Chapter Four

Friends and Foes

Jay and Hailey waited outside the room for Doctor Choi to join them. Will waved them goodbye as he had to attend some other patients.

Choi looked pissed as he stepped out to them. "I hope he knows what he's doing," he muttered.

Jay chose his words carefully. "Sarge can be pretty single-minded at times. Now, he's intent on finding whoever did this and he will continue to do so until his exhausted every ounce of energy he's got left. That's how the man works."

"Listen," Hailey began kindly. "We need for you to run us through the list of victims. Female, male, ages, injuries, every information you have."

Choi nodded. "Follow me," he said.

OOOOOO

Platt blinked in surprise as she saw Voight step into the lobby, Burgess and Ruzek flanking him, watching him closely, while Atwater brought up the rear. The trio formed a shield around their boss, each of them ready to step in to help if he needed it.

"Hank?" Trudy called as she walked around the desk. She took in his disheveled appearance, noticed the bandage taped to his left temple, the butterfly strips on his left cheekbone, the vivid bruise that was forming on his face. "Jesus, what's happened to you? Shouldn't you be at the hospital?"

Voight raised his hand to forestall her volley of questions. "Right now, all I want is to nail the son of a bitch who caught me red-handed," he stated coldly. "I want to know the how and the why and then I am going to bury-," he didn't finish the sentence.

Trudy got the message. Her old friend was pissed, she saw the fire deep within his dark brown eyes and she knew that he meant what he said. Voight never made empty threats. "I'll help you in any way I can," she said sincerely. "I'll find someone to cover for me and then I'll join you upstairs."

OOOOOO

"Daniel?" Goodwin called as she found him standing at the service elevators on the first floor.

He turned to her with a frown as she neared, she had her jacket on and her bag in hand, ready to start the day.

"You know, if one of my patients hadn't run off yesterday afternoon, somehow gotten into that lift, then they could have been stuck in there for days," he mused seriously.

"Another reason for the board members to upgrade security and service elevators," Sharon offered softly. "With the refurbishing going on several floors up, it's a little chaotic in general. Here I was, thinking the power cut two days ago was a glitch."

The psychologist huffed. "That must have been when, whoever he is, dumped all those people there."

"I have handed everything off to the police," Goodwin informed. "Every data, delivery schedules, names of the companies expected during those hours, everything I can think of." She turned to him solemnly. "Why did he round them up like that? Why did he come here with them? It doesn't make sense?"

"He is seeking our attention," the doctor reasoned. "He wants to give us a message. Well, maybe not exactly us, as in you and me."

"I would love to be a fly on the wall when they have identified the guy and brought him in for interrogation," Sharon replied.

"What I am mostly curious about is why he allowed himself to be caught on the video footage?" The psychologist said.

"He must have thought the power was cut. He obviously didn't know that that particular camera was fed from another power station."

"I heard Sergeant Voight left?" Daniel said.

Sharon chuckled and shook her head. "He wasn't exactly pleased with the way everything played out."

"I don't blame him. But, shouldn't he be kept under close supervision, like the rest of the victims?"

"Police officers in general doesn't like to be cooped up here," Sharon's lips parted in a faint bittersweet smile, "Why would the man in charge of the intelligence unit be any different?"

OOOOOO

Voight was standing next to the whiteboard when Jay and Hailey came back from Gaffney Medical Centre. Jay discreetly looked at Kevin, silently wondering how he was doing. He gave a faint nod back, indicating that their boss seemed okay.

Hank seemed lost in thought, a frown on his face as he watched the various photos and scribbled text. It had begun with a family shooting in one of the richer areas of the city and had led to a mysterious cult. The case was closed but they hadn't had time to pack everything down yet and store all the information in the usual boxes at the archive. The dark demon cult had been dealt with, the charismatic leader had been brought to prison, awaiting trial. Several of his cohorts had been dispersed, some of them ending up in clinics and some of them following their leader to prison. A few had been killed in the bust.

"Sarge?" Jay asked as he walked up next to him. "What are you thinking?"

"Huh?" he grunted.

Halstead studied his boss for a moment, trying to deduce whether or not he was okay. He debated if he should ask how he was feeling or not but then again, after almost ten years working together, he knew what Voight's gruff reply would be.

"I am thinking we are missing something," Hank mused as he showed his hands deep into the pockets of his blue jeans and began to rock a little on his heels.

Jay arched an eyebrow and followed his gaze to the charismatic leader of the cult whose photo was on display at the middle of the whiteboard. "You think the cult is responsible?"

"We went in and grabbed them for the shooting," Voight pointed out as he glanced at Halstead. "We never really looked into their daily business."

"Sarge," Kim called as she and Adam entered the bullpen from the main staircase, carrying several boxes of food. "We bought some different dishes from the menu at 'Chicken and Beef' – that new place down the road – what do you want?"

"Chicken and Beef, huh?" Hailey teased. "Let me guess, they serve chicken and beef?"

