Campus break in (open)

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Jason nodded a bit when Voight told him he could stop by Intel and see if they had anything. "That she is" he replied before taking a sip of his tea. "Gabriela grew up in what we would call a blue collar family: her dad worked in a factory while her mom was a housewife. She wanted to have a better life for herself, so she worked hard in school with the hopes of getting into a college over here. When she was 18, a man approached Gabriela claiming to be a recruiter for the University of Chicago. From what I was told, he had everything to pass himself off as one, up to having all the right forms for her to fill out. What Gabriela didn't know until it was to late that this "recruiter" worked for an Eastern European trafficking syndicate.....something she discovered after being abducted from JFK in New York. Her and 20 other girls her age were brought to Chicago and forced into prostitution. Two months after finishing my first year, myself and other officers from my district were involved in a raid with troopers from the Illinois State Police, FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on a warehouse that the group was keeping Gabriela and the other girls in. I found Gabriela handcuffed to a bed in a back room, clearly scared out of her mind." he said, flashing back to that day before composing himself.

At the same time, Gabriela was getting an order to another table. She glanced over to Jason and Voight after setting the order down. She knew from the look on Jason's face that he was reliving the day he found her. She often found herself flashing back to that day as well along with what happened to her.

[Henry 'Hank' Voight]

Hank listened to the story Jason was telling him, he often wondered how other human beings could do such things but then he had seen enough to know that some people were not wired like others were. It was a time when the girl should have had the rest of her life to look forward to and yet a syndicate had gotten hold of her. “It was a good job that you found her, it might not seem like it but she is one of the lucky ones.” Hank said not wanting to put a down note on it.

There were some girls that were never found, some who sliped through all the nets that were set up to stop that sort of thing. There had been too many cases where he had seen the worst case of what Gabriela had gone through, the girls that didn’t make it or those who tried to escape and paid a price for that. Still he smiled as he looked over his shoulder toward the girl, it was nice to know that at least one person managed to get out and be found. That everything wasn’t lost and there was a purpose to what they did other than the part after the fact.

Hank never liked reaction to things, he wanted to be out front of it to be the one that took action but despite the name of their team and unit it was sometimes inevitable that they had to do the clean up and find the bad guy after the bad stuff had happened. He tried to see it as helping others but someone usually lost before they managed to get involved in things. “So you have a real success story behind you case wise and you can cooperate with the FBI and state police which is more than most can say.” He said smiling, the FBI were a special sort and even with Agent Blondie he still wasn’t their greatest fan.

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Jason nodded a little in reply to those comments. "That I do" he replied in humble tone. While it was true he got along well with many of the FBI agents at the Chicago office and troopers at the Chicago District of the ISP, there were a few he found it difficult to interact with. "I'll be honest, the SAC for the FBI's Chicago office makes me want to call up my drill sergeants from Ft. Jackson and have them pay the guy a visit." he said off the cuff before finishing his tea. While he respected the position the guy held, he came off a jerk. Jason had a feeling that his grade school report cards stated that he didn't play well with others.

Jason set the mug down after finishing its contents, then glanced over to Gabriella, thinking back to the day he found her and when let her call her parents after she was checked out by the EMTs. A slight sigh left his lips as he looked away. Ice looked up at the same time, knowing that his handler was deep in thought and gently nudged him with his nose. Jason looked down at Ice and smiled a bit while petting him. "I'm alright Ice" he said to the big dog.

[Henry 'Hank' Voight]

Hank laughed as Jason spoke, “It could always be arranged.” He said, “I don’t usually play well with other agencies, too many cooks spoil things.” He said though of late he had managed to have a lot more to do with the FBI but that was mainly down to one SSA there who had managed to turn around his thought process slowly on cooperating. He was still what some might say a work in progress but it was still progress he was making. Slowly but surely.

Hank watched as Ice seemed to know there was something not quite right, it was nice to see the two being that understanding to each other. “Good did a good thing Jason, she should be a reminder that there is still hope for human beings. Especially when this city has a good cop like you on its pay role.” Hank simply wasn’t just saying that. He meant it. The good things, the people saves should always light the right way to do things and being able to see someone living a life because of a cop was always a nice thing to see.

The city was short a good few cops, there was far too much darkness but between Jason and Ice, Hank still had hope that one day the city would turn the right way and crime would be a once in a life time thing. Okay maybe not that well but he did hope there would be less serious cases to work over time if things could turn around.

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Jason nodded a bit when Hank said that to him. "She is" he replied before a call came in over his radio. "Duty calls" he said after replying. He left a twenty on the table and headed out with Ice. Ice followed him out to the car and got in the back. once in, Jason drove them to the sight of the call: an attempted robbery at a corner store. While dealing with the call, Jason didn't know of what he would see when he came by the intelligence unit.

