Chapter 4

Hailey made her way into the bullpen that morning not long after eight. Everyone was already there, minus Jay and Will who were down in Jay's truck. Jay's anxiety had gotten worse since last night and Will had given him a shot, they were just waiting it out for it to kick in before coming up. She was worried about the bruises around her neck. She didn't own a turtleneck so she wore a high collar sweater that she owned and then covered up the rest with foundation. The trick is, it wasn't perfect and if you looked at her you could clearly tell she was trying to cover up bruises. She knew the team was going to notice it and the last thing she wanted was for them to give Jay any shit. He felt bad enough already and it didn't matter how many times she told him it wasn't his fault. She honestly didn't blame him. He had been sleeping, in the middle of a nightmare and he had no control over what his body was doing. She was worried that the others wouldn't understand that it wasn't Jay's fault. She didn't want them to blame him or give him shit over something he did while he was asleep. That wouldn't be fair and he had enough going on, he didn't need more guilt. Of course leave it to Rojas to be the first to spot something wrong with her friend.

"Hailey, what happened to your neck?"

Everyone turned to look at Hailey, but she kept going to her desk as she spoke. "It's nothing. Do we have anything new on the Ghosts?"

"You can't just show up with bruises all around your neck and pretend like nothing happened. Who choked you?" Adam demanded.

"Do we really need to ask?" Rojas commented. "She went home last night with Will and Jay and only one of them is mentally unstable."

"Jay is not mentally unstable." Hailey instantly said.

"He choked you, what part of that screams mental stability to you?" Rojas countered, not even bothering with covering up her disgust at the situation.

"It wasn't his fault. He didn't do it on purpose. He was having a nightmare, he wasn't even awake." Hailey said in Jay's defense.

"It wasn't his fault. He didn't do it on purpose. You do know what you sound like right now right? Come on Hailey, how many times have you heard an abused woman give that line. Next you'll say it was your fault, that you shouldn't have done something to upset him." Rojas countered.

"You don't get to tell me about battered women." Hailey started with an edge to her voice before she continued. "Jay was asleep, he was having a nightmare, he wasn't awake at all. He had no idea what was actually happening. He didn't see me, he saw a terrorist trying to kill him. It's not his fault and I am not about to hold him accountable for what happens when he is asleep. Just like he wouldn't with me."

"Are you ok? Do you need to see a doctor?" Platt asked.

"No, I'm fine. Will checked me out, it's just bruising and it will be gone in a week."

"Where's Jay?" Voight asked.

"Him and Will are talking in his truck, they'll be up in a minute." Hailey wasn't about to tell them that they were waiting for Jay's anti-anxiety meds to kick in.

"Ya well he's in for one hell of a welcoming." Adam said with an edge to his voice.

"Ya Adam, you want to what? Kick his ass? I guess that means he owes you a few ass kickings for all the times you elbowed or kicked me in your sleep." Hailey countered.

"That's not the same thing." Adam immediately said.

"Why? Because it's you? Because it's ok to elbow or kick someone while you're sleeping but not ok for anything else? You've left bruises on me while you've been rolling around in your sleep. Just like I've left bruises on you. This is no different. He didn't know he was doing it anymore than any of us have. He doesn't need to hear about it. He feels terrible enough already. Or did you think he just said oops and rolled back over?"

"Why the hell is he even in your bed?" Adam said, angry that this was happening.

"We're partners, why does it matter if we sleep in the same bed? Are you telling me you and Kim didn't sleep in bed together last night?" Hailey challenged.

"That's different." Kim instantly said.

"You're right it is. Unlike Jay and I, you two have screwed each other. Which means you both are the last people that get to comment on my sleeping arrangements."

A whistle pulled all of their attention to the stairs and they saw Mouse walking into the bullpen as he spoke. "Shit, I clearly walked in on something."

"Mouse, good to see you again man." Kevin said with a warm smile.

"Good to be back, though it would have been nice under different circumstances." Mouse said with a warm smile, as he put his bags down. He gave a nod to Hailey as he continued. "You have a ceiling fan in your bedroom."

"How did you know?" Hailey asked, confused.

"Ceiling fans, when you look up at them when they are on they can look like a chopper's propellers. It can cause nightmares for people with PTSD. The first apartment Jay lived in when we got back had one. We learnt after that first night it wasn't a good idea to keep it. Thankfully Jay is more inclined to strangle someone to death then snap their neck. Let me guess, he's apologized close to a hundred times by now."

"Close enough. How did you know?" Hailey couldn't help but ask.

