What was she thinking? Lana flipped through another stack of papers, trying to pay attention to what Antonio was asking her. It wouldn't do anyone any good showing up distracted.
She was the one determined to make it through here without forming attachments. They got you in trouble. Particularly with your boss.
Particularly with the boss you were sleeping with.
She was breaking her own rule and she wasn't sure how much more pathetic it got than that.
Antonio was perched on the corner of her desk, going over some financials with Lana when Erin and Jay came back in. They'd gone out with Voight a couple hours before and from the looks of things it hadn't gone well. Erin looked angry, that bone deep kind she reserved for when someone she loved was doing something stupid. Jay avoided looking at Antonio, and he hopped off of Lana's desk, concerned.
"What's up?"
Lana looked up then from her typing, watching Erin sigh before she responded.
"We got one in the cage."
Antonio drew back some, "Already? We just caught this case, how does he have a suspect?"
Jay dropped his jacket on his chair and sat down, hands lifting in a shrug. They all knew how Voight operated, or rather didn't actually know.
Antonio glanced down at Lana. She had been here a few weeks now, had learned quick that Voight pushes rules sometimes. But she hadn't been there, seen what they had all seen after Justin died. Voight hadn't blurred those lines. He had bulldozed them.
Lana was smart, did more than her share of work, but while she was nice enough, she didn't seem too interested in getting to know everyone. Maybe that was a good thing.
Voight got the job done, but he got people tangled up into things. The whole team had been involved in one cover-up or another at this point. Yeah it was to help eachother, watch eachother's backs. But maybe Lana would be better off staying on the outside of all of that.
He shook his head, hands dropping from his hips with a sigh. "You keep running those numbers for me, would ya?" he asked, glancing at Lana. It was really just his way of telling her to stay put while he tracked down Voight and figured out what was happening.
Voight met Antonio coming down the stairs, and ignored the blatant look in his eye. Antonio was a good cop and when it came down to it he stuck with them, but he never really liked what Voight had going on.
Voight just waved him back up the stairs. The rest of the team was waiting none too subtly and Voight faced them all.
He was fed up with everyone looking at him like he was gonna snap. Like he was somehow going to forget what happened to Justin if they didn't keep watch on him. If they didn't keep it there at the back of their eye, that knowledge. His son is dead better watch what I say.
"We got a new case. Everything else goes on hold. Olinski got a call, friend of his wife is missing. Now it hasn't been 48 hours so there hasn't been a report but that scumbag I got down there saw an abduction happen. We find her. We bring her home." He scanned the room with a look that made it clear he wasn't gonna hear any objections.
His gaze landed on Lana, watching him with a direct focus. Hers was the only expression that didn't have something beneath it. No wariness. No sign of that frantic compassion he had choked against last night. Her gaze was waiting, and empty. He pointed to his door, "My office, Milani."
She followed him in without a word.
Voight dropped into his chair, spinning it to face her.
"We don't have a case." He didn't bother trying to sugar coat it. "My only witness is cracked out and isn't going to file a police report. Legally," he spread his hands a little, "we do nothing until she's officially missing."
"But you're not going to do that." Lana stated. The both understood the reality, the kidnapper would have already had this woman for 48hours once a report was filed. The chances of survival plummeted at that point.
Voight nodded. "I'm not. They're not." He waved a hand at the closed door. "This team isn't."
She took a moment before responding, watching that challenge in his eye. No, not a challenge. an ultimatum. She either did what it takes or she didn't have a place here.
She had turned a blind eye while he cut corners. Maintained that plausible deniability. There wouldn't be any now.
Was she up for that?
Six months ago she would have recoiled at the thought. She hadn't become a cop just to break the law. Yeah, sometimes the red tape got frustrating. Sometimes you put your heart into a case just to have them walk on a technicality. But in her experience, the system didn't fail until you failed it. When you got impatient, tired of the politics.
When you lied on a report to help your partner just to learn you never should have trusted him in the first place.
Now, with her badge all but stripped away, stuck at a desk half way across the country from home, one would think she would have learned her lesson. But it just made her tired.
Voight wasn't her partner. He was her superior. He wasn't afraid of risks, of getting his hands dirty.
And he wasn't asking.
Lana settled her hands behind her back, "What do you need me to do?"
He nodded twice before a smile slipped out, only for a second. It might have just been relief but he almost looked like he was proud.
He gave her a name and a simple order.
"Find her."
"Looks like it's gonna be another late one," Ruzek glanced at his watch, five o'clock had come and gone and they were still chasing down every lead on this case. They were two days in to this missing woman case, whose life didn't just fall out of danger just because they wanted to clock out, and none of them were even thinking of going home.
