Intelligence. The most elite unit in the CPD. One detective stands out to me. Detective Jay Halstead. "Is that about Intelligence?" I turn to see my partner in crime Jess.
I nod at her before looking back to the screen in front of me.
"This is about their latest case." Jess puts her hands on the backrest behind me while looking at the same screen as me.
"They aren't gonna solve this without Jay blowing his cover." Jess states her opinion as Dan walks in.
"Too risky. He can't blow it." Dan says with a piece of toast in his mouth.
"What if we just tell Intelligence only? Or we can just go see Jay." We hear from the corner of the room.
We all turn to see Gracie in the corner playing with a pocket knife. Dan speaks up again this time without toast in his mouth.
"Why don't we go to Chicago then?"
I think about some pros and cons of going to Chicago. There are many but does it affect my decision? Not really.
"Go pack your bags. We're going to Chicago." We all get up to pack out things for the trip.
Let me introduce everyone. We are a group called O7R. Original Seven Rangers. A top secret unit for the United States Army Rangers. We all served many and only the President and Army Officials know about this group.
There's obviously seven of us. Jess Gonzalez, my right hand woman. Well part time. She's our go to person when we need strategies. We call her Strategy girl.
Dan Martinez, a right real asshole but a great tactic person. We leave majority of the tactical stuff to him as he's our tactical specialist.
Grace Evans, sweet girl on the outside, devil on the inside. She's our spy girl considering people usually assume that she won't do anything to harm herself or others. Everyone thinks she's innocent but, boy are they wrong.
Liam Johnston, for someone who's quiet most of the time he can get anyone into anywhere they like. If we ever need to sneak in somewhere, we leave it up to him to get us in there.
Greg Gerwitz A.K.A Mouse, our loving computer geek. The reason why he's called Mouse is because he's as quiet as Mouse. It's pretty fitting for him.
Leah Matthews, I like to call myself the master planner. I plan everything we do to how we do it. I do this with Jay as I am 2IC.
Then there's Jay Halstead, our sniper guy. He could hit a target from miles away. He's the record holder for so many things sniper related and because of his smarts and skills, he is the first command.
For anything, we go to Jay. Or me but only if we can't get to Jay.
We haven't seen Jay and Mouse since we got back from Afghanistan the last time. They went to Chicago while we went back to Miami. Heading to Chicago was something I'd never thought we would ever do. But times change and it's pretty much life or death I guess. Let's just say, we're on a mission to find Jay.
After we landed in Chicago, we remembered that we didn't really know how we were gonna find him. "Hey Liam, do you still have Mouse's number? If so, call it. Find out where he and Jay are." I request to Liam who nods in return.
A few minutes later, Liam walks back to the group putting his phone in his pocket. "They're at Chicago Med. Halstead's been shot."
As soon as we hear those words we are bolting out of the airport to get to the hospital.
It's not the first time any of us got shot and it's most likely not gonna be the last but the thought of not being there with him scares me. I've been with my soldiers every time they got hurt until they were better and this time is no different.
We get to Chicago Med and run into the building to find out any details. We get to the waiting room where Mouse looks up to see us. He walks over to us while Jess starts a scene with what looks like half of the Chicago Police Department.
"Oi officers!" She yells getting pretty much everyone's attention.
"Can we help you?" A man with a gruff voice responds while walking towards us.
"Yeah you can. I'd like to know how you let Jay Halstead get shot and why." Jess demands getting in the man's face.
I look at the bulletproof vest that he's wearing and read the name on the front. Sergeant Voight. Jay's superior. His boss.
"Who are you guys to Jay?" A blonde man asks, standing with the rest of his unit.
"It doesn't fucking matter who we are. We just want to know how this happened considering we are pretty much his family." I snap.
I was sick and tired of these people already and I just wanted to see my best friend. My main partner in crime.
Mouse pipes up from where he was. "You guys actually came." He says in disbelief.
"Of course we did. He's fucking family." Grace says hugging Mouse.
"He's awake and asking for you guys. I told him you might be coming." He says directly to us.
Intelligence were looking at us like we were pests but, did I care? Not one bit. "Who does he want to see first?" Dan asks.
Mouse turns to look at me. "He wants to see Matthews first. I mean you are the 'special one'." He says.
I chuckle at his statement. "Of course I'm the special one. I mean look at me. He loves me." I walk away with Mouse laughing.
In the corner of my eye, I see a blonde chick give me daggers. I have a feeling that she's Jay's partner and is pretty close with Jay. But not as close and I am with him.
Mouse leads me into the elevator to go to Jay's room. "You know, he's excited to see you." Mouse says just looking at the door of the elevator. I turn to look at him briefly.
"Didn't think he'd be too excited to see me. Or the rest of us really." I say, speaking the truth.
"He's missed you. Especially after Erin left." I look down at my feet.
"Yeah, I've missed him too. I never came to Chicago unless I was going to see Jay. Just couldn't stand coming here if I didn't see him." The doors of the elevator open and we walk quietly to Jay's room.
"You know why?" Mouse says before I go in.
"Why?" I ask with a little confusion.
