twenty five.

Almost everyone was gathered in the bullpen. Lounging around near the TV set in the back as they waited for the program to come on. Trudy Platt was going to be interviewed on live tv and everyone was ready to cheer her on through the tv. Pru sat on one side of Jay's desk in front of the tv. Jay was in his chair with his feet up on the other side of the desk. Hailey and Kev on his other side near the window. They all passed out snacks to each other like they were getting ready to watch a movie.

"Platt's on in two. Everyone! Adam! Antonio, come on." Kim announced as she brought in more containers of snacks.

"We're not staying. I'm gonna do the paperwork at home." Antonio told them as he was packing up his things with his daughter, Eva right next to him.

"Aww, come on, Toni." Pru booed at the man.

"Hey, Eva. What's up, kid?" Adam asked as he walked into the room coming from the locker room.

"Ooo. Kim, I want the cheese balls." Pru declared from the back. The women handed the bin to her as she popped the lid open. Jay went to stuff his hand in but she slapped his hand away.

"You have smartfood, touch the cheese balls and you won't have a hand." Pru warned as she pulled the bin closer to her chest for safety.

"My father is a fascist." Eva told Adam. The teenager was clearly annoyed with her father.

"Okay, i don't know what to do with that." Adam commented as he walked over to the group that surrounded the tv. Pru handed over the cheese balls to Adam as Jay gave her an offended look. She smiled sweetly at him and shrugged.

"Okay, everybody be quiet. Platt's on tv." Kev said with a mouthful of food. Quieting them all down as he turned the volume up.

Trudy appeared on the screen in front of them with the interviewer. Announced as a new 'friendly' face which made Adam snicker. The older women looked uncomfortable being right front and center for the camera. She seemed unsure of where to even look as she moved around in her seat.

"She couldn't possibly hate this anymore." Jay commented with a smile as they all laughed. During the interview a beeping began to go off on the tv which had them mildly confused. Trudy looked around on the camera as she checked if everything was alright. Finding the beeping unusual.

"I think that's coming from my office." The interviewer said as Jay stood up from his chair.

"What was that?" He questioned. The next thing they all knew, the tv showed an explosion while the whole unit jumped on shock. Pru covered her mouth in terror at what had just happened. The camera caught the fire at the set then instantly cut out. Leaving everyone speechless at what had just transpired on the camera.

+

"Okay, we got the initial report from bomb and arson. It was a single device. Cardboard box in Sheri's office. IED, nails, glass. We're lucky no one was standing closer." Jay caught Hank and Kev up to speed as Antonio comes up the stairs.

"Sheri was pronounced at Med. She, Uh— injuries were too substantial. Two others are in critical condition, but they're both suspected to pull through. There was a dozen more victims but as of right now it looks like Sheri and Betty are our only fatalities." Antonio informed them as Hailey and Pru glanced at the crime board.

"That bomb was planted in Sheri's office. She had to be the target." Kev said.

"And the person who did this didn't care about any casualties." Pru commented with her arms crossed.

"She was getting threats too. We recovered four emails all sent from an anonymous email account. Bounced around a half dozen IPs. They're all death threats." Adam told them as Hank gathered around Adam's computer to view the emails.

"Burn, bitch, burn. Your days are numbered. You will burn. That sort of thing."Adam turned to his boss.

"Whoever it was clearly wasn't that fond of her." Pru said.

"Alright, so what do we know about Sheri?" Hank questioned.

"She's 26 years old. Graduated from Northwestern, started working at the station as an intern. She had been on the air for 2 months." Pru began.

"Single. Well-liked. Al's with the family." Jay ended the little bio that they had on Sheri.

"Trying to track the package. Camera's at the entrances of the building only captured a man from behind." Hailey started to tell them as she placed the pictures onto the board of the mystery man.

"It's not much, but given that and what Sheri gave us I pulled these pod photos. Could be the same guy if he ditches the jacket and the hat." Hailey said as she got everyone's eyes onto the photos.

"This guy exits the newsroom at 8:42a.m. Half hour later a pod picks him up across the street. It's eight minutes after the bombing and he's still there. Like, he stayed." Hailey brought up.

