Tolerance Book III

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Agenda

Command Post

As Mouse approached the group he wondered just how his information would be greeted.  It was both good and bad by his reckoning.

"What is it?" Voight didn't waste words as he eyed the new arrival.
"Jay just sent a message ....,"
"How?" Kevin frowned.
"Morse code," the IT Specialist explained with a shrug, he had picked up the anomaly as he honed in on the tapping sounds which suddenly began and ended without warning. 
"What did he say?" Al asked, although his curiosity about the communication method was peaked they had more pressing matters.
"Need to act soon.  Have Bomb Squad ready."
"That it?" Murphy questioned.
"Yes," Mouses' head bobbed up and down.
"What does that mean?" Adam looked at the group, it was not exactly clear.
"Does he mean we have to act soon or he does?" Antonio scratched his forehead.
"How come Billings didn't know he was sending the message?" Kevin asked suspiciously.
"It was barely decipherable.  Took me a while to work out what it was.  He repeated it three times," Mouse put in, it had taken him a while to isolate the tapping and then decipher the message.
"How do we know it was from Jay?" Kevin pressed, without visual access to the bank there was scope for Billings to try to fool them.
"Jay used one of his nicknames from the Rangers."
"What nickname?" Antonio asked curiously.
"Ah look it's not important," Mouse shifted uncomfortably on his feet, his private friend would not appreciate him disclosing the background to the appellation that he had earned.
"You sure it's not relative to what's going on?" Voight checked, understanding the younger mans' reticence was a sign of his loyalty to his former Lieutenant.
"Yeah Sarge," the IT Specialist replied before a frown marred his forehead, "least I don't think it does."
"I appreciate Halsteads' privacy but there are lives in the balance. You willing to gamble?"
"No Sarge, I guess not.  He became known as ...... 'The One'."
"'The One'?" Adam repeated quizzically.
"Yeah.  People started calling him that after they learnt he only needed one shot to take out a target .....,"
"One shot should be all that's needed," Al cut in knowingly, that's what a Sniper was trained to do after all.
"Yeah but from what I can gather most of his targets were at great distances.  He's broken records even .... not that he'd ever admit it. That's why he got the name because he was the best, he was the one handpicked for the most difficult missions.   He also got the nickname because if you had a problem LT would always be there for you, no matter what was involved.  I mean you could go to the Sergeant about some things but Jay .... well Jay was always available for the men whether it was something life threatening or something mundane.  He was the one who had your back no matter what."
"So you're certain the message was from Halstead?" Voight sought clarification although with the nickname it was obvious.
"Yes Sarge."
"Still don't know if Jay is going to act soon or if he wants us to," Antonio pointed out gravely, this could be crucial.
"What do you reckon?" Voight looked over at Al.
"He means he's going to do something," the moustached Detective replied without skipping a beat, "it's his way."
"Yeah, I gotta agree."

Now they just had to work out what exactly their friend was going to do.

Bank

Jay had been allowed to remain seated in the chair when Conor was ordered to return to his place among the other Hostages and for that he was grateful.  Having repeated his message three times he had to hope Mouse was after picking up on it.  It was only after the First Aid kit had been snatched from his lap by Billings as he hurried the Surgeon on his way that the green eyed man realized he hadn't been quite specific in his wording.  He put that down to the headache he was still battling.  No doubt his brain cells had been rattled also.  That was not helpful!  He needed to be clear headed if he was going to end the siege before Billings completed whatever agenda he had set in motion.   Of course assuming the IT Specialist received the message the proximity of the Bomb Squad would really only be beneficial if the Hostages were out of the equation.  Jay wasn't quite sure how to go about creating  distance between the bomb and those in the bank with Billings controlling everything.   The only thing he knew right now with certainty was that he hated being helpless and that feeling with connotations to his past was too reminiscent of painful times.  He didn't need a dark trip down memory lane he needed a plan.