This had always been a bad idea and not because he didn't think she was up to the task. She was methodical, calm, determined and precise and would plan and think things through. If anyone could do this job it was her….at any other time.

Right now though he felt that seemed reckless, a little bit of a devil may care attitude and that was unlike her.

Yes things had been rough and of course she'd changed. You couldn't go through what she'd been through and not be changed by it and that had many positives. Her strength of character just kept impressing him but there were downsides too and this may be one of them.

Without a doubt she was one of the strongest people he had ever met. She'd been shot on the job, held hostage, seen her sister tragically raped, her niece almost died in a terrorist explosion, her boyfriend was murdered and she had been brutally beaten herself only recently, yet she kept getting up each day to face the world and the next challenge with even more determination. She didn't want medals or accolades, she just wanted to keep doing her job and that was reward enough for her. He'd told her once she was one the best people he'd ever met and to this day he still believed it. She made him better, she made everyone around her better.

"What do you want to do?" Adam was shocked by Voight's question. He was expecting to be told to cool his jets, to trust her or just let it play out a little longer.

"Look into it. Obviously. Send me in, I will try and set up a trade. Look for some girls. Take a look around."

"That could take days to organise."

"I can't sit and do nothing." His waved his hands around nervously.

Voight wasn't getting sucked in. He knew Ruzek never wanted Kim to go on this assignment. "I wouldn't have sent her if I didn't think she was ready. She needed this."

Adam didn't often go against Voight, it wasn't good for his health, his ego or his longevity in the Unit. He didn't need another black mark against his name. Voight never forgot anything, he kept it all tucked away in his head and could draw on it at any time. Ruzek was hoping that one thing he did remember was that he had a bit of a habit of knowing when Kim was in trouble "I'd argue that point but that's not going to help the situation right now."

"Which point?" Voight queried him. "That she needed this?"

"No, she needed it, I just don't think she was ready. It was too soon."

"You can't protect her forever. It's not your fault what happened in that hotel room."

"Yeah?" Ruzek raised one eyebrow. He had replayed that day over and over again in his mind. It kept him awake at night. "Two minutes earlier. If I'd driven faster…"

Voight held up his hand to stop him. "It wasn't your fault." He needed to stop this spiral. "When is the next scheduled meet?"

"Tomorrow. 1000hrs." Ruzek was getting frustrated. "That's too long. We should be looking into this now."

"I am not blowing a case because you can't control yourself." Voight reminded him. "Maybe this is part of the gig?"

"Do you really believe that?"

"Ruzek."

"You don't believe it, you know you don't." He asserted. "But you do know these phone check ins are part of the deal. That's how we know…"

Voight held up his hand. "I don't need you to tell me how things work. Who do you think you are? You need to rein it in."

"Sorry Sarge…" Adam knew he was pushing his luck but he couldn't shake the feeling that something had gone wrong. He didn't care if he got reamed out, he wasn't walking out of this office until he made his point and Voight agreed to do something. "But you know Burgess is a stickler for the rules. She's meticulous, she wouldn't not send anything deliberately, she wouldn't forget. There is something wrong, you know it."

Voight glared at him and Ruzek didn't flinch. "Okay, okay. Let me make some calls. You be ready for the Meet tomorrow by Eight. I'll make some calls this afternoon and set it up." Voight didn't disagree with him but he wasn't going to blow the whole case wide open on a gut feel.

"What's the plan?"

"Well I don't know yet Ruzek." He held up the phone is his hand. "Give me a minute."

There was nothing worse for everyone upstairs than a caged in Ruzek. He was like a bear with a sore head despite mainlining coffee all day. He kept checking his phone, turning it on, waiting, turning it off and tossing it across his desk.

Atwater followed him into the breakroom. "Dude, that's your sixth coffee today. You are gonna kill yourself."

"Thanks Mom." Adam growled.

"Touchy."

"Did you want something?" Ruzek looked exasperated.

"She'll be okay Bro, she's smart and tough…."

