Chapter Two

A Matter of Trust

The team whirled around as the doctors rushed their team leader out of the room and headed for the elevators in a rush.

"Hey? What's going on?!" Adam called after them.

Kim put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

Jay glanced around the ED for his brother but couldn't find him.

"Maggie?" Kevin called as he saw her coming back from the elevators.

"Talk to us," Kim encouraged worriedly.

She hesitated, seeing their expectant and demanding faces before her. "The bullet shattered a rib. The bone fragments have embedded themselves in the flesh. Had he stayed still and done what the EMS told him-," she paused as she noticed their confused looks. "His movements caused the fragments to move. They are sharp, some of them are cutting into the lung. That's why they had to rush him off to the OR, to minimize the damages."

"But he was standing up on his own only minutes ago?" Adam pointed out as he ran a hand through his hair. "He's going to be okay, right?" he added. However, he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer if Maggie's troubled look was anything to go by.

"Rule number one in the book of medicine," Doctor Archer began seriously as he walked up to them from behind. "Never promise anyone anything."

They all turned to him in surprise; some looking troubled, some annoyed and some downright angry.

He took in the names written on the bulletproof vests that three of them caried – Ruzek, Burgess, Atwater. His eyes then traveled further down to the word Intelligence. Archer arched an eyebrow in surprise. "Then the two of you must be Halstead and Upton?" he deduced as he took in their somewhat disheveled appearance. "I have heard a lot about you."

"Likewise," Jay replied curtly.

"Then the angry man I saw walking in here earlier – quite a show by the way – must have been your boss?" he guessed.

"Wow, I am sure you'd be a great detective," Adam replied sarcastically.

For a minute the tension in the room seemed to be palpable.

Sharon Goodwin diplomatically stepped up next to Archer. "I'll make sure you're updated on Sergeant Voight's condition," she assured them kindly. "I don't know what happened earlier today but I do know one thing; Hank is tough as nails."

Dean Archer nodded. "I meant no disrespect," he offered tactfully.

Jay glanced around the team and swallowed. With Voight incapacitated someone must take the lead. Olinsky was long gone and Antonio had moved back home to his family to recuperate. He knew Voight had indicated that the unit would probably be his one day but he wasn't ready for it to be so soon. Sure, running parts of an operation was no big deal; he'd done that before, but running the entire show was another thing.

Jay harrumphed carefully. "I appreciate that, Doctor Archer," he said and turned to Goodwin. "Please call us the minute you have something new."

"Of course," she promised.

Jay nodded in return and then turned to his team, making eye contact with each one. "Okay, you know what he'd want us to do."

Adam nodded. "Yeah, he'd send us out again. Have us wrap up the case."

"Then that's what we should do," Kim reasoned.

Adam held up his hands, a frown on his face. "Just one question. What the hell happened?" he looked from Jay to Hailey and then back again. "Why is Anna dead and why is our boss in surgery?"

"Because his CI lost her nerve, lost her trust in him and finally snapped," Jay replied calmly, his voice cold and steady. "Paranoia and fear sent her over the edge. Bottled up emotions and panic caused her to steal her neighbor's car, drive to the bakery, find Escano and kill him."

"Oh, man," Kevin whispered.

"Wait a minute," Adam protested. "We had eyes and ears outside the bakery."

"She found another way in," Hailey explained. "Ever since she learned Escano was responsible for her initiation ceremony - her rape - she's been struggling on the edge."

"Voight wanted to bring her in so that he could help her get a reduced sentence. He said he had to give her a way out of this since he felt responsible for dragging her into this mess," Jay added.

Kim frowned, not sure why Voight would blame himself for something that wasn't his fault. "No, she was already deep into this Los Temidos mess when we found her. Sarge didn't seek her out. She sought out him. She wanted to help. She wanted to nail whoever was behind Los Temidos to avenge her father and brother."

"None of that matter now," Jay shook his head. "It still ended in tragedy."

Hailey was about to add something as Dylan rushed into the emergency bay while the paramedics wheeled an unconscious woman through the doors. The doctor appeared to have been pulled out from a fire. His clothes were singed and his face smudged with a mixture of perspiration and soot. Will shoved up seconds after, his appearance similar.

