⋆° დ ༄ RISKY BUSINESS
chapter thirty seven. push the pain away.
Maxine sits at her desk, staring a hole into Voights door. Jay slides his chair over to his partner and says, "Hey"
"What?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to come over tonight. Watch the game with me and my brother"
"I can't" she said as Voight leaves his office and walks into the break room.
"Max, what's wrong?" He asked and then his desk phone rang and he went to answer it. Voight leaves the break room, knowing Maxine had been watching him the whole time and turns towards her, "you wanna say something?"
"Multiple shots fired at LakeShore Sport and Fitness" Jay says, hanging up his desk phone and the team grabs their coats to leave.
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The team gets out of their vehicles with their guns drawn, and Hank and Maxine head over to Antonio who is behind a patrol car.
"Responding officer says five victims so far. Last shot fired two minutes ago. Shooters could still be inside"
"How many?" Voight asks.
"No idea. Witnesses say they're wearing balaclavas and tac gear. SWAT and deputies are en route. Should I initiate plan four?"
"Yes, on my authority. Nobody can leave"
"Got it, Sarg"
~~~
After the Intelligence team clears the building, Maxine goes and talks with the security guard on duty.
"It was four shooters. I took a position on the guy behind. I discharged my weapon twice"
"Alright"
"He didn't fall. He swung his rifle on me. You ID the guy yet? Is he local?" The security guard asks.
"We're still working on it"
~~~
The Intelligence unit, plus other officers and techies from other departments are gathered into a mobile command center.
"At 8:23 a.m., four shooters entered the Lakeshore sport and fitness and started killing and we have four confirmed dead males and one female victim in surgery at Chicago Med" Dawson annonces.
"Now, we have one shooter in custody who remains unidentified" Olinsky says, "Three other shooters are at large"
"The FBI is looking for a terrorist link. Intelligence will be coordinating the ground game. The Fusion units' scanning rooftops. Who here is CTA?" Antonio asks and a lady raises her hand, "Alright, stop all trains out of state and lake and I need all buses rerouted . CFD, we need four ambos on standby in case of another incident"
"Now, they burned their suits and masks. So, we don't know what they look like right now" Max says.
"Patrolman spotted four guys wearing all black, park a car two blocks east" Jay says, walking into the mobile command station, "Ran the plates, car came back hot. Inside were four hundred rounds of M855S, armor piercing"
"Alright, I'll redirect patrol and set up a grid search. Move fast, move smart. Let's find these guys and keep those ambos empty" Dawson says.
~~~
"These guys, they threw wild shots into this court. Then three hits over here" Jay says, as he and Max walk through the squash courts, "One. Two. Three. Three shots, three bodies"
"This isn't random" Max states.
~~~
After looking through the squash courts, Max and Jay start to question witnesses.
"-and then they came down to my court..."
"To court five" Max asks and the blonde lady nods her head.
"Directly across from court two?" Jay asks.
"That's right and then he opened the door and just started shooting. I dove to the ground. When I looked up. I could see into the other court"
"Into court two"
"Yes. It was..." The lady starts to get tears in her eyes.
"Hey, it's gonna be okay" Max says.
"...it was awful and I just keep seeing it and I-I'm sorry. We were supposed to have lunch together"
"You knew the victims?" Jay asks.
"Um, we work together at Elkarn and Associates. We're a law firm. They were senior partners"
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"Five shooting victims. Now, five fatalities" Max says as she and Voight talk with commander Fischer in the small office across from Platt's desk, "The one girl who got in their way died in surgery. Leanne Palomo, she was thirty. The other four were the targets"
"Lawyers from Elkarn and Associates" Fischer states.
"I spoke with the managing partner at the firm. All four of them worked on Lancaster Chemical and had contact with the engineer last month. I'll find out why"
"I don't think this is terrorism, this is some kind of corporate revenge" Voight says, "You should alert the FBI"
"And the motive is, what exactly?" Fischer asks.
"We don't know but we'll dig it out"
"Who knows about this?"
"No one yet—" Max says.
"No one" Hank states.
"And no one can, until we identify these shooters and get them off the streets. No press, no other units. I'll run interference as long as I can, but I want these killers identified"
"Sir, the CEO of Lancaster Chemical is in Chicago today, the companies being acquired" max says.
