Yn's POV
"The house belongs to a Dean Masters. His file was red-flagged to notify intelligence, but he must have been before my time" Antonio said as we stood in front of the house. "Oh, yeah, him. That robbery at the art institute last year, we liked him for it" Voight said. "The neighbors heard a woman scream. We knocked, he yelled out that he had a gun and to leave him alone" the responding officer told us as we walked up to the door. "Masters, this is Sergeant Voight with the Chicago Police. Open up and make this easy on all of us" Voight said. "He's going to kill me" a woman shouted from inside. "Take it" Voight said to Jay. Using his gun, Jay blew the hinges off the door and we were able to go inside.
"I told them I would kill her" Masters said and pressed his gun onto the woman's head. "Drop it, Masters! We're here to help. Let her go" Voight said. "All we're trying to do is have a good time" Masters said. "Everybody take a breath" I say. "She set me up. She's trying to get me killed" Masters said to me. "Fine, you're right. We can handle that" I say. "I've got info. I've got info on a deal that's going down, and that's why she's setting me up" Masters said. "I don't know what he's talking about. I swear to God" the woman said. "All right, we will help you. We will help you, but you've got to let her go first. You don't need her. Come on. Give her to me" I say. Masters passed the girl over to me, and she hugged me tightly. That's when things turned in the opposite direction. "I'm dead anyway" Master said and held his gun under his chin before pulling the trigger.
"Hey" Jay said as we got back to the district. "How did you handle all of that so well?" "The Homicide unit dealt with hostages all the time. I'm used to negotiating with criminals. It doesn't turn out well all the time though" I say. "Well, I though that was amazing" Jay said. "Thanks" I say and take a seat at my desk.
"Dean Masters was a hotshot artist in his 20s. His work dried up and hpicked up a drug habit. He's suspected of not only being a fence but also forging paintings" Voight said. "What was that thing intelligence had him on" Antonio asked. "Stolen Klimt. Never resurfaced" Erin replied. "What the hell is a Klimt" Adam asked. "An artist" Erin said. "Named Klimt? That's a funny name, right? Or am I alone on this" Adam said. "It's kind of funny" Jay said.
"So this whole 'they're gonna kill me' thing that Masters was going on about was either about the stolen painting or something else" Voight said. "Or he was just tripping and talking nonsense. I mean, did you see his pupils? He was gakked out of his mind" Jay said. "We've got a known suspect, and Masters took his own life rather than face something heavy-duty. We pursue the case" Voight said as Al walked up the stairs with the woman I had rescued from Masters' house. "Ln, will you take this" Al asked. "Of course" I say and stand up before leading the woman into the break room. I let the woman take a seat and placed a box of tissues in front of her.
"I guess I should thank you for last night" she said. "Well, he chose his head instead of yours. We all got lucky" I say as she began to sob. "I'm sorry" she said. "It's okay. How well did you know Dean Masters" I ask. "I just met him last night. It was only the third time I've ever done that. I'm a licensed esthetician. I worked at a salon up until about a week ago. I wasn't making rent" she said. "Maybe this is a sign that that life's not for you. Do you know why Dean thought you were trying to set him up" I ask. "I don't know. I swear to God, I got there, and he was pissed because I wasn't the girl he asked for" she said. "Who was he expecting" I ask. "Nadia" she replied.
..........................................
"Th guy who runs this place is Adam Mazur. I know him from vice. We called him the Whac-a-mole pimp. We'd beat him down, and he'd pop up somewhere else a week later with a new stable" Antonio said. "Let's go" Voight told Jay, Adam, Antonio, and I. "Membership" the man at the front desk asked. "Yeah. Right here" Voight said and showed the man his badge. "If you press an alarm, I will break your hand" Jay told another guy as we walked into the back room.
"Chicago PD. Everybody stay calm. Put your hands where I can see them, please" Voight said. "How are you doing, Mazur" Antonio asked and grabbed him, slamming his face into the bar. "Do you have a girl named Nadia?" "Never heard of her" Mazur replied. Antonio then bent his arm back, and Mazur screamed. "She's in room eight" Mazur said. Voight nodded for Adam and I to check it out, and we walked into the back hallway, finding room 8 almost immediate.
"Knock, knock" Adam said as he opened the door to reveal a man lying face down with no shirt on with Nadia standing over him. "I was getting a legitimate massage" the man said and sat up. "I'll bet you were. Get out" I say. The man listened to me and left the room. "Are you Nadia" Adam asked. "Please don't shoot me" she said. "I'm not going to shoot you. Everything's going to be fine. All right? Just come with us" Adam said. Nadia nodded and walked forward, only to kick Adam right where the sun didn't shine. Instead of chasing after Nadia like a good cop would do, I bent down next to Adam who was on the floor. "You good" I ask. "Nope" he replied and groaned in pain.
......................................
"Here" I say and hand Adam a bag of ice. "Thanks. I think they're swollen" Adam said and stuffed the bag of ice down his boxers. "I'll take your word for it" I say as Jay walked into the locker room. "Uniforms picked up Nadia trying to score over on Roosevelt. They're bringing her in. You all right" Jay asked Adam. "No" Adam replied. "Just checking" Jay said with a smile. "Yeah, I'm glad we're all having fun with this" Adam said. "This is all on you Adam. You can't ever let your guard down like that" I say. "Yn, if I die, I want you to know that I've been stealing some of the chocolate you keep in your desk" Adam said. "What chocolate" Jay asked me. "Adam, you've said too much" I say. "Yn, we're talking about this later" Jay said. "Okay. We'll do it after Adam and I fight in the back alley. I can't believe you gave up my secret stash" I say.