He couldn't stand around listening to one more person tell him that she'll be okay. He'd already had Halstead and Rojas try and talk to him. "You know what Bro?" Adam cut him off. "I know she's smart and tough and she's Burgess, I don't need you to tell me this. What I need is to know where the fuck she is." He tipped his coffee mug in Kevin's direction and headed back towards his desk to stew on things.

It was six am when he was back at his desk, Voight wasn't surprised to see him there when he came up. He sat on the edge of Atwater's desk and folded his arms across his chest. "Did you get any sleep?"

"Not much."

"You know out of all the people up here, Burgess was the only one who did the hard yards. I've gotta say, I knew she had it in her but I just didn't think she was ready. It was never because I didn't think she wouldn't make it, she just needed to thicken her skin a little. Everyone else has a dead part in their heart, not Burgess and we need someone like that in this team." He scratched his cheek as he often did when he was thinking. "We'll get her back."

"Yeah. Got no choice." Ruzek gave him a half smile. "You know she thought you hated her."

Voight just laughed and pushed himself off the desk. "Yeah I know. In all honesty, she's the only one of you I like."

By the time everyone else came in he was on his third cup of coffee and high on sugar after hitting up the vending machine. He was on edge and his mood was about to get a lot worse and he did lose his shit when they were trying to work out a plan. Voight agreed to put someone inside the nail salon, which was where Burgess was due to meet her handler. It was a cross agency case and Voight had spent all day yesterday pulling in some favours to get them to that point. He wasn't in the mood for being questioned on his decisions either.

"Rojas." He looked at his newest officer. "You ready?"

"Yes Sarge."

"Sarge, I really think it should be me." Upton piped up.

"Un-fucking-believable." Ruzek muttered under his breath and he saw Upton glare at him. He didn't need this right now, he didn't really care who was going into the Nail Salon as long as they got to lay eyes on Kim. Once he had seen her he would relax a little.

"Rojas, go get changed into something that says less cop more like someone who gets their nails done. You need to be in there by two so they can get you half way done." He didn't even register Upton had spoken.

"Sarge? Come on?"

"I said Rojas. I am still running this Unit last time I checked. She can handle it, it's a simple lay eyes on Burgess, make sure she is okay. Do you not think she is capable? Is that what you are telling me?"

"No."

"Right." He turned to the rest of the team. "One car parked up outside. That's you Ruzek and Atwater and Halstead out back. Remember this is a check, that's all. Do not engage." He looked at Ruzek deliberately. "Do you hear me?"

Upton followed him into the locker room. "What was that about?" she asked him, closing the door behind her. He wasn't surprised and just continued to rifle through his locker for a clean pair of gloves.

"What?"

"That snide comment. You got something to say Adam, spit it out."

"Nope, nothing."

"Look I know you are worried about Kim, we all are."

"Really. You are worried about Kim?" He snorted. "You've never been worried about Kim. Have you even asked her how she was doing?"

"Adam."

"I've got work to do, I wanna run things through before we leave so we are all on the same page. We are not doing this again, not here, not now." He slammed his locker door shut.

Ruzek dropped Rojas off outside. He ran through the plan three times on the way over. "I've got this." Rojas reminded him with a quick kiss and pat on the arm as she got out. They were playing a role in case anyone was watching the salon, Adam was insistent on it. He was going to cross every I and dot every T. After closing the door she leant in the open window. "See in you about an hour, thanks Babe. You are a saint."

He slid his glasses down, reclined his seat and didn't take his eyes off the front entrance.

The clock ticked past three, then three-thirty and four.

Adam slammed his hand into the steering wheel, his frustration spilling over. They had wasted another whole day now. Four days without a word, she missed her scheduled check-in, he hadn't had one response to his messages, it had gone dark. He was out of his mind; the pit in the bottom of his stomach was just growing by the minute.

Voight saw him coming up the stairs and came out of his office to meet Ruzek, Atwater and Rojas. He held up his hand to stop Ruzek, it was probably better that he didn't speak right now. "You were right to be worried. Detective Marriot from Organised Crime is on her way."

"Great." He muttered, throwing his jacket onto his desk. "Who the hell is that?"

"Kim's Handler."