Chapter 2- Roll Call
The banging on the door came so much sooner than Jay desired. Jake's fist would pound three, four times in one interval before hesitating a couple seconds for Jay to answer. The first round his whole body shook itself out of its' rather exhausted state, the second time allowed Jay to finally open his eyes, lift his head up and finally get the first glimpses of daylight in Bolivia. When Jake pounded a third, fourth time was when Jay deeply encouraged himself to sit up at least, rub the cobwebs out of his eyes, and then answer the energizer bunny that was on the other side of the door.
"Yeah?!" Jay was yawning as he spoke, running a hand through his very bed-headed hair as he listened to Jake speak into the crack between the door and doorframe.
"We have movement. Eric wants you in the break room ASAP." As Jay became more and more awake, he suddenly realized that all was not well with him. The lack of air that he felt on the walk between the plane and Ranger Rover was still there, but somehow worse than ever. He could never really catch his breath, a couple times coughing as a way to encourage more air to enter his lungs. Honestly the last time he felt this bad was when he had a nasty cold over the summer. Steroids and antibiotics were the only solution to finally allow things to break up, but given where he was and the fact he didn't feel a cold coming on informed him that something else was going on.
"I'll be there in a second," Jay panted a little as he sat all the way up in bed, pivoted to his left so that his feet touched the hardwood floors before he was ready. As he leaned over as he began to stand up, that was when the headache made itself known. His head felt incredibly heavy and was pounding to the pace of his own heart rate. Jay wanted nothing more than to collapse back onto the pillows and pass out some more. He couldn't breathe, his head felt terrible, and now as he stood up his stomach was very much not happy with him. If he knew better he'd have thought he was going through some horrific hangover, but given the fact he hadn't had a drop of alcohol in a couple days, something else had to be going on. Jake pounded once more, Jay closing his eyes against the sound and moaning a tad as he shuffled to the door. Jake's fist was hovering in the air, on the verge of coming back down on the door as Jay used all his energy to fling it open.
"Oh, sorry Sergeant. You look like shit." Jay could only shrug, doing his best to stifle off the oncoming yawn, but as was always the case, Jay allowed the yawn to ripple itself through his body. Jake was way too awake and hyper for Jay's liking. He wasn't aware of the time of day but it felt to be way too early for Jake's level of enthusiasm. Jay was seriously questioning if he'd managed to sleep drink an entire bottle of tequila now.
"Thanks, Jake," Jay puffed, staring rather dully and tiredly at the young, spry child, waiting for what he was supposed to do next.
"How's the sickness?"
"Jake, you're gunna have to inform me on this sickness thing."
"Oh, the altitude sickness! La Paz is the highest capitol city in the world. And I don't mean the drug kind."
"Jake, I figured that part out when you said altitude," Jay was quick to shoot back. Again, he really wasn't in the mood for humor. Jake chuckled, stepping back a little as Jay now fully rested his body weight on the doorframe.
"So what are your symptoms? Headache, lack of air, nausea?"
"Yeah, that and I'm exhausted."
"Well, we all have to go through it. Don't worry, in a couple of days it'll go away. Everyone goes through it at first. Anyway, Eric wants you in the break room." Jay yawned once more, nodding as he pushed himself off the doorframe before turning back towards the room.
"I'll be there in a second. I just need to brush my teeth first and change."
"Alright, I'll let him know." Jay waved Jake off, closing the door as he heard the kid scurry off, Jay amusing himself with the idea of Jake skipping a little as he went to inform the chief of station of all the news. Oh to be young and full of energy and spirit. Jay picked up his duffle bag, zipping the thing open and turning the bag upside down to allow all contents to spill out and onto the floor. Whenever he had the time he'd fill the dresser and closet with his personal possessions, but for the time being he just had to find what he needed right then and run out the door. He felt to be making one of the worst first impressions. He was asleep when changes to the case were happening, his felt terrible and didn't even know he was on his team. Hell, he wasn't even sure what the case was, yet he was in charge of leading the whole operation across the finish line successfully. Jay finally gathered what he needed: toothbrush and toothpaste along with another pair of jeans and a tee to switch out with the near identical ones he already had on.
