⋆° დ ༄ RISKY BUSINESS
chapter twenty two. prison ball.
Maxine walks into THE CHICAGO SKY and over to the bartender, Danny, who she's gotten to know. "Hey Danny" she smiles.
"Max, hey" he smiles, pouring a drink for someone.
"He here?"
"Office I think"
"Thanks" the detective said before walking through the crowd of people to get to the office of the man she couldn't stop thinking about over the last month. She knocks on the door and waits patiently for a response.
"Who is it?"
"It's me"
"What are you doing here, Maxine?" He asked through the door.
"I wanted to see you"
Maverick sighed, he wanted to see her too but not when his face was all bruised and bloody. "Go home, Maxine. I don't have time right now"
"Oh" she said, looking at the ground, "okay, I'll just talk to you later I guess" then she walks away, when she gets a phone call from Erin, "What's up, E?"
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Once Maxine gets to the crime scene, she meets up with Hank and Erin and they walk over to the victim, and are met with Commander Fischer.
"What are you wearing?" Erin asked the older detective. Maxine looked down at her dress and sighed, "it's um, nothing. i was just out" earning a raised eyebrow from the younger detective.
"Victim's name was Mya Watkins. She was a state's witness set to testify in a theft case this week. Shooter walked up and put two in her head and ran off"
Erin kneels down next to the body and lifts up the tarp from over the victims face to reveal a little girl.
"How old is she?" Max questions, "Ten?"
"Yeah" Fischer answers, as Erin puts the tarp back over her face, "Clear everything off your plate. This is the only case that matters" then he walks away.
"Homicide found two nine mil shell casings next to the body" Jay says, as he, Mickey and Antonio walk over to Alvin, "they're on their way to ballistics for analysis now"
"Any witnesses?" Al asks.
"Zip. This was a message to the neighborhood. 'Don't snitch'" Antonio states.
Everyone then turns to see the mother of Mya Watkins, crying into Kevin's arms.
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The team is back on the unit and are sat at their desks, surrounding the whiteboard as Antonio tapes a picture on it, "James Grant. Senior at Anderson high and star forward on the basketball team"
"Kids a lock for the pros" Jay adds.
"Except robbery-burglary picked him up a couple months back. Charges wouldn't stick without an eyeball witness." Dawson says then points to Mya's picture, "Mya was the only one willing to go on the record"
"So she was the only thing that stood between Grant going pro" Max starts to say, when Antonio finishes her sentence. "And spending the next five years in statesville"
"Alright" Adam says, getting off the phone, "The coach confirmed that Grant was playing in a tournament in Evanston at the time of the shooting"
"Maybe, that was the plan" Erin suggests, "Have eyes on Grant, while Mya gets shot somewhere else"
"This kids connected enough to order a hit on a witness?" Al asks as Kevin walks out from the back and handing a piece of paper to Voight, then taping a picture onto the whiteboard. "No, Grant's not, but his uncle definitely is...Devon Tucker. OG vice lord, turned gun runner. He's been looking out for his nephew, since the boy learned how to dribble"
"Yeah, but he's locked up at MCC on a federal weapons charge" Hank says, looking over the paper, Kevin just gave him, "Think he ordered the hit from inside?"
"Bet my star on it" Kevin says and Max looks over at him and raises her eyebrow.
"Let's go have a chat" Hank says to Al, then they leave.
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"Promise to be safe?"
Adam looked over at his best friend, from the tv screen, "Maxie.."
"I know I know, that sounds stupid because you'll be in a prison but just—" she sighs, "don't intentionally get yourself hurt to make the case. Your life matters. I can't lose you too"
"Promise" he said, holding out his pinky. Max hooks her pinky to his and smiles, "forever"
"And always"
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Max, Mickey, Jay, Erin and Al are in Hank's office with Commander Fischer talking about how Ruzek and Atwater went undercover as inmates at MCC, while Antonio went as a guard.
"Far as anyone knows, they're detainees, like any other, which means they'll be treated as such. I mean, only the warden knows they're inside. Anyone else finds out, he'll shut us down" Hank explains.
"Who's watching over them?" Fischer questions.
"One of my best undercovers...so while Atwater's on the inside, trying to get Tucker on a wire copping to ordering the hit, we're out here doing everything we can to ID the shooter and then link him back to Tucker"
"Sounds like fun" Fischer scoffs before leaving Voight's office.
