⋆° დ ༄ RISKY BUSINESS
chapter twenty six. shouldn't have been alone.
"What did you wanna talk about?" Maxine asks as she and Mickey walk down to the lobby of the district, when Platt waves her hand towards them and yells, "Jacobs, Bishop. Get back upstairs. Get Voight"
"What's going on?" Max asks.
"Burgess was shot. Condition unknown. Go get your sergeant down here now!"
And without a second thought, the two detectives race back up to the unit.
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Hank, Maxine and Adam pull up to the house of one, Luther Markov, where Kim was just shot. The three get out of the suv with their guns drawn and head to the front, where a blonde, patrol officer by the name of Jen Cassidy is standing next to Burgess who is on the gurney with her gun drawn as well.
"Kim!" Adam yells running over to them.
"She's unresponsive. Struck her head in the fall. Offender shot through the front door"
"Where's Roman?" Voight questions.
"Inside. He went after the shooter. Patrolmen are locking down the street"
"Hold here! Stand down!" Voight demands, as he walks inside the house, followed by Maxine.
Maxine and Hank follow the sound of the heavy metal music all the way to the second floor and into a room, to find Roman laying on the ground.
"The whole damn house is rigged!" Sean yells.
"Where's the shooter?" Hank shouts out, over the very loud music.
"Huh?"
"The shooter!"
"No, there's no shooter!"
Max goes over to the stereo and turns the music off as Roman gets up off the ground.
"I don't know what happened...I entered the room and stepped through that tripwire..." Roman says, breathing heavily, as Hank opens the cabinet door, "Which was rigged to that thing. I got low and triggered the device. There's a body in the tub. It's...it's dissolved"
"You need medical attention?!!" A medic shouts from downstairs.
"Stay out! Get everyone across the street!" Hank shouts back, then takes out his radio, "This is Sergeant Voight. Advise patrol to evacuate the block. Dispatch bomb squad and forensics. I'm initiating a plan one"
"Roman, you good?" Max asks the patrol officer. Sean then starts to pant, "I'm good, let's go"
As Hank, Maxine and Sean leave the house the sergeant says, "Hey, I want two cars escorting that ambulance to Chicago Med."
"On it" Cassidy says.
"Ruzek, stay here. You're inside"
"Yeah"
~~~
"Yeah, bomb unit did a sweep of the place" Voight says as he, Dawson and Bishop walk towards the front of the house, "back door was linked to an improvised napalm grenade"
Then they stop to see Erin walking in and Antonio asks, "thought you're officially detailed to the task force"
"I pushed it a day" Erin says, then points to the gun, "shooter was waiting for her here?"
"There was no shooter" Hank says, walking to the front door.
"No shooter? Who pulled the trigger?" Antonio asks.
"The buzzer was rigged to the trigger of the gun. Burgess depresses the button..."
"So our killers, what, some kind of brilliant tech wiz?" Erin asks.
"Don't give him too much credit. He'll only disappoint you when we catch him" Hank says then walks away. Maxine walks over to her friend and says, "Hey Ms FBI lady. You miss us already?"
Erin nudges her and says, "Shut up"
Upstairs in the bathroom where Roman discovered a body in a tub of acid. A forensic specialist puts some of the acid into a tube while Mickey and Jay watch.
"There's some unique compounds in the acid. This wasn't store bought"
"If it's something exotic, we can trace the purchase" Jay says.
"How long to ID the body?" Mickey asks.
"We assumed he was the owner of the house" the specialist says.
"Are his teeth intact?"
"Gonzo"
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Maxine walks into Kim's hospital room, where Adam was sitting next to her, just watching her. She goes to sit next to her best friend, wraps her arm around his and lays her head on his shoulder.
Adam looks over at Maxine and just sighs. Neither said anything. Just sat there in silence.
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Back on the unit, as everyone is gathered around the whiteboard where Antonio is, Adam and Maxine walk onto the unit.
"Positive ID on our victim in the tub. Luther Markov, 73 years old. Retired dean of psychology at central chicago university" Dawson explains, "he's divorced, family isn't local. Nothing in his background. He was a model citizen"
"Well, what about the political connection, the Bulgarian embassy?" Adam asks, "That's how we ended up at his door in the first place"
"I sent his blog to a contact at the FBI to do a threat assessment" Erin says and Mickey gives her a look, "Yeah I know. I'm all fancy now. For what it's worth, I don't think that politics are related"
"This Murder was vicious. It's not a robbery, something personal" Voight says.
