Page 4 of Rookie Days

“Don’t worry. You’re safe now. I promise no one’s going to hurt you here.”

Ellie set him down on a stretcher but still kept a tight hold of him. She watched his bottom lip tremble and his big brown eyes fill with tears. He was trying to be brave and keep them in.

“Where’s Anna and Belle?”

“In the other ambulance.” She spoke quietly, in a soothing voice. “You’ll see them at the hospital.”

“I want to go home!”

“Your mom and dad are on their way to the hospital too, Carter. They’ll meet you there, okay?”

This finally got his full attention.

“For real?”

She recognized in his eyes a child’s natural impulse to trust and believe. Especially an adult. And one who carried a badge, even more. But he was fighting his own innocence. Ellie rubbed his hands, trying to warm him up. She looked him straight in the eye as a medic wrapped a blanket over his tiny shoulders.

“For real, Carter,” she assured him. “Annalise and Belle’s family will be there as well. You’ll get a quick check-up and then you’ll all be going home.”

“Then I can see my dog?”

“Of course you can.” She smiled, her heart breaking.

“Okay.” Two big tears finally escaped and rolled down his cheeks. “You promise?”

“Yes, I promise.” For a split-second as he returned her gaze, his face morphed into that of a young girl with coal black hair and luminous grey eyes. Ellie looked away, casting desperately for a diversion. She found it in the form of a cleansing layer of white falling over the busy street. “Hey, look! It’s snowing.”

Carter flashed a true kid’s smile, sweet and full of wonder.

“Cool!”

Ellie left him in the care of a friendly paramedic before it all got a bit too much for her and she also ended up misty-eyed. She caught up with Quinn, who had just delivered a shell-shocked Belle to the other ambulance team. An ex-soldier, always focused and in control, her CO was not one for emotional outbursts in the middle of an op, but she still turned to her with brilliant eyes and a fierce grin that spoke volumes.

“Carter okay?”

“Yes. He’s looking forward to seeing his dog.”

“Great to hear. Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy spending quality time in Interrogation with Mr. Castro later on.”

“He’ll claim he was only in the building as a client.”

“That’s why the Forensics team are going over every inch of the house and basement right now. If we place him down there, which I’m sure we will, the charges will stick.”

“All of them, yes?”

“Abduction, child pornography, human trafficking… Every single one.”

“That would be nice.” Ellie ground her teeth hard enough to hurt.

“You can believe it,” Quinn asserted confidently. “This guy strikes me as too much of a dumbass not to have left his prints all over the place. And maybe bodily fluids as well. He’s done, and his colleagues too.”

Talking of which, Ellie turned in time to catch a pair of dark eyes observing the scene from the middle of a small crowd of onlookers. She had spent countless hours pouring over case files and profile photos, familiarizing herself with their targets. And now all the boring work was paying off. She grabbed Quinn’s wrist and squeezed. Hard.

“Three o’clock. Brown coat, slicked back hair. It’s Gonzales, Castro’s right-hand man. Right?”

It only took a split-second for Quinn to confirm.

“Yeah, it’s him.” She growled. “Look at that son of a bitch, enjoying the show!”