Chapter Nineteen: Chicken, Dynamite, Chainsaw

The clear plastic bag was full of thin green plastic cards, each with a black stripe on the back and serial number imprinted onto them. There were hundreds of them bundled into packs of varying denominations, held in place with thin elastic bands. There was silence for a moment as Maggie and Burgess stared at the bag before their gaze flickered up to Sergeant Platt who was standing above them, on the opposite side of the front desk.

"Congratulations. The two of you are on gun buy back duty at the Grocery store over on Ashton." Maggie and Kim both looked at each other questioningly for a moment before Maggie decided to speak up.

"What does that entail?" she asked cautiously.

She already had the feeling that Sergeant Platt didn't like her. The other woman spoke in short clipped sentences, her brown eyes were always seemed to be watching Maggie as if they were waiting for her to slip up and commit career suicide. The Sergeant's thin grey eyebrows furrowed in confusion before she stared back at Maggie uncomprehending, the older woman's gaze shifted to the grocery cards before flickering back to Maggie once more.

Maggie thought, trying to make her expression as impassive as possible. She didn't want to care what the Sergeant thought but there was a tiny part of her that did and it irked her.

The truth was they hadn't had the gun buyback program when Maggie had been in patrol, the initiative was only a couple of years old. She was finding that was something that she would have to work on, patrol officers were involved with a lot of community outreach programs and officers were expected to know the mechanics of them when they were assigned.

"People turn in guns, you give them a grocery gift card. No questions asked." Sergeant Platt explained abruptly before making a shooing motion with her hands. "Now go! Scoot! This requires no further explanation."

Maggie snatched up the gift cards in one hand before following Burgess to where they kept their outdoor supplies.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Antonio was furious. He could feel that familiar prickle of fear running up his spine as that fire in his belly whipped up a storm inside of him. His gaze fixated on the young teenage girl stood in the corner, her green backpack resting on the indoor wooden bench that she was sitting on. It felt like an age since he had seen his daughter, she was still as beautiful as the day he had packed up his things and left. She had Laura's slim oval face and amber colored eyes but the rest of her from her thick black hair to her nose and ears was all him. She rose to her feet as he called her name, his heart pounding in his chest as he reviewed every inch of her, checking her for injury. He had no idea she was here but if someone had hurt her he would kill them for it, there was no question of that in his mind.

"I know what you're gonna say and just know that I'm fine." the words tumbled out of her as she hurried to reassure him. "Everything's fine."

It did not do much to calm the protective animal that was pacing around inside of him. If Eva was here it meant that Laura had to be nearby and he wasn't sure that he could face a second round with her after the things she had said to him this morning.

"Where's your mother?" he asked finally, staring down at his fourteen year old daughter.

"She's home." Eva said, her lower lip trembling as she spoke. "I took the train."

It was at that point Antonio felt himself implode. Jesus Christ, Laura had called him a bad parent and now their daughter was showing up at the police station having ridden the train by herself. Did she know what could happen to her? Of course she did, because he had drilled it into both her and Diego's brains so many times before. They knew that it was dangerous, that kids weren't safe wandering around by themselves. He thought she would have been a hell of a lot more careful after what happened with Diego the year before last.

"By yourself?! Does your mom know?" he heard his voice raising and he couldn't stop himself. He wanted to shake his only daughter to try to make her understand how bad that could have been. Kids disappeared all the time and he couldn't stand the thought of something happening to his children, he would never forgive himself if it did.

"I called, and I just left a message." Eva informed him calmly.

He looked away from her, his jaw clenching as his brain fumbled over the words. He was so angry right now and so relieved at the same time. His daughter was right here and nothing had happened to her but in his head it didn't mean that something couldn't. What if this happened again? Just because nothing had happened this time didn't mean that it wouldn't the second.

"You're grounded." He said abruptly, jabbing his finger at her as he struggled to collect himself. "You're as grounded as you've ever been."

There were tears in Eva's eyes now, he could see them brimming up over the edges of her big brown eyes as she stared back at him, her shoulders quivering.

"Dad, don't you wanna know why I came here?" she questioned, her voice breaking as he glared back at her.

"No!" he responded firmly. "I don't want to hear anything out of your mouth right now except, 'I'm sorry, won't happen again, dad.' That's all I want to hear."

"Antonio." Voight beckoned from the stairwell, his steely gaze flickering between Antonio and his daughter. "Hayden Tannenbaum's ready to give a statement."

"I'm coming." He muttered before glancing around the reception area of the station house looking for someone to help him out. His doe brown eyes landed on the slender brunette standing beside the front desk as she leaned over to rest a long black bag against the sturdy ceramic pillar alongside some white water weights. He didn't want to do this to her, this wasn't the way he had envisioned her meeting one of his kids but there was nobody else around at the moment and he knew Eva would be in safe hands.

"Maggie." he called out with a sigh, waving his hand to draw her attention. "Come over here?"

Maggie's head twisted towards Sergeant Platt, who gave her slight nod before she came to stand in the space next to Antonio and Eva. He had to admit she looked good in the pale blue uniform, he hadn't known her when she had been in patrol the first time but it suited her. Her glossy chestnut hair was pulled back into a tight bun, leaving loose tendrils framing her pretty features. Her vivid blue eyes shifted from him to Eva and then back to him once more as she took in the familial similarities.

"This is my very-much-in-trouble daughter, Eva." he told her, the anger still clearly displaying on his handsome features as he pointed at his child. "Can you take her into that office, watch her until I get Laura on the phone to come pick her up?"

He could see the indecision on her features and he didn't blame her. To say this was awkward was an understatement. He knew he had no right to put her in this position but he needed the help right now and Maggie could see that. He would not have asked if there had been any other solution to this problem.

"Yeah, of course." she said softly.

"Dad..." his daughter injected.

"Not another word, Eva." Antonio shushed her, his temper flaring up once more. "I mean it."

Maggie stepped into the space between them, her arm wrapping around Eva's shoulders as she gave Antonio a knowing look over the top of his daughter's head. It wasn't entirely sympathetic and Antonio chose to ignore it. Right now there were other things to focus on, one girl was in the hospital and another was still out there having God knows what being done to her.

Antonio cast a final glance over his shoulder, watching as Maggie guided his daughter into the office before returning to the bench to retrieve her backpack. For now he didn't have to worry about Eva, his daughter was in safe hands.