"Sarg" Kevin says, walking into the unit with some papers in his hand, "I ran the plate on the victim's vehicle. Nothing matched. Make, model, vin number. Nothing"
"Someone swapped his license plate" Antonio says, folding his arms over each other.
"That's what I'm saying" Atwater says, taping the picture of the license plate onto the board.
"Whose tags aren't on it" Al asks.
"Registered to a Travis Webber. A meth head with multiple drug cases, typical burglary arrests"
"Maybe he broke in, killed the old man, rigged the house" Adam suggests.
"I don't know, man. He doesn't sound that clever" Al says, leaning on the corner of his desk, "I mean, why bother going to all that trouble in the house and then leaving your plates behind?"
"Let's ask him" Hank says then looks over at Kevin. "He lives in Portage Park. Works at a bike shop nearby"
"Alright, we'll split up. Lindsay, Bishop, Halstead, Ruzek. We'll check his work. We're knocking his door down, we're doing it with the bomb unit"
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Voight, Ruzek, Bishop, Halstead and Lindsay arrive at the location of Webber's work and they get out of their vehicles.
"Halstead, Bishop...around the back" Hank orders and the two detectives obey and go around back with their guns drawn.
Max and Jay walk to the back of the building to make sure it's clear.
"Okay" Jay says, then takes out his walkie, "Back door's clear"
"Stand down. Nobody go in until I say so.." Hank orders.
"Copy that, Sarg"
Max and Jay then get a couple patrol officers to cover the back, so they can go back to the front of the building where the rest of their team is.
"Hey. What do you got? The back doors covered" Jay says, as he and Max kneel down next to Hank and Adam.
"Another shotgun rig. Same kind that took down Burgess" Lindsay explains.
"It's gonna take awhile to disable" Ray from the bomb squad says.
"Get your shields" Voight orders.
Jay and Adam are holding up their bullet proof shields with Erin and Max holding out their guns behind them and Hank holding up a '2014 SUV manual' to throw at the door, to trigger the shotgun.
Once the shotgun goes off, Jay and Adam head in first, with Hank, max, Erin and Ray -the bomb squad expert- following in suit, clearing the building, when they stumble upon the body of Travis Webber.
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"Why don't I believe you, Shauna" Maxine says, sitting back in her chair as she and hank interrogate Shauna, Travis Webbers wife.
"What are you asking? Did Travis kill someone? No way" the brunette woman says.
"Why was his license plate on a car we found at a murder scene last night?"
"I have no idea"
"Alright, where was he last night?" Voight asks.
"We went bowling. I rolled a 168"
"Help us connect the dots" Max says, "The first murder led us right to Travis' front door"
"He ever mentioned the other victim?" Hank questions, "Luther Markov, older guy, psych professor"
"We had dinner with Luther two weeks ago" Shauna says, as Max and Hank look at each other, "Luther works with Travis' dad. They're friends, he's...he's-"
"He was killed" Hank finishes for the victim's wife, "Who was Travis' father?"
A few minutes later, Maxine and Hank walk back to the bullpens and Max is holding up a picture of, "Dr. Isaac Webber. Professor of psychology at central chicago university"
"The first victim we found was Webber's mentor. Lifelong friends" Hank annonces, as Bishop tapes up the photo of Isaac onto the whiteboard.
"It can't be a coincidence that his mentor and his son both wind up dead inside 24 hours" Al states.
"It's not a coincidence. The son's license plate was found at the murder scene" Mickey says.
"Right, but his prints weren't" Kevin says.
"We recovered two shotguns, both had defaced serial numbers and no ballistic matches" Erin says.
"The liquid in the tub was homemade nitric acid and the victim had been in there for two days" Jay says, "Then all of a sudden, out of the blue, we get called to the house for a spot check? Come on. There were no mistakes. Someone wanted to link Travis Webber to that murder. That license plate was planted"
"Hold on. Hold on. I got something" Hank says, holding up a piece of paper, "This is a restraining order Webber took out against one of his students. Kid named...Spencer York. Let's get him down here. I wanna know where he's been for the last two days"
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"Excuse me. We're looking for Dr Webber's class" Jay asks a woman, as he and Maxine walk into a classroom at the university.
