Tolerance Book I (Chicago PD/Med FF) by Frances51163

Chapter One Hundred and Ninety-Five: The Unforeseen Element

Hank Voight strode into the lobby of the World Center Hotel located at 144 Washington Street with his companions struggling to keep up. He was clearly a man on a mission. Close to Brooklyn Bridge and Ellis Island it had taken longer to arrive than the Sergeant had liked. Spearheading the group he made a beeline for the crowd by the private elevator. A Concierge was trying, unsuccessfully, to usher onlookers away as Adam stood behind a loaded stretcher as two Paramedics readied their patient for transport. Retrieving his badge Voight made short work of scattering the curious people earning a grateful look from the harassed Concierge and a relieved one from Adam.

"What the hell happened?"
"Antonio was unconscious in the elevator when I arrived," Adam took no offence at the barked query, hell he shared the other mans' distress, "he took a hit to the head but doesn't seem to have other injuries. The Security Chief is sending the footage to Mouse but we can check it out here whenever you want."
"Kevin you go with Antonio. I want to know the minute he comes around," Voight looked at the private elevator after the Detective took his leave, "let's check out the penthouse."
"How the hell did Wells get access to Jay?" Al demanded with barely suppressed rage as they stepped into the aluminium chamber.
"There weren't many signs of a struggle," Adam explained as he recalled his panicked ride up to the top floor after the Manager had arrived and promised to stay with his downed colleague, "the door was open but apart from some blood by the back of the couch there was nothing to indicate a fight."
"There wouldn't be," Voight spoke softly as the elevator chimed to indicate their arrival, "Jay would have gone with Wells willingly."
"Why?" Burke frowned in confusion.
"To protect Antonio," Al answered as they entered the luxurious suite where a tall man stood at the kitchen counter working on a laptop, "once Antonio was down the Kid would have agreed to go with Wells to get him away from the area as quickly as possible."
"Sarge this is the Chief of Security, Paul Collins," Adam made the introductions quickly, "he said we can view the footage here."
"You're not going to like it," the tall, lean forty-five year old warned, after shaking hands with Voight and nodding to the others, as he brought up the footage on the screen and pressed play, "no one used the private elevator to get to the penthouse and no one used the stairwell."
"But that's impossible," Adam argued incredulously, "it's forty storeys up!  How could anyone access it without the elevator or stairwell?!"
"What are we missing?" Voights' gravelly voice demanded attention as they viewed the footage.
"There's an entrance to the roof on this floor.  It's on the east side of the building," Collins explained, "we don't have a helicopter pad though .......,"
"You're saying Jay was taken out that way?" Al asked in consternation
"Unfortunately we only have one surveillance camera on the rooftop, covering the door," Collins elaborated, "no one ever goes up there, even for a break, so management decided not to spend extra on surveillance cameras to cover the whole area."
"Does it show Detective Halstead?" Voight prodded, he wanted answers and he wanted them now!
"Briefly," the Security Chief fast forwarded a few minutes before pressing play with a grimace, "your man doesn’t look good."

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Jay was still reeling from the unexpected turn of events, even though his features belied his emotions. After Antonio had been grazed by a bullet any hope of gaining the upper hand had quickly evaporated.  Wells was unconcerned about the unconscious Detective and had made it quite clear that Jay had only one option if he wanted his friend to avoid a more permanent rest.  Realizing he held a losing hand Jay had merely nodded but was surprised when another man entered the suite.  Somewhat older than Wells the tall, black bearded man had approached Jay without a glance in Wells' direction.  By the time Jay realized things were going to get worse the man was upon him, punching his left eye with a force which the Detective knew would leave him temporarily blinded. Every instinct in his body yelled defense but putting up a fight was out of the question as Wells had casually trained his Glock on Antonios' prone form.  The newcomer eventually tired when his victim did not give voice to his pain.  He roughly grabbed Jay by the left shoulder and shoved him towards the door. It might have been an accident but as his shoulder separated from its' joint and excruciating agony took up a familiar residence he chanced a look at his attacker and saw a gleam in his eye which indicated he had indeed intended to inflict the dislocation.  His aching ribs and dislocated shoulder vied for attention as he was dragged along the empty corridor by the tall man with Wells bringing up the rear.  His left eye was already swelling and the cut on his cheek from his encounter with the wooden post in the Hudson had been reopened. Upon reaching a heavy steel door the three stepped onto the rooftop where the Robinson 22 Jay had observed earlier now lay waiting.  He cursed inwardly.  They knew the World Center Hotel did not have a helicopter pad but that clearly did not stop a helicopter landing.  Eyeing the small, empty aircraft Jay wondered how they were going to get off the roof.  The small helicopter only had two seats, including the Pilots.  He looked back at Wells noting the smirk on the mans' features. This was bad, very, very bad!

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The footage was turned off once the trio were out of the cameras' scope.  Voight pounded his fist on the counter, needing a release for the rage coursing through his veins.  He had let Halstead down.  He hadn't considered access from the air.

"We couldn't have known," Al eyed his old friend, "there was no indication Wells could get access to a helicopter."
"Did you see the Kid?!" Voight demanded, unwilling to accept any exoneration.
"Yeah I did. He's tough. He'll handle it."
"He shouldn't have to handle it," Adam spoke angrily, "he shouldn't have to deal with any more s**t.  Hell he's already had to deal with more than most people do in a lifetime and he's only in his thirties!"
"This isn't getting us anywhere," Al pointed out and turned to the Security Chief, "is there any more footage?"
"No.  I've forwarded what we have to your IT guy," Collins replied before continuing, "if I had known about what was going on I would have ensured the roof door was locked."
"Why wasn't it locked anyway?" Burke checked.
"You did say no one went up to the rooftop," Voight cut in with a reminder.
"That was down to me," Collins stated sheepishly, "I felt it was easier to leave it unlocked in case of a fire and emergency services needed access from the rooftop .... seemed like a good idea at the time."
"It was," Al insisted, unwilling to let the other man blame himself.
"He's right," Voight concurred, there was plenty of blame to go around but none of it lay on the Security Chiefs' shoulders.

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An hour later Jay sat on a cold concrete floor with his right hand handcuffed to an obviously new large steel ring which had been affixed to the wall.  That level of preparation gave the injured man an inkling of what was to come.  The cold, damp room was bare except for one wooden chair by the closed door. No windows added to the foreboding surroundings.  The only light in the room was from a small lamp in the far corner but its' strength was low and shadows were cast on the once white walls.  Jay shifted uncomfortably as his mind went back to their departure from the hotel .....

tbc

Authors' Note

I used some artistic license in relation to the height of the World Center Hotel.  For the purposes of the story I have stated there are forty storeys.  In fact it is an 11 storey building!