Stumbling across his own feet Jay found the bathroom, fiddling his hand around for the switch, soon being bathed in the florescent glow of lighting so powerful it made his cower back in pain for a couple seconds. The hum of the ancient bulbs sounded like gongs in his ears, his eyes squinting to look at himself in the mirror. The cut along his cheek had a cute little friend in the form of a blossoming bruise. It was a dark blue color and was very sensitive to the touch. The other cut along his hairline wasn't much better, but that bruise wasn't as bold and obvious as the one on his face. He looked to have gone up against a true foe, continuing to paint a very pretty picture of a qualified and successful leader. A guy who looked to have gotten into a boxing match with a cabinet door or shower-head falling onto his face. Talk about a very tough and perilous leader. Jay sighed, turning the faucet water on and splashing the wet, cold substance onto his face before getting the teeth brushing session going. Once that was complete he messed with the hair a little, making it passible and not like he'd just woken up. It was still very odd, being in a place that was not his own. Part of this whole thing felt so wrong, but in the same breath he knew it was the thing he had to do. Looking at himself in the mirror post clothing change didn't improve things much. He half recognized the person in the mirror. He knew it was his face, his body, but nothing else around him felt true or right or him. But in time, deep down he knew that would change. He was very much in the transition stage of things. There were still emotions of feeling guilty for what he did, sad that he left everything the way he did. But then again change was never easy or quick or seamless. Sometimes you just had to rip the bandaid off and go through the tough and ugly in order to see true, lasting change. It was time to be selfish for himself. He was doing this so he could find himself again, be the person he used to be proud of and confident in. It was going to be different, but worth it in the end.
Jay returned to the bedroom, pulled the blankets up before making the pillows look like they hadn't been slept on and tossed all over the room. In the bed making process he heard his phone fall out from under the sheets and land on the floor. Cursing to himself that he'd probably just broken the thing, Jay got down on his hands and knees and grabbed the phone out from under the bed. Tapping the screen with his thumb revealed that all was well, not a scratch or crack to be found. Jay also learned that it was just after 6am Bolivia time. No wonder he still felt tired and very much asleep. His best guess was that he'd barely had four hours of sleep. Not totally unusual given his previous line of work, but for jet lag and international travel he needed at least double that amount of sleep before he could get more acclimated. Furthermore, he noted a missed call and text from his wife. It had come about an hour ago, he was so passed out that the loud and solid vibration of his phone hadn't awakened him. Jay sighed, feeling new levels of guilt as he read the text.
"Did you make it safely? I miss you," Hailey had reach out with, most likely with tears in her eyes and shaky hands as she typed. A couple words were stuck together and 'safely' was spelled as 'safety.' Jay also remember that Bolivia was two hours ahead of Chicago. So when the text arrived at 5am his time, it was 3am back home. So sleep wasn't had by either of them last night. Jay was in the middle of texting her back when Jake returned to the banging down of the door.
"Coming!" Jay returned the phone to the bed, promising himself that he'd call Hailey when he had some time. On the chance that she'd finally fallen asleep, he didn't want to disturb her now. He didn't need to make his new boss, and team, more upset with him then they probably already were.
"Sorry," Jay apologized as he opened the door, following Jake down the hall and turning into a room just off the foyer area. What greeted him on the other side was Eric, sitting on the edge of his seat at a breakfast table, coffee steaming out of a cup as he pulled it to his lips, grunting at Jay's entry.
"Morning," he spoke into the cup, not looking away from the eight television screens mounted to the wall in front of him. The screen were massive, all hung right next to each other to create one gigantic screen that engulfed the entire back wall of the kitchen. Jay was glued in on what was happening, allowing Jake to hand him a piping hot cup of black coffee and two Advil as he watched on. He wasn't sure what was happening, but by the looks of things it was some kind of surveillance on a drug house, or farm.
"We have a body," Eric spoke, still not looking away from what was happening on the screens. It was still dark out, so cameras were in night-vision mode. People were lit in that signature glowing green, landmarks and cars and landscape blacked out for the time being. But as Jay watched on and slowly gathered what Eric was referring to, he figured this wasn't normal. A body finding was usual for Jay, he dealt with bodies in Chicago just about every day of his life for ten years. It was common for drug related people to pop up dead on the very tail end of the drug lifecycle. A dealer that hadn't met standards, the snitch that had been caught, or the worst kind: an undercover gone horribly wrong. But on this end of things, bodies coming up was a bad sign. This side of things is where the most valued and trusted people of the circle existed. So if a body came up in the starting point of a drug ring, then chaos was about to explode.