Lana pushed up from her desk abruptly.
"I got it!" She had spent the last several hours searching for any info of where the kidnapper could be holding his victim. Finally she found an abandoned property associated with their lead suspect. She finished scribbling the address on a post-it note. She used more of them here working for these detectives then she ever had in her life.
Voight left his office, striding towards the door intent on running down a potential lead and Lana intercepted him.
"Here," She went to give him the note as he turned and somehow her hand connected with his chest. "Sorry," she took a step back. "Uh, I found an address."
He looked down immediately and plucked the sticky note from his shirt. He turned to the rest of his team. "Let's roll out."
Lana stayed attached to the comms. The team's call outs turned distorted, interference had every other word slipping out between static. She couldn't interpret much, raised voices, what sounded like a struggle. Working furiously to clear up the signal, she just prayed they found the woman in time. She worked at a school cafeteria, with two small kids. It had been a wrong place wrong time kind of deal and she just wanted them to bring this woman home to her family.
A few more cracks of static and the comms cleared as the team exited the abandoned warehouse. Voight's voice cut through the channel.
"We got her, Milani. She's okay. You did good."
Lana sat back, breath leaving her in a full body sigh. He didn't usually address her like that through the comms, but right now she was grateful he had, that she knew it was over. Her gaze went to the white board. Photos of suspects. The woman taken. But no bodies. No blood patterns. She needed days like this sometimes.
The team came in, tired but good. Antonio slapped her shoulder as he walked by. Erin said they were headed out for a drink. She politely declined, smiled her goodbyes, caught Voight's nod as she left, a silent goodnight she returned with a smile.
She fell asleep easy but it didn't last. She woke in a cold sweat. 4:22 and there was no going back to sleep, not with the dreams she was having. She flipped her blankets off with a groan. This was turning into a really sucky habit and she just wanted to sleep. She grabbed her phone and pretended she wasn't checking it for missed messages. They had had a good shift. That wasn't the kind you blew off steam after and she shouldn't be surprised Voight hadn't called.
For half a stupid second she wondered if he would be up. They had a few hours before shift started. But showing up at 4am screamed a particular kind of desperate that she was set on avoiding.
She settled for throwing her work clothes in her bag and heading to the precinct to use the all hour gym. She had energy, she might as well use it.
Voight nodded to the officer at the front desk and turned towards the gated stairs. He scanned his badge, catching sight of a figure in his peripherals and glanced over.
Lana had just come around the corner, gym bag slung over the shoulder of her button down. Her hair was wet and pulled back, her normally slick ponytail starting to curl, leaving little drips along her collar like she had gotten ready in a hurry after her shower. It would have dried by now if she had showered at home.
He nodded Good morning and held the gate open so she wouldn't have to scan in.
"Thanks," a mumble, and Voight slid her a glance she ignored as they headed upstairs.
She dropped her bag on her desk as Voight headed into the breakroom to put some coffee on. He liked the quiet before shift started. The desks standing empty, sometimes it was peaceful. Sometimes it seemed like a waste, cases left on the board to sit over night. You learned on this job that the day had to end. Fresh eyes in the morning was sometimes all it took to catch that break. But walking away, even for the night, was hard.
Walking away yesterday had been easier. They had found the missing woman, returned her home unharmed. But still once he got home he hadn't been able to relax. It still felt like they hadn't done enough. Like he hadn't done enough. They'd closed a case and he still felt lacking.
He had picked up his phone he didn't know how many times. Didn't use it though. He had made a decision and he stuck to them. That didn't stop him from checking his messages. It wasn't surprising she hadn't called.
But looking at her now it was obvious she was agitated, shoving her gym bag under her desk and growling that she couldn't find a pen. Voight settled his shoulder against the break room door.
"How long you been here, Milani."
She looked up, clearly not having expected him to speak and he watched her blink.
"I wanted to get a work out in before shift."
His brow cocked, that wasn't an actual answer. "You look tired," he observed, and she stiffened.
"I'm fit for duty." A respectfully correct response but there was an edge to it and Voight's head lowered as he raised a brow at her.
"Did I imply you weren't?"
She settled back at that, took a deep enough breath to shake off whatever mood she was in.
"No sir." Her gaze met his but the challenge in her eye was gone.
"You know," Voight pulled a pen from his pocket and waved it at the other desks, "Sometimes I think some of these clowns don't even know what dawn looks like." He pushed off from the door frame, but paused by her on his way into his office. "Me?" he dropped the pen on her desk, "I'm usually up early."
He met her gaze just long enough before ducking in to his office.