Chapter Eleven

Breakthrough

"Hey," Doctor Halstead called as he spotted his brother and his partner.

"Will," Jay said.

The doctor nodded towards the elevator they'd exited. "What's up?"

"Briefing," the detective answered.

"With Voight?" Will asked skeptically. "What is he? Some kind of superhuman?"

A somewhat faint smile appeared on Jay's lips. "Didn't you know Voight is invincible? Platt is telling horror stories about him to the new recruits. Poor kids don't even dare to approach him."

Hailey shook her head in amusement and then her mood sobered as she looked at Will. "How are the others?"

"They are responding well to the cocktail of meds we've given them. Ethan and I talked about it earlier. We are expecting everyone to make a full recovery. I think we can release a few of them tomorrow while a few others, Adrian Lewis for example, will have to be our guest for at least another week."

Jay slapped his brother on his back. "Great news, Will," he said.

OOOOOO

"Penny for your thoughts," Kim said as she walked over to join Adam at the two whiteboards which had been pulled up just outside Voight's office.

He made a face and shrugged, like it was no big deal. "You know-," he began. "This sect, or cult thing. It really creeps me out."

Kim followed his gaze toward the pictures of the nine victims.

"I mean, I don't like people who bombs hospitals and old folk's home either, but it feels kind of more 'normal'. Okay, that didn't come out right either."

She ran hand through her long brown hair and sighed. "I know what you're getting at," she said softly. "Although, I wouldn't call it normal, just more common than following in the footsteps of a social group which is attacking people in gruesome ways."

Adam gestured towards the board. "Take this guy for example. Philippe Esconvilla. Doctor Choi said he'd almost died from suffocation before he was put into the elevator. You know why?"

She shook her head, waiting for him to continue.

"Because he tried to free several of the female followers from the cult. They twisted his actions around. They claimed he wanted them for himself because he lusted them. One of the worshippers was his younger sister, Phoebe. That's just sick."

Kim pursed her lips and nodded thoughtfully. "I've read up on Dante. According to the Divine Comedy, lust is a sin which in turn is connected to the second circle of hell," she said. "The gusts are strong there; the wind shall continue to punish you forever."

Adam nodded. "So, the cult decided Esconvilla should get the wind sucked out of his lungs." He motioned for another photography on the board. "Thomas Jefferson. He was accused of being greedy. Now, he worked for the IRS and administrated-" he paused and turned to Kim, his eyes widening and then made his way across the bullpen to his computer.

"Adam?" Kim asked as she followed.

His fingers flew over the keyboard. "Hang on a second," he said.

Kim glanced over his shoulder as he brought up a file regarding Dale Rogers refurbishing firm and the difficulties with the IRS. "I thought his name was familiar from somewhere," he stated and then shook his head again. "Damn, I think sarge was on to something. What if everything – by some twisted logic – is connected?"

"We should be thankful Gaffney had an electrical backup generator and that the camera covering the service elevators was connected to it otherwise we would never have found out Dale Rogers was involved."

"Is that fate?" Adam asked. "The good forces fighting the bad ones?"

"Okay, now you are scaring me," Kim replied.

"I am going to head out for a while. I have some friends who might help me shed some more light about Rogers' dealings with Jefferson."

OOOOOO

"This is starting to get interesting," Jay said as he appeared in the bullpen, coming from one of the more secluded areas of the office.

"What is?" Kevin asked curiously as he reached for his phone and arched an eyebrow.

"Something interesting?" Jay asked as it was his time to be curious.

"A text from the boss. One word – manifest," he explained. "A little too cryptic, even for Voight."

"I thought Adam had already e-mailed him a copy?" Kim said in surprise. "I have it here, I'll send it to him straight away."

Kevin nodded and turned his attention back to Jay. "What did you guys find out? Where is Hails by the way?"

"Downstairs, talking to Platt," Jay answered. "Anyway, we followed some leads, talked to the fire department. We're going to talk to the bomdsquad later. In the meantime, we need to get some facts on the table."

Hailey walked up the stairs and headed straight for the whiteboard and reached for a marker. "Here's what we've managed to find out so far. "All the bombs went off without any heads-up. There have been no threats made to any of the organizations. No one without a good reason to be at the locations have been snooping around. No deliverymen, no one claiming to be from a gas-company or maintenance."