A couple of days later, Jason went up to the intel unit's floor. Ice stayed close as Jason spoke with the other officers. As he did, a symbol on the board that was behind everyone got his attention. "Jason, what is it?" Adam asked, seeing the shift in Jason's behavior. Jason didn't say anything at first as he pulled his phone out and contacted Gabby, speaking in Romanian at a rather quick pace before hanging up. "I've seen that symbol before." he said in a slightly blood chilling tone.

[Henry 'Hank' Voight]

Hank nodded as the call came over Jason’s radio, well for him it meant getting back to the office to see what was going on or if he was simply back to the paperwork that he seriously hated. It had more red tape than a crime scene although that was yellow but it drove him nuts still. Hank went to finish his coffee before heading back, some things were tough for him like sitting still and doing what he had to do. It felt as if he had no purpose.

Days later and things had begun to busy up, there was a case to work which was on the board. Hank was in his office when he heard Ruzek speak to someone; he had to move to his office door before he saw Jason. There was something wrong Hank could see that though he let him make the phone call before Hank came around to look at the symbol on the board before looking back to Jason. “Where did you see that before?” Hank asked glancing between the board and Jason. Maybe there was about to be a break in the case they were working.

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Jason looked at Hank when he asked that. "When I rescued Gabriela....they call themselves the Dracul Syndicate" he replied gently, yet to the point. "Who's Dracul and who's Gabriela?" Ruzek asked, clearly puzzled. "I'm Gabriela" a woman's voice replied seconds later. Jason looked over and saw Gabriela standing with Sgt. Platt. "Ladies and gentlemen....meet Gabriela Paveluc." he said before telling them the story he told Hank. Gabriela flashed back to that day as Jason spoke while she figited with her waitress uniform. "As for the Dracul syndicate, their name is a reference to Vald II, also known as Vald II Dracul, or Vald the Dragon. He was a member of the Order of the Dragon, an order that protected Wallachia from the Ottoman Turks. You might be more familiar with his son, Vald the Impaler...who would be the influence for Dracula." he explained.

"The syndicate is one of the most ruthless human trafficking rings in Eastern Europe, kidnapping women from Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Egypt and Italy after they have lured them to the U.S. with promises of work as maids, nannies or models, getting them into school or the like before kidnapping them from the airport and trafficking them across the country. Keep in mind that these guys are Albanian, their ruthlessness makes the gangs from the Prohibition era look like the boy scouts." he explained.

[Henry 'Hank' Voight]

Hank stood and listened to Jason talk about the Dracul Syndicate, anything that had a link to Dracula in his head was bad and deadly serious. It took him a minute to realise he was now looking at the woman from the coffee shop earlier that week. “Dracula is well known.” Hank said actually glad that for once he had managed to understand the references that were being talked about. Technology he was pretty behind with, any recent movies there was no chance but he was familiar with Dracula after reading the book and seeing a movie or two about the vampire but this was a case of people.

People who were committing one of the worst crimes in his mind but that was his thoughts as he listened again to what Gabriela was saying. “I hate to ask but do either of you have a run down on how the US side of this syndicate is made up?” He asked, it saved a lot of time and man power on running down leads if one of them knew the head of the organization or simply a few of the people they used as it would be a pretty good starting place for it all to begin. “Are you both okay being here for this? I understand if either of you need to leave.” He said looking between Jason and Gabriela.

He wouldnt hold it against either of them if they couldnt handle the questions or what was going to go on. It was never a good subject to be talking about but to have been through it or been the cop who helped get someone out of that situation. It was hardly going to be easy on any level.

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"We are" Jason and Gabby both replied before Jason asked for the file on the syndicate's US operations. Once it was handed over, Jason placed all he had on the white board that was behind him. "As you can see: the Dracul Syndicate has a wide reach across the US." he said to the group. "They bring the women they want to either New York, Boston or New Orleans, snatch them at the airport, then move them to either Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami or Denver." he added before Gabby spoke up. "They got many of us addicted to drugs before turning us onto the streets." she said to them as Ice sat next to her.

Jason heard the pain and fear in her voice as she spoke. It was clear that Gabby had seen to much pain and death.....more then anyone should have to witness. Gabby composed herself after speaking up and looked right at Sgt. Voight. "Find these dragons and slay them" she said, her words falling out of her mouth like a lead weight that got the rest of the Intel unit's attention when she said that. Sgt. Platt was even surprised by the weight of the young woman's words as she stood there and watched her.

[Henry 'Hank' Voight]

Hank passed the file over to Jason, it was good to know someone who had an inside track on the syndicate as it could be invaluable information for them all. Hank listened as Jason spoke about where the girls came in and where they were moved to. It was a national case which meant other cities but for the time being if they could shut Chicago down then he was sure the other’s would follow with the information they might be able to share. Hank was annoyed that this was going on in what he considered his city and above all the amount of scared women that were out there.