"I punch and Jay goes for the throat in a nightmare. He's choked me a few times before I figured out a way to wake him up. It's all good though, because I've given him multiple black eyes and I broke his nose once before he figured out how to wake me up from one." Mouse said with a simple shrug.

"How can you be so blase about all of this? He choked her, he could have killed her." Rojas said, annoyed that Mouse seemed to think so lightly about this.

"You walk by and someone starts to have a seizure. You go and help them and in the middle of their seizure they punch you in the face. Do you blame them for it?" Mouse countered.

"It's not the same thing." Rojas instantly argued.

"Isn't it? His mind didn't tell his body to react, his body just reacted while in the middle of a nightmare. He wasn't conscious, he didn't make the decision to attack anyone. He had no say in it, no control over it. You don't get to blame him for the actions that he didn't even know he had made. And trust me there isn't anyone that feels more horrible about this than Jay."

Mouse had no idea who this girl was, but he didn't like her and he doubted that Jay did as well. He didn't like how she was so quick to judgment when she had no idea what Jay had been through. It was so easy to lay blame on someone or to tell someone to just get over it, but what Jay had been through wasn't something that someone could just get over. He wasn't going to wake up one day and be perfectly fine. Before anymore could be said they all heard footsteps and they stopped talking. The second Will and Jay came around the corner Mouse gave them both a warm smile as he made his way over to Jay to give him a hug.

"Long time Brother." Mouse said warmly.

"You don't visit." Jay commented, as he gave Mouse a hug.

"I know, I'm sorry. I'll have to make more of an effort to come home." Mouse promised.

He hadn't been coming back to Chicago when he had some vacation days because he knew how hard it was on Jay to have him out there without him watching his back. He didn't want to make Jay worse by seeing him and having to say goodbye to him all the time. Now Mouse was regretting that decision, because he could see how bad the PTSD was within Jay and it wasn't just because of this case. If he had come up more often, he might have been able to help Jay through some of it before it reached this point. It wasn't a mistake Mouse was looking to make again. Mouse pulled back as Jay spoke.

"You got anything?"

Mouse smirked, as he went over to his bag to grab his tablet. "Shit, you know I can't show up without a present."

"What do ya got Mouse?" Jay asked, as he went and leaned against the edge of his desk.

"Ok, so my program is still running trying to track down everyone. Some are taking longer to find because they went off the grid when they got back. I suspect they are homeless so it's going to take a bit to find them. Good news though, if I can't find them then chances are the Ghosts can't find them either."

"Here's hoping." Adam commented.

"Now, the meeting with the Ghosts, that never sat right with me. Everyone knows you were legendary, complete badass all across the board. But anyone that knew your name, even the people that had never met you, knew you would never be the type of guy that would join up with guys like the Ghosts. Which tells me they didn't actually know you, by reputation or in person, because if they did, even by hearing about you, they never would have approached you." Mouse continued.

"Ok, but they did approach him, so why does it matter if they knew him or not?" Rojas said, not getting the big deal about all of this.

"How new are you?" Mouse commented to her before he continued. "The Ghosts had thousands of operators they could have approached if they wanted a new member and all of them would have said yes. They didn't do that, they picked Jay which means they went looking for someone and they came across his file and picked him that way."

"Why Jay then?" Hailey asked.

"Everything the Ghosts have done is basically untraceable, because the operations aren't supposed to exist. There is only one papertrail and it is highly classified that only a higher ranking General or CIA Agent can have access to, but I knew it had to be about an operation. So I reached out to Gordy, an old CIA Liaison of ours that owed Jay a huge favor for saving his life. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you Operation Night Bird." Mouse said, as he turned the tablet around.

"Alright, and what is Operation Night Bird?" Platt asked.

"Holy shit." Jay said, as he reached out and Mouse handed him the tablet.

"China?" Will asked, confused as he looked over Jay's shoulder.

"Operation Night Bird was presented to the Ghosts two days prior to meeting Jay. It's an Omega operation." Mouse started.

"Omega?" Kevin asked, on their behalf.

"Ah…ya. So the military has normal operations that everyone is ordered to go on. However, there are also operations that are unsanctioned by the military and are completely voluntary to go on. They are called Omegas." Jay explained.

"Why would the military have people going on unsanctioned missions?" Kim asked, confused still.

"Because the military isn't perfect. There are times when serious threats against the country happen in countries that the US are not allowed to operate in. Jay and I went on an Omega mission in South America to shut down a nuclear lab that was trying to produce their own nuclear weapons. The Government can't have it on paper anywhere that they sent in troops to invade an ally's land otherwise it could start a war. But if you don't send in troops and ignore it, then you risk a terrorist attack against your own country or another one. It's this gray area within the military." Mouse answered.