"That's the new commander?" Jay questions, then mocks him, "'Sounds like fun', weird dude"
Hank and Max nod their heads in agreement.
"I spoke to Mya's mother. She's on her way in for her interview" Erin says.
"Where we at with the shell casings from the scene?" Hank asks.
"Firing pin signature didn't match anything in the database and no usable fingerprints. Shooter was careful" Max answers, her hands resting on her hips.
"Then we go back to basics. Check every camera we're linked to. CPD pods. Commercial residential surveillance and run every in-service call that came last night. I want to be briefed"
"Got it, boss" Erin says, as she, Max, Mickey and Jay leave Voight's office. As erin sidelines Mickey, Jay sidelines his partner as they walk over to their desks and says, "So.."
Max raises an eyebrow, "what, Halstead?"
"That dress you were wearing last night. You went out?"
"No, I stayed home in it because I hate being comfy"
Jay chuckles, "there's that sense of humor I love so much. No seriously though, you had a hot date or something?" He raises an eyebrow. Maxine smirks, "wouldn't you like to know"
"I would, that's why I asked"
"Give it a break, Halstead"
"What's up?" Mickey asks, as they walk over to Erin's desk.
"Steve Kot" Erin said, her arms crossed over each other.
"Yeah?" Mickey said, sitting on the edge of her desk.
"What do you know about him?"
"Lawyer from the state's attorney's office. I heard he went right back to work the day after his kid was killed"
"Is he a standup guy?"
Mickey tilts his head in confusion, going to sit in the corner of his partners desk and says, "I really wouldn't know. Olinsky would"
"well, he's putting together a task force and he wants me on it" Erin says, showing her partner Kots card.
"What? Seriously?"
"Yeah. Which I'm keeping confidential."
"Wow. Task force?"
"Yeah" Erin says, putting her hands on her hips, "why do you look so shocked?"
"That's just..." Mickey chuckles, "that's big"
"Yeah. So if they came to you and it was offered, what would you...shh" she says, ending the conversation when she sees Al walk out of Hank's office, then she pats him on the shoulder and walks away. Mickey looks around, confused on what just happened.
~~
Hank walks back out onto the bullpen from talking with James Grant in interrogation when he sees Max get off the phone and asks, "get a hit off the pods?"
"Not yet. CPIC's gonna extend the review radius to another six blocks" Maxine answers. Jay walks onto the bullpen with a file in hand and says, "patrol responded to a hit and run collision a half mile from our crime scene last night. Call came in minutes after Mya was killed"
"Driver in a hurry to get lost" Al says.
"Partial plate narrowed it down to a Nathan Hughes in Wicker park"
"Mickey, Erin. Hit it" Hank says.
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"Well, if this is our shooter, he's sure done well for himself" Erin says, as she and Mickey walk up the front steps of a very nice brownstone.
"You're not really considering this task force, are you?" Mickey asks.
"No. That's why I showed you the card and asked for your advice. For the exercise" Erin sasses as Mickey knocks on the door.
"I mean, imagine how heart broken you'd be not seeing my smiling face everyday" Mickey smiles. Erin chuckles and says, "you know what? You just settled it for me. Thanks"
Mickey's smile goes to a frown and asks, "meaning?"
The door opens to a blonde girl with a confused look on her face and asks, "can I help you?"
"Yeah, we're looking for Nathan Hughes?" Lindsay asks.
"I'm his daughter Katie"
"Does your dad drive a black BMW X5?"
"No, but I do. If this is about the parking tickets, I was gonna pay them. Those jerks didn't have to tow my car"
"When was the car towed?" Mickey asks.
"Two days ago"
"So the cars still in the lot" Mickey sighs, "thank you" then the partner duo make their way back to their car.
"I'll call Voight" Erin sighs.
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"Help you folks?" The guy asks, walking out of an office of a car lot, where Voight and Bishop are now at.
"Yeah" Hanks says, showing him, his badge on his belt, "A car from this lot was spotted at a crime scene. No record of it being towed. So somehow it left the premises last night and wound up back here"
"Well this ain't a drive thru. It's an auto impound. No vehicle goes in or out unless a form gets filled or its on the back of a truck" The guys says.
"How does a car get in and out of the lot without going into the system?" Max questions.
