Perfect Storm

Chapter 3 - Right and Wrong

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Kate groaned and rolled towards the incessant noise that had roused her from sleep, reaching over to snooze the alarm on her bedside table. Cracking open one eye, she lifted her head from the pillow and tried to focus on the numbers illuminated on the screen of her phone.

5:41am.

Tossing the sheets from her body with a sigh, Kate threw her legs over the side of the bed and sat for a few seconds, stretching her stiff neck and shoulders before getting to her feet. She had at least an hour and a half before she needed to leave for work so she took the opportunity to get in a run, hoping the brisk morning air would help get her synapses firing. Pulling on some thermal workout gear, she popped in her headphones and left her apartment, tracking what was becoming her standard 5k route almost on autopilot.

As she was nearing the end of her run, her mind drifted to her new team and, more specifically, her new boss. Kate knew she had a stellar reputation in the world of intelligence but she had also been around the block enough to know that your past wins didn't count for shit when you started somewhere new. You had to earn their trust and respect the hard way.

Sam had told her that Voight didn't take too kindly to having team members foisted on him and Kate struggled to understand why he would have such a huge problem with it. Sure, it wasn't ideal when you had to get new people up to speed and adjust to another dynamic but detectives were reassigned to different units all the time. Kate could only assume that there was an underlying reason for him to be so averse to team members who weren't handpicked.

Coming to a stop outside of her apartment, she braced her hands on her knees and drew in big lungfuls of icy air. The dawn was still yet to break so she made her way inside to take a shower and get ready to head into work. As she moved through her sparsely furnished apartment, she stripped off her sweaty workout gear and stepped into her bathroom, turning on the shower. Kate paused in front of the bathroom mirror, spending a moment taking in her reflection. Her cheeks were flushed with exertion, a few tendrils of hair that had escaped her hair tie were sticking to her forehead. She was watching the vein in her neck pulse steadily under the skin as her heartbeat worked to return to its normal rhythm when her eyes were drawn to the scar near her left shoulder, just below the collarbone.

Running her fingertips over the slightly raised skin, she traced the spot where a bullet had pierced her skin barely six months ago. The day she had very nearly lost her life. Pulling herself back to the present before she could get too deep in the memories, she stepped under the hot spray and let the water ease her tight muscles, feeling herself relax with every passing second.

By 7:20am, she was dressed and ready to go, taking one last sip of her morning coffee before tugging on her thick, faux-fur lined coat and heading towards the door. Kate had opted for a pair of black jeans, a grey long-sleeved henley and black boots, Glock 19 holstered securely on her right hip. She was stepping into the 21st district precinct at 7:50am, just as the sun was starting to peak over the top of the high-rise Chicago buildings.

Kate took the same path Voight had taken her on yesterday, punching in the code Sergeant Platt had given her yesterday and the metal gates popped open a few seconds after she placed her hand on the glass. Taking the remaining steps at a jog, she eventually found herself in the Intelligence bullpen. The team, minus Voight, had already arrived and were going about making their first cups of coffee. They greeted her with warm smiles and Kate immediately felt the tension in her chest ease at the welcome.

"Morning Kate. Let me show you where the coffee is." Antonio approached her with a genuine smile and nodded to the small kitchen area where Adam and Jay were pouring their own cups.