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

Chapter Twenty-Five: Ambush Aftermath

Inside the apartment Hank watched as his young Detective approached the handcuffed man before crouching down to look into cold blue eyes.

"You know who I am?"
"Yes. You like hurting children. You are a monster!" the restrained man spoke vehemently.
"Do you know who I am?" Jay repeated angrily.
"Jay Halstead, a child beater!"
"Never raised a hand to a child in my life," the pale Detective confirmed quietly.
"You would say that!" the other man countered brazenly.
"Look in my eyes.  Tell me I'm lying," Jay reached out a hand suddenly and pulled the man forward by his shirt and when only inches separated them he continued, "I never hurt a child in my life. Never!"
"But ...," the man showed doubt for the first time as he was shoved away.
"But you believed someone who told you lies," Hank walked over and offered a hand to his Detective knowing healing ribs did not accommodate his current position.

"What's your name?" Jay asked, his hoarse voice betraying the cost of standing up, even with the helping hand.
"Ben Burton."
"So who told you about Jay?" Hank demanded.
"This guy came to one of our meetings one night he .....,"
"He what?" Jay was getting impatient, he wanted answers and he wanted them now.
"He told us about you."
"Who was he?"
"Don't know."
"How did you get this address?"
"The guy gave it to us."
"This the guy?" Jay brought up a picture of his father on his mobile phone.
"Yeah."
"What meeting were ye having?" Hank backtracked.
"Just a group of people getting together to deal with problems in the community."
"No vigilante I know carries an assault rifle," Hank shook his head in disgust.
"We don't ..... not usually," Burton explained as the enormity of his stupidity began to sank in, "we were given them by this guy."
"Great so anyone can walk in and feed ye a damn story and ye don't even check to see if there's any validity to it?" Jay asked crossly as he noticed the other men walking back in.
"Well we thought we could trust him."
"You had no problem attacking a Police Officer," Hank pointed out.
"Ye have easy access to weapons," Jay added raising his voice and as he noticed his brother moving closer, a glare stopped the movement, "where did ye get them?"
"Don't know," the cuffed man shifted uncomfortably.
"Tell me!" Jay shouted as he once again went over and crouched down beside the now trembling man.
"The guy who told us about you ..... he brought them with him on the night of ......,"
"the attack," Hank finished as he placed a hand on his Detectives' shoulder before turning around, "get this guy out of here."
"Sure," Antonio walked over with the newly arrived Kevin as Adam bent down and released the man refastening the cuffs around both wrists before pulling him to his feet roughly as his colleagues took hold of the tall mans' arms.
"Hey," Burton looked back as Hank once again helped the injured man upright, "for what it's worth I'm sorry."
"I might believe that if you tell my friends everything you know," Jay scoffed as he spared one last glance at the man as he was escorted out.

"Jay come on I'm going to check you out," Will walked over and placed a hand on his brothers' arm tugging him.
"I'm fine," the younger sibling pulled his arm out of the grip and walked over to look out the window.
"Jay you ......," Will persisted as he again approached his brother.
"Stop! Just cause I got attacked doesn't give you the right to tell me what to do," Jay spoke tiredly before turning to face the room, his gaze resting on his boss, "where are we going now?"
"I have another apartment we can use."
"Where," Adam asked to help ease the tension.
"Two doors up."
"Here!" Will was dumbfounded.
"Last place they would expect," Conor offered.
"But if they found him here once they could find him again?" Will argued.
"True but for now it will do.  At least until such time as we get more information from Burton," as he spoke Hank walked over to the window, "you ready to go?"
"Need to grab my stuff," Jay frowned.
"Leave it. Antonio and Kevin will move it after. Besides we need to talk."
"Okay."
"Hope it's as nice as this place was," Adam walked over to his friend, "and this time try not to make a mess."
"Hell I don't know how to make a mess," Jay followed Hank out with Adam at his side, ignoring his brothers' frowning features.

"You need to back off," Conor broke the silence once the two were left alone.
"I'm just worried about him."
"I know that and so does he but you have to stop treating him like a kid. He's a grown man whose seen more things the human eye should never see than we ever will."
"I know but he's still my kid brother," Will protested as he surveyed the damage before them.
"Will I've never been attacked like he was but he must be feeling vulnerable and I think you treating him like a kid is just reinforcing those feelings."
"I don't mean to treat him like a kid. Didn't think I was. I'm not trying to make matters worse."
"How about asking or suggesting things instead of telling him what to do."
"I've been doing that a lot?"
"Yep," Conor concurred.
"Damn."

The apartment two doors down was similar in layout to the one they had just left with three bedrooms and Jay automatically headed for the middle room, seeking some time alone although he knew his boss wanted to talk to him.

"I spoke to the others earlier Sarge," Adam explained quietly when the bedroom door closed, "he seemed really upset over the apartment even though I told him that your friend will be able to claim it under his insurance policy."
"He was joking about it a minute ago," Hank pointed out.
"That's what I mean. He's up and down."
"Can't say as I blame him."
"No me either. If it was me I'd be tearing into everyone."
"Me too," Hank confessed.
"I'm just afraid he's going to do something he might regret."
"Like?"
"Don't know," Adam replied honestly.
"Well all we can do is be there for him."
"Yeah," Adam looked at the closed door, "you going to talk to him?"
"Think I'll leave it until later," Voight spoke as he handed over several similar keys, "leave the old keys in the other apartment. I'll arrange to have the place cleaned."
"You think there's more going on than we know about?" Adam reluctantly voiced his worry.
"Not sure but when I come back Jay will have to talk, whether he likes it or not."
"Damn," the younger man watched his boss walk out sighing heavily.

For his part Jay was relieved but surprised that his superior had not insisted on talking to him as soon as they reached the new place. He wondered if life was ever going to be easy for him. His brother and friends were trying to help. He knew that and appreciated it but the fear burning through his gut was not for himself but for the others. He was just after standing up with the intention of checking an exit through the window when the sound of the door opening caught his attention and he turned around with a forced smile already in place.

"You draw the short straw?"
"Nope," Conor walked in closing the door behind him, "was wondering if I could check your ribs?"
"Doc you don't need to be hanging out here," Jay stated as he lifted his shirt signalling his agreement, "you could have been hurt today."
"I wasn't even here when the shooting went down," Conor disagreed as he moved the pad of the stethoscope around and the other man took deep breaths without prompts.
"You know what I mean. No offence but I don't want you coming around to check on me any more," Jay did not look at the other man as he spoke.
"Jay I know you're worried about one of us getting hurt but that could happen any time. Whether we're with you or not. They found this place so they know who's here," Conor tried to reason with the younger man.
"Okay," Jay sighed in apparent acceptance but the words his friend spoke only served to reinforce his belief that he needed to deal with his father alone.

tbc