"Have we confirmed who it is," Jay eventually asked into the room. Eric shook his head.
"Not yet, but based on who's still breathing and walking around it looks to be someone close to the inner circle."
"Family member?" Eric shook his head.
"No, not quite that close. Best guess is a lieutenant. They had a drug buy lined up two days ago and we could never get confirmation that it actually happened." "How do you know it was even going down?"
"We had flight info, heat runs, and which side was buying."
"So what happened?"
"Our leader got transferred to Poland. We missed out."
"Shit," Jay muttered, rubbing his lips as he continued to look on. That many more drugs were going to pour into the U.S., Mexico, Latin and South America. The stakes at this level were detrimental, monumental compared to back home. The weight was sitting deep on his shoulders now.
"So why the body?"
"Well, a body doesn't mean good things. If their turning on their own people?! It must mean.."
"-The deal went south. Someone messed up and got caught by the authorities," Jay cut in.
"Exactly, except for the fact that authorities here are basically on their side. Money runs this place. It's why so many drug rings are based here in South America. The police forces are trash, small, money hungry. So for the right price.."
"-You can buy the police and keep them away from your operations," Jay finished.
"Dude's good," Eric congratulated, Jake nodded his head rather vigorously in agreement.
"So where do we start," Jay asked, accepting the buttered toast from Jake and scarfing it down as Eric stood from his seat.
"Well, we need to identify who the dead guy is and who blew the whole thing up."
"If it wasn't the police then who else could it be?!"
"Rival ring, some other government authority, we aren't the only ones down here."
"But don't you all talk with each other," Jay asked through a rather stuffed face? Eric chuckled, rolling his eyes before tossing his cup in the sink.
"That would be ideal. But, this is the federal government and we're slow, proud, and rather secretive. Not too mention if all countries were talking to each other we'd never get anything done."
"So it's a race essentially. Whoever gets these guys out first gets the recognition and accolades."
"Precisely. We all fight over the prize and the side effect is that more drugs and bad guys are out of the game. Everybody wins!"
"Except when things get botched," Jay was quick to add.
"Ah, you're catching on Halstead." Jay shrugged his shoulders. Boiling it all down to things, it was all a game at the end of the day. Whether it was gangs in Chicago or drug rings across the whole world, everyone was playing to win. Winning the money, winning the arrest prize and recognition, everyone wanted the biggest piece of the pie and none wanted to share. He was starting to feel right at home with everything. Albeit it was only for a moment or too.
"How's the altitude stuff," Eric cut into the silence, Jay sighing as he pushed his drink and food away.
"Why is everyone so concerned with this," Jay jokingly asked?"
"Because it's a bitch and we've all been there. Plus, you can't go full operational till you get adjusted to things. We don't need you puking your brains out or getting a PE or CE while in the middle of a mission. Go see the medic today and have him assess you," Eric instructed, Jay rolling his eyes some more as he stood up.
"When do I meet the rest of the team?"
"Well, they're all out there getting their run in right now. But let's show you around the rest of the place in the meantime."
"Sounds good to me. When do we start the strategizing and game planning?" Eric laughed, looking to Jake who snorted a laugh. Jay was a little lost on what was so funny.
"You know, when they said you were a go-getter I didn't think you were this bad," Eric joked.
"Hey, time is ticking. I'm already hours, days behind this thing and I'm trying to get caught up." Eric headed towards the hallway, motioning for Jay and Jake to come with him.
"Easy there, Halstead. Let's get you through the jet lag and sleep deprivation first. You'll be crashing before noon at the pace you're trying to go." Jay wanted to live in their laid back mentality, but it just wasn't in him. He was laser focused, in full mission mode now. A little altitude sickness and tiredness wasn't going to stop him.