"Find out how their company is wrapped up in this, alright?"
"And ID the shooters, we're on it" Max says, as she and Hank leave the small office, "I don't need you to cover for me"
"I'm not covering. I'm protecting. We don't need any mistakes today" Hank says and Maxine scoffs, "you're distracted"
"Yeah, I wonder why"
"Sergeant, something happened at the scene" Kim says, walking over to max and Hank and a siren goes off, "That's your ride"
~~~
Max and Erin are sat in interrogation with the CEO of Lancaster Chemical and his lawyer.
"Mr. McLelland, Mr. Hastings, thank you for meeting with us. It's a sad day" Erin says.
"Our hearts go out to the Elkarn and Associates family. They lost brilliant minds this morning" Mr McLelland says.
"Listen, Mr. McLelland, we're a little confused, hoping you could help us" Maxine says, sitting down next to Erin, "Four of your lawyers were killed. Assassinated, really. We tied the very same shooters to the murder of one of your employees at Lancaster Chemical"
"I'm sorry your question is?"
"Well..." Max starts to say when Erin cuts her off. "These men were targeted and we think you know why"
"Richard Davis was an engineer at our Paoli facility. He was fired for cause, four months ago..." Mr McLelland says and Maxine cuts him off. "What was the cause?"
"As legal counsel, all I'm prepared to say is that's a confidential matter"
"With all due respect, Mr Hastings, we've got a situ-" But before Maxine could finish her sentence, Erin slams a photo in front of Mr. McLelland then four other photos. "Five men tied to your company are dead. See this? Go ahead, take a look. There's no cameras in here. You can speak freely. Really look at them"
"Davis stole trade secrets"
"Right and we know he signed a two million dollar settlement with Lancaster Chemical a week before he was murdered. Managing partners found this 'highly unusual'" Max states.
"Why would you pay off a thief you just fired?" Erin questions.
"And what did he steal exactly?"
"Officers, his settlement included a nondisclosure agreement" Mr Hastings says and Erin stands up in anger. "Do you understand that the men who did this are holding hostages right now? And more people are gonna die. So what is going on? What the hell are you hiding?"
"This is an emotional day for all of us" Mr McLelland says, standing up along with Mr Hastings, "But to suggest that my company has anything to do with what's happened..."
"You've said enough, Mark. If you will excuse us. We have a meeting across town"
"I'm sure you do" Erin says and the two suits leave.
~~~
Maxine sits on one of the benches in the locker room, listening to another voicemail that Maverick left. She couldn't face him. She was so angry and sad with Nadia's death and then she kissed Jay, she couldn't live with herself. She betrayed him.
She looked up to see Trudy leaning against the doorway, who asks, "how you feeling detective?"
"Uh, no complaints" Maxine said, standing up to go open her locker and grab a couple aspirin.
"Huh. Cause I was thinking maybe you should go home" Platt said walking further into the locker room.
"I'm fine, Sarg"
"you look sick and worn down. Let me ask you a personal question"
"Why?" She asks, crossing her arms over each other looking over at the sergeant.
"Because I feel like it and I out rank you, so just shut up for a second, okay? Who have you talked to, I mean, really talked to, since nadia died"
"Well, she didn't die. She was murdered"
"Maxine, the guy was unhinged. No one in this building, or anywhere else for that matter, blames you...or Erin"
"Thanks Sarg. I'll keep that under advisement" Maxine said, slamming her locker before walking away.
~~~
"Hey, you guys got something?" Erin asks, as she and Max walk into the tech room, where Mouse and Adam are.
"Facial recognition on our unknown shooter" Mouse says, "Finally got a hit off the Indiana DMV. Meet Evan Kozelek, thirty two. From Paoli, Indiana"
"Here, the local paper, about a year ago" Adam says, handing a piece of paper to Erin, "That's Evan, serving as a pallbearer for the funeral of an eight year old girl, his niece. She died of Lymphoma. Read the next part, it's what this is all about"
Lindsay looks at Adam in shock and hands the paper off to Maxine.
"Mouse patch me into Voight...Voight can you hear me?"