"Alright, what was this Omega mission?" Voight asked, as he was able to follow along.

"Suicide. I remember hearing about this on base overseas, but I didn't know it was the Ghosts that had done it. Cho Ming, he was a very successful business owner in China. He was worth almost a billion dollars and everyone thought he was a good man. What people didn't know was that he was one of the largest human traffickers and his money was funding weapon factories that would then sell weapons to cartels and terrorist cells in the Middle East. The CIA had been trying to get someone to flip on him so they could have solid evidence to build a case against him. Mouse and I, we had been assigned a few operations to capture higher ranking terrorist in different organizations to try and get them to flip, no one ever did." Jay started.

"As long as Ming was in China, he was protected. With no extradition, there was nothing the US could do to try and get him on trial. The CIA couldn't find a witness willing to talk and even the ones that didn't were killed in mysterious accidents. If he had been in the Middle East we could have gotten an elimination operation approved, but he never left China. He was smart." Mouse added.

"So they were going to send the Ghosts after him." Platt stated.

"They were, they did. The fact that it was an Omega operation wasn't the worst part. Ming was paranoid and he never broke out of his routine. He spent most of his time in his luxury condo. But he was smart, because he wasn't higher up on the floors. His condo was on the fifth floor out of a twenty floor building. Most snipers prefer to have their shot come from above. The only spot for a sniper in Ming's case was below and two hundred feet away." Jay continued.

"So the shot was impossible." Adam stated.

"Nope, very easy actually. Anyone with enough practice with a rifle would have been able to make the shot." Mouse said.

"Then what makes it suicide?" Kim asked, confused.

"The condo building is in a sweet spot of four precincts, all within a two minute drive window. There is also a rolling patrol around the building at all times and the only spot to get a clear shot is in a building that is a private security firm. Assuming you could get in, get to your perch, and get the shot off, all while not getting noticed or caught. You would then only have thirty seconds to get out and the building has security check points on the way out. You would be caught before you could get past security." Jay explained.

"Ya, but then the Government gets you out." Rojas said, not understanding the point in all of this.

Mouse gave a chuckle. "Nope, you get caught you go to jail, directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. It's just you in a Chinese prison for the rest of your life."

"That's the trick with Omegas, because they are unsanctioned, the Government cannot risk starting World War Three if you are caught. They will automatically disown you. They will claim you went rogue and are a traitor to the country. You get left wherever it is you were sent and the only hope you have is being able to escape so you can get back to the country. You'll be kicked out of the military, but you won't be in some black site." Jay concluded.

"How nice." Adam said, sarcastically.

"It's why Omegas are strictly voluntary. And we all tend to go in with multiple extraction plans should shit hit the fan. The trick is with Omegas you have to be smart about what ones you go on. This isn't an operation that anyone would go on, because it would never work." Mouse said.

"I don't understand what this has to do with Jay though. I mean, wouldn't the Ghosts have known not to go on this operation?" Will asked, confused.

"They did accept it, two days before Jay's meeting. When he refused to join them, they had no choice but to go without him." Mouse answered.

"Couldn't they have turned it down if Jay said no?" Platt asked.

"Technically, yes. But there's an unspoken rule about Omegas. You can say no from the start and no one will think less of you. But if you agree and then pussy out later, people think you are a coward and leaving your brothers down range short handed. The only exception is if something serious happens and it takes you out. We had a guy in our unit that had to bail last minute, literally as we were about to load onto the plane. His wife was thirty weeks pregnant and went into early labor the doctors couldn't stop it. The baby was ok, but he had to stay to be with his wife and newborn daughter. If the Ghosts said yes to the operation, they wouldn't just be ruining their own reputation, but the Ghosts' reputation and that wasn't something they would be willing to do." Jay explained.

"Ok, but you said that anyone could make that shot. Why would they want you?" Hailey asked.

"I don't know. I mean, they could have gotten a rookie to do it. They didn't need me specifically." Jay said, confused.

"But they did. Clause 43A." Mouse stated as he looked right at Jay.

"But with China?" Jay said, not sure about that one.

"What is Clause 43A?" Voight asked.