"Maybe he really wanted to see all the damage he made and people he hurt?" Pru shrugged.

"He matches Sheri's description." Antonio ushered to the photo.

"Yeah, but it's not enough for visual recognition." Hailey replied.

"Okay, let's release it to the media. It's a person of interest. Set up a tip line." Antonio began to instruct everyone.

"Are we sure that's the plan? We got two pictures of the guy in the vicinity. That's it." Jay pointed out.

"Toni, are you positive that it's the best approach? I feel like it could just make things more messy for us. Potentially even ruin someone's life if people start pointing out randoms." Pru communicated as she looked at the older Detective.

"Yeah. It can go wrong a thousand ways if the public has it." Jay vocalized and Pru couldn't help but agree with him. Antonio shrugged and held his hands up as he looked over himself.

"I still have Sheri's blood on me. You asking me, it's worth the risk. Someone's going to know who this guy is." Antonio expressed as the unit began to share looks with each other in the deafening silence.

"I'll get on the packs with news affairs. Have them release it." Hank ordered. Not all of them agreeing with the idea, but it wasn't up to them anymore.

"We got something." Kim called out as she came up from the stairs, gaining everyone's attention.

"I interviewed the guard that was working the front desk at the news room. He says everyone has to sign in to get inside. He only remembers one delivery from this morning and he was on the phone when the guy came in. But he swears that he was white and had a beard." Kim informed all of them of what she was told.

"This guy—signed his name in the in-our book. Eric Mitchel, he's a journalist at a local entertainment magazine. 35, white, beard." Kim disclosed as she handed the file over to Voight.

"Bring him in." Voight instructed as they all dispersed.

+

Jay and Pru sat in the truck as they camped a few houses down from where the suspect lived. Waiting for the man to get him to take him in. Pru was unimpressed by Jay's driving to get to the location. And the two sat in silence for a while. Watching passing cars go down the street. The silence was like a poison to them. It had been that way the entire ride. But at that moment when they were stopped, the void of any sound, the quietness pierced them with irritation. An irritation that crawled, itching all across your skin until you give in to scratch it. It was just down to who would scratch first to get rid of the feeling.

"So, how was your date a few days ago?" Jay broke the silence. Pru turned towards the detective as they locked eyes.

"It wasn't a date." Pru instantly shot out.

"Are you sure about that?" Jay questioned as she narrowed her eyes in his direction.

"You were totally watching me!" Pru exclaimed in disbelief at the man beside her.

"No. Will and I went to get drinks and saw you both. You seemed quite close." Jay commented as he took a moment.

"But Connor? That's a bad apple right there. Will was telling me about how Rhodes ex took off. I wouldn't want him to use you as a rebound." Jay finished as Pru scoffed.

"Who I go and have drinks with is none of your concern. Connor and I have been talking for awhile so I know about Robin. We're just friends. And even if we weren't, it's my life, therefore my choice." Pru snapped. Clearing annoyed with the Halstead man. Even if her and Connor were presented with the opportunity to try and date, she truthfully didn't think she would date him. He wasn't the kind of guy she was looking for. And really, she just wanted a friend right now, nothing more. The girl focused back on the task at hand when a Nissan began to drive down the street.

"Is that Mitchel?" Pru asked as they tried to get a glimpse.

"Yeah, those are his images." Jay confirmed.

"SUV is Mitchell. So we're gonna approach on foot, distract him. You guys come up from behind him." Pru walkied .

"Copy. We're moving in now." Kim walkied back. Pru and Jay got out of the truck. Closing their doors as they began to walk down the street. Beginning to approach the man who walked to his mailbox.

"Looks like he shaved his beard." Jay commented.

"Eric Mitchel?" Pru called out, grabbing the man's attention.

"Yeah?" He responded as he opened up his mailbox and an explosion happened. The man flew back as Pru stumbled to the ground. Wincing as her ears rang out. Jay helped her up and checked on her.

"You okay?" He asked concerned for the girl.

