Chapter 7

Two days later, Erin woke up to a fresh wave of nausea. Fabulous, she thought, as she grunted and dragged herself out of bed. She drank two glasses of water, ate some toast, and took an Ibuprofen, which made her nausea go away by the time she was putting her badge on at her front door. She checked her watch to make sure that she was running on time, and locked her apartment door and walked to her car. It was a crisp April morning, but the sun was already starting to peek through the gloomy, gray clouds overhead.

When Erin parked her car in the parking lot, she opened the compartment between the two front seats and looked at the ultrasound picture she had received 48 hours earlier. She smiled, still in a small amount of disbelief that she was going to have a baby.

She looked up when she heard Halstead slamming the front door of his car shut across the lot, and proceeded to get out of her car, lock it, and walk over to meet him. "What were you looking at over there?" he asked, giving her an affectionate side hug.

"You know exactly what I was looking at," Erin replied with a small smile. Jay didn't respond orally, rather, he smiled back. They had agreed that they were going to tell Voight and the unit sometime very soon, but weren't sure yet. Erin was still fearful of Voight's possible lashing out at Jay once he found out. They walked through the lobby of the precinct (but not without saying a quick "Good morning," to Sargent Platt), and headed upstairs to the Intelligence office. Ruzek, Olinsky, and Burgess followed Jay and Erin up the stairs.

Everyone exchanged good mornings after Antonio walked in, and Voight motioned for everyone to sit down. He was holding a thick, tan-colored case file.

"So, we got a big bust today," he began, "to do with a drug-related gang." He turned around and stuck some pictures and maps on the large white board behind his right shoulder. "My CIs have given us tips that the Karlos gang is trading crack and using Chicago as one of their drop-off points. This morning, a CI working undercover in the gang reported that they were temporarily staying in this warehouse on North Brooklyn because their vehicles need some repairs. Our mission is to get in there and arrest them before they are able to leave."

"How many are there?" Erin asked.

"According to my CI, two drop-off guys and one handler," Voight replied. "So, since there are eight of us including me, we should be able to take them down handily.

"I want everyone ready to go and suited up in ten minutes. Vests and guns and all," he finished, walking back into his office to get his coat. He turned around again in the doorway and said, "Oh, and Burgess, ride with Antonio. Summers will ride with me."

Burgess nodded at Antonio as everyone headed downstairs. After a little less than ten minutes, the four unmarked intelligence cars began making their way towards North Brooklyn. Voight ordered that everyone except Olinsky and Ruzek were going in to do the bust – he wanted the two of them to stand guard in case the gang called in emergency reinforcements. Once everyone was in place, Antonio broke the down the side door and everyone filed in.

The warehouse was dark except for a few dimly lit LEDs that were obviously running out of battery. The group remained silent, and split up into two groups of three when they arrived at a large line of shelves. Crack was the main item on the shelves. Voight, Burgess, and Antonio went to the right down a hallway next to the last aisle, and Halstead, Summers, and Lindsay went left, scanning the aisles as they walked. One of the guys got caught by Voight's group, and another by Halstead's group.

The group exited the warehouse, handing the two handcuffed guys off to Ruzek and Olinsky to take to the precinct. After Ruzek put the second guy in the back of the car, he said, "Guys? Where's Lindsay?"

Halstead immediately scanned the group.

Lindsay was missing. What? How could this have happened? She was right behind me when we caught that guy…

But I hadn't checked.

We had to catch three.

We only caught two.

Halstead immediately picked up his gun and sprinted for the open warehouse door. "Halstead! Stop!" Voight yelled, but to no avail. Antonio and Voight ran after Halstead, guns in hand, but only after they had told everyone else to stay put.

Halstead ran inside the dark warehouse. "Lindsay!" he yelled, forgetting appropriate cop etiquette that he was supposed to adhere to during a bust. "Lindsay! Where are you?" he yelled again. As he began walking down where Voight's group had caught the first guy, he heard a scream from the other side of the shelves.

He sprinted down the aisles and around the far shelf. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the third gang member that they were supposed to have caught pointing a gun at Lindsay's head. Lindsay was unconscious, and Halstead realized why when he saw a wet-looking white cloth in the guy's gun-free hand. He knocked her out. Halstead was suddenly starting to freak out. "STOP!" He yelled, even though he was only five feet from the gang guy.

"Drop your weapon!" Halstead ordered. "What do you want?" the gang guy said in a creepy, low tone.

"I said, drop your weapon!" Halstead ordered again. He heard faint footsteps multiple yards behind him, telling him that two people, most likely Voight and someone else, were coming closer.

"If you come one step closer, I'm going to shoot her," the gang member said.

Antonio and Voight ducked behind a shelf, and crept quietly down the aisle until they were nearly parallel with the gang member.

Halstead kept yelling at the guy, getting more and more anxious. The gang guy was still refusing to drop his weapon. He then watched the gang guy pull the bullet into position in the barrel. The gang guy turned to Halstead. "If you shoot me, I shoot her."

Halstead tried verbally to get the guy to surrender, but then, on a whim, suddenly made a lunge for the guy when his head was turned. Unfortunately, Voight picked that moment to fire a bullet at the gang member's head. "NO!" Antonio yelled.

But it was too late.

Halstead fell to the ground on top of the gang member. Lindsay was still unconscious as Antonio and Voight sprinted around the corner to Halstead. But Halstead stood up before they got there and ran straight over to Lindsay. "Erin. Erin!" He shook her, trying to revive her. She's still breathing, stay calm, he tried to tell himself.

Suddenly he was pulled to his feet and slammed against a shelf by none other than Voight. "What were you thinking? Huh? You should have stayed where you where!" Voight yelled in Halstead's face. "I could have hit you! You could have died instead of him!"

"I'm sorry, okay? We weren't getting anywhere with the 'stand still' technique, so I decided to jump for it. I had to protect Erin!" Jay said back. He was released from Voight's grasp and ran straight back to Lindsay. He picked her up and carried her out to their car and sat her down in the passenger seat. "Take her to the ER, in case they gave her anything dangerous," Antonio suggested.

"That's where I'm going," Halstead replied, as he ran around the front of the car. Antonio watched Halstead speed out of the lot in the direction of Lakeshore, with questions coming into his mind. Before he could think anymore, Voight approached him. "Why the hell would he do that?" Voight asked Antonio.

"I have no clue," Antonio said. "He's never done that before."

"Well, could you do me a favor and figure out why he broke conduct? We accomplished the job and all, but I want to know what's going on."

Antonio sighed, no wanting to interrogate either Jay or Erin. But he had to. "Alright, I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks," Voight replied. "Everybody back to the precinct. Ruzek, Olinsky, follow me to the back so we can put these people in jail cells." And with that, the intelligence unit left the lot, as regular police officers had already arrived.