"Well, wow, genius," Adam commented with a smirk, teasing her back. "You guessed that all by yourself?"

Kevin walked past Adam and Kim and slapped the other man on the back. "Give him some coffee so he can drop that snarky attitude," he said.

Voight sighed amusedly, closing his eyes briefly to gather himself. He was still feeling a little off and woozy, but he appreciated the comradery around him, it kept him from his dark musings about the cult. He was about to take a step back, away from the whiteboard when felt the room start to spin. He mis-stepped but quickly corrected himself. Unfortunately, it wasn't quick enough for his well-trained and sharp-eyed team to miss.

"Okay," Kevin said as he quickly grabbed Voight's arm and lead him to the nearest chair, which happened to be at Jay's desk. "Sit here, sir."

Hank knew he was being childish, Kevin just wanted to help out but he threw him a murderous glare anyway. One that would have had patrolling officers back down and leave the room.

Kim discreetly stepped into the pause room and dialed a familiar number. "Hi Will, it's me. Can you come here for a moment?"

"I don't know Kim. I don't want to get my head blown off. Voight was pretty adamant he was fine," the doctor said sincerely.

"Don't be such a baby," Kim teased. "Besides, the boss is really a pussycat."

Will Halstead laughed out loud, highly skeptical. "You do know I have seen Voight in action, don't you? I have seen him shoot people with creepy precision."

"And your brother qualifies as a sniper," she pointed out. "Jokes aside, we are a little worried. Have you been able to deduce what they have been drugged with?"

He shook his head even though he knew she couldn't see it. "I am afraid not but we're working around the clock. Goodwin has called in a favor at the CDC office."

Kim hesitated. "I am afraid to ask but I have to know – have there been any more fatalities amongst the group?"

"No," Will said sincerely. "However, some of them have been moved to the ICU to be monitored closely. They had a bad reaction to whatever it is that's breaking down in their system. You know what? It's almost lunch. I'll head over on my break and see what I can do to help."

"Sounds perfect. Adam and I just brought some food over from a new place. We'll save some for you," she said.

Jay silently snuck into the pause room and frowned at his colleague.

Kim put the phone down and nodded. "I called your brother, he will be on his way shortly," she said. "Boss would never agree on getting back to Med."

"Cutlery," Adam said as he walked into the room. "I hate those bamboo stuff they put in the boxes. How are you supposed to cut into a beef with a bamboo knife?"

Kim snorted amusedly and opened the top drawer for him while Jay risked a glance out in the bullpen.

"How is he doing?" Jay asked.

"I think he's hot," Adam replied.

"Really?" Jay asked with a smirk, trying to lighten up the somber mood.

Adam rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Of course, he does," Kim spoke up, her lips turned slightly upwards, she loved to tease him. "But just for the record. If I was twenty years older-,"

"No, no stop," Adam whined. "Getting pictures in my head."

OOOOOO

Oblivious to what was going on in the room next door, Kevin and Hailey sat up the food.

"You know, we do have a pause room," Voight pointed out somewhat sarcastically.

"Yeah, just figured since everybody was working, sending surreptitious glances at the whiteboard anyway – or their screens – we might as well sit out here," Kevin reasoned. "How are you doing, sarge? Are you up for some lunch?"

"For goodness' sake, Atwater," Voight muttered sourly. "Stop that, you make me feel like I am sitting in some fucking old folks' home."

Hailey couldn't help herself, it was refreshing to see Voight like this – maybe not to see him sick – but to see him vulnerable, to see him trying to manage on his own, while his team did everything they could to help him out. He was clearly uncomfortable with the attention and situation.

"Wipe that smugness off your face, Upton," Voight drawled.

She turned to him innocently. "Sorry, sarge. Just glad to have you back with the rest of us."

Hank huffed, reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone and punched in a number. He waited patiently for the man at the other end to pick up.

"Franklin?" the voice said curiously.

"Yeah. Hi Ben, it's me," Voight replied cryptically. "Listen, I don't want to bother you but I need a favor."

"Of course, Hank. What do you need?" he said.

"Can you swing by the 21th precinct?"

There was a moment's hesitation. "I have some classes in the afternoon but knowing you I should probably come right away. Just one thing – what am I supposed to help you with?"

Voight chuckled. "I just want your opinion about something. I know you have it all in your head," he replied cryptically.

"Okay, I'll see you soon then," Franklin said and hung up.

Kevin and Hailey shared a frown, curious about the conversation they'd just heard as the rest of the team came out of the pause room.

"Who's Franklin?" Kevin asked.

Voight shifted in the chair with a grimace, he could have sworn his joints had started to ache. "Benjamin Franklin is a college professor, specialized in religion and cultural phenomena," he informed. "He's an old friend of mine."

Hailey nodded. She would never cease to be amazed by the vast number of connections in various fields Voight had accumulated over the years.

OOOOOO

To be continued