"What the hell happened to you?" Jay called across the room.

Will stopped mid-step, his head whipping around to see his brother and the rest of the Intelligence unit standing at the reception desk; all except Voight. He breathed a sigh of relief as he nodded at Scott, indicating he was going to talk to his brother. There was an unspoken question on his lips.

"I've got this," Dylan assured him.

Will hurried over to the team of police officers and detectives, he bent forward and placed his hands on his thighs momentarily, to gather himself.

"Wow, you smell smoke," Kevin said.

"Are you alright, doc?" Adam asked.

Will nodded, took a deep breath and straightened his back. "Yeah, but my apartment building just went up in flames – I think."

The team of police officers and detectives stared at him.

He shook his head. "It's a long story – uh – I think it has something to do with the undercover cop whom my colleague tried to hide in one of the apartments."

"Not helping," Jay said. "Now, I am even more confused."

Will looked at his brother and the rest of the team and took a deep breath. "I'm just glad you're here. I think we need your help. What are you doing here and why do you look like you're going to attend someone's funeral?"

Will immediately regretted his choice of words as he suddenly realized the whole team stood outside a trauma bay; not just one or two of them. He realized another thing too – there was a lot of officers and patrolmen around.

Adam harrumphed and swallowed. "It's been one hell of a day, man," he began cryptically.

"And it's not over yet," Jay finished for him, torn between taking the lead of the team and help his brother all at once.

"We cracked the Los Temidos today," Kevin explained. "Unfortunately, Voight's CI buckled under the pressure, went all crazy and-" he trailed off and shook his head. "-well, she shot him."

"Doctor Marcel and Doctor Choi just took him to surgery," Kim added.

Will hesitated, feeling a little ashamed for wanting help. "I-, I am sorry. I should let you-"

"Hey," Jay called him back as he was about to leave. "Talk to me. You know you can come to me for help."

"I'll head back to the precinct," Adam offered. "Tie up some lose ends."

"I'll brief the superintendent's office," Kim reasoned.

"I'll start by giving our version of the shooting to IA," Hailey suggested.

"I'll stick around here," Kevin said. "I'll call you the minute I hear something."

"No, you won't," Platt called as she strode over to them. "I am sure you're needed elsewhere," she reasoned. "I'm staying put to make sure that old, gruff idiot is going to survive. If the rumors I've heard are true, we have a few things to straighten out."

Jay couldn't help but to smirk at that. The good old desk sergeant was obviously on the warpath. She hid it well but he could see the fear and worry in her brown eyes. He knew Platt and Voight had known each other for ages and if Voight's decisions of late was anything to go on – maybe they needed to talk? It seemed Anna had gotten under his skin. He hadn't seen anyone get so deep under his sergeant's armor for a very long time. He usually kept his distance, kept his cool. Voight might deal with things in the moment - which he'd once admitted to Jay over a drink - but even if his decisions could be questioned at times, he always had a plan and an ace up his sleeve. This time it seemed Voight was struggling and it wasn't like the old fox not to know exactly what to do.

Jay looked up from the floor to see that his friends and coworkers, as well as his brother, was looking at him. He shook out of his reverie, cursing himself. "Okay, sounds like you all have a plan, let's stick with it. Kev, you can come with me," he said and nodded at his brother. "Will, let's find some place quiet."

The older Halstead nodded. "Doctors rest room," he suggested.

The team fanned out as Will led Jay and Kevin across the ED. "Wow," Will said seriously as he closed the door behind the two policemen. "Didn't realize my brother was in command of the CPD elite team," he added with a touch of pride.

Jay shook his head, his eyes dark all of a sudden. There was something else there as well, something Will couldn't decipher.

"This is not the way I want to lead the Intelligence; if I want to lead Intelligence at all," he said seriously. Hank and I might have had our disagreements but I know he's always had our backs, always put our best interests before anyone else's. Besides, I know what being in the lead of this unit means. It's like working a minefield with politics, opinions, orders, guidelines, paperwork-" he sighed and shrugged.