"I hear you"
"One of the shooters is Owen Kozelek, forty four years old. He's an ex marine. The offender in custody is his brother. Owen lost his daughter last year" Erin says, "Hank, the family blames Lancaster Chemicals test facility for making her sick"
"I understand"
"He called the engineer eleven times in the weeks leading up to his murder"
~~~
"So area central ID'd our third shooter as Ray Kozelek. He's Evan and Owens brother" Maxine says, standing at the whiteboard, "He's got priors for battery, illegally concealing a handgun. Up until today, he was the bad egg"
"Owen's a former marine. Served everywhere from Kosovo to Kuwait" Adam adds, "We think he probably trained the family for this"
"So we got these two in custody, our last shooters still out there" Erin says.
"Well, if it's a family affair, let's shake the tree, maybe another Kozelek falls out" Al says.
"It's a big tree. I pulled the brothers' financials, looked into known associates, anyone who'd make sense as a co conspirator. A list of siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins" Mouse states, "I mean, it's a mile long. They're like jack rabbits, the Kozeleks"
"Well, get Indiana state police to account for everyone of these folks" Al says.
"Wait..." Kim says, picking up one of the many pictures on Jay's desk, "This guy, Nick Sutter. He was there at the athletic club, we took a statement from him"
"He was with the woman who got shot, he was a witness" Erin says.
"He was posing as one and I cleared him"
"Nicholas Sutter is Ray's son. He goes by his step dads name. Nineteen years old, no priors. So his cousin is the little girl who died" Mouse says.
"I followed protocol" Kim says, reading from a file, "I had him swabbed for gunshot residue. It came back clean. I cannot believe this. I mean, we had him"
"So nick's dad and uncles draw our attention away from the club while he falls in with the witnesses and slips out" Al says.
"So they aren't finished. They have another target" Burgess says.
"We've got to locate McLelland and the legal counsel Hastings, now" Max says, picking up her desk phone.
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"Alright, shooter knows how to hide in plain sight, he proved as much this morning" Voight addresses the team as they walk into the building of the law firm, Hastings works with, "Check stairwells, garages, any place he could be laying low"
"Got it" Adam says walking away with a long gun drawn along with Al and Anontio.
"Alright, the rest of us, we're gonna wait for this maniac to come to us" Voight says, as he, Erin, Max and Jay walk up the stairs to find Hastings.
~~~
"Chicago PD, please stay calm" Jay says, rushing into a room along with Maxine, Erin and Hank with Hastings and a bunch of other lawyers, "Everyone stay in your seats"
"We need to talk" Voight tells Hastings.
"Sorry, but this is not the time"
"Five people were murdered today in retaliation for actions you took on behalf of this company. Now they're coming for you. What do you have to say about that Hastings?" Hank says.
"This is business interference. Let's talk else where"
"Sit your ass down"
"No one can leave till we ensure safe passage out of this building" Jay says.
"You can't hold us here" Hastings says.
"You wanna walk out, take my vest"
~~~
After catching Nick Sutter, Maxine and Voight take Hastings' statement and wait for him to sign it.
"Just sign right there, that'll complete your statement" Max says and Hastings grabs the pen and signs.
"No problem, detective. Thanks again for your efforts today"
Maxine's face scrunches up and she looks at Voight and walks away from Hastings.
"There's a press conference in an hour" Hastings says, standing from his seat, "We're going to announce the closing of the Paoli plant and a memorial fund for those kids. I'd like it if you stood next to me"
"Hmmm" Voight says standing up as well.
"A united front. Our company, law enforcement, the entire chicagoland community, together"
Voight puts his hand forward for Hastings to shake, "The day I stand next to you is the day I walk you into a cell. Until then..."
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Maxine takes shot after shot after shot, then putting the glasses upside down on the bar. She looks at her phone to see Maverick calling and she declines it, sliding it back in her pocket.
"Hey" a voice says, sitting next to her.
"Thought you were watching the game with your brother"
"Just making sure you're okay"
Maxine scoffs, "I'm far from okay"
"Max, you know you can talk to me. Whatever it is"
Maxine raises an eyebrow and looks at her partner, "Voights my dad"
Jay's mouth practically fell to the ground, "I'm sorry, what?"
authors note;
AHHHHH