After Voight had ended the call from his missing man he had made short work of bringing the others up to date. Now in the drivers' seat of the lead SUV he searched the countryside for a glimpse of the shipping container. Although Jay had been reticent about his own condition during the brief conversation the Sergeant could tell from his voice that he was not in a good way. Two ambulances brought up the rear of the convoy.
Adam sat opposite Antonio in the back seat and they exchanged a worried glance. While relieved beyond words that his friend had been able to make contact he dreaded what they would find. The fact that Wells had been captured had astounded everyone but for the Unit Jays' welfare had been a more pressing concern. Scanning the
passing scenery he caught a glimpse of red beyond a cluster of trees as Mouse directed Voight from the front passenger seat. They had finally found their friend.
Although the injured Detective had tried to downplay his own injuries as he requested an ambulance for Wells he knew his Sergeant had not believed his assurances and figured he was facing a trip to the hospital no matter what. He had already promised himself, as he waited for help to arrive,
that he was not going to be admitted. He just wanted to have a long, hot shower, take some pain meds and lie down on clean sheets. That really wasn't a lot to ask for he figured. He just had to get Voight to agree with his amateur prescription for his ailments! The sirens' volume increased as the vehicles approached his location and he found he had no energy to stand up and check on Wells again. He was relieved he could pass that duty onto the others now.
Voight drove up to the large container and all the men opened their doors without delay.
"Damn!" Adam was the first to reach the injured man and crouched down to get his attention when their arrival went unacknowledged.
"What's the ETA on the ambulances?" Voight demanded over his radio as he motioned for Antonio and Mouse to follow him after an assessing look at his unconscious subordinate.
"He's tough," Al put in as he approached with Kevin and Burke and the Patrol Officers spread out and took up positions on the perimeters of the large field.
"Burke I want you with Ruzek," Voight instructed as he retrieved a sidearm and passed it to the surprised man, "I'm not taking any chances. You protect Halstead."
"With my life," the Bomb Technician solemnly promised before he checked the weapon as he walked over to where Adam and the newly arrived Parker had moved the prone man to get him away from any danger, looking at the bruised features however he figured danger had already come calling.
"Ah hell!" Adam cursed angrily as he lifted one of the makeshift bandages on his friends' abdomen when the Psychologist had pulled up the jumper as they checked for injuries.
"Be best to leave the dressings on," Parker suggested with a grimace, the redness and pus around the stitches spoke of a serious infection.
-----------------------------
Container
As Jay caused concern outside Voight had taken point as the men entered the container, guns drawn. The sight which greeted them froze the men in their tracks. There was no sign of Wells. Voight frowned as he surveyed the area. The interior had been plastered in a smooth finish to hide the steel. The ground underfoot was concrete. No doubt Jay would not have known he was actually being held in a shipping container. His Detective had informed him their target had been injured and had been restrained. Al moved over to stand beside his old friend.
"Where did he go?"
"The Kid said he was handcuffed," Voight stated as he watched Antonio and Kevin approach the steel ring with handcuffs attached.
"He didn't get past Halstead," Al spoke confidently, his young friend would have died trying to stop him.
"Hell!" Mouse drew all eyes to him where he stood by the small table.
"What have you got? Voight checked as everyone descended on the IT Specialist.
"Knives," Mouse muttered in disgust as he pointed unnecessarily to the bloody instruments.
"And ...... needles with thread," Kevin observed sickened, just what had his friend gone through?
"So where the hell is he?!" Voight roared.
"Maybe Jay got confused," Antonio offered, "he's in pretty bad shape."
"Nope," Al objected as he looked at the ground carefully underneath the table, which he had noted was uneven, and pointed to a groove in the surface, "he got out here."
"Out?" Mouse frowned.
"Tunnel," Al explained as he moved the table aside and stomped on the ground underneath causing it to give way.
"Ah man," Antonio eyed the escape route, "he's in the wind again."
"And Jay thinks it's over," Mouse reminded with despair, "how the hell do we tell him?"
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As it happened it was four days before the injured Detective found out the devastating news. After his hospital admittance the Unit had waited for an hour before a middle aged Doctor gave them a rundown on what they were dealing with. When the kindly man had divulged that the amateur stitches had allowed an infection to quickly take hold each man battled to refrain from venting their anger. No anaesthetic had been found in the container so the torture the young man had endured must have been agonising. After reciting the injuries the Doctor had explained they would be taking the young man to theatre to have the wounds properly cleaned out. The medical professional had eagerly departed, glad to get away from the palpable rage which seemed to vibrate in the Waiting Room. The only good note was that Jay had not developed pneumonia. By the time he regained consciousness three days later no progress had been made in locating their quarry. Voight had decided to wait another day before bringing the young man up to date.
The hospital room was silent once the Sergeant finished his update and Adam eyed his friend warily. It had been decided that Voight and himself would be the two to inform him about Wells' escape. Everyone knew he would be upset and he didn't need an audience.
