"What happened here?" Brendan asked again. "You claimed that Jack had a gun when you were on the phone with me."

Chase finally looked up from the floor and nodded at Brendan. "He came in here to see who the perps were that attacked you and your friends last night. Olivia showed him where they were in our holding cell. After they were done, I saw her walk Jack back to the elevator and she came back in. That's when it happened."

"When what happened?"

"Jack was firing shots into the holding cell at the perps. Olivia yelled for him to stop, but he wouldn't. I went for my gun and he then turned and shot out this window," Chase explained, gesturing to the hole to his right where a window that led into the squad's captain's office used to be. "Once he turned and faced me, I pulled my gun on him and yelled for him to stop. Everything seemed fine. He looked like he was gonna drop the gun. And then one of the perps taunted him, saying they should have went after him instead of you."

"So you shot him?" Brendan asked, a look of revulsion on his face.

Chase shook his head. "But believe me, I was close to doing it. Somehow, when I was yelling for Jack to drop his gun, Olivia must have walked up behind him, because suddenly, I heard her speaking to him behind him. I hesitated and waited for something to happen. Eventually, Jack just dropped his gun and let himself be detained."

"You put him under arrest?"

"Not yet. Olivia took him to one of the interrogation rooms to talk. I called you as soon as I made sure everyone in here was okay. I thought you should know."

Brendan nodded. "Thank you, detective. Can I see him?"

"Follow me," said Chase. He turned and led Brendan through the squadroom. At the back of the squadroom, there were several interrogation rooms. Chase led Brendan to one of the larger rooms, in a small hallway to the left of the other rooms. Once in front of the room, Chase turned the volume up on the speaker connected to the room. Brendan looked inside and saw Jack sitting in front of Olivia with a blank expression on his face.

"So Jack, you visited Calvert earlier today after you saw Brendan, Nat and Alex at the hospital?"

"That's right."

"And what happened in that meeting?"

"I asked him why his cronies would have attacked one of my friends instead of me," Jack explained in a deadpan voice. "He told me that they would have wanted to send a message to me."

"And what message is that?"

"That I needed to see a situation like they saw the result of Calvert's trial. I needed to know what it felt like to feel hopeless about a situation that I couldn't change. That's why Nat and Brendan were attacked last night."

Brendan sighed. "He probably wanted revenge for what happened last night," he whispered.

"Where did you get the gun, Jack?" asked Olivia.

Jack hesitated for a moment before answering. "It was easy," he said. "I just found someone on the street who was looking to sell some guns. I grabbed the first one I saw, paid him in cash and left. I don't remember where it was, so good luck tracing it."

Brendan felt sickened at what he just heard. He had to listen carefully to Olivia's next question, since his mind was blowing up with questions.

"Why did you do this?"

Jack looked up and seemed to be looking right at Brendan.

"Brendan's out there, isn't he?" he asked.

"Maybe. I don't know for sure. But if he is, I'm sure he'd like to know why you did this, Jack."

Jack continued to look at Brendan, as if he knew that Brendan was standing there.

"I'm sorry, Brendan," said Jack solemnly. "I didn't know what else to do. I had to avenge what happened to you last night. I didn't want anyone else to get hurt, so I decided to take care of Calvert's men myself. I'm sorry."

Brendan closed his eyes and breathed heavily. He felt like he might faint if he heard anymore. Chase noticed this.

"Are you okay?"

"No. I never expected this from Jack. How he could have done this is totally beyond me."

In the interrogation room, Brendan watched as Olivia stood up and walked over to Jack. She pulled out her handcuffs and put them on Jack's hands. Olivia helped him up and escorted him out of the room. Chase opened the door for them and they walked out. When he saw Brendan, Jack looked relieved.

"Brendan. I'm sorry," he said in a tone much different from the one had confessed in. It sounded almost like he was pleading. "You have to believe me. I didn't want to do it, but I couldn't just stand by and let them get away with what they did to you."

"They weren't going to," Olivia explained. "Had they gone to trial as scheduled, they would have been convicted of assault and gone to jail."

"That wasn't good enough," said Jack, still looking at Brendan. "You have to believe me, Brendan. I just wanted them to suffer for what they did to you. I didn't do this to kill them. I did this to avenge you and Nat."

Jack continued looking at Brendan with longing in his eyes. Brendan merely glared back at him, lost for words. When he finally found his voice, Brendan spoke quietly.

"Who are you?" he asked. "The person who did that is not the friend I know, the one I protected. I don't know you anymore."

Jack looked crestfallen and started to cry. "No, please don't say that, Brendan! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Brendan shook his head and looked away. Olivia sighed and pulled Jack away to take him into a holding cell. Jack continued yelling apologies at Brendan, who closed his eyes and tried to ignore Jack's pleas. Once they couldn't hear Jack's cries anymore, Chase walked over to Brendan and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine," Brendan replied, close to tears. "Can you please take me back to the hospital? I want to be with my friends now."


Back in Nat's hospital room, Brendan walked over to Nat's bed. Both Nat and Alex were still awake, waiting for his return.

"Did it happen?" Nat asked when Brendan stood beside the bed.

Brendan didn't seem like he could answer verbally and just nodded his head. He broke down after that and sat on the bed. Nat pulled him into a hug with Alex and they both patted him on the back telling him over and over, "It's okay. It's okay."