He just nods at the door before walking away.
I walk in to see Jay with his arm in a sling and a nasal cannula under his nose.
"You know, I always thought that we'd reunite in a different way. But here we are, you in a hospital bed and me visiting you." I say walking to the side of his bed.
He chuckles. "You know it's tradition, Leah."
I nod and chuckle at his response. "Yeah, I guess that's true. There's always got to be one of us with some type of injury." We both chuckle at that.
"Why did you guys come back to Chicago?" He asks.
I look down and scratch the back of my neck before looking back up at him.
"You guys never normally come back unless it's important. So why now?"
I sigh. He knows us too well for us to say that it was for nothing.
"We know about your latest case. We think you guys won't solve it."
Jay sighs and to me it looks like he took offence to it.
"We don't think you'll solve it unless you blow your cover." I continue.
He looks away as if he can't believe the words coming out of my mouth.
"We came back to tell you but then we heard that you were here." I finish saying.
It goes quiet for a little while before he speaks up again.
"What if we just tell Intelligence? Or even just Voight?"
I bring the chair that was sitting in the corner to his beside and sit down leaning my arms on the rails. "I don't know." I say honestly.
He sighs, leaning back in his bed, shaking his head.
"We could talk with the others and see what they say." I suggest.
"Send them in." I nod at his request and head back to the waiting room.
As I walk in, everyone stands up including Intelligence. I roll my eyes looking at my group.
"Mouse, Gracie, Jess, Liam, Dan, he wants to see you to talk about you know what." I say before turning back around.
I went to walk back to Jay's room but was stopped by a woman who I'm assuming is Jay's partner.
"Hey, you know you can't keep us from seeing Jay. We are pretty much his family." She says to me.
I turn to look at her and scoff.
"Yeah right. Family doesn't let someone get shot. Until Jay says he wants to see you himself, you aren't seeing him. Not on my watch." I walk away not letting her or someone else say something.
The rest of my group follow me back to Jay's room. We all pile in before shutting the door.
"Why don't we tell intelligence or even just Voight about us so I don't blow my cover unexpectedly." Jay says almost immediately after the door shut not letting anyone say hi.
"Geez Halstead. At least let us sit down first." Dan says sitting down in the seat I sat in before.
I sit down at the end of Jay's bed after punching Dan in the shoulder. The others take a minute to think over Jay's suggestion.
"Could do." Dan says.
"Won't it be too risky though?" Jess says from her seat.
"Well, there is always the risk of others finding out but I think it might work." Liam pipes up from his corner of the room.
We all nod at his response.
"So just tell Voight or all of Intelligence?" Mouse asks. We all look at each other.
"All of them." Gracie says. Jay nods and Mouse leaves the room to go get Intelligence.
"So I guess I'll be telling them." Jay says just staring at his legs.
I put my hand on his leg as a sign of comfort.
"Dude, are you sure you want to do this now? I mean, you just had major surgery." Jess asks, concerned.
Jay just nods to her as Intelligence walks in. Mouse shuts the door behind him to give them more privacy. The blonde chick looks at me briefly with daggers as she goes to Jay's bedside.
"How are you feeling Jay?" She asks him.
"I'm fine Hailey. I actually need to tell you all something." He says sitting up a little more. I put my hand on his leg.
"Hey, remember you don't need to tell them right now if you don't want to." I say. He nods at me as a 'thank you'.
"What is it Jay?" Voight asks, standing against the window with his arms crossed. Jay sighs before speaking.
"I haven't been all that honest with you guys." He looks at his unit. "About who I am."
Everyone stands up straighter as soon as he says that.
"These guys and I were a team in Afghanistan and are still a part of that team. We did missions all undercover, off the record." He finishes.
"Original Seven Rangers. It wasn't just a myth."
I turned to see who spoke and was surprised to see a guy who was wearing a beret in the corner who I didn't realize was there.
"Holy shit. I didn't even notice you were there." Dan says, practically reading my mind with a hand on his chest.
I chuckle with Jess and Gracie.
"That's right, Al. It's actually true." Jay says to the guy in the corner.
I decided to pipe up and introduce everyone in our unit.
"Dan, tactical specialist. Liam, our in to everywhere. Gracie, our spy girl. Jess, strategy specialist." I say pointing to everyone as I introduce them.
"Leah, second in command and master planner. Mouse, comms specialist. Myself, sniper and first in command." Jay finishes off for me.
"This case that you guys are currently working on, well you guys are most likely never going to solve it on your own." Jess says bluntly, looking straight at Voight. He looks at her in disbelief.
"How do you know that?" He says.
Jess gets up and walks over to stand face to face with Voight.
"Because you need us." She says.
"The real reason we came to Chicago was because we knew Jay's cover was going to be blown if you kept investigating. We needed to tell Jay so he could keep his identity safe." I say to try stop a possible fight breaking out.
I could feel the tension rising in the room. Liam stands up straight brushing his hands on his pants.
"I'm going to go get a coffee and something to eat. Anyone want anything?"
Gracie nods standing up to go with him. They walk out leaving the silent room.