The Soldier and The Spy: Jay Halstead- Episode 4

Chapter 2

"What happened to your face?"

"Nothing."

"Yeah that's believable."

Kevin shot him a look, darker than he'd been expecting but he didn't actually think it had anything to do with him. More than likely it was because he was drawing attention to the bruise on his friend's cheek, which Jay would bet his badge wasn't the only one he had.

"Did they do that to you? Did Nolan's guys come at you?" He had to fight to keep his voice restrained, the locker room wasn't exactly the best place to have a private conversation but then maybe it wasn't a bad idea if their fellow officers heard how one of their Sergeants was behaving- how he was the one turning on one of their own. But Kevin's quick but fierce shake of the head reminded him that wasn't his call to make.

"I'm handling it."

"I'm sure you are but I'd still like to help."

For a moment he really thought Kev was going to brush him off but after an assessing look, a heavy breath and a wriggle of his shoulders he relaxed, at least enough to sink onto the bench in front of his locker. But as Jay followed suit his own shoulders began to tighten, his anger growing the more his partner shared.

He hadn't even made it to his front gate last night before he'd been jumped by a group of Nolan's men, none of whom matched the description of the Sergeant because of course the man who sent them was too cowardly to see his orders through himself. And because all the cowards who had followed through with them had worn masks and kept their traitorous mouths shut Kev hadn't been able to ID any of them, or get any partial plates from their cars when they drove away, leaving him in the middle of the fucking street like trash. And to make matters even worse when he'd arrived at the precinct this morning he'd found he'd been locked out of the system- no access to his radio, to anything.

What if something had happened on his way in?

What if someone had gotten hurt because he hadn't been able to call for help?

Was Nolan really willing to let another cop, to let civilians get hurt because of his grudge?

Jay's blood boiled the more he thought about it, about how the men who were supposed to be their brothers in arms could turn on one of their own so easily, for the so called 'crime' of telling the truth about the cop who'd started all of this, the one who'd actually been in the wrong. He could understand loyalty, understand not wanting to narc on a fellow officer, not feeling comfortable calling out behaviour that wasn't likely to change anyway but how could they stand behind a man like Doyle, a man like Nolan, over Kevin?

Over the most honest, hardworking cop he knew?

"Have you told Voight yet?"

Kev didn't answer beyond another look but it was enough to say that he had, and that the response he'd gotten hadn't been the one he'd wanted to hear. The one he needed to. And if their Sergeant couldn't help then Jay was going to get someone who could.

"I'm calling Tess."

"Nah, I don't-"

"At the very least she's going to be able to give you better security than what you were able to set up in what, two hours? This is her thing, alright? Let her help. Trust me, she's good at it."

Part of him was tempted to share how else she was helping, how probably at this very moment she was making inroads with the deputy superintendent but he held his tongue. That was Tess's business, not his teams, and the deputy supe had nothing to do with what was going on with Kevin. Granted she probably should considering her whole job was centred around police reform but that wasn't his decision- as willing as he was to get involved he had to remember that this wasn't his fight. The best thing, the only thing he could do was respect his partners wishes.