"We'll get him."
"I had him!"
"No point in dwelling on the past Kid," Voight directed softly as he left his stance at the large window and leant against the side of the bed with folded arms, "so how are you doing?"
"Fine," Jay replied distractedly even as he subconsciously placed a protective hand over his abdomen.
"Will wants to come to New York," Adam reluctantly divulged.
"He better not! I'm not a damn kid. I'm doing my job that's all."
"We figured you'd say that," Voight admitted fondly before continuing, "but he's expecting to hear from you so don't wait too long or he might fly up anyway."
"Yeah, yeah," Jay dismissed the topic in favour of the more pertinent one, "he played me."
"What do you mean?" Adam queried in confusion.
"I thought I had taken Wells by surprise," Jay elaborated, "but he obviously had everything planned, even to the point of letting me think I had turned the tables on him."
"Jay you were running a fever and he'd tortured you for days," Adam reminded gently, "it's a miracle you were able to tackle him at all."
"Obviously it wasn't a miracle," the bedridden man corrected in anger, "I knew it had been too easy that I got the drop on him so quickly. That should have set alarm bells ringing. Instead I left him out of my sight! Stupid, stupid, stupid!"
"Whoa!" Voight quickly caught the unencumbered hand which was pounding the mattress.
"This isn't on you," Adam insisted vehemently from the other side of the bed.
"I was the one who let him escape."
"Firstly you didn't 'let' him escape. You were seriously injured. Secondly that's the last time I ever want to hear you call yourself stupid," Voight released the trapped hand, "believe me if you do something stupid I'll be the first to tell you. Just ask Ruzek."
"Yeah ..," Adam began to nod in agreement before realising he was not being painted in a good light, "hey now I don't do that many stupid things!"
"If half my gray hairs are from Halsteads' selfless heroics the other half are from your antics."
"Don't know what you mean," Adam groused with mock chagrin relieved to finally see a small smile grace the injured mans' features, even if it was strained.
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It was late on Friday evening when Jay was finally released from hospital. He had been driven to the hotel where the team was residing and informed that there would be no more fishing expeditions. Although he had expected it Jay still argued but eventually gave up. With him doing a good impression of a ragdoll he knew his team would never allow him to go solo again. After a quick shower he stood shirtless in front of the bathroom mirror of the ensuite in the room he shared with Adam and took in the damage etched into his body. It turned out Wells had cut him thirteen times. He still had no explanation as to why the man had sterilised the wounds, especially after he found out the thread used to roughly stitch his skin back together had been dirty. He raised his eyes to his pale face with bruised eyes. The swelling on the left eye was slowly going down and for that he was grateful. Being only able to see out of one eye had left him feeling vulnerable, not that he would ever have admitted it. Sighing he exited the bathroom with a towel around his waist then stopped in his tracks. The whole team was in his suite with Burke, Murphy and Parker.
"What the hell?!" the discomfited Detective retraced his steps and quickly shut the bathroom door.
"Damn," Adam went over to the bedside locker and picked out clean boxers, jeans and black jumper.
"We'll meet downstairs," Voight looked at the men, "when Jay comes down ye better stop looking at him like that."
"Like what?" Burke ventured as they headed for the door.
"Like ye feel sorry for him."
Adam waited for ten minutes before he
finally knocked on the door.
"Hey Jay it's only me. The others have gone down to the restaurant. You coming out?"
"Guess I have to," Jay reluctantly opened the door.
"I put some clothes on your bed. Listen man I didn't realize you were having a shower. If I had we wouldn't have come up."
"Not your fault," Jay commented as he headed over to the bed and manoeuvred his way slowly into the thick dark green jumper.
"How did you have a shower without getting the dressings wet?" Adam wasn't sure he'd ever forget the wounds on his friends' abdomen.
"Very carefully," Jay explained as he pulled up the black boxers and dropped the towel before sitting on the bed for a rest, hell he felt like an old man!
"You don't have to go for the meal if you
don't want to."
"I'm hungry. Had enough of hospital food."
"Did you talk to Will?" Adam checked as he sat down on his twin bed.
"It was more like I listened," Jay stated as he stood and pulled the jeans on, "he was in full Big Brother mode."
"Can't say I blame him."
"Wells is going to do much worse now that he's played me," the injured man abandoned the topic of his sibling.
"Listen man you had no way of knowing what he had planned."
"That's not going to be much consolation when the next bomb goes off or someone is shot."
"Why do you think he did it?" Adam questioned as he got to his feet and retrieved the black sling from the dressing table.
"I'm hoping Parker has some ideas on that," Jay thought of refusing the sling but the truth was his shoulder was still very painful and besides Voight would kill him if he didn't wear it.
"Let's find out," Adam handed the sling over and watched his friend ease his injured arm into it cautiously, "and then you can get some proper sleep."
"Yes Pa."
tbc