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“What do I owe the pleasure?” Lou questioned, raising an eyebrow at the woman who had just entered his office. Allison visiting was never a good sign.
“It could be a social call.” Allison sighed, shaking her head. It was never a social call and it was never about her boys. Unfortunately, she had a feeling this was going to affect her boys.
“A social call would be nice. I take it you have a local case.” Lou gestured to a chair, glancing at the file in her hands. A large local case by the size of that file.
“A case one of your doms uploaded pinged one of our alerts. Since the dom in question told me to mind my own business, I have a subpoena but I would rather exchange information freely.” Allison answered, tapping the file.
Lou narrowed his eyes, taking a slow deep breath. Someone's ass was about to be on fire. “Which case?” He figured there was a police officer he would be paddling before the day was over.
“The investigation into fire station 10. Thomas will not respond to my requests with anything except that it's an ongoing investigation. I have a court order here for every firefighter who has ever worked at station 10 in the last five years.” Allison was aware that Lou would cooperate with her. He wasn't going to hinder a federal investigation.
He was going to kill Tommy. The younger dom would not be sitting any time soon. “I'm sorry about that, I will handle Tommy. May I ask what exactly you are looking for?”
Allison sighed, opening the folder and removing two pictures, both of a very specific scar pattern on the back and bottom. “This is what tripped our alert. We can either have our forensic photographer come in or you can use one of yours. But I need photos of every person's back and bottom who had worked at station 10 in the last five years.”
“That's a big ask, Allison. Even with court orders, that's over a hundred people and several of them might refuse. Tommy is having trouble getting people to come forward.” Lou was aware that one of those photos was the probie that had nearly died. But the other looked much older and he was pretty sure it was an autopsy photo.
“I'm not sure my investigation ties back to station 10 but I have three of these photos. Three bodies over the last five years that bear the same scar pattern. Fortunately, for me, they crossed state lines. So this is a federal case.” Allison didn't want to take over the investigation but she would if she had to.
“Let me call Tommy and get him here. We will obviously obey the court orders. Tommy can go to the station captains and they can make sure you get your photos. We do want to continue this investigation, a little was almost killed and he deserves justice.” Lou answered quietly, picking up his phone when she nodded. Tommy wouldn't like this but he would handle it.
-c-
“This is ridiculous! I told you it was an ongoing investigation, Allison. You are going to fuck up our chances of getting justice for Ravi and all the others for a cold case?!” Tommy snapped, shaking his head. He almost had enough people come forward to take this further. He wasn't going to screw that up right now.
“Enough, Thomas!” Lou scolded, catching Allison's eyes. It didn't matter if they knew each other, she wasn't a friend right now. “You will treat Allison with the respect she deserves or I will let her handle you.”
“I'm not going to “fuck up” your investigation. I'm tracking a pattern, Thomas. You need people to come forward, I can help with that. My team will be questioning every person with that scar pattern, we can help each other.” Allison answered firmly, shaking her head.
“I thought you were an enforcer, not an investigator.” Tommy argued quietly, not looking at either of them. He had a feeling he was going directly over Lou's desk when Allison left.
Allison wasn't an investigator but she also had her bosses permission to run this case. “I am an enforcer but I'm here as a courtesy. Work with me please. We are not investigating these scars for no reason. One of the people killed was a federal agent, the other was an enforcer. This would be a federal case even if they hadn't crossed state lines and our only lead is the matching scars on their backs.”
“I take it that there was no other connection between them?” Lou raised an eyebrow when Tommy started shifting from foot to foot. “What is it?”
“I can get all of these firefighters to do the forensic photos, but pretty much everyone from station 10 has those scars and I have a theory on who caused them.” Tommy answered after a moment, glancing up to meet her eyes. “Could the scars be a coincidence?”
“I need that name please.” Allison ordered firmly, raising an eyebrow when he hesitated. “What aren't you saying?”
“I have it on good authority that he also bears the same scars. Could it be possible that more than one person caused these scars?” Tommy sighed softly, sitting in the chair Lou gestured to. “His name is Strifer, he was terminated by the city. But he had the same scars on his back. I saw them the last time I paddled him. They all have them. All the shift captains, all the lieutenants. Everyone who ever worked at station 10 has that scar pattern.”
