CHAPTER EIGHTEEN,
a dollar bill
SINCE THEY HAD CAUGHT Dominic, Ariella had found herself smiling more. Of course, before she was happy with her family, but now she had a new sense of peace. She had lived almost half her life without her parents, and knowing they could now rest peacefully made her feel happy.
Erin was talking to Luca in a baby voice, bouncing him up and down. Ariella smiled, listening to her son giggle, "Where's Antonio?" Erin asked.
"We ran out of milk, so he ran out to grab some." Ariella answered, smiling at her son, and tickling his stomach, "How's Nadia?" She asked.
"She's doing good. I think it's really gonna stick this time." Erin told her, smiling.
"I'm proud. We did good." Ariella smiled, and Erin chuckled.
"I'm home." Antonio popped his head through the door, "Hey, Lindsay." He greeted.
"Hey." She smiled, holding Luca on her hip.
"I got milk." He held the plastic grocery bag up.
"Thank you." Ariella smiled, taking the bag and pouring some milk to her bowl of cereal.
"Why are you here so early?" Antonio asked.
"Hi, Antonio. So nice to see you this morning. Hi Erin, nice to see you too. How was your morning? It was great. Thanks for asking, Antonio." Erin joked.
"My apologies. Hi Erin, nice to see you. Now, I ask again. Why are you here so early?" He asked.
"I'm just here to see my godson," Erin told him honestly. She turned to look at the clock hanging on the wall, "Well, I need to get going. I'll see you both at work." She looked from
Ariella and Antonio down to Luca, who was smiling at her, "And I'll see you soon, little man." She kissed his temple, before handing him off to Antonio.
"See you later." Ariella smiled, shoveling another mouthful of cereal into her mouth.
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"I'm just saying, Jay, you got a target on your head and you don't seem all that phased." Adam commented as himself, Jay and Antonio walked out of the break room.
"Overseas, my unit and I, we always had a bounty on us." Jay answered.
"Most gangs only pay 10 G for a cop. If you're really worth 100, I should take you out myself. Pay off my mortgage." Antonio joked.
"Try it." Jay nodded.
"Coke dealer one time put a million dollar tag on me and Voight." Al spoke up.
"What? How'd you handle that?" Adam asked surprised.
"Well, you dust yourself. Never go home the same way twice. Run red lights. If a car follows you through one, you chamber a round and you handle business." He explained.
"This is Billy Fagan." Hank announced, grabbing all their attention as he slapped a photo up on the board, "Small time hood had ties to a local outfit. I've run into him a couple of times. This is Billy Fagan seven hours ago. Organized crime found a dollar bill pinned to his chest." He slapped another photo of Fagan up, "They looked into the serbians, the cartels, coming up empty." He explained.
"We taking this from organized crime because he was your poker buddy?" Erin sassed. Ariella grabbed her mug, and took a sip of her coffee. Although she would've spoke up the way Erin did, she knew better.
"Start reaching out to your C. I.'s." Voight told them, brushing off what she said, "You got a sec?" He looked at Erin, who shrugged, and stood up, following him into his office.
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All of them filed out of their cars, vests on, "Brent Norelli." Voight held up a photo, "Assault, armed robbery. Even did six months at the Cook County psych ward. Norelli inherited this lumber yard from his old man, but it's just a front. He just broke off from the outfit old-timers, but he's already making plans for some of their rackets. Let's go."
They all crouched under the half opened the garage door. They quietly and stealthily entered the warehouse, "Chicago Police!" The shouted, making their presence known.
"Freeze! Get on your knees. Get down!"
"Chicago Police!"
"On your knees, hands up!" Every guy in the warehouse quickly surrendered, putting their hands up.
Ariella whistled, kicking a box that had fallen off the forklift a little, "10 years worth of oxy." She announced. Voight walked up to one of the guys, and grabbed his by the throat, choking him.
"Where's Norelli?" He asked.
"He's in the storeroom." The guy told him with hesitation, "Unh!" He groaned when Voight let him go.
They all crowded around the door. Antonio looked at them, then nodded, banging on the door, "Chicago Police!" Before he could finish, Norelli shot through the door, and they all turned to avoid it. hen the firing stopped, Antonio, looked through one of the large bullet holes in the door, and saw he was stopping to reload, and took his chance and shot him.