"We grew curious and decided to see who refurbished all of those places," Jay added. "Everyone hired different companies to get the refurbishing job done. At first, we thought it was a dead end when suddenly the tenant at the Old River Senior Home remembered that the firm they'd hired were a subcontractor to Dale Roger's company."

Hailey nodded as she scribbled down a few words. "Turned out to be the same set-up everywhere."

"Like I said, we haven't talked to bomb squad yet but Kelly said the patterns, the way the fire started was similar in several places. "Their investigations led them to believe the explosive devices were hidden during the refurbishing and was to be activated later."

"Kind of clever," Kevin reasoned. "Usually, refurbishing jobs are done when everything has been moved out, security cameras are no longer in place as there is nothing to steal except for materials brought in by the refurbishing firm."

"Now, the only question is, why?" Kim pointed out.

"Even though we know Dale Roger's firm was the main contractor. We don't have enough to tie him to the bombings," Hailey cautioned. "Not yet anyway."

Halstead nodded at Ruzek's empty chair. "Where's Adam?"

"Said he had some friends to visit. He thought he might be able to shed some light about the connection between the administrator at IRS, one of the victims, Thomas Jefferson, and Roger's company," Kim informed.

OOOOOO

"I thought you should be resting, not working?" Sharon Goodwin said as she walked into the room.

Voight looked frustrated as he glanced up from the folder which sat in his lap. "I wouldn't call this working, Sharon," he said softly.

"You know, Hank. You're lucky to be alive. Your body has gone through the wringer. That crafty poison may be out of your system but you'll be weak for days to come."

He smirked. "If you're trying to cheer me up it really doesn't work."

"Hank," she chided lightly. "It's nothing to joke about."

He turned somber. "No, you're right," he admitted. "I'll deny I said this but I've never felt that bad in my whole life."

Sharon reached out to give his shoulder a gentle squeeze, a gesture of comfort. "It's good to see you alive and – almost – kicking."

He snorted at that.

"I've heard bits and pieces," the head of patient services began seriously, "-and it's enough to give me the creeps. I know people can be a little insane sometimes but this group of people-," she trailed off and shook her head. "I can't even find the right word for it."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Hopefully, we'll see the end of it soon."

"Yeah," she mused. "I better head on. I have a budget meeting," she rolled her eyes.

"Those are usually fun," he remarked sarcastically.

Sharon laughed. "See you, Hank."

He nodded and put down the manifest he'd been studying. "The weak and crippled must be laid to rest so that the strong can be nourished and fed," he whispered hoarsely and then narrowed his eyes. "It is only by guidance truth is learned and it is only the truth that keeps you alive."

Voight sighed and absentmindedly scratched his jawline. It wasn't the words themselves who made them dangerous but the interpretation of them. He had no trouble seeing Morgan messing around with other people's mind, interpreting the meaning of the words as he saw fit. Given what he'd just learned, he definitely believed there was a connection between the two separate cases. All the places which had been bombed held weakened people in one way or another. People who, according to the cult, didn't deserve to be among the living.

He leaned back in the bed, bored to death, fed up by staring at white walls. He really needed to get out of the place.

OOOOOO

"21th district," Platt answered as she brought the phone to her ear.

"Listen, I need a favor," a raspy voice said.

"Anything you want, Hank," she replied.

"I'm going crazy over here. Can you drive back to my place and grab some clothes so I can bail out?"

"Do I need confirmation from any of the docs or can I trust you?" she deadpanned.

"I'm fine. It's not going to be a repeat performance. Choi says the stuff is pretty much out of my system. If you must know, they would like me to stay the night, but I have things to do."

"So, you don't trust people with a medical degree, huh?" she pushed.

"I do, but I also know my body, one more day won't make much of a difference. Now, are you coming or not? If you don't, I'll just grab a cab, get home and rustle up some spare keys to my car and join you at the precinct," he reasoned.

"Don't you dare," she said sternly. "Give me an hour to sort things out."

"Thanks," he said kindly.

Platt killed the connection, muttered something unintelligible under her breath and scrolled down her contacts to place another call.

"Burgess," a soft voice said by way of greeting.

"Not doing anything terribly important right now, huh?" Platt asked.

"No," she replied, there was confusion in her voice.

"Good, then you and I are going on a trip."

OOOOOO

To be continued