Kevin gently patted him on the back. "Hey," he said softly. "Temporary then?"

Jay appreciated the support. "I can do temporary," he replied with a faint upward curl to his lips as he turned his focus from his colleague to his brother. "So, Will, what have you gotten yourself into this time?"

There was a faint knock on the door and Dylan Scott popped his head inside.

Will motioned for him to come in and join them. "Actually, it's Dylan who started it."

The pediatric emergency physician sheepishly sat down next to Will, opposite the Intelligence officers.

"Doctor Scott, huh?" Atwater began curiously. "I've heard about you. You're the police officer who got into medicine? There's a Lieutenant Scott over at the 23rd."

Dylan gave a faint smile as he realized the other man was fishing for information. "Yeah, I-. I decided I wanted to get into medicine. That I wanted to work with children this way instead of pointing a gun at them while on some raid. And, the lieu is my dad."

Atwater leaned back in his chair.

Scott turned to Jay. "You must be Jay Halstead, Will's brother?" he guessed. "I might have seen you in here a couple of times but I haven't had the pleasure of talking to you."

Jay extended his arm across the table to shake the doctor's hand. "Detective Jay Halstead, CPD Intelligence," he introduced himself. "This is my colleague, Officer Kevin Atwater."

Dylan shook Jay's hand and nodded at Kevin. "Nice to meet you," he said. "Intelligence is – huh – pretty secret. There's a lot of rumors within the force about you guys. Some praises your work, some says you're just Voight's marionettes."

Atwater gave a low whistle. "Ain't he blunt?" he said seriously, looking straight at Scott. "I think you need to work on your diplomatic skills."

Jay's face was set in stone as he carefully leaned forward. "The Intelligence Unit is reliant on trust. That's why we work so well together. We are no one's marionettes. We are a team."

Scott nodded as he averted his eyes. "I am sorry," he said and chose his words carefully. "It's just that, right now, I don't know who to trust. The last couple of weeks have been – interesting to say the least."

"You can trust my brother," Will assured him.

Scott sighed and rubbed his aching forehead. "Look, I don't know where to start so I'll just jump right in."

"Sure," Kevin said.

"A few weeks ago, I tended to a woman in my age. She was brought into ED for injuries sustained in a motorbike accident. From the first moment I saw her I realized something was off. She wouldn't let go of her bag and she didn't want to be admitted."

The others waited for him to continue, Atwater taking notes.

Dylan sighed. "I know it's against hospital procedure but I went through her bag and found narcotics; a lot of it."

Jay and Kevin shared a curious look.

"After a while a tattooed dude showed up – Milena wasn't-" he paused, realizing he hadn't really told them about her and added. "That's her alias."

"Alias?" Jay asked.

"Long story short. It turns out Milena's name is Jo and that she's an undercover cop from the organized crime division. As I understand it her supervisor is Lieutenant Regina Jeffords. I don't know much about her but she says she used to work for my dad."

"You don't trust her?" Atwater asked curiously.

"I don't know," Dylan replied. "All I know is that Jo has been undercover for the last three years, nestling herself into this Serbian mafia network. She hasn't said much - didn't want to involve me - but a few nights ago she came to me and said someone had tipped them off."

"It was related to the shooting of Sam Devers?" Will stated, realizing the connection. "The detective who was brought in a few days ago?"

Dylan nodded. "Most likely," he concurred. "Jo think's there is a mole somewhere in CPD. She doesn't know who it is and she doesn't trust her team anymore. I talked her into hiding in one of Will's apartments for a while but someone followed her. One of the Serbian's gundogs - Goran - appeared inside the house and tried to liquidate her. His friends were kind enough to set the building on fire, probably to get rid of evidence."

Atwater grimaced. "Salvageable?" he asked, looking at Will with sympathy.

The doctor sighed. "Don't know yet. It's too early to say but if it is, there's going to be a lot of work."

"This officer – Jo? – was that the woman being wheeled in on the stretcher earlier?" Jay asked.