"It's a loophole that is within the Government bi-laws. Everyone knows that the Government does not negotiate with terrorists, whether that is for the Middle East or in another country. If you are captured and held for ransom, you are on your own. From the lowest rookie, all the way up to the President of the United States. What the majority of the population doesn't know is that Clause 43A is a legal loophole that will allow the US Government to pay a specific amount for the person being held for ransom. Most of the time it is never used, because the people that are captured and held for ransom are lower ranking military operators. They are the guys in active duty and not sitting in an office somewhere. And at risk of sounding cold hearted, they are a dime a dozen. If you lose one, you have ten ready in boot camp to take his place." Jay started.

"Every operator has a set amount they are worth, a net worth, in their military file and that amount can go up depending on their ranking and their skill set. So the guys that are just infantry are worth at most a hundred grand and it goes up from there. Rangers can be worth on average a million, maybe a bit more if you know more than one speciality. The Ghosts are worth nothing, because they don't exist. The highest net worth within the military, across all branches, for active field operators was twenty million. Any guesses on who that was?" Mouse said with a smirk.

"Twenty million? Why is Jay worth that much?" Adam asked.

"Wow." Platt said to Adam, clearly not impressed.

"I'm sorry, that came out a lot meaner than I meant it to. I just meant that if everyone else was a million, why so much for Jay?" Adam said, apologetically.

"He knows eight languages, he was the backup field medic, best sniper in the country, pretty close to the world, he could fly a chopper, was also trained for K9 handling and had the highest successful operations rate out of all the team leaders. He was considered a legend and for good reasons. All of his skills and potential were worth a lot to the military. If he agreed to go on the Omega and was captured, the US would have been more likely to use Clause 43A to get him back from the Chinese Government. They would have offered money and promised to prosecute him on home soil. They wouldn't have prosecuted him. He would have just had to lay low for a bit before going back on operations." Mouse finished explaining.

"So they picked the person they thought they could leave behind and it wouldn't reflect poorly on them. They get Jay to take the shot while they get cleared and then they expect the US to clean up their mess." Hailey said, not impressed at all that someone had been planning on just leaving Jay behind to deal with the consequences.

"Except I said no and they took the operation. So who went?" Jay asked Mouse.

"They did. They didn't bring anyone else, they left it too close to wheels up. They had no choice but to try and make it work."

"Alright, what happened?" Voight asked, knowing something happened for them to be targeting Jay now.

"This operation is the very last operation that the Ghosts went on. They went and shit hit the fan. They were successful in eliminating Ming, but their leader, Rollins and Medic Tapric were caught. Tapric was killed by the police, he didn't want to be put in a cage and committed suicide by cop. Rollins was arrested, he probably figured someone would be coming back for him. Or he could break out. He was placed within a Chinese Black Site. From what I was able to gather the remaining three had tried to get Rollins out. He was their leader and despite them being all cold hearted assholes, they were loyal to each other, especially to Rollins for bringing them all together." Mouse explained.

"Where's Rollins now?" Kevin asked.

"He's dead. He was kept in a Chinese Black Site this whole time where he was kept isolated the whole time. Two weeks ago he tried to escape, killing two guards before they killed him." Mouse answered.

"And there is the stressor. They probably blame Jay for saying no. If he had said yes, they all would have made it out and it would have been him that got caught." Will said.

"Why target the captives though? Why not the team or Will?" Hailey asked.

"I don't know why exactly. I mean that is something that only they can answer. But I think they are going after a pain point. Death is too easy, they want him to suffer like Rollins did this whole time. I mean a Black Site isn't a picnic, but it's not horrible either. He wouldn't have been tortured or anything. They would have left him alone and made sure he had food and water three times a day, there would have been a bed and some even allow for radios, books, anything that's not a weapon. They even have a bathroom. It's like being trapped in a really shitting motel room. The Chinese would have probably allowed him to leave if he agreed to help them." Mouse said.

"But he didn't. Why not?" Rojas asked.

"Not because he was a patriot. They probably knew who he was and that he wouldn't be stable enough, that they couldn't trust him. If they put him in a prison, he could have escaped. The Black Site was the only place they could put him. And because he was a Ghost, the US wouldn't have even tried to get him back. He gave up the rights to an identity when he agreed to be a Ghost. It was a gamble that just didn't pay off for him. What happened to the other three?" Jay asked.

"No idea. Well, that's not entirely true, I did manage to find Holland, but I have no idea what he's been up to since he was discharged. I do have an address of his last known location." Mouse answered.

"Why the hell are we standing here then?" Rojas asked.

"Because you don't just walk in and arrest a master interrogator. We need leverage to get him to flip on another Ghost." Mouse answered, annoyed with how Rojas was acting.

"What do we know about him?" Jay asked, as he handed Mouse his tablet back.

