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

Chapter One: The Attack

Will Halstead blew into his hands as he came to a halt outside Gaffney with Ethan Choi wondering what was taking his brother so long.

"He should be here by now. He said he was only five minutes away," Will turned to his companion in apology.
"Friday night traffic can be unpredictable," Ethan pointed out with a smile, he was looking forward to unwinding at Mollys after a long shift.
"You boys afraid to leave?" Conor Rhodes came up behind the two men shoving his hands into his pockets to seek shelter from the December nights' chill.
"Jay offered to be the designated driver tonight but he seems to have been delayed," Will shook his head.
"But I saw him here a few minutes ago," Conor frowned, "didn't get a chance to talk to him because he was with some fellas."
"So where is he?" Will asked in frustration and went to pull out his phone when something caught his attention causing his heart to stop - Jays' keys were by the kerb.
"Damn!", Conor watched the elder Halstead pick up the keys and headed inside at a run to get security.

Ten minutes later nothing had been found and Will was on the phone to Hank Voight when Conor let out a yell and ran over to a black pick up truck near the edge of the parking lot.

"I need a gurney now!" the dark haired man yelled to two security personnel as Will and Ethan quickly approached.

Lying underneath the truck Jay seemed to be semi conscious and Conor quickly got on his knees to check his pulse, not surprised to find it weak.  Although it was difficult Conor made short work of crawling under the truck to check for any major injuries such as fractures or excessive bleeding.  Will and Ethan stood by with the newly delivered gurney, Will forcing himself to be patient although he wanted to be the one with his brother. Conor had been muttering quietly to Jay to let him know he was in safe hands unfortunately it became immediately clear when Conor tried to crawl back out to explain what they were dealing with that Jay was not taking in his surroundings.  The blood running down into his left eye from a wound an obvious indication of concussion.

"No stay Jack!!!" Jay raised his voice then grabbed a hold of the other mans' sleeve.
"Hey Jay," Conor shared a look with Will then turned back to the injured man, "you're at Chicago Med.  Will and Ethan were wondering why you didn't pick them up."
"What ....," Jay frowned, "you have to stay here.  I won't let them hurt you.  I promise.  They'll have to get through me first!"
"I've checked Lieutenant," Conor thought quickly and hoped the others knew what he needed them to do, "this side is clear.  You have a head injury but I promise we'll be safe if we go out this way."
"I'll go .... first ..," Jay made to move but couldn't stop the groan which was born when he shifted his pain riddled body.
"Hey Lieutenant I think you have several broken ribs so we'll take this slowly."
"Leave me ... Corporal ....," Jay huffed out painfully, "take this," the injured man handed over his weapon which Conor had not noticed until now.
"Sir we can both get out," Conor took the gun and looked into the glazed eyes.
"I gave you an order!" Jay raised his voice.
"Okay Sir but I'll get help."
"Corporal get back to the Battalion and make ... sure they know about ... the ambush. That's an order.  Now go!" Jay pushed the man away sighing in relief when he left.

Conor quickly rose to his feet once out from under the truck and put up a hand to stop Will, Ethan and the Intelligence Unit from approaching.

"Why haven't you got him out?" Will demanded barely managing to keep his voice low.
"Because right now he thinks he's in Afghanistan and seriously wounded so he told me, his Corporal, to leave him and get back and warn his Battalion about an ambush," Conor looked around at the concerned faces.
"What are we dealing with besides concussion?" Adam Ruzek asked looking over to where his colleague lay unmoving.
"From what I could check he has at least four broken ribs on the left and one on the right. His hands are unmarked so it doesn't seem like he had a warning of the attack.  He has a head wound, which is still bleeding, hence the confusion."
"We need to get him out of there," Hank Voight stated softly , "and I know how to do it."
"Hank you can't just pull him out!" Will quickly warned.
"I know," the older man agreed looking around at his team, "from what you said he's in fight mode.  One thing I've learnt about Jay is he will protect anyone who needs it."
"So?" Kevin Atwater prompted.
"We get him to come to us, or at least Conor."
"Damn," Al sighed "that's going to hurt."
"I know," Hank agreed, "but he could stay there for hours.  You've told me yourself Snipers know patience and tolerance.  We could be waiting a long time before he passes out.  Am I right Doc?"
"Yeah," Conor reluctantly agreed.
"Okay so we play it this way ..... , " Hank went over the plan with the group and they put it into action quickly.

An hour later Will sighed and shifted in his seat beside Hank and Adam.
"He'll never talk to me about the things he went through over there," the older sibling said to no one in particular.
"Sometimes it's easier not to think about it," Al commented from first hand experience.
"But sometimes that must be impossible," Kevin Atwater shifted in his chair.
"Yep," Al didn't elaborate.
"So does Conor know the guys he saw Jay with?" Hank changed the topic to one they had some chance of dealing with.
"No. I asked him before they kicked me out of the treatment room," Will replied.

"Guys," Conor approached rubbing a hand wearily down his face and sank down in the one empty chair near the group, "he's going to be alright in the long run.  He'll need time to heal but if he takes it easy he should make a full recovery."
"Yeah right," Adam scoffed, "because we all know he's a model patient!!!"
"So what's the full rundown?" Will asked after chuckling with the others at Adams' remark.
"Grade 3 concussion.  We put in 20 stitches to the scalp wound but luckily there are no fractures.  As well as the broken ribs his right shoulder was dislocated.  We managed to reduce it successfully so surgery won't be required.  As I mentioned his hands had no defensive marks.  He does have several contusions on his back, sides and legs.  There are .....,"
"Are what?" Adam demanded when Conor paused in his inventory.
"Some of the bruises are in the shape of shoes."
"Damn," Atwater shook his head at the thought of his friend being stomped on.
"Guys there's something else," Conor looked at the group hesitantly.
"What?" Will asked softly.
"I think those guys I saw him with may be the ones that did this."
"Why do you think that?"
"Because he came around for a while when he got back from CT and I asked him who they were.  He said I must have been mistaken he wasn't talking to anyone."
"He could be just confused," Al offered.
"I don't think so.  He was adamant about it in fact when he should have been confused if he couldn't recall the guys.  He pretended he had fallen asleep after that but I knew from the monitors he was awake.  Anyway I didn't want to push him about it and they might not have anything to do with this."
"Well we'll find out," Hanks rose to his feet stretching his back to ease the discomfort after sitting so long, "Ruzek and Dawson ye got first watch."
"You think they'll come back?" Will stood and faced the older man.
"To be honest I don't know so until we know what exactly we're dealing with Jay is under 24 hour armed guard."
"Thanks Hanks."
"Will he's a good kid and I need him on my team so whoever did this will pay."

Conor placed a hand on Wills' shoulder.
"Guess you want to see him now?"
"About time!" Will strode towards the treatment room with Conor on his trail and the two Detectives.
"Will!"
"What?" Will turned to look back at his colleague.
"You know you couldn't have treated him but he didn't want you to see him like that anyway."
"He keeps forgetting he's the baby brother not the other way around," Will explained, "going to have to have a chat with him about that."
"Let us know how that goes," Adam put in with a grin.

tbc