"Found it. I'm Abby, I'm his teaching assistant. He was late, so I canceled class" the brunette woman says, as the detectives show her their badges.
"Did he call in today? Did he email you?"
"Uh, no. Is something wrong?"
"Do you know a Spencer York?" Max questions.
"We're both getting our doctorate degrees. Or he was, until he cracked up."
"Cracked up?"
"Yeah he...Here, I have a video" Abby says, going to her laptop that was on a podium, "three weeks ago, Spencer was defending his thesis. He's been spiraling for months. Untreated bipolar disorder, he wasn't sleeping. I heard Dr Webber took out a restraining order, after the...meltdown" then she plays the video.
After the video had finished, Abby says, "Spencer's thesis was titled 'spheres of influence'. How one person can transfer psychic trauma into another."
"So now he's trying to finish his thesis in the real world?" Max asks.
"Yeah, sure. York gets booted out of school, decides to take it out on his old professor" Jay says.
"Only he doesn't attack just him. He attacks the people in his sphere. First Webber's mentor"
"Then his son"
"Dr Webber was a father figure, or spencer wanted him to be" Abby says. Jay sighs and says, "so who's next in his sphere?"
"I mean his wife's the logical answer, if logic is applicable here. Thank you" Max says then the two detectives walk away as she puts her phone to her ear, "we got to get to York's. I'm gonna have Voight track down Dr Webber"
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Maxine, Jay and Sean meet up with Adam at York's place and Max asks, "Hey. How's Burgess?"
"She's great. Great. Just, uh, a little follow up thing" Adam says.
"Okay. York's got the second floor unit. Everybody look sharp" Jay says, as they draw their guns and walk up the wooden steps. Then a car alarm goes off and Adam says, "I'll check it out"
Jay slowly takes his foot off the step and Max asks, "what is it?"
"This step is loose" Jay says then takes out his knife and carefully undos the wooden board to see a sensor piece connected to a bomb.
"That's it. We need to call the Bomb unit. This whole place could be rigged" roman says.
"There could be hostages inside"
"Are we going or are we waiting?" Max asks, her gun pointed at the house.
"I'm gonna call the bomb unit"
Roman then turns to see Ruzek still checking out the car and then yells, "Ruzek, no!" and as Adam lifts up the trunk, the second floor of the building explodes.
"You okay?" Jay asks his partner.
"Yeah, you?"
"Yeah"
"You okay?" Roman questions.
"Yeah, we're okay" max says as they run away from the house.
"The car was rigged" Adam says, racing over to them.
"I know. That's why I yelled, 'Ruzek, no'" Roman states. Adam holsters his gun and walks towards Sean and says, "so now you're Johnny on the spot"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"What do you think it means? What happened last night?!" Adam yells.
"hey man. What's your problem? I'm not gonna hit you..."
Max walks over to the officers to separate them and says, "Hey, I might hit one of you! Same team guys. Come on!"
"Ruzek take a walk" Jay says, nudging Adam away, "take a walk!" then as he and Max duck behind a car he says, "we gotta check the building for victims"
"We got to get the bomb unit out here first. And crowd control" max says then turns around to get on her phone. Jay answers his phone and says, "Halstead...thank god" then he looks over at his partner, "hey Issac Webber turned up. York had him tied up but he's fine, Antonio and Olinsky are headed over there now"
"Hey Jay " Max says, turning back around.
"Yeah"
"Don't look now. Behind us, there's a guy watching."
Jay slowly turns around to spot a guy then says, "shaved head, tan jacket?"
"Yeah"
Max pretends to text on her phone then looks up at York who was behind the yellow tape and puts her phone into her pocket. As she slowly walks towards him, York backs away when Jay walks up behind him and says, "Where you going Spencer?" Then puts him in cuffs.
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"You've been busy. Two bodies we found so far" Jay says, leaning against the blue wall in interrogation, "how many more are we gonna find?"