The pain and fear in Gabby’s voice was clear as he nodded, “We will find them Gabby you can count on that.” He said defiantly though given that this was probably a by the book case for the most part Hank felt that slaying anyone might not turn out so great with the DA. “This wont happen to anyone else Gabby, not while we know about it but we need your help if you are okay to stick around.” He said deciding that someone who had been there if they found any of the women would be a good idea to have around. “Jason, can you fill us in on your case the original one?” He asked trying to get as much information as possible.

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Gabby nodded in reply when Voight said that to her. Jason spoke up at the same time, filling the Intel group in on the case as Gabby stood back and listened. "After my first year on patrol, the station I was assigned to was tasked with assisting the Illinois State Police, FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents with investigating and bringing down a trafficking ring operating in the city. Myself and the other officers where briefed by both an ICE and FBI agent, who informed us that the ring originated in Albania, as per information received from an undercover operative in Vlorë. The operative informed the FBI and ICE that members of the Albanian underground, the aforementioned syndicate, wanted him in Romania to act as a spotter for their trafficking ring.....giving him a list of women to look for." Jason said to the group, a noticeable hint of disgust in his voice when he said that last part.

Gabby noticed it as she sat there and listened to Jason continue informing the others on the case, having another flashback to the day she was grabbed at JFK. Ice sensed she was upset and gently placed his paw on Gabby's leg. "From what we learned after the raid from documents we found and women we interviewed, the Dracul Syndicate is sophisticated: they have spotters in Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Egypt and Italy to look for potential victims. Once the spotter has the young woman lured with the promise of a job in the U.S., he steps out and makes a call to a snatch team in working in New York, Boston or New Orleans who grab the young woman and take her to a stash house where she held for transport to another city." he added.

[Henry 'Hank' Voight]

Hank nodded as he listened to Jason and heard the disgust in his voice. Doing what they did and seeing what people did to other people, there was no wonder he heard what he heard. At the end of the day you had to be a certain kind of detached to work these cases and sometimes people didnt come back from those sorts of cases. If there were any rules he had it was that women and children were off limits. Something that many crime organizations didnt have rules about. Still thinking about a list of women who were probably too unsuspecting to know they were being hunted. It turned his stomach.

“So do we have access to this under cover asset or are they even still active or able to resurrect their cover?” Hank asked trying to decide the safest route to play it. They could put someone in another country and hope they were grabbed to lead them up the network but that was a big risk and too big a risk if they lost contact with the person along the way. If they were made as an undercover officer then it was equally as bad he thought as he scrapped that idea as soon as it crossed his mind. Hank paced a few steps back and forth.

“So the way I see it is that we either need a female officer to go under cover and take the place of one of these women to lead us to the top of the syndicate.” He said glancing around the room, “Or we need to put someone under cover as one of the snatch team which is just as risky. So any other ideas or plans?” He threw out there just in case someone had a better idea or just something that wasn’t half as risky as what he was thinking.

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Jason nodded a bit when Voight asked about having access to an undercover asset. "We do" he replied before getting his phone out and sent a coded message to the guy he knew. After doing that, he looked back to the group. "My contact served in the Romanian Army's special forces before joining the Romanian Intelligence Service." he said to them. "If there is anyone who knows the Dracul syndicate well its him." he added while watching the group.

Downstairs, an athletic looking man walked into the station and asked for Jason. Sgt. Platt looked at the guy and challenged him for a moment before the guy told her he was there to see Jason McGuire. After a few moments, Platt took the guy up to see him. Jason looked over when he heard the two coming, then walked over and greeted his friend.

[Henry 'Hank' Voight]

Hank raised his brow as Jason said they had an undercover asset available. He shouldn’t have been surprised but the guy was turning out to be the best officer Intelligence had access to. “Special forces and intelligence service, that’s one hell of an asset McGuire.” He stated as he looked toward the man before back at the board. “We need to do this right not just for us but for all these women who are trapped because of this syndicate.” He said knowing it didnt need to be but it never hurt to remind everyone why they were there.

Hank watched as Jason greeted his friend, he guessed that this was the special forces guy he had spoken about earlier as he walked over. “Officer McGuire, is this your asset?” He asked giving the guy a look over for no other reason than trust. If there was one thing that Voight had it was trust issues with any team and outsiders, well he trusted Jason but that didnt automatically extend to his friends though he was polite and decided that he could at least try the politer way for this occasion.

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"Yes he is" Jason replied honestly after greeting him. "Sgt. Voight, Romanian Intelligence Service agent Dimitri Ghiban." he said, introducing the two men to each other. "Greetings Sgt. Voight" Dimitri replied while standing there. It was clear that Dimitri was ex-special forces as Jason said he was. "I was informed that the Dracul Syndicate is here?" he asked, his Romanian accent clear as he spoke to them.

At the same time, Gabby was sitting in one of the rooms off to the side with Ice. While sitting there, she flashed back to the day she was abducted. It was a day that still gave her nightmares from time to time. Ice gently pawed at her leg as he watched her. Gabby looked over to him and smiled a little, speaking softly to the dog before petting him. Ice wagged his tail at the same time before pawing at Gabby's leg again.