid had been abducted by three men who were highly trained. And there was going to be a ransom request eventually. The team was working their best on leads to who the men were and get down to the bottom of it. They wanted to bring the kid home to his family safely. That was their goal and they wanted to stick with it.

Hank walked out of his office to get updated on what the intelligence unit had come across. Crossing his arms as he stood off to the side, staring at the board.

"So what do we got on the crew?" Hank questioned.

"Well, these guys are trained, so I ran a query through the VA." Antonio started as he turned to the investigation board. Everyone stood crowded around as they put their full attention onto the board.

"There's 350 soldiers injured with similar age, weight, and burn. But only four of them live in Chicago. And only one matches this well. That's Luis Vega, 28, 1st Ranger Battalion." Antonio said as Pru peered over at Jay. He had been acting odd all day and she had to admit, she was worried. He seemed closed off and she didn't understand why. She felt like they were working somewhat well on slowly getting back to where they were, but he seemed to have flipped a switch. Like his eyes had gone dark and void of emotions one night and she didn't know why. She remembered waking up to him sitting up in the middle of the night and he wouldn't tell her anything. He just told her to go back to bed then he ended up leaving the room. So the girl felt like staying at Hailey's would be better. Her sister had begun to help her with her bad sleeping habits. Starting the girl on sleepytime tea and having her mind busy with a show or movie to the extent she would fall asleep.

There Jay stood so far away from her. Physically he stood by the board not too far from her. But mentally he was so far gone, lost in space. Pru wished he would just tell her what was wrong but he wouldn't. And that's what concerned her. By keeping whatever was going on to himself, she knew it would affect him in a bad way. He could even start acting out. And if he wasn't in the right headspace then he could make a bad decision. The girl could only hope that he would confide in her soon before something happened.

"Luis got booted last year due to an IED injury. Right forearm burned through. After he got out, he spent three months in South America on contract as security." Kim added onto the background of Luis Vega.

"AKA, he did kidnapping and ransoms." Jay concluded as he looked back on everyone who stood behind him. Pru saw it in his face, he was experiencing something mentally. Fighting a battle against his own self. When their eyes locked, she sent a pleading look his way. He disregarded it as he turned back around to face forward. Hailey looked at Pru who shrugged hopelessly.

"Yep. Height and weight match this guy to a T." Antonio pointed to the picture.

"We got someone headed to him?" Hank wondered.

"Covert car on route. We'll get eyes." Al chimed in.

"Good." Hank nodded.

"Okay, but what's the plan, though? We can't just grab him up on what we got, and odds of him talking are not good. Plus if we spoke to the crew we could get the kid killed." Jay started to pick at the case.

"Well, that's why we get eyes on Luis right away." Hank told Jay.

"Or you put me in." Jay pitched his idea as Pru rubbed her face stressed out. Jay was already in too deep. He was seriously about to get into this. Voight looked at him unsure. Pru sat at her desk in the back with her arms crossed. Wondering what Hank would say about this proposal.

"He was a Ranger. We served at the same time. I can connect with him." Jay tried to persuade.

"That's a bad idea. No. An undercover would heat him up. We don't have enough info." Antonio said, disagreeing with Jay.

"That would be the point. I'd get it." Jay pushed more.

"How are you so sure that you could get the info? You don't know if it will blow up in your face." Pru spoke from her spot as Jay glanced at her then back to his boss.

"Al?" Hank looked to him for feedback. Olinksy shrugged, slightly unsure of the best decision.

"What about you? You got a take, Hailey?" Hank asked Jay's partner. Jay turned around to look at his partner who glanced over at her sister. Then Hailey looked at Jay. Hailey could see that Jay was clearly going through something. He was distant and it concerned her because he was her partner. And her sister was concerned about it too. But she had to give him a chance to prove himself at what he assures everyone he can achieve.

"No. I'm neutral." Hailey responded.

"Pru? You're the brains. What do you think?" Hank looked at the girl. She kept her eyes on Jay as he stared at her. The girl scoffed and stood up.

"Please. It's not like my opinion would matter." Pru then made her way past everyone to the locker room.

Pru was going through her bag. Finding her wallet and keys then pulling them out. Jay walked in and went over to his locker. The tension in the room thickened as they stood there in silence.

"I don't understand why you're so against me going under." Jay spoke up as Pru shook her head.

"Jay. I know it's your job and you know what you're doing. But there's clearly something else going on with you right now. And you won't tell me what's going on so I hope you could at least tell someone soon so you don't keep it in. But right now, I just don't think this is the best thing for you at the moment." Pru truthfully told him, expressing her worry.

"Well, it's not your problem." Jay said which made her scoff.

"Yeah." She agreed as she shut her locker door with some force.

"It's not my problem." Pru nodded her head as she was about to leave.

"Also, I'm going to be picking up a few more of my things I might need because I'm staying at Hailey's for a while." Pru stated.

"If that's what you want then fine." Jay shrugged. Pru's chest hurt as she stared at the man. He wasn't even trying. He didn't care and was just giving up. It's like she meant nothing to him and this was him trying to prove to her just that. That she wasn't even worth it.

"Trust me. It's definitely what I want." Pru said as she left Jay alone in the locker room. He gritted his teeth and tightened his jaw in frustration. Then he slammed his locker door shut then forcefully hit the locker.

The girl had made it into the hallway as she covered her mouth. Trying to hold in a sob as she realized everything was just falling apart. The relationship they had built was just deteriorating. He was shoving her out and the door between them was slowly closing and she felt like there was nothing else she could do. The girl felt a cramp in her side as she grabbed onto her side. The pain was sudden but then went away just as quick as it came. She gasped at the poke she felt then sighed when it went away. Taking a deep breath to collect herself before she headed downstairs to head out for break.

+

"Ruzek will log everything. I'll stick by you in the field, and Antonio will be there as a second." Hailey goes over as she hands Jay his wires. He fumbled with the under wire as Hailey clipped on his camera and mic to his maroon button up.

"We'll have eyes on you even if you can't see us."

"Why the neutral?" Jay wondered. Hailey looked up at him then back down on the camera.

"Just been a little concerned lately." Hailey responded.

"About what?" Jay questioned.

"About you. You cover well, but I got eyes, Jay. My sister does too. And you're worrying her which makes me worry more. I can also see that you're trying to push her away. She's been staying at my place more which I don't mind but she's confused. One night you just kind of switched off on her when you guys were just seeming to slowly get back to normal. You can act like you are clueless to the whole thing but it's not hard to see that something's off. I don't know what has happened recently for you to start switching up all of the sudden. But don't do something you'll end up regretting. So are you sure you're solid?" Hailey told him as he peered down at her having nothing to say. He knew she was right.

The first night the nightmare had happened was when he was with Pru. And after that he had been trying to think about what to do with what he was seeing. He slightly lied to Adam when he said he didn't know what was going on with him and Pru. He knew that the distance between them again was because of him. Jay was pushing Pru away because of his own problems and all she wanted to do was help. He felt like a slight jackaśs. But right now at that moment he needed a distraction. And so he felt like going undercover for this case was the best distraction he could get at the moment.

"Yo, we just got the undercover narcotics up to speed. We got the coverts trailing Luis to the Veil Club. Bartender there is named Camila. That's his sister." Kevin announced as he came into the room. Hailey and Jay nodded at the information Atwater had given them.

"Let's roll." Jay told them.

Edited: 5/23/2021