Scott nodded. "Yeah, she was shot, caught in the crossfire, but her condition is stable for now. Look, one more thing. Before all this, she handed me a bunch of papers and a flash drive saying it was evidence needed to bring down the Serbian mob but she didn't trust anyone. I promised to give it to my father."

Jay narrowed his eyes. "Where is it now?"

"I have it in my locker. I haven't told anyone," the doctor said.

"Give it to me and I'll put it in our safe over at the precinct," Jay reasoned.

Scott hesitated, looking at Will.

The redhead nodded. "I trust him with my life," he said.

"Damn," Atwater muttered. "I can think of no one with better connections across the city when it comes to these things than sarge."

"Hank Voight," Dylan Scott surmised darkly. He knew that his father didn't like the man but he respected him for his results and his ability to get the job done.

Kevin put the pen away and rose from his chair. "How long until he's out of surgery?" he asked the two doctors before him.

"Impossible to say," Will reasoned. "Where was the bullet?"

"I'd say just below the collarbone, on the right side," Kevin said. "But I caught Doctor Marcel saying something about bone fragments from a shattered rib –" he looked to Jay for confirmation.

"The fragments were starting to dig into the lung as they took off towards the surgical floor," the detective added.

Scott grimaced. "Not the best circumstances," he voiced.

"It's Voight we're talking about," Atwater reminded optimistically. "When I took one to my shoulder I was up and – well, maybe not about – but talkative within a few hours."

The corners of Jay's lips twitched upwards. "Well, maybe not very coherent the first hour," he reminded him.

"I'll admit it wasn't my finest hour," Kevin replied with a faint smirk.

"So," Jay said cautiously, "if you'll have us in your corner, we'll play along."

Dylan and Will shared a look and then the former policeman nodded slowly. "Intelligence is a highly respected unit within the department," the pediatric physician admitted.

Jay pursed his lips, his eyes hardening. "I'll take that as a confirmation. Good, we keep our distance for now, working behind closed doors. Let Lieutenant Jeffords in on everything you think is safe to let her into," he reasoned. "Then, when you're free, head over to the 21th."

Scott hesitated and looked at Will again and then back at Jay. "I'm not sure that's safe. Dad is in the loop. He knew Milena crashed at my place and that the Serbian mafia guy probably had her followed as well."

"One question," Atwater said. "Does Lieutenant Scott know she is undercover or does he really think she's part of the mafia organization?"

Dylan shook his head in frustration. "It's hard to say. I am not sure if he's protecting me, trying to leave me out of what he knows, or if he's completely oblivious of the operation performed by Lieutenant Jeffords. You guys, for example, you get your orders directly from the Superintendent's office, right?"

Atwater's features hardened. "Voight has got his own channels," he let on cryptically. "But recently we've worked a lot with Deputy Superintendent Miller. She's literally been running the show for a while."

"The new Superintendent, Randall Malone, is more of a paper pusher," Jay added. "Apparently, he's not interested in micromanaging the units within the department as long as the numbers look good."

"I have a feeling we're going to love the guy for that," Kevin said.

"I don't know about you guys, but I am a little freaked out by the whole thing," Will said. "Can't you just take whatever Jo has found and hand it over to Deputy Superintendent Miller and get it over with?"

This time Jay and Dylan shared a look.

"No," Jay reasoned. "If we do that, we'd put a lot of people in danger. Besides, whatever is handed over needs to be solid evidence that hold in court, otherwise everyone walks. I don't think Jo would want that after three years undercover."

"But you will at least talk to her?" Will pushed, fixing his brother with a slightly nervous stare.

"We need to wrap up our case, finish off Los Temidos," Atwater replied. "We'll bring the deputy superintendent into the loop on this while we are at it; that is assuming she doesn't know already?"

"Like I said," Scott spoke up, "I don't know exactly what channels Jo has gone through. Right now, I don't even know if Lieutenant Jeffords is her direct supervisor or if it is someone else entirely."

"It's not much to go on, doc," Jay said seriously.

"I know, I realize that," Scott sounded apologetic.

OOOOOO

To be continued

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