…
But ohh how wrong he was. Because Jay managed to make it through the grand tour of the exterior part of the farm before excusing himself to the restroom to puke everything that was in his stomach and more. Air was getting harder to capture and the nausea and headaches were so bad that he felt like he was swaying back and forth on a ship. Jay was everything bit as miserable as he looked, the beyond pale complexion and exhausted state of his being was rather hard to miss. His bed was seriously calling his name, Jay wanting nothing more than to muster up the stamina to make it to his bed and collapse for the rest of the day. He was convinced now that any shred of his reputation was shot, that no way was anyone going to take his leadership seriously at this point. Jay moaned as quietly to himself as he could, allowing himself to fall on the mystery bathroom floor, closing his eyes as he did his very best to not get more dizzy and nauseous.
"Sargeant Halstead," Jake nervously asked on the other side of the door. Jay winced against the noise change, slowly sitting up as he moved to flush the toilet. Part of him was wondering just how clean the floor was. This was definitely a first: allowing himself to lay down on a surface that he didn't know at all. For all he knew the previous leader had bled out on this floor and it had barely been sanitized. When Jake quietly knocked on the door again, Jay knew he had to say something. It was that or have the whole calvary come in to aid him.
"Coming," Jay called back, turning the faucet on and splashing yet another round of water on his face. His hair was practically drenched at this point with the amount of times he'd done this routine. Jay leaned in to fill his mouth with water, swishing it in his mouth before spitting it out and turning things off.
"You should really see the medic," Jake greeted Jay with once he flung the door open. Jay quietly nodded in agreement, walking past Jake and heading back towards the main meeting room.
"Is everyone waiting on me?"
"Well…yeah, but I think we'd all understand if you wanted to sleep the rest of the day." Jay shook him off, willing himself to get down the hall, look somewhat presentable, and make it through the meeting of everyone. That was his three step plan and he had every intention of fulfilling that minor mission. Rounding the turn of the doorway, and getting just past the foyer, kitchen, venturing into yet another unfamiliar room with a reaction that took Jay by surprised.
"Hey…everyone," Jay sheepishly greeted everyone with, very quickly seeing the humor in the whole thing. Because what greeted him on the other side was an NFL offensive line, a row of five massive, muscular men in every sense of the word. For the first time in Jay's life he was the smallest guy in the room, which was incredibly ironic given the level in the chain of command he found himself. Every single guy looked to have benched a semi that morning, most likely run a full marathon and scaled every mountain that dotted the backdrop of the farm. They likely ate a full box of cereal for breakfast, downed gallons of coffee a day, we're talking absolute beasts of a person. Jay half swallowed in slight fear as they all stood to stare at him, wait for him to give a speech or some kind of resounding sentiment. But alas, his ailed mind had nothing, literally standing there quite dumbfounded for a good lifetime…which really was a couple of seconds.
"Let's go around the room and introduce ourselves," Eric cut in for Jay.
"We've all been through the adjustment phase," Eric joked with, earning him a room full of grunts and snickers and rolled eyes. Jay didn't feel remotely better about their reaction, but at least someone else was taking on the speaking role.
"Dan Waters, coms specialist out of Denver. Did two tours in Iraq before transferring out to drug units."
"Sam Adams," which earned more snickers and jeers at his name.
"No relation," Sam cut above everyone.
"Army Ranger out of Fort Bragg. Did a couple stents in the sandbox before going to civilian. Came out here as punishment I guess."
"Bryan Renford, Rangers as well. Been in the drug unit of the Army for the past decade. Qualified sniper at over 1500 meters." Jay's eyebrows perked up at that, knowing just how talented that made Bryan. Jay was good, but Bryan could probably outgun him in his sleep. If Jay had any dreams of shooting sniper range in this little adventure, he'd have to pray Bryan broke an arm. He and Jay made quick eye contact, both seeming to understand one another and having mad respect for the other guy. The next guy greeted with a wave before he spoke.
"Andrew Waters, basically I'm the crazy adventure seeker who will be first through the front door. Ex-Navy Seal now turned Ranger. Also did a tour in the sandbox before getting transferred to Poland before coming here. I'm probably the newest guy to the area." Jay nodded, staving off another burp that would induce the nausea, praying the final guy's intro was quick.
"Antonio Lewis, former FBI agent based out of Venezuela for the past ten years. I'm about as local as you can get. I'm in the man on the ground gaining information and strategy opps. You're in charge but I'm essentially the right hand man when it comes to making sure things are actually possible." Then Eric turned to Jay, seeming to be waiting for him to finally introduce himself to everyone else.
