You could cut the silence in the bullpen with a knife. All of them where to stunned by the last few minutes to move on to the next step. Even Voight. It was Olinsky who spoke first.
"The kid's alive. Can't tell if he's injured. But he must be alive based on what the masked guy said. That is, if we can believe him."
Erin met Alvin's eyes. His eyes and the half smile on his face said hope. I'm sure her eyes said nothing but fear.
"Ruzek. Go get Mouse. Then bring Pratt up here." Voight rubbed a hand over his face and took a breath.
"He's still wearing the same clothes he was wearing last night." Atwater chimed in.
Antonio added, "There's at least two of them. He said, 'us.'"
Al turned to Atwater, "What time did he leave last night?"
Ruzek answered coming up the stairs with Mouse, "He left about 10:30/10:45."
Voight asked, "Did he say anything about meeting a CI or where he was going?"
"No, he just said he was going to head out."
Ruzek finished for Atwater, "We thought he was just going home. He really did look like crap even though he didn't say anything. He just got quiet like he does when he's not too good...in one way or another."
They all momentarily got lost in their thoughts. They all knew Jay was an Army Ranger and did a couple tours in Afghanistan. There was a time before he joined Intelligence, when his PTSD was so bad he drank himself into oblivion everyday and was possibly suicidal. How they knew this information was hard to tell. Gossip came in drips and drabs at the 21st.
Jay wasn't forthcoming with any information about his days with the Rangers, except that he was one. They all knew bits and pieces but none of them knew the whole story. Except possibly Mouse and the only thing that snapped Jay out of his own personal hell was helping Mouse out of his. Mouse was a mess when he came back to Chicago, a drug addict and suicidal. Jay probably saved his life.
XXXXXXX
Platt interrupted their thoughts.
"You wanted to see me Hank?"
"Tell me about the note left at the desk for Erin."
"Not much to tell. It was on top of the booking sheets from the night shift. I'll call Jerry and ask him how he got it...if he saw who brought it in."
"Thanks Trudy." Voight said as she headed back down the stairs.
"Mouse. Did Ruzek explain the situation?"
"Yes sir."
Mouse said with a steady voice. Usually when dealing with Voight, or anyone else on the team, you could tell how Mouse possibly got the nickname 'Mouse'. He was skittish, unsure of himself and you could barely hear what he was saying. Except when talking to or about Jay. It seems like then you got a real glimpse of what Mouse used to be like before Afghanistan.
Voight continued to Mouse, "I need to know if you can record Skype calls and can you find out where the number is calling from."
"You can record Skype calls. You need third party software which is already installed into the system. I can ping the number and see where its coming from. You can also take screen shots as you're talking."
"Good. That'll help. I need to know how to record when we call next and I need you to ping that number. I also need you to ping Halstead's phone and get me a location of where it is and where it's been, starting at 10:30 last night."
"Got it."
Voight turned back to the team as Mouse went back downstairs.
"Al, I want you and Erin back at Halstead's apartment. See if he even made it home. The guy said he struggled so I'm sure you would have seen that when you were there Erin. But he could gone back out. See if his car is there, if he put his gun in his gun safe, if there is any sign that he was there at all last night after he left the bar. Talk to his neighbors see if they saw him. Then check with management and see if they have security cameras.
"Ruzek, Atwater - get that CI's ass down here. I want to know if he was a part of this. Talk to Platt on your way out and let her know we need Burgess and Roman to start checking his tagged cases for vendettas. I'll call Halstead's brother and see if he's heard from him.
"Antonio. Talk to your sister. I want to know if any of them saw anything at the bar that seemed out of place. See if they remember any other customers that were coming or going the same time Jay was leaving. Check their security footage. I'll be with Mouse to make the call."
He took a breath, dropped his head with a shake. When he lifted it you could see he could barely contain his rage. "We will get him back." He looked at each one of them daring them to disagree.
"Hank..."
Erin walked over to him as he was going down the steps.
"I want to be here when you make the call."
Their eyes locked in a battle of wills.
"No. Go with Olinsky. That's your job right now."
Erin continued to look at Voight. She looked away first. She knew when she didn't have a chance of winning an argument with him.
