It honestly felt like the world stopped the moment Al was dragged in handcuffs out of the building. At the forefront of confusion was Voight, his fists clenched like he wanted to hit more than just a wall. He slowly turned around to face us, struggling to refocus his attention on the elephant in the room.
"I don't need to remind any of you, our main focus needs to be this case. We put our emotions aside, and we get those guns off the street before anyone else gets killed." With that said, he disappeared into his office, shutting the blinds for privacy.
Sitting in my chair with a sigh, my phone buzzed in my pocket. It was Michele letting me know she had already gotten hold of Hannah's mom. Everyone was on board with the girls meeting up Friday. That was a relief since it was already Wednesday. There wasn't much time to put the rest together if it hadn't worked out.
We're in for Friday. Is there a time that works well for you?
We usually get home around seven. Anywhere after that works fine. It just depends on my work schedule.
Perfect. I'll see if that works.
Great. Thanks!
Pocketing my device again, I glanced up occasionally to Jay's empty desk. He had taken off after Voight told us to focus on the case. I could tell he was taking Al's arrest pretty hard. I didn't blame him. He and pretty much everyone else on this unit worked closely with him. I hadn't been here as long, although I had my reservations about what was going on as I continued to work through the afternoon.
Voight had disappeared a little after lunchtime, mentioning something about an initial hearing for Al. The nature of him being a cop, the judge set a quick trial for charges against him. Trudy came up to see if she could help with the case, using it as a distraction like the rest of us. They were loudly discussing the case when Jay called me with information about the guns.
"Jay, please tell me you got something."
"Hey. I just ran into Dexter. He told me indirectly he didn't have the guns in his possession." He started up the engine of his car as he raised his voice over the noise of the truck engine. "It turns out his contact in Indiana got hung up bringing them down to Illinois. The good news is they'll be dropped off later today. I'm still waiting to hear what time. Any word on Al?"
"That's great. I'll let the team know. It sounds like Voight is back from the sentencing. I'll let you know if I hear anything about him."
"Sounds good." Hanging up, I walked back into the tension hanging in the air. Voight had just returned and was already being inundated with questions from Kim.
"Any update, Sarge?" Kim turned her attention from the case board. From the hall, I could hear her and Adam discussing information, which abruptly stopped when Voight came upstairs.
"Yep. Bond hearing is in two days. He'll be released then."
"I don't know about that." Antonio piped up from his desk, causing Voight to stop in his tracks. He was definitely on edge, his temper ready to fly off the handle at any moment. So far he was handling it while swallowing down the frustration he was undoubtedly feeling.
"Well, I do. I said he'll be released then."
"Any more questions." The room stayed silent, as we were all at a loss of how to navigate these waters. "Now's the time. Listen, I'm not going to lie. It has been a tough day. But we still have jobs to do, right? The world continues to turn. So, who's going an update on these M4s?"
"I just talked to Halstead," I spoke up, turning to Kevin because he was specifically involved with Jay undercover. "He confirmed Dexter did not have the guns in his possession. They were supposed to be dropped off yesterday, but his contact in Indiana got hung up. They will be dropped off today."
"Okay," Kim said quietly, processing the information like everyone else in the room was. She was doing her best to focus on the case in front of us, yet I could see she was struggling to come up with a good reason why she had to place her emotions on the back burner. "Do we know who his connection is?"
"Not at this point."
"Alright, Atwater. These bangers you're hanging with, do they trust you?"
"Yeah, Shabazz does. I saved his life.".
"Well, I was the guy holding the gun threatening him. Technically he doesn't know that, so at least we're not dealing with any more pressing threats at the moment." Adam chuckled at how confident Kevin was about the whole thing. At least there was nothing serious we had to deal with, and no one else had died with the guns we were trying to take custody of.
"So, how about we get this deal back on track? Voight suggested, rather stating it than asking us to. It was obvious how much he wanted these guns off the street. We all did. I couldn't imagine higher up wasn't on his tail about getting this case solved.
"They answer to this dude named Wes, who calls all the shots." Kevin filled in the rest of the information, not particularly happy Voight was playing a game of hardball, but he also understood this was how we had to play to get everyone on board. "And his boys just got punked by some white dudes. He's pretty hot as hell, but I got it."
"Good. Let's make this happen as soon as you can." Once again, Voight retreated to his office, this time closing the door behind him.
"Hey, you okay?" I touched Kim lightly on the shoulder. She seemed to be standing there frozen while the rest of the team scattered back to their desks. Even Trudy headed back downstairs to distance herself from Voight.
"Yeah, I guess I kind of have to be. I know we've all witnessed things Voight has done while working on this unit. This is a new level and I'm not sure I'm okay with it."