Chapter 03

Erin took the steps to the precinct, slowly, like the weight of her heart pushed down on her feet and every step was laboured. Her mind rang with words from Will.

"I have a feeling that everything is gonna be alright, he will come back Erin, he has to"

"Of course he has to" Erin had repeated much to ensure herself. But they didn't even know where he was deployed. What if he is hurt or is being hurt by some one, even right now?What if he was deployed in a war striken country, maybe back in Afghanistan? What if he is captured and tortured?

Erin shivered as the thought crossed her mind. And at the end of the staircase she was met with the empty seat of mouse. It was then she realised that there was someone else other than Will and her who is equally affected. She looked in to the rest room but her view was obstructed with the pity looks of Kevin and Ruzek. Erin wanted to shout at them and say that Jay was still alive but thought the better of it. She walked to the rest room where mouse sat in a chair. His head rested on his palms. When he heard her steps he stood up.

"Erin " Mouse said with a guilt striken tone, as if Jay was his responsability.

"Maybe this isn't the right time to say it but this is not the first time Jay went MIA. But he survived, and he will come out this time too"

Erin looked at him emptily realising that there is still a huge part in Jay's life that she didn't know about. Clad in the comfort of having eachother they both avoided discussing their pasts. Both their pasts. Erin didn't know whether to regret it or not.

She patted his shoulder and headed for the coffee machine , sweet sweet caffain might dull her heart ache. She wished she could take the hardest liquir and forget everything in the resulting blur. But she wasn't gonna slip this time. She made a promise to Jay before he left, that even if the worst scenario becomes real, she will stay true to the effort they all took to get her life back to where it is today, she will stay true to that promise.

An hour later Erin was typing the same thing avoiding the woebegone faces of her team mates. Al and Voight were missing, probably contacting the 'old friends' he mentioned. God ! How she wished she could know something...the smallest thing about where and what Jay was up to before he went missing... Most of all how the hell he went missing when his captain is live and kicking delivering the sad news around giving her the attitude talk. She felt her anger replacing the grieve in her. She has a right to know what happened to the man she love ! And her thoughts stopped there. She has yet to tell him that. Jay asked her to move in with her but she hadn't given him an answer. She wanted him to move in with her, but she couldn't get herself to start that talk because she was trapped in the grief of loosing Justin and then by the possibility of loosing Hank.

Things only started to settle down after the whole fiasca of digging up the supposed grave of the justins killer, when Jay was called back to the rangers. With that any talk on moving together vanished like it never existed. Now it only added to the pile of regrets Erin summed up for herself which consisted of encouraging him to take the mission, not telling him that she loves him or how much she love him and not telling him the only reason she didn't wanna move with him is because she wanted him to move in with her.

She shook off the thoughts off her mind and stood up to get the fifth coffee of the day. So she could restart the report she was typing...for the fifth time. But she was suddenly crowded by Al and Voight peering over her desk.

"We have something, not good news, if you can take it now, come in to my office, or we'll discuss later"

"I'm already in your office" Erin said stepping in throught the door as quickly as she can. Anything that could quench her quriosity, she would accept with welome hands , good or bad. Voight sat on his chair while Al settled on the side of the table leaving Erin standing.

"So I first talked to this guy, a captain in rank and he had no idea what I'm talking about. So the all 'confidential' crap should be true. But then I talked to this high end guy; very top ranking. He owes me his life. Agreed to share the little he knew. According to what he knew, captain Reed's team was suppose to retrieve and transport something back home. Something disasterouse if fallen in to the wrong hands. And from the very beginning, the information was out, though the army intelligence still doesn't know how. So among the top ranks, they decided to do it without actual army personnels involved. That is where ex rangers team, Jay's old team come in to play. Now he says the item was retrieved successfully but during the transportation the mission went south. Two are missing and here is the bad news. They think Jay and the other missing guy is part of it. They think who ever obtained the item most probably weapons smugglers, had help from Jay. They are considering freezing all Jay's properties upon proper evidence"

Erin gasped. She could not believe what she was hearing. "You are kidding me right?"

"Erin, calm down" Voight said standing up.

"Calm down? Calm down? "Erin Shouted. By then attention of the others had turned to them. "Jay didn't think twice about risking his life for this country, he never did, not when in CPD, not in rangers, and this is how they are treating him? "

Voight came around his table to reach her and cupped her face in his large hands. "Erin, we cannot fight the Pentagon, or the Rangers. They have their own jurisdiction. What we can do, is use our head and fight for Jay. Lets take our time to think this through. "

She removed his hands from her as anger rushed up in her. "We can take time to think and plan and act, I know. But will Jay have that time? She said through the glossy eyes, tears threatning to pop out.

"Erin, I've already lost one son, I will not loose another. I can guarantee you, we will fight for Jay to the best we can. "

A hickup escaped her upon hearing Voights words and she stormed out of the precinct. Antonio turned to stop her but Voight asked not to.

"Let her go" he said and Antonio stopped in his tracks. "She needs to steam off, or else she will be a walking disaster ...let her go. "

Erin got in to her car and peddled on the gas as if she was in NASCAR. Usually the speed gave her concentration. Driving fast down the not so much busy lanes gives her a sense of calmness, it lets her collect her thoughts while her hands do the driving automatically. But right now even that wasn't helping. Because everytime she took a sharp turn, a sudden break she remembered how Jay gave her the looks when she drew fast with him in the car.

She had come to the suburb area of Chicago trying to avoid the traffic. Thats when she noticed the Army cars parked outside the heavily guarded Chicago lab gates. And through the tinted window she recognised a figure, a face she had come to familiarise recently. She slowed down to get a better look. And she could swear that the person behind the glass saw her too, and the unexpected meet had the now familiat stranger give her a subtle look, almost an expression of a threat. Yes she was sure. It was Captain Reed behind the glass and neither did he expect to see her at this place nor was he happy to see her. But as Erins car passed hm by, he turned his look in to an acknowledgement and Erin replied by nodding.

Instinct made her drive the car continuously. She didn't stop untill she reached the CPD although everything in her wanted to stop and see what was going on. She rushed upstairs and looked for mouse feeling a rush of energy hitting her. He was peering in to the screen as usual. So Erin sat infront of him.

"I need a full work up on Captain Reed and the Chicago Labs manager" she said as he watched her surprised. "Off the record"

Mouse seemed to contemplate her request for the briefest second. But he agreed. "Sure, I'll use my equipments"

Antonio stood up next to her and leaned on mouse's table."why? " he asked.

I was passing by the Labs and at the gates I saw Captain Reed waiting to go in. Chicago labs, Pentagon, Government project, Captain Reed and Hanks CI intel. Ring any bells?

And in that moment the whole of intelligence shared one thought.

Jay...