"Not much is out there. Both parents are dead, no aunts or uncles, no cousins, no family that I can find that we could use as leverage. We need something to hold over him, because he's not going to give it up no matter what."

"Alright, everyone dig into Holland, Novac and Anderson. We need leverage on all three of them. Mouse, I want to know everything about where Holland is holed up so we can be ready to move in when it's time." Voight ordered.

"Copy that." Mouse easily said.

They all headed off and got to work on trying to track down any form of leverage that they could use to get the guys to flip on the other. They needed something or they were going to have to search the whole city for each one of them.

XXX

It was a good four hours later when Will finally spoke up. "Hey, I got something on Holland."

"Sarg!" Jay called out to Voight, who was in his office.

They all gathered around as Will began to speak. "I struck out on finding any leverage against Holland. So I went back to his military file to see his full medical history in case he has a weak point, which he does. His left knee has been dislocated and broken multiple times, if you pull it back it'll pop out without much effort at all. The pain will be worse given the legimates and he won't be able to walk or fight from it."

"Good to know." Mouse commented as he knew it would be him and Jay fighting the Ghosts.

"That's not the interesting part. The medical file has a full genetic breakdown for him, he has Triple A Syndrome." Will continued.

"And that helps how?" Rojas asked, confused why that was worth mentioning.

"Triple A is a very rare genetic condition. People who have it will have achalasia, Addison disease, and alacrima. Alacrima isn't a big deal, it's basically dry eye, but Addison disease will affect your hormones and achalasia will cause you to have a problem with swallowing when you get older. It wouldn't have kept him from the military, chances were he would have been killed before it ever became a problem. It is very rare though and traceable."

"I still don't see how any of this helps though." Rojas pressed.

"If you stop cutting me off you will." Will slightly snapped, completely annoyed with being interrupted by Rojas. "As I was saying, it is a very rare genetic disorder, one that is often treated by the same doctor. I gave him a call and given the circumstances he was able to release to me the names of the other five people within the city that have it. None of which were his parents. In order for Holland to have Triple A Syndrome both of his parents would have to have been carriers of a specific gene. The two genes mutate within the child and it activates the syndrome. Each strand of the syndrome though can be traced back to their parents. Each one is slightly different from person to person. Holland's strand is linked back to his parents, but also another patient."

"He has a sibling?" Jay asked, very interested now.

"No, there's no mention of that in any of his military records. They do extensive background checks. They would have found a sibling." Mouse instantly said.

"The DNA strand doesn't lie. They are all unique just like fingerprints. He has a younger brother, Chris Martin. He goes by his mother's maiden name. His syndrome is worse than Holland. He has to have a feeding tube and is being kept in a care facility upstate. But unless he is married, then someone has to be paying for it." Will said.

"I want to know everything about Chris Martin." Voight said to Mouse.

"I'm on it." Mouse said, determined to get every last detail on the man.

"Nice work Will. Might just make a detective out of you yet." Platt said with a smirk.

"Will, pull the medical records of the other two and go over them. If they have a weak spot, we need to know about it." Voight ordered.

"Got it." Will said, more than happy to help out in any way that he could.

They all got back to work trying to find something that they could use as leverage for the other two while Mouse worked on finding everything he could on Chris Martin. It was roughly two hours later when Mouse finally had everything they needed.

"Hey, I got it!" He called out, before he got up and went over so he was closer to Jay and Will.

Everyone gathered around, Voight leaning against his door frame as Mouse spoke. "Chris Martin is staying in a very high-end care facility upstate. It's ten grand a month and the place is essentially a resort. All are being paid for by an anonymous donor that is just a front. I was able to backtrack the payments all the way back to Holland. He's paying for his brother's care and the money is through illegal means."

"Perfect, we leverage his brother over the next Ghost. If he doesn't want his brother to be in a State ran facility, he'll have to give up a Ghost." Jay said.

"Do you think he will? It seems like the Ghosts are all loyal to each other." Kim said, not real confident that it would be enough to get him to flip.

"They are, but then there is also family. He cares enough about his younger brother to pay ten grand a month just so he can have a good life with his condition. He's not going to want his brother to suffer. Holland will put his brother over the Ghosts, especially because he will know we will get the other two eventually. This mission they started, it was suicide from the beginning, but they are doing it to get justice for Rollins. Holland knows they are going down, he's not going to want to bring his brother down with them." Jay said confidently.

"We good to move in Sarg?" Adam asked Voight.

"Mouse, where is he?" Voight asked. He wanted to make sure they had everything put in place first. This was too dangerous to go in without a solid plan.

