Tolerance Book II

Chapter Twenty-One: Resolve

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Safehouse

The following night after an evening meal of Chinese takeaway the men sat around the large white walled living area of the two-storey safehouse they had moved to.  Located in the leafy suburb of Huntington in Suffolk County, within a 35 minute drive from downtown New York, Hungtington had a population of 203,264.  Adam and Antonio had found out earlier in the day that the town, founded in 1653, was one of the few places in America where full service gas stations were compulsory and self-service was not allowed.  The light conversation about that discovery had provided a brief respite ftom the investigation but Voight knew things needed to be dealt with in light of his discussion with the Assistant Director the day before. Looking at the group gathered he noticed just how tired everyone was looking.  Of them all however it was Jays' appearance which gave him the most concern.   The investigation was leaving an indelible mark on the recovering Detective and nowadays the black smudges under his eyes attesting to his exhaustion seemed to be a permanent feature.  The Sergeant was well aware that the injuries the younger man was dealing with were partly to blame for his obvious lack of sleep but he knew it was the self imposed guilt he was carrying which was the main cause.  The only way to ensure his subordinate got the proper rest his body eagerly craved was to bring the King twins in.  He resolved to achieve that objective.

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Supermarket

Antonio, Adam and Kevin volunteered the following morning, a Saturday, to do a food run.  All were eager to get out of the safehouse for something other than work and although grocery shopping was not exactly exciting it was a mundane task which required little effort.  That was how the trio wound up in the local Stop & Shop supermarket on Wall Street browsing the tall, well stocked shelves.

"We need ice cream," Adam decided purposefully as he eyed the contents of the half full cart Antonio was pushing.
"That's not on the list," Kevin informed sharing an exasperated look with Antonio, it was like taking a kid shopping!
"So?"
"If you keep adding extra stuff we won't have enough room in the boot," Antonio tried to reason as he reached for a box of cereal.
"I don't keep adding stuff!"
"We didn't put ten packets of biscuits in or four multi packs of potato chips," Kevin pointed out as he surveyed the various milk options before him.

"Jay likes junk food," Adam claimed with a shrug.
"Nope that would be you," Antonio countered with a grin before becoming serious, "so what do ye think is going on with him?"
"What do you mean? Because he's gone quiet? " Kevin delivered two cartons into the cart and motioned for them to move on as he consulted the shopping list on his mobile.
"Yeah."
"He has a lot to deal with," Adam defended.
"We know.  We're just worried about him," Kevin rounded the corner and eyed the aisle ahead warily before quickly backing out, no amount of money would make him walk through all the feminine hygiene products on sale!
"So am I," Adam agreed as he hastily followed his friends' retreat, that had been close!
"Cowards," Antonio scoffed wrily as he followed, having a wife meant he was well acquainted with the dreaded aisle, "finding out he was right about twins should have made him happy but it hasn't," he noted as they headed into the next aisle bedecked with household cleaning items.
"We're still not any closer to catching the Kings," Adam reminded, "it's got to be weighing on him."
"Hell it's weighing on all of us but it's harder for Jay," Kevin scratched his chin thoughtfully as he led the way down the aisle purposefully, they were nearing his favourite place in any shop ... checkout!
"We still have to get sweets," Antonio cautioned as he pointed to a distant sign.
"I wasn't going to ask," Adam put in nonchalantly causing Kevin to shake his head in disbelief.
"Well Jay likes sweets, sometimes.  Best get some Mars bars for him," Antonio steered the cart toward the distant aisle.

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Safehouse

As soon as the trio returned to their temporary domicile they made short work of storing the groceries away.  Al raised an eyebrow at the amount of junk food being loaded into the by now prerequisite sweet drawer but before he could comment Kevin quickly began speaking.

"That's on ol' Sweet Tooth Ruzek here."
"His Dentist must love him," Al rolled his eyes even as he snatched a Mars bar to accompany his freshly made coffee.
"Hey!" Adam exclaimed, why should he take all the blame?
"So where's Jay? Antonio checked as he opened the double refrigerator doors to retrieve some slices of chicken.
"Lying down.  He has a headache," Voight answered before Al could as he walked into the sleek white and grey kitchen.
"Damn," Kevin sighed, "must be bad if he admitted he had to lie down."
"He didn't," Al corrected the erroneous assumption with amusement, "it was obvious he had one.  Voight told him if he didn't have a rest he wouldn't be going into Headquarters after with us."
"Sometimes when dealing with Halstead blackmail is my only option," the Sergeant shrugged, he was just relieved the younger man had eventually given in.
"I thought we had today off?" Antonio looked at the older man in concern.
"Murphy sanctioned over-time for us. We're going to try to bring the twins in here."
"What about going home?" Kevin wasn't sure if the new agenda was good or bad.
"For now we play it Murphys' way."

tbc