"I'm fine." Pru's told him as she stood back up.

"Alright, call it in." Jay instructed as he ran towards the body.

"5021 Queen. Emergency. We have an explosion. Make sure they block off a two-block  radius. We'll need an ambulance, CFD, bomb&arsen." Pru called over her radio then sending her location. The girl looked down at her throbbing arm as she saw the blood soaking her arm. Seeing a nail sticking out of her arm. The girl grimaced as she pulled it out. Pru then walked over to where Jay stood with Kim. Adam running back to his car to get a jacket to cover the body.

"The entire blast hit him head on. He's gone." Jay informed Pru who looked down at the body right before Adam covered it.

"Hey, I saw it happen. What can I do? I was right over there." A bystander began to jog close to the crime scene.

"Sir, I need you to take a step back. Yeah, I know you want to help but I need you to stand back." Kim pushed the man away from the body. The four members of the Intelligence unit looked around at their surroundings as more people began to crowd the sidewalks. Confused to why this had happened and who could've done it if Eric Mitchel was also a target.

+

"Okay, Bomb&Arsen confirmed they bomb was wired to the mailbox door." Kim said as she took a seat next to Adam in the bullpen. This had only further complicated their case and began to stress them out. Running after a lead that turns into a dead end. Pru laid her head on her desk as she tried to get her head to stop pounding. She had the worst headache in the world and it wasn't easing up. Once they began to head back to the district, Jay noticed the blood mark on her jacket sleeve. Concern had washed all across his face as he peered over at her. Making it his duty once they got back to the district to check her arm and help wrap it up. So there she sat with her head down at her desk, arm wrapped.

"It's possible someone saw the bomb being planted." Hailey began.

"Area central and Patrol are canvassing the neighborhood. We're running pods again, surveillance but so far we've got nothing." Hailey said to them.

"We know Eric Mitchel's not out bomber being we just watched him get blown up." Adam commented.

"What the hell are we looking at? This son of a bítch led us there. He's screwing with us. He signed in using the name of his next target so we'd follow." Jay fumed.

"That's right. This is not an isolated incident. Okay? This could be the start of a bombing campaign. This guy's got an agenda. Alright, what do we know about Eric Mitchel?" Hank asked his unit.

"Well, he worked in media 15 years. Journalist at an entertainment magazine." Al read off.

"There's no evidence of death threats against him, but that doesn't mean that it didn't happen over the phone or face-to-face. Bomb&Arsen and Homicide are digging up more as we speak." Kev told them as Trudy walked in. Kim instantly stood up to greet the desk Sargent. Pru lifted her head up to peer at the scene.

"Seriously, if one more person asks if I'm okay they are not gonna be okay. I just want to help." Trudy stayed with all eyes on her as a phone went off.

"And we'll take it." Hank nodded.

"Bomb&Arsen got an update." Al informed as Antonio grabbed his jacket to go with Olinsky.

"So we're gonna go with what we got. The bombs themselves, the IDs of these two victims. We know they're both in the media. There's some connection between the two. There's a reason they were targeted. So let's find the damn nexus before another bomb goes off." Hank broke down the basics with his unit before having Trudy follow him into his office to update her on everything.

"Hey, maybe you should head home earlier to rest." Jay suggested as he walked over to Pru.

"No. I'm fine." Pru told him while he gave her a look.

"I'm fine. I just want to get this over with and get some justice." Pru said as she got up to walk away into the locker room.

+

The nighttime air was chilly as the blonde girl stood outside the hospital. Waiting for the man to walk out. She had sent him a text that she was out front. And he had replied that he was on his way down. Once the man finally approached her she smiled at him which he happily returned. Wrapping his arm around her and pulling her closer to his side. The two began to head off towards the car.

"How was your day?" Pru asked the man. He breathed out deeply, creating a dramatic sigh.

"Ehh. The usual hectic day. How about you?" He shrugged.

"Tiring. I'm just ready for some dinner and tv." Pru let out.

"Nothing can go wrong with some Jimmy Fallon." He said which made her laugh.

"Whatever you say, Connor."