“We will take the photos and analyze the patterns to figure out who caused them.” Allison had a theory but it wasn't a theory her boss would like, so proof would be nice. “I will get you a copy of the court orders, to help move things along. I need those photos as soon as possible.” She stood, meeting Tommy's eyes for a long moment before nodding at Lou. She had other places to go today. Lou could handle his own doms.
Tommy waited a few moments after Allison left before standing to leave. If he was quick, maybe Lou would let him go.
“Sit your ass down.” Lou ordered firmly. It only took a second for Tommy to obey. “We have much to discuss.”
“Lou-”
“Young man, you are in a lot of trouble. So I would think twice before you speak.” Lou interrupted, shaking his head. “You should have told me the moment any federal enforcer reached out to you for information. You should not have told that enforcer to fuck off.”
Tommy grimaced, dropping his eyes to study the desk. He hadn't told Lou because he had known Lou wouldn't be happy. “I-I'm sorry.” As much as he wanted to, he couldn't lie to Lou. He was already in plenty of trouble and Lou always knew when he was lying.
“I just wanted to make sure Ravi got justice. That this didn't happen to anyone else.”
“I understand that, Thomas. But the way you handled this is not acceptable. When did Allison reach out to you?” Lou raised an eyebrow when the younger man looked away.
“A couple of months.” Tommy answered after a moment. He had received an email from Allison a few weeks after the initial incident. He knew how Lou would react to that. “I know I should have told you sir. I just wanted to handle it.”
“We will discuss later how you should handle such a situation in the future. You are right. You should have told me. I don't like being blindsided and you know that.” Lou sighed softly, studying the younger man. He knew how he was going to handle this. “I will be calling Salazar later so he can help you alert the necessary stations.”
“I don't need help with it! I can handle it.” Tommy protested, glaring at the older man. He would prefer not to tell Sal ever. He was never going to sit again.
“You lost that privilege when you hid this from me. Let's handle this, Thomas." Lou answered firmly, gesturing toward the desk before going to grab a strap out of his closet.
Tommy groaned, standing slowly. He pushed his chair out of the way before unbuttoning his pants. He shoved them down along with his boxers, before bending over the desk. He was not looking forward to this.
Lou rested a hand on Tommy's back before bringing the strap down on the pale bottom. The yelp wasn't surprising.
He tried to ignore the tears burning in his eyes, Tommy never cried this early and he really didn't want to today. Strapping him cold was unfair and he would complain if he wasn't already over the desk.
Lou laid sharp stripes down to Tommy's thighs before starting over from the top. “You do not hide important information from me. We have talked about this before, Thomas. I do not want to have this conversation again.”
“Yes sir!” Tommy sobbed. As much as he wanted to argue that they hadn't actually talked about hiding this specific thing, he understood what Lou meant. And since his ass was on fire, he wasn't going to push it. Not now, not when Lou was already highly upset with him.
Lou kept a firm hand on Tommy's back, for comfort and stability, turning his bottom a solid burgundy. It didn't take much for Tommy to give in and just lay across the desk sobbing. Lou had to steel his heart against it, wanting this lesson to stick this time. Tommy couldn't keep hiding information from him. He landed a couple more hard smacks, before dropping the strap and starting to rub soothing circles into Tommy's back.
Tommy cried softly, letting Lou pull him up into a hug. He knew he was going to have a lot of work to do and he would have to talk to Sal but right now he just wanted the cuddles Lou was offering.
-c-
Eddie was confused. It was a B shift day, they had literally only been home a couple of hours when Bill got called back to work. Which wasn’t completely unusual, it did happen if there was an issue that needed Bill’s help, but it was weird for Eddie to receive a message to come back to work if there wasn’t like a mass casualty event. As far as Eddie knew, there wasn’t. He also texted Buck and Buck hadn’t been called to work. What’s more, Buck had confirmed that Bobby was still at work, he had stayed after shift and was still working. The amount of cars in the parking lot surprised him, this was way more than B shift and he didn’t even recognize some of these cars. The fact that the firetrucks were out on a call didn’t surprise him. But the sheer amount of firefighters standing around did. Firefighters from other stations. What the hell was going on?