When Erin interviewed Nadia, she got us a name; Noel Harris. However, when Jay and Voight went to talk to Harris, they found him dead from a few bullets to the chest. A few members of the team went to go search Masters' house for more information, and they ended up finding a small, secret room that was used to make fake money, specifically 100 dollar bills.
"This is Agent Joe Hill. Secret Service, Chicago field office. We go back a ways" Voight said and introduced up to a middle aged man. "Where's your earpiece and your sunglasses" Adam asked. "That's only when Obama's in town" Joe joked. "Does this mean we're handing over the case" Erin asked. "No. Technically I can't get involved unless there's actual counterfeit currency found, but Hank just thought I could help" Joe said.
"I thought counterfeiters were using high-end printers nowadays" I ask. "There's digital tech that'll print a pretty good 5 or 10, then you pass it off at Walgreens buying dollar items. That's what we call 'baby laundering.' Using plates, this is old-school. It takes some real work" Joe said. "There's three steps. The plates, the paper, and the printer. Guess who we're looking for now" Voight asked. "The hooker that kicked Ruzek in the nuts, how'd she characterize her interaction with Dean Masters" Jin asked Erin. "She went to his place once" Erin said. "45 text messages between him and her over the last two weeks" Jin said. Erin then took off to go talk to Nadia.
Nadie gave us more information when Erin talked to her again. She said that when she was at Masters' house for the last time, some young, African American man came up to her, took her picture, and said that if she ever told Masters' about what had happened, he would kill her. Nadia then told us that she saw them get into a van with a Jesus fish on the back. Jin looked up the symbol, and a van matching what Nadia had said popped up. It was owned by a Tabernacle ran by Pastor Mike that did a meals on wheels for the elderly, which didn't seem to fit with everything.
"Pastor Mike was contracted by this man, Glen Ward. Now, Ward has done federal time in Leavenworth for counterfeiting, but how Ward and his printing crew hooked up with Dean Masters and Noel Harris is anybody's guess, and why the two of them are both dead now, who knows" Antonio said. "Pastor Mike didn't say why Ward wanted them dead" Jay asked. "He didn't ask" Antonio said. "It could be any reason. Somebody wanted a bigger cut, threatened to snitch, banged somebody's girlfriend" Erin suggested. "Any one of those scenarios" Antonio said.
"One of Ward's aliases is Denis Diderot" Joe said. "A counterfeiter and a fan of French literature. I can't wait to meet him" Al said. "Hey, Sarge. Jin just did a name check against new leases on commercial property rentals. He got a hit. Foreclosed chemical building on Cicero" Adam said. "All right, unless anyone's opposed to overtime, let's go find our printer" Voight said.
......................................
"It's quiet out front. Looks like Ward's ready to roll" I say into my radio. "Do we have eyes in there yet" Voight asked. "No. Almost there. Stand by" Al said. "All right, we're up. Counterfeit central. There's two, three, and four printers" Adam said. "Any artillery" Voight asked. "I can't tell" Al replied. "We're going in" Voight said and gestured for Jay, Erin, Antonio and I to move in. Jay used a machine to silently break off the deadlock, and as soon as that happened, we entered the room.
"Chicago PD" I shout. As soon as I said that, the bullets started flying. We took down the guys easily, and soon, all of them were handcuffed. "George 5021 emergency. Shots fired by the police and at the police. Roll an ambo to 1356 South 13th Street. Notify the dicks and crime lab. Plainclothes officers at the scene" Jay said into his radio. "Too bad this isn't real" Antonio said and gestured to the huge stack of money. "Lindsay, get a picture of Yn and I for our first big bust as Rookies" Adam said and situated himself on top of the big pile of cash. "Rookie? I'm a detective. However, I wouldn't mind a picture with a member of my new team" I say and climb onto the cash pile next to Adam.
Later that night, Jay invited me to get beers at Molly's, so I accepted because I wanted to know more about what happened between him and Lonnie Rodiger. "You knew the family" I ask. "He was the younger brother of a girl I dated in high school. His parents, Danny and Gail, they came to my graduation from the academy. I still see them on what would be Ben's birthday. Me and my partner were first on the scene. I saw a shoe, and then I push the reeds back and there he was. I can still see his face. I remember his dad alibied him out" Jay said.
"But they never had anything on Lonnie" I ask. "No. They caught him jerking it outside an elementary school a week prior to finding Ben. They aslo found kiddie porn on his computer and secret pictures that he'd taken of Ben" Jay said. "You've got to be kidding me" I say. "Uh-uh. We all knew Lonnie did it, but, you know, his dad lied, and they had a good lawyer" Jay said as my phone buzzed with a text from Archie.
"Shit. I promised Archie I was making dinner tonight. I've got to go" I say. "Right. Thanks for talking with me. It feels good that someone else knows what happened" Jay said. "Anytime. But Jay, be careful. You're a good cop, and getting involved with something like this, well, it could ruin your career. Promise me you'll be careful" I say. "I promise" Jay said.