Mouse answered, as he pulled up the location on the tablet and held it out to Voight. "He is in a vacant warehouse. It's not using electricity, so he has a generator running to stay off the grid. He is still there and he is still alone. Satellite heat signature has him in the basement. The warehouse did have cameras so we can assume he;s hacked into them. He's going to know we're coming."

"So we go in fast. Is there more than one way out of the basement?" Jay asked, Mouse.

"Nope, one door. We go quick enough we can get to the door before Holland is able to get out of it. Don't know what weapons he might have though."

"He was a knife guy. He wasn't too good at hand to hand from what I remember hearing." Jay commented.

"He's a computer guy, so he's deadly on a keyboard, but in person not so much. That doesn't mean we underestimate him though. There's no telling what he's learnt how to do since he's been out of the military." Mouse advised.

"So we go in careful. Jay and Mouse will handle arresting Holland and the rest of us will hold the perimeter." Voight said.

"So we just stand around? Mouse isn't even a cop, he can't arrest anyone." Adam said, not happy with being told to basically go stand in the corner.

"Unless things have drastically changed since I've been gone, you can't fight him Adam. He's a military trained killer, more so than your typical operator. Jay and I are the only ones trained enough to take him down. To take any of the three down." Mouse said.

"We hold the perimeter, that's an order. Jay and Mouse will handle Holland. Now everyone gear up, I want this son of a bitch in the cage within the hour." Voight ordered with a snap to his voice. He was done with everyone thinking they get opinions. He was done with Rojas and Adam's attitude today. His word was final and if they couldn't get in line, they wouldn't be here.

"I'll stay here with Will and we can keep digging into the other two." Platt said.

"Perfect, let's go." Voight said to the others.

"Remember, left knee. If you pull it or hit it on the outside, it'll pop out." Will said to Jay and Mouse.

"Got it. We'll be back soon." Jay said, as he got up.

Will sat there and watched as the team headed off to go and get their gear on. He hated that he couldn't be going with them, but he knew that he couldn't. He didn't have any of the training needed. All he could do was sit here and wait for them to return. Platt placed a supportive hand on his shoulder as she spoke. "He'll be ok. Mouse will make sure of it, same as the team."

"I know Mouse has Jay's back. Just like I know Hailey, Voight, Kev and Kim do, but I'm worried about Adam and Vanessa. They don't seem too happy with him and it happened before they saw the bruises on Hailey."

"Rojas has her own issues and I think Adam just isn't used to being kept in the dark so much. He's also going through his own emotions about what he discovered about Jay and he's trying to process it. I'll talk to him about it and get his head back on straight. How are you holding up though? You just found out that your own baby brother was held captive and tortured for six months, that's not an easy thing to hear." Platt asked, concerned for how Will was feeling. Everyone was worried about Jay, but Platt knew that no one was really worried about how this news was affecting Will. As Jay's big brother and as a doctor, Will would be affected by all of this on many levels.

Will let out a deep sigh before he spoke. "I knew it was bad when he first got home. I only got two weeks with him, it was all I could get off from work at the time. I should have taken longer. I should have let them fire me if that was what it took to be there for him. The things he went through Trudy." Will said with pain lacing all throughout his voice. "It never should have happened and he shouldn't have had to have dealt with it on his own. I know he had Mouse, and I will forever be grateful to him, but he also had his own PTSD and injuries he was trying to work through. It shouldn't have been on just him to put Jay back together. It should have been me and I failed him. When he needed me the most, I failed him."

"You didn't fail him Will. You have been there for him and have helped him with all of this. I've seen you with him, you truly love him and you have always been there for him through all of the bad days and nights. Don't let your past regrets cause you to make new regrets. All you can do is keep doing what you have been doing and be there for him. You're a great brother Will and he is going to need you to pull through all of this."

Will knew he was going to be there for Jay no matter what. The problem was he didn't know if Jay would let him. He knew this time around it was going to be bad. Once the case was wrapped up Jay was going to be going down a dark spiral and he might not allow anyone to be there for him. Jay had a way of suffering in silence and he does it so that others don't have to deal with it. Will was hoping that Jay wouldn't close him out and push him away, but it was something he would find out soon enough. For now, he could help Jay by making sure they caught these three guys and stopped them from hurting anyone else.

XXX

The team arrived at the vacant warehouse and they fell behind Jay and Mouse. It was odd for them to be seeing Mouse in tactical gear as Adam, Kim, Kevin and Voight were so used to him being behind a computer desk. They often forgot that Mouse would have had the same training that Jay did in order for him to be in the military and a Ranger.