"That's a good question. Wait here, let me get the manager" The guys says, then walks away into the building.
"How you doin' kid?" Hank asks the younger girl.
"I'm fine"
"Max, I've known you for 13 years, everytime you say..'I'm fine'.."
"Come on" Max says, interrupting Voight.
"What?"
Max points to the guy they were talking to, running away. "Aw, man"
The Voight/Bishop duo chase after the guy, through the car lot. While Max follows the bigger man, Hank goes around the other side, trying to cut him off and trap him.
Maxine takes her gun from her holster, slowly trying to find this guy between abandoned cars, when she spots him ducking behind one and points him out to Hank, who then slams into the car the guys behind and traps him underneath.
"Opps" Hanks says, as he and Max put their guns back into their holsters. Maxine then leans against the car, so it pushes further on to the guy.
"Come on, man. I'm just trying to make a couple bucks."
"So you took out a contract on a ten year old?" Hank questions.
"What the hell is he talking about?" The guy asks, looking at Maxine.
"Who ever was driving the bimmer last night murdered a little girl" Max answers.
"Whoa. Maybe I rented a car or two out to someone trying to impress a date...but nobody said anything about a murder"
"Well, you tell me who was behind the wheel or I hang the whole thing on you..." Hank says, as Max pushes harder on the car, "It's your choice"
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"Okay" Erin says walking back into the bullpen, holding up a paper with Mickey trailing behind her, "the tow clerk rented the car to Omar Martel" then she tapes his picture onto the board, "Martel was detained with Tucker at MCC, until a few months ago"
"Bingo" Hank says.
"He used to run a stick up crew, ripping off dealers and killing 'em for fun" Mickey says, handing Hank, Al, Jay and Max papers to read, "now all his boys are either dead or in jail so he's branched out to murder for hire. Last known address is on west 23rd and Pilsen"
"And Grants cell phone record shows him pinging a tower near Martels house two days before Mya was killed" Erin says then slaps her hand against Martels picture, "this is our shooter"
"Beautiful. Alright let's roll out" Hank says.
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Hank, Al, Erin, Jay, Maxine and Mickey slowly walk towards the front of the house owned by Omar Martel with their long guns and vested up. Voight knocks lightly on the door saying 'Chicago police'.
Alvin used the ram to smash the door in and the team slowly walks inside to clear the house out. They slowly make their way upstairs, when a woman walks around the corner. Mickey quickly covers the girls mouth so she didn't scream. "Nod your head Yes or no. Is he in there?" And the woman nods.
Maxine slowly walks in, while Omar was dancing and rolling up, who looks behind him, grabbing his knife and going after max. She jumps back and punches the man in the face, knocking him back against the wall. Martel runs towards Maxine swinging at her when Jay comes up behind and hits him in the side, knocking him down.
Voight walks into the room as Omar asks, "what y'all want?"
"Tough guy, huh?" Voight says, stepping on his rib cage, "you think you're hard? Killing a child? Listen to me. This can go down a lot of different ways. But only one of 'em ends well for you"
"Hey Voight" Al says, getting off the phone.
"I'm busy"
"It's Antonio"
"You got nothing" Martel says, as Voight walks away. "We'll see about that"
As Erin and Mickey go to cuff the skinny guy, Jay looks at his partner and asks, "you okay?"
Maxine nods her head, "yeah"
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Maxine looked over at Jay, who smiled at her, sipping on her beer as they sat at the bar at Mollys. She raised an eyebrow, "what?"
Jay shrugs, "nothing"
"Spit it out, Halstead"
"You seem different"
"What, my sarcasm isn't enough for you?" She asked, turning around in her seat.
"No, it's just the right amount" he jokes, "you just seem different, in a good way. Does it have anything to do with why you were dressed up the other night?"
"It was at first I guess. I went to go see this guy and he turned me away" Maxine said, sadly, looking at the ground.
The look of shock on Jay's face could not be missed. "He turned you away? Who could turn you away?" causing Maxine to shrug.
Jay places his hand on top of Maxine's and says, "you wanna come over my place for a night cap?"
Maxine nods, "yeah"
They both slide off the bar stools and as they go to walk away, Jay puts his arm around Maxine's shoulders and kisses the side of her head. "I got you angel. i would never turn you away"
authors note;
jay and max are just *chefs kiss* 💋