When Chicago PD season 12 came to a close, the Intelligence Unit hit an all-time low as the team was disbanded and two members of the team were stripped of their badges. As the new season opens, the team is still disbanded and Voight is clearly struggling with his new reality.
As the episode opens, Trudy arrives at Voight’s place to shake him out of his funk and encourage him to meet with IAD Commander Devlin about trying to get the Intelligence Unit back together. At Trudy’s encouragement, Voight goes to see Commander Devlin at a donor event at the wall of honor. Voight says it’s been 4 weeks, a full month since Intelligence was disbanded, the team has been on their best behavior and every charge of misconduct has been dismissed.
He wants to see the team reinstated before they lose anyone else, revealing that Cook has taken a permanent spot at another district. Voight points out to Commander Devlin that there has been a steady rise in crime and the CPD needs his team, but Commander Devlin says he needs more time and to keep working rapid response as he needs more time.
From there, we get a little glimpse into what exactly the unit has been up to since being broken apart. Atwater is back on patrol in uniform, Torres and Burgess are still off the job, and Ruzek has been moved to working parkers and movers.
Voight catches a case when getting caught in the crossfire
While responding to a drug call in which a young man was busted for hiding drugs in his aunt’s garden, gunfire erupts and Voight races into the action. Unfortunately, the shooter gets away. The aunt is shot in the crossfire and a man is killed in the shooting.
Voight finds a stack of dummy cash in the victim’s hand, making him think it’s a deal gone wrong. He wants to knock and talk, but Commander Devlin says he can’t work on this case as he was only assigned to work in progress calls. Upon learning that the young man’s aunt died en route to the hospital, Voight disregards the order and chases a lead. He looks into the shooter and calls Ruzek for backup.
Ruzek and Voight meet at a bar with Adam going in undercover asking about the brown Ford spotted fleeing the crime by claiming it clipped his car. A man gets defensive as he rushes at Adam and the woman he’s with tries racing off after starting a fight. As Voight shows up, she tells them she’s on duty with the ATF.
As we officially meet Eva Imani, she tells Voight and Ruzek that she’s working a gun runner. Voight tells her they’re likely looking for the same guy, but she refuses to work with them. She takes her ID and leaves. They follow her and Voight tries to convince Ruzek to come with him, but he has to return to his beat, so Voight follows her alone.
Voight pulls Burgess off the bench and chaos ensues
Voight calls Burgess to ask for an off-book favor. He asks to meet asap and Burgess happily obliges. Burgess tails Imani, following to a house where she meets with the man from the bar. Burgess parks and watches as they enter the house and does a walk by in hopes of overhearing something that might be useful for the case. As Burgess walks by the house, she hears arguing and notices the man strangling Imani.
Burgess races into the house, tackling him off as he tries to strangle her. Just as the man pulls a gun on Burgess, Voight shows up and shoots him, killing him instantly. Voight sends Burgess off and tells Imani she was never here in order to protect her given she’s not been officially brought back from suspension.
We learn the man’s name is Dee Heart, he works for a gun runner the ATF is after. He was supposed to get her a meet, but that plan is out the window now that Voight has killed him. Rather than giving Voight up, Imani covers for him and tells Commander Devlin she could use Voight’s help with the ATF investigation. His back against the wall, Commander Devlin backs down and agrees to allow him to help.
Voight brings in Atwater and Ruzek as ATF gets confirmation Raptor is their guy. They have an arrest warrant so as soon as Raptor shows they bring him in. The trap works as someone shows up, but it’s not Raptor who shows up. Just then gunfire begins with them taking heavy fire. The man was a decoy, Raptor found him shooting up and promised him drugs if he came up to the car asking for Dee. The man points them in the direction of the alley where Raptor approached him, but Raptor is able to evade capture.
Ruzek finds footage of their guy, but the plates are dummy plates. Imani says they have to hit this now instead of calling her supervisors. Voight sends Atwater and Ruzek back to their beats, and he and Imani chase the lead.
At the address, they find guns and Imani finds a registered laptop and a cell phone they can ping. They begin tracing the phone, but her boss seems to tell her to hold anchor. They choose to ignore the order and keep in pursuit of Raptor. Voight clips the car, as they roll up they see a gun and Imani jumps into action to stop him from firing as they both arrest him with several guns. Imani’s boss wants Voight to take the arrest to get Raptor off the street, rather than getting a deal with the ATF.
Voight uses blackmail to get Intelligence back
Voight goes to see Commander Devlin and reminds him that his team has the highest solve rate in the city. He implores him to sign the unit back, but Commander Devlin says Voight’s unit destroys everyone it touches and he’s not signing intelligence back, ever. Voight says he tried to do this the right way as he hands him papers.
ATF is still tracking every gun from Raptor and during the search Voight found guns which all track back to his predecessor, guns that were stolen and never reported as missing. Voight says he doubts they ever knew who stole them, just that it was an embarrassment and it went against their self-preservation to report them. Voight makes it clear: his unit is reinstated tonight or this goes public.
Commander Devlin caves and reinstates the Intelligence Unit. As the episode comes to an end, Voight returns to the Intelligence Unit bullpen, which has been left in shambles. Imani comes in and says her superior ended her detail and Voight invites her to join his unit. Voight returns Torres and Burgess’s badges and tells the team they have work to do as they return to action.