"Remember, you guys cover the doorways and Mouse an dI will go into the basement and grab him. He already knows we're here so move quick." Jay said and once he saw that everyone acknowledged him, he gave a nod to Mouse as he pulled open the door.

Mouse and Jay were instantly running towards the basement entrance. The second they arrived at the door Mouse pulled it open as Jay went in, gun up and ready. They quickly descended the stairs to see Holland already smashing at his computers. He was apparently more interested in getting rid of the evidence then running.

"Get your hands up Holland." Jay ordered, but Holland threw the hammar at him before he starts to run towards the back of the building.

Jay cursed, thinking there much have been another way out that wasn't on the blueprints. He started to run after him, tucking his gun back into his holder as he didn't see one on Holland and Mouse had his out right behind him. Jay easily caught up to Holland and grabbed him by the back of his shoulders and threw him to the ground. Mouse kept his gun pointed at Holland as Jay grabbed his left knee and pulled it straight up and towards Holland's head. They could all hear the pop echoing off the walls followed by Holland's scream in pain as his knee was dislocated.

"Fuck!" Holland seethed, as Jay tossed his leg back down and placed his own knee on Holland's back as he proceeded to get the cuffs on him.

"Shut the fuck up Holland." Jay seethed.

"You good?" Mouse asked, Jay.

Jay just gave a nod as he started to search Holland for any weapons. Mouse put his gun away and went over to the table that was being used as a desk. He grabbed an empty paper box and started to put all of he smashed up computers into it so he could try and go through it to see what he could repair and salvage. Mouse looked up when he heard another scream from Holland. He saw that Jay had gotten him up on his feet and was starting to drag him towards the stairs.

"You dislocated my fucking knee you asshole." Holland said as he staggered around trying to get his balance.

"Then hop, because I got no problem dragging you up those stairs." Jay said with barely controlled rage.

Jay continued to drag Holland along towards the stairs and Holland started to hop, knowing that Jay wasn't kidding about the dragging part. Mouse grabbed the rest of the equipment that he could and followed them both up the stairs as he radioed in to the others letting them know they were cleared and coming up with Holland. Mouse knew that this time around was easy, but the next two weren't going to be. Holland was the weak link, the cockroach that runs away the second the lights come on. Novac and Anderson were the type of men that fought to the death and even then they kept coming. Mouse knew they were going to need to catch them off guard if they all wanted to get out of this alive.

XXX

Jay brought Holland over to the cage as he continued to curse and hop from his leg. Jay knew he would have to have Will check it out soon enough, but for now he could just live with it.

"Fuck you Halstead." Holland seethed as Jay attached both of his wrists to the metal of the cage in the roll up.

"It can get a lot worse than this Holland." Mouse commented with a smirk.

"You're not gonna break me. You both know you can't force me to talk. I know how all of this plays out, every single second of it. I invited this shit." Holland said with a smile.

Jay knew that Holland was very good at what he did, it was why the Ghosts recruited him, but he also know that Holland didn't know that they knew about Chris. And once you threw someone's family into the mix, shit got real very quickly.

"Everyone but Mouse and Jay out." Voight ordered.

"Sarg." Adam started, but Voight cut him off.

"You know the rules. And unless you would like to risk being in a CIA Black Site, I suggest you get upstairs and get back to work."

It was clear that Adam wasn't impressed with not getting to be here for the interrogation, but he had no choice but to head upstairs with the others.

"Well isn't he feisty." Holland said with a smirk.

"Look, you're the big shot master interogator. So why don't I do us all a favor and cut out the bullshit. We know you are the one paying for your kid brother's care facility Upstate. Chris Martin, we already know all about him and his Triple A Syndrome, just like you have it. We already know all of that. Just like we know you are paying for his care with funds from illegal activities, which means we can seize every cent you have in all of your dummy accounts. So here is what we are going to do. You are going to tell us where we find the next Ghost and we won't have your brother transferred to a State ran facility where he will be drugged up and left alone in a padded room twenty-three and a half hours a day for the rest of his life. As for you, well, I don't actually know what happens to you now, but I'm sure they do." Voight said with a nod towards Jay and Mouse.

"That would depend on him. He could either be placed in a CIA Black Site on the other side of the world and be treated like a traitor. Or he could be placed with a maximum security military prison for the rest of his life. The choice is up to him." Mouse answered.

"You think I'm going to betray my brothers." Holland said with a disgusted look at his face.