Kevin had been studying the crowd, knowing eventually that Eddie and Ravi would probably be there. Well, maybe not Ravi. So he beelined toward Eddie as soon as he spotted him, clocking the confused look on his face. Clearly, Eddie’s captain hadn’t filled him in. Probably like Micah’s captain who had known the young man would run and had come with him. Honestly, the amount of captains and shift captains there didn’t surprise him at all. Kevin would have wanted one of his team there as well but he wasn’t that lucky. It did make him feel better that Captain Mack had pulled him over to where he was standing with George. The 126 captain wasn’t his but he had filled in for a few weeks after he had lost his captain and most of his team. So he was sort of Kevin’s captain now too. “Eddie, come on.” Kevin grabbed the other man’s wrist, weaving their way back to Mack and George.
“Diaz.” George sighed softly, glancing at the other man. Mack had an arm wrapped around him and wasn’t letting him leave. He wasn’t going to run but Eddie might.
“Morales, Captain Mack. What is going on Kev?” Eddie questioned, glancing around the bay again. The fact that more firefighters were coming in surprised him. He had no idea what was happening. He counted at least fifteen stations represented there.
“No one told you, son?” Mack sighed softly, shifting so he could grab Eddie if he needed to without letting go of George. George wouldn’t run but he knew the younger man did better with physical contact in large crowds like this. “Any current firefighter who has worked at station 10 is coming here. They have subpoenas for everyone.” Mack answered firmly. The 118 was currently working out of his station and he knew that was probably a disaster but it was a disaster he would handle later.
“For what?” Eddie was a little hurt. He thought Tommy would have warned him if something like this was coming. He didn’t think they would have pulled all of these firefighters here to get their statements.
“They want photos of our fucking scars.” George bit out, leaning closer to Mack. He really didn’t want to do this. He didn’t think any of them wanted to do this.
“What?! No!” Eddie didn’t make it two steps before a hand wrapped around his wrist and pulled him back. “Mack!”
“Easy, Eddie. You can’t run from a court order son.” Mack pulled Eddie back against the wall with them, keeping a firm grip on his wrist. He knew Bill was around here somewhere but he didn’t want to leave any of the younger men to go find him. Eddie could just stay with them for now. The orders had come from one of the chiefs a few hours ago and from what Mack understood no one had been aware that this was happening. Not any of the other captains, not the doms, not even the 118 who had been roped into hosting.
He didn't want to do this. It was one thing for Eddie to start talking about this in therapy with Frank, it was another thing completely to let someone photograph his scars. The group entering that bay caught his attention, because Sal was leading them. Sal might be his most recent partner, but Eddie thought that he would have told him about this. Except Sal and the team with him looked just as confused as he felt. The fact that Sal left his team standing awkwardly in the bay and went straight to the offices surprised him.
-c-
Sal walked straight into the captains office without knocking. He was going to get to the bottom of this cluster fuck. The fact that Bill looked pissed surprised him. He studied the room for a moment, noting the body language. Bill had a hand on Bobby's shoulder, one of the deputy chiefs looked vastly uncomfortable, the two he thought were forensics were practically hiding in a corner and the fire chief present was spitting nails. Sal cleared his throat, raising an eyebrow at the chief when he glared at him. “If I remember my bylaws correctly, you are supposed to give my department a 24 hour notice before you pull a stunt like this. Not thirty minutes. Lucky for you, I was meeting some of my team and I brought them with me.” Sal stated firmly, meeting the chiefs eyes until he looked away.
Bobby hesitated, not wanting to draw any attention to himself or the two forensic investigators. But if they had to do this they needed to get it set up so as not to drag it out any longer. “I can get these two set up in the shift captain's office.” He offered, noting both of the young forensic investigators relief.
“Thank you captain Nash.” Sal nodded, unsurprised when Bill silently went with them. He would have to learn the names of the two forensics investigators soon. He turned his attention back to the chief and his two deputy. “Deputy Chief Mills and Brooks, I assume you have a list of firefighters. Go make sure they are all here and do not separate them from their captains or support.” He ordered firmly, giving them a moment to obey before turning to the chief. “What are you playing at?”
“You forget yourself!” Chief Russel snapped, taking a step back when the younger man looked at him.
“No, actually I didn't. Director Ransone is waiting for you at the center. I will fix the chaos you purposely created here.” Sal answered quietly, studying him for a long moment. He was letting Lou handle him for a reason. Sal had a mess to clean up and he needed to get his own people organized to offer support. This wasn't going to be an easy task they were attempting and attempting it this way it was a lot more likely to fail.
Russell huffed before storming out. Should he have alerted the other fire chiefs and their deputies first? Probably. There were a lot of people he had bypassed to get here but he didn't want this coming back on him. He had turned a blind eye to what was happening at station 10 for too long.