"We also found your fingerprints at both crime scenes" Max says, sliding a piece of paper towards Spencer, "we also have video of you at RadioShack buying wiring and transmitting devices"
"You can't put the house back together" Spencer said.
"Hmm. Where is Susannah Webber?" Max asks and Spencer just sat there, "you didn't run. So you wanted to be caught? Tell us where she is" and Spencer just sat there in silence.
"Your father died when you were a kid. That right, Spencer? Dr Webber, he was like a father figure. Only he let you twist when your mind went. That's cruel. That must have hurt. But Spencer, if that hurt, if you think that's real pain, you keep ignoring us. Cause either you're gonna tell us, or we're gonna find her" Jay says, then leans his hands on the table, his voice getting angrier and Maxine didn't understand why she got butterflies in her stomach, "and I hope for your sake that when we do, she's alive!" And Spencer still sat there in silence, "so, where is she? Where's Susannah Webber?"
Spencer leaned forward, "you can't put the house back together"
~~~
"Still no leads on Susannah Webber's location?" Voight questions, turning away from the whiteboard to face Dawson, Olinsky, Ruzek, Bishop and Halstead.
"We pinged her phone, got no response" Adam answers, "And I checked with her client, she missed their meeting"
"Oh, yeah. So, he makes it in the big city on a professor's salary. She looks expensive to maintain. How does that work" Al questions.
"Makes her own money. She flips high end houses" Dawson says, showing the group a photo of a really nice house, "Sold this one for 4.2 million last year"
"York isn't finished, okay? He planned all this. If we caught him that easy, it's cause there's something else he wants us to find" Voight says.
"Well, he wants to break his old mentor. So, where'd he stash this guy's wife? Where's he leading us next?" Al questions.
"And what's with the number?" Max asks.
"The sole contents of the wallet we pulled off Spencer York" Jay answers, "Hazard a guess"
"Untraceable, unlisted, unhelpful" Al says, "This is a weird one"
~~~
"So" Mickey says, helping Max put her vest on.
"So"
"Um, about the thing I wanted to talk to you about"
Maxine turns around to face her ex boyfriend and says, "yeah"
"Um, I'm going back into the rangers"
Maxine looked at him in shock, "what?"
"Alright, let's head out" Voight says.
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The team arrives at the building, where they suspect Susannah to be with their guns drawn.
Jay checks the perimeter of the door, to make sure it's not censored with anything, then when he finishes with that, Hank bangs on the door, and a woman screams for help.
"How long till the bomb unit?" Hank asks.
"Still 5 minutes out" Erin says. Hank slowly turns the door handle, as Maxine's anxiety goes through the roof.
"It's open"
"He knew we were coming" Jay says.
"We gonna wait for the bomb squad?" Max asks.
"Wait, till they roll up" Hank orders, as him, Jay and Roman walk inside and Erin and Max stay outside waiting for Ray from the bomb unit to show up.
About 10 minutes laters, Voight, Halstead and Roman walk out with a very much alive Susannah Webber.
As Voight and Roman bring Susannah over to the ambulance. Max runs over to her partner and brings him into a hug, "oh my god. Are you okay?"
Jay nods and wraps his arms around her waist and buried his face into her neck, "I'm okay, Max"
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Maxine sits at a table at Mollys across from Mickey and takes a sip of her beer, "so, you're really gonna leave?"
"I've been thinking about it for a while. There's nothing here for me anymore. I only stayed this long, because of you"
"Mick—"
"Max, listen. I love you. I will always love you and what we had was real." Mickey said, placing his hand on top of Maxines, "I'm sorry for everything that I put you through and now that I know you have someone to make you happy.."
Max squints her eyes, "what are you talking about?"
"Jay"
"Jay and I aren't—"
"It's okay, Max" Mickey says, then gets up from his seat and goes to give Maxine a hug, "I'm gonna miss you" then he kisses her forehead and walks away, leaving the bar.
Max watches her first love walk away, tears threatening to escape. she was never going to forget what they had. She was gonna miss him. First Joey dies then Mickey goes back into the rangers. She felt like she was losing everyone.
authors note;
goodbye mickey jacobs, we'll miss you 🫡🫶🏼
you guys aren't ready for the plot twist then I'm gonna be writing soon!!!!!!☺️☺️