"No, I think you are going to be smart. You know we will find Novac and Anderson. You know all three of you are either going to end up dead or in a cage for the rest of your life. This isn't new to you. The question is, are you going to take your innocent and sick brother down with you?" Jay said.

"You're not gonna involve him." Holland said confidently.

"I didn't involve him, you did the second you helped kill Bulldog. The second you decided to target me, you put your brother in the line of fire. I got no problem calling up that care facility and telling them that the money being used to support him is being seized. I got no problem calling a state ran facility to pick him up and he will be in a new place before the day is over. It'll only take two phone calls. And the third phone call I make will be to the CIA and you will be on a plane tonight to a CIA Black Site. You got ten seconds to decide." Jay said with a no-nonsense tone.

Jay was done with all of this and he wasn't going to dance around this shit. Either Holland was going to tell them what they wanted to know or he was going to regret it. It was just that simple to Jay.

"You know he's not playing around. Give it up Holland." Mouse added.

They didn't think that Holland was going to talk, but once Jay pulled out his cell phone he finally snapped.

"Alright, alright fine. I don't know where Anderson is, but I know where Novac will be. He was set to fly out tomorrow to go after one of the captives that lives in New York, Vic Lopez. He was going to fly out tomorrow to take care of him. I don't know where in the city he's staying, but tomorrow he will be on the roof of 1989 Donovan Place. You can find him there at two in the afternoon. That's all I know."

"I'll check it out." Mouse said to Jay.

"Why me? Why are you doing all of this? Because I turned down your offer and you lost two guys?" Jay asked the million dollar question.

"That's part of it. If you had agreed we wouldn't have lost Tapric and Rollins wouldn't have ended up rooting away in a hole in the ground. It was more than that though, it was very personal to Anderson. He had a younger cousin, but he was more like a kid brother. His dad wa sa mean drunk and his mom was checked out most of the time. The kid spent most of his life living with Anderson. His name was Marcus and he was one of the captives in that POW camp you were in. Anderson found out last month that he was your cellmate. He was just a rookie and it was on you to protect him, but you failed him and he was killed. Just like a lot of people were killed in your little uprising. If it hadn't been for you, we wouldn't have lost Tapric and Rollins and we would have been made aware of the camp and we could have rescued him." Holland said with a deep hatred to his voice.

Jay didn't even say anything, he just turned and headed out of the roll up. Mouse had expected as much. He knew about Marcus and everything that happened in the cell. He had spent many hours trying to convince Jay that it wasn't his fault, all of which had fallen on deaf ears.

"What happened to Marcus wasn't Jay's fault. They were both chained up, he couldn't do anything to protect him, to stop them. He tried, but nothing worked. They had a set plan for each cell, it's why each cell had two captives in it. Nothing Jay said was going to change their minds, they were made up long before they even got into the cell. And it is Jay that has to live with those memories and images forever. He doesn't deserve this, none of the survivors do." Mouse said, completely disgusted that this was the reason for the Ghosts to be targeting Jay. For them to have killed Bulldog and who knows who else. It wasn't Jay's fault for what happened to Marcus and he didn't deserve to be punished for it.

"He should have found a way to protect him. He out ranked him. He was older than him. It was on him to keep him safe." Holland said with pure rage in his voice.

"No, it was on all of us to find them faster. We failed them, not the other way around. But don't worry, you'll have the rest of your life to think about it in you nice cubby hole in your new Black Site home." Mouse said right back.

"I cooperated." Holland instantly said, as he tried to get up, but he couldn't between his knee and the cuffs.

"Ya and if the intel is right and we get Novac, then your brother won't be in a State ran facility. You though, you can go fuck yourself." Mouse said with a deadly edge before he turned and headed up the stairs.

Voight simply gave a hm and shrugged before he went after him. He didn't care what happened to Holland. He was more than happy to leave him sitting in a hole somewhere in another country for the rest of his life. He was doing this to Jay for nothing, absolutely nothing, and he wasn't about to feel bad for this man. The three of them had brought this on themselves and if it were up to Voight, they would all be killed. They were putting Jay through this, his son through this level of trauma and it was all for bullshit reasons. Voight had no idea what happened to Marcus, but he knew it wasn't on Jay to protect him. And from what Mouse had said, they were chained up, there was nothing Jay could do to protect himself, let alone another person. What happened to Marcus was tragic, but Jay didn't deserve to pay for the crimes of other people. Voight wasn't going to allow it to continue and he was going to make sure they caught the next to Ghosts as quickly as possible so Jay could finally start to heal from all of this pain and trauma. He just prayed that it wouldn't destroy him in the end.