"Umm, Jay Halstead. Also Rangers and a sniper and did two tours in the sandbox as well. The last ten years I was working in the Intelligence unit out of the Chicago Police Department. We did a lot of high target, high stakes missions very heavily involving drugs. So I'm kind of getting to see the full life cycle of this world and hopefully helping damper the issue."
"So what made you leave," a voice out of the dark corner of the room called. They all turned to look at the person who spoke it, someone Jay had never come across till now, but was rather curious why he was there and he had been so quiet during the team intros.
"I volunteered to come. I needed to make some life changes. Had enough of the rat race and questionable decisions that come with working under a unit like that."
"Well that's a first. Most of us are here out of punishment or walking out a slap on the wrist." The voice earned a round of head nods and subtle agreements. They were a band of misfits, of people from all walks of life with very special skills. It wasn't quite as fine tuned and in sync as the unit he'd left, but this was Jay's baby to grow and discipline and keep alive. They were all essentially his lumps of clay, his mission within the mission. They were going to either ride or die, fail or succeed under his careful guidance and he had every intention of making this one of the best Army units in the lot. Time to get down to work.
"Alright everyone, we've got a body to figure out and new avenue to figure out before we get into that drug compound. Let's get to work," Eric spoke up, clapping his hands together as an ushering of everyone to sit around the rather dark, circular table and get things underway.
"Bradford, get Halstead the regime to get him through the day," Eric spoke to the voice in the corner, a human stepping into the light as he quietly nodded, sighing as he seemed to be annoyed at the task given to him. By the time Jay had taken a seat and begun going over what they knew about the drug ring, a glass of ginger ale and anti-nausea pills were planted to his right, no other recognition and instructions were given. Jay eyed the assumed medic as he walked out of the room and out the front door. It appeared he had an enemy or doubter in his midst. Jay had every intention on figuring the guy out and getting to the bottom of things. But first, he needed to get some kind of traction going with this team before his body, and stomach, won the day.
…
The remainder of the day was a blur. Between Jay racing down the hall to puke and then recovering enough to make it back to the table for about half an hour before the cycle began all over again. Each return to the discussion table had everyone feeling both bad for Jay and wishing he would just call it a day. They admired his determination to keep going, but all having been through the sickness he was experiencing, the best and only medicine he needed was rest. By the time 5pm arrived Eric adjourned the meetings for the day, sending everyone out with tasks to begin new recon and work their sources on the ground. Jay was still under strict house supervision, both Jake and Bradford having to verbally push him back to his room and order him to rest. At first Jay was adamant about staying with the team, that he just needed some water and maybe another round of Advil, but no one caved to his ideas. Again, they'd all been there. And to prove their point, Jay was fast asleep in bed in no time at all. The time between getting into the room and getting under the covers and falling asleep was five minutes, tops. Jay did not move in the bed, didn't bother changing or shutting the curtains that he'd opened earlier in the day, his body was very much spent. The only time he woke up the rest of the day was when the begrudged medic knocked on his door a couple hours after he'd passed out under the covers. The smallest of brushes against his exposed shoulder had Jay swinging a hand someone's way.
"Whoa," Bradford just about shouted at Jay upon ducking to barely miss a swift fist coming his direction. Jay's eyes shot wide open when he heard the voice, realizing the door opening and closing and the feeling of someone else in the room wasn't in his dreams. Jay rolled onto his back, breathing and blinking himself back to reality. His bedroom light was on, it's warm and mellow yellow hues telling that lighting had greatly changed since he was last up. The brightness of the sun was traded out for the calming levels of LED lighting, allowing Jay to figure out that the sun had set on the day. Bradford setting some kind of bag down on the floor next to the bed snapped Jay fully into reality.
"What are you doing," Jay asked, watching the medic take out vials one at a time, diving in for syringes as he spoke.
"Checking on you. We need to keep up with the nausea. Give me your finger?"
"Huh?!" Jay stared at him completely lost on what he was talking about. Bradford waved the pulse ox device in Jay's face, opening the thing in anticipation of Jay extending a finger.
"Gotta check your oxygen levels." Jay was borderline blushing as he stuck his index finger into the scanner, feeling more like a clueless jerk than anything else.