Sal took a deep breath after the chief had left, closing his eyes for a moment. Lou had already called all of the other chiefs and Chief Simpson, the chief for this station, was on his way to help. If Russell remained chief of any district for much longer, it would surprise him. Sal took another deep breath before going to the shift captains office. He needed to see what the actual plan was so they could get this moving.
-c-
Nothing happened for a while before suddenly everyone was moving and talking. Eddie was pretty sure they were trying to organize them but he didn't care. The moment Mack's attention wavered, he pulled his hand free and took off. He was so focused on making it to the door that he didn't see the big burly man step in front of him.
Mike ignored the yelp, wrapping both arms around the smaller man. He had already spread their crisis team, two doms and two subs, around the room to help but until Sal returned, he had been watching the door. The way this had been handled, he wouldn't be surprised if several people decided to run. “I got you. Deep breaths.”
Eddie wiggled, trying to get out of the hold he was in. And even if his brain was screaming that he needed to panic, he was trapped, he could feel his body calming down. The firm pressure was helping, the contact was helping. But that didn't mean that Eddie didn't want to escape. He very much wanted to escape. “M okay.”
Mike hummed softly, maneuvering them so that they weren't blocking anyone's way. “You don't have to be.”
Eddie choked out a laugh, shaking his head. He did have to be okay. He couldn't be anything other than OK.
-c-
It took Sal entirely too long to get everyone organized so that they could start documenting the scars. The captains and shift captains had quickly spread themselves out so that no firefighter was by themselves, which did help. But trying to go by station didn't work when one station captain might be supporting three other stations. They had to change plans a couple of times for this to run smoother. Setting up the 118s bunk room for soothing dysregulation hadn't taken long.
Since Sal had gotten one of the deputy chiefs to start bringing firefighters back, he was free to look for one specific firefighter. The problem was he didn't see Eddie right away.
Eddie had tried to pull away and run several times but every time Mike caught him and brought him back to Mack. He was aware that if he ran from Bobby or Bill that many times, they would have smacked him. Eddie didn't want anyone to smack him, he just knew that Bill definitely would not be that lenient. Bobby might have, given the circumstances, but Bill would not.
Mike sighed softly, keeping an arm tight around Eddie and quickly changing directions. Eddie was the only one he had to keep catching. Everyone else who ran seemed to calm right down when given back to their captain. It took him a second to spot Sal. Perhaps Sal could calm this one down while he went back to circling. “Hey boss, need your help with this one.”
Sal made a face, he had told Mike to stop calling him that, especially in public, and now all the crisis teams were doing it. “Eddie? Thanks Mike, I got him from here.”
Eddie whined, glomping immediately to Sal's side as soon as Mike let go. “I'm okay.”
Sal hummed softly, moving them to the quietest part of the bay he could find. “I'm sure you are sweetheart, but humor me. I need to hold you right now.”
Well if Sal needed to hold him, who was Eddie to deny that? He buried his face in Sal's shirt, only moving when the other man started guiding him toward the offices. Eddie had heard his station number but he had ignored it. He also thought calling them by station number to protect their identity was pointless when every firefighter in that bay knew each other.
Sal had expected Eddie to start fighting him when they got to the office, so he didn't let go when the younger man tried to elbow him in the stomach. “You have to do this, sweetheart. But I will be right here and Bobby and Bill will be here. We got you.”
Eddie whined,trying to pull away. He wasn’t walking into that room. He couldn’t do it! He needed to get out! He stomped his foot down on Sal’s, trying to jerk away even when the other man kept going. He was getting frustrated. He couldn’t get away, no matter what he tried, Sal wouldn’t let go. Eddie didn’t think, hitting Sal in the groan. The other man finally let go, he only got a step away before Sal grabbed his wrist and pulled him back to him. “Sal!” Eddie whined, grimacing at the not so light smacks to his backside.
“I know you are upset and scared, sweetheart. It’s okay. I got you. We are going to go in and let them take their evidence and then we can cuddle if that is what you need.” Sal stated firmly, wrapping an arm around Eddie’s chest again. He wasn’t sure if it was going to be cuddles or a smacking but he knew Eddie would need regulating after.
Eddie huffed but let Sal lead him the rest of the way into the shift captain’s office. He didn’t want to do this but he thought he could do this as long as Sal was there. It helped that he had immediately spotted Bill and Bobby. He could do this.