'We Miss You. We want you back. Call now and order your favourite meal and receive 15% discount on your first order and free delivery. Check out our new menu while you are at it, you won't be disappointed. Reply STOP to opt out.'

'STOP' as soon as his phone beeped he smiled and turned it off. He slipped the burner into the inside pocket of his jacket and zipped it up. He locked his front door and tugged his beanie down tight on his head before he stepped outside.

The cold was biting. It was whipping down the street and made him hustle just a little. Sadly just because it was cold, tit-freezing cold that didn't stop the absolute shitstains they dealt with on a daily basis slow down. While everyone else could hunker down they were chasing their tails.

This week had been particularly though, they were one cop down and running on fumes trying to hunt down a serial rapist who had struck four times in the past three weeks. He was a ghost and they had put in a lot of man hours this past week. The weekend couldn't come quick enough, although if they didn't make some progress soon it was unlikely they'd get to enjoy it.

He had crawled into bed barely three hours ago and should still be asleep but he was waiting on some search warrants and the emails on his phone crashed so he had to go in. At the very least to print off the warrants so they could be signed knowing full well that once he set foot in the District there was no way he was going to see his bed for another twelve hours, if he was lucky. It wasn't just him that was pulling double time, they were all putting in the long hours.

Finally all the threads they were pulling were coming together, they were getting closer and while it was a cold day to be out and about they were at least happy with their results.

It put a spring in everyone's step until they realised they had to stake out overnight. The ramshackle house in some dark dingy suburb of Chicago looked particularly uninviting and their van wasn't luxury and they couldn't run the engine as the van had to appear to be a broken down abandoned wreck. That hadn't been a long process to set up, they were good at it. They 'broke down' in just the right spot and just left it there with two of them in the back for the first shift. The neighbors had, of course, reported it. Funny how they reported a strange broken down car but had made no reports of the shady dealings from any one of the dozens of houses that lined the streets. Apparently that shit was okay but anyone new moving in was cause for concern.

They had toe warmers, hand warmers, back warmers, beanies, gloves and thick coats and boots and it was still bone aching cold. The Thermos full off hot coffee only went so far and the hours dragged on with very little movement on the house. They did make note of the apparent drug den operating a roaring trade. It kept them amused watching the wide variety of cars that turned up, stayed a minute and then left. Ranging from absolute buckets of bolts death traps to sleek looking BMW's and everything in between, some people had no shame, strolled in and out like they didn't care who knew and the others usually from the BMW type cars tried to appear inconspicuous.

Time crawled, every minute lately felt like ten. When the temperature was well below zero it only exacerbated the issue.

He checked his phone briefly before taking a shower although it took a good half hour in a hot shower before he thawed out and fell into bed as the clock nudged 130am.

As usual as soon as he woke he reached for his burner, turned it on and sent a message. 'Good Morning. We look forward to seeing you for your adjustment at 3pm. SpineRight Chiropractic. Text Y to confirm of N to cancel'

'N'

He was never going to run out of 'messages' to send. He'd scrolled through his phone at all the advertising messages he received and ignored and would pick one a day to copy. It horrified everyone that he had 865 un-read messages on his phone.

For two weeks it continued, he mixed up the times, it wasn't always in the morning, sometimes it was lunchtime before he sent it and others come later in the day, but every day he sent some marketing spam.

"Boss." He knocked on his Sergeant's door frame. It was early but he couldn't sleep and he knew his Boss would already be at his desk.

"What is it?"

"It's been three days and not a peep."

"No safe word?" Voight asked. "What was the last response?" They had set this up carefully. Everyone knew the drill. Anything other than No or Stop were red flags and of course silence was a full on screaming red banner. If the response was Yes to anything it was a signal.

Three days ago it was fine….STOP…in response to a reminder that the car was due for a service.

"Nope, silence." Ruzek rubbed his hands over his face. He'd woken every hour to turn his phone on and check it. Even though his UC phone was on all the time. This phone was just for this purpose. It had to be untraceable. There was no way it was to be left on for any GPS tracking. "I'm worried."

Usually I have the majority of the story finished before I even contemplate posting a story...but what the hell, we are in unprecedented times. The aim is to update once a week...who knows where it ends up...Enjoy