"So how bad am I compared to everyone else," Jay spoke as the device flashed a number, Bradford entered the data into the iPad on his lap, shrugging his shoulders as he removed the pulse ox and started for other things.
"Eh, at least you haven't passed out or puked all over the table."
"Oh, someone else has?" Bradford so much as blankly nodded, giving off the vibes that he either hated doing this, hated Jay, or something else was ticking him off. This wasn't the first time Jay had come across someone difficult to read. Hell, he practically wrote the book on difficult to read. So he knew exactly what was going on and the many ways to get people to open up.
"Your oxygen is low but okay given where we are."
"That's good…I guess," Jay answered back, eyes glued to the vials now resting on the bedside table.
"Will they ever go up?"
"Depends on if you get to a lower altitude. The higher you go, the less oxygen is in the air. We're a little over 11,000 feet up here so, anywhere between 95 and 88 is normal."
"And what was I?"
"92."
"Oh," Jay wandered off with, still waiting for the other shoe to drop. He knew it was coming, sensed the fear tickling act coming at any moment, he was like a little kid at the pediatrician. They would try every subject in the book to distract him from the yearly shots. But every year he'd start out so talkative before going deadly quiet as the needle drew closer and closer.
"Do you want more anti-nausea stuff," Bradford asked as he very seamlessly returned the device to the bag and beginning the drawing up the medication.
"I'm good with the pill," Jay did his best to reassure, but Bradford smirked out of a corner of his mouth as he loaded the first syringe with the Phenagrin before grabbing an alcohol pad.
"The best way to get over this thing is sleep and strong anti-nausea meds, which this one injection will provide you. Let me guess, afraid of needles?" Jay rolled his eyes, sheepishly pulling his shirt sleeve up and internally counting to ten.
"Done, that'll really make a difference," Bradford announced before Jay reached eight. This guy was good and didn't bat an eyelash. For the first time ever Jay wasn't petrified of getting a simple shot.
"Did you get any of the required vaccines before you got here," Bradford moved onto next. His voice so robotic and nonchalant that it sounded like he did this every day of his life. Honestly Jay was wondering why this guy was stationed here or why he was even in this field to begin with. His bedside manner was in the negatives and he was oozing with a great distaste for the whole thing. Jay shook his head and quietly watched as three, four, Jay lost count after five different vials were all pulled into one massively loaded syringe. As another alcohol pad was brushed against Jay's arm the timing seemed right to rip off the proverbial bandaid.
"So what exactly have I done to piss you off, man. I only know your last name and this is the first time we've talked." The very last part of that was sped up on Jay's end, a very slight wince at the needle piercing his skin, the two of them dead silent and watching as the vaccines were pumped into Jay's arm as slow as humanly possible. Only when the syringe was free of Jay's arm did Bradford answer. Granted his answer was vague at best.
"Nothing, Halstead." Bradford placed a generic tan bandaid on Jay's arm, threw everything in the bag before getting up and waving a thermometer across Jay's forehead.
"Well clearly something is bothering you." Again, more snickers, more silence and annoyed reactions at the result of Jay's temperature coming back normal.
"You want to try eating, drinking? I'd suggest Gatorade and not much else. The drugs will kick in, but you're still too sick for a solid meal."
"So you aren't going to answer the question," was the only thing Jay came back with. Two could play this game. He was going to get to the bottom of this whole thing if it was the very last thing he did.
"Do you want something," Bradford expelled out of his mouth, now getting perturbed.
"Gatorade is fine," Jay shot back, the two men locked in a death stare. If Jay wasn't weak and bed ridden he would've put up more of a fight. If felt silly and very childish to really dig in at this point while the guy was hovering over him.
"You don't know me, Halstead. We're not drinking buddies and I'm certainly not going to spill my life story to you."
"Well I'm in charge around here so it's kind of my job to know what's going on with my people."
"Yeah well I sign off on when you get to leave this place so right now you're at my mercy." He had a point there, for the first time ever Jay was having to deal with a stubborn person under his command. For a half a second he felt the taste of his own medicine and wondered how Voight put up with him for as long as he did. Before Jay could say another word Bradford was out of the room in search of Gatorade for Jay. When the time was right and things weren't in the dynamic they currently were, Jay was going to dig into this guy's head. There was a mission within the mission and the detective in him could never shut off.