Kevin kicked the door down, and Jay rushed in, aiming his gun at Norelli, "Don't move! Drop it! Drop it now!" He shouted.
He kicked Norelli's gun out of his hands, and Kevin grabbed Norelli, ripping open his shirt, "Nice vest." He commented, slamming Norelli into the ground.
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"One blast of double ought buckshot killed both Fagan and Marcello. No shells were found at either murder. Crime scene estimates the killer's height based on blood splatter to be 5'10", which narrows it down." Jay announced as he put the phone back on the receiver.
"There was no forced entry to any of the doors or windows in Marcello's building." Erin said.
"There's a fire escape in the back, but it doesn't lead to the roof. You'd have to climb up from there, which is not an easy feat. But it's the only way that somebody could've come and gone unnoticed." Ariella piggy-backed from Erin's statement.
"How long have you been doing this? All right, and how many shotgun murders have we seen before these?" Al asked.
"Two." Voight answered.
"All right, so... It's gotta be a pro." Al concluded.
"Or a redneck." Kevin added.
"Pro redneck. I'm calling it." Jay joked.
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"All right, all right. I did financial forensics on our two shotgun victims." Adam walked up the stairs, and straight up to the board.
"He farmed it out, I guarantee it." Kevin said.
"Ahem. Fagan and Marcello were partners in a shell company. Maxwell Investments. They loan money out at astronomical..."
"Loan sharks." Al cut Adam off.
"I was gonna get to that. Thank you, Alvin." Adam cleared his throat before continuing, "Ahem. Their latest client just signed over his dry cleaning business a week ago. One Dale Hansen. Owned Fine Choice cleaners. Two locations, one on North Broadway, a second on West Belmont. Is that fast enough for you, Al?" He asked, looking over at his partner, who shrugged.
"All right, you and Ariella go pay this dry cleaner a visit. I got someone else I want to talk to." Voight looked over at Antonio.
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"What happened?" Antonio asked Dale Hensen, who looked like he had his face smashed.
"She swallowed a bottle of Xanax because I lost our business." He looked down at his wife, "Can we do this another time?" He asked.
"Some guys from Maxwell Investments pay you a visit?" Ariella asked, gesturing to the nasty bruise on his left eye.
"Had one good cleaner we built from scratch. Bank wouldn't give us a loan for a second location, so I borrowed from Maxwell's. Things didn't work out so good. Couldn't get out of the red and... and when I didn't repay them fast enough, they took both our stores." He explained.
"Yeah, and blowing them away with a shotgun would probably take care of the vig." Ariella raised a brow.
"Oh, am I torn up that those leaches are dead? Not for a second." He spat.
"Dad? What's going on?" His daughter asked, walking in with her brother.
"They're just here to ask some question, hun. It's okay." He spat.
"You guys want to step outside? Let's go." Ariella led them outside.
"Is this about my mom?" His daughter, Lauren asked.
"Actually, I need to know where your dad was all day." Ariella said.
"With us, why?" She asked. Ariella glanced over at the boy, Nate, who looked down, avoiding eye contact.
"Look, why don't you take your brother home? You guys should get some sleep, okay?" Ariella suggested.
"This is where I need to be." Nate stated, determined.
"Okay." Ariella nodded. The two kids walked back into their mother's hospital room, as Antonio walked out.
"How are the kids?" He asked.
"Lost." She answered.
"It's always that way, huh? Parents do dumb things, the kids take the brunt." Ariella pulled out her phone, "We got to run the dad. See if he bought a shotgun recently." Antonio told her, and she nodded.
"Rivera." She answered her phone, and listened to the person on the other end. She put her hand out, putting it on his bicep to stop him, "Thanks." She hung up, slipping her phone back in her pocket, "There's another shotgun victim in Bridgeport." She told him.
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"Guys? This mean anything to you?" Adam asked, putting the sketch one of the victim's daughters gives.
No one said anything, shaking their heads except Ariella, who stood up from her desk, "That's the kid from the hospital." She announced, "That's Dale Hansen's son."
Erin put a picture of Nate on the board, "Nate Hansen was enrolled at the Union Hill Military Academy in Arizona." She explained.
"His TAC officer says he was first in his class but three days ago, he disappeared. That was the day after his mother overdosed." Ariella continued.
"I just checked with the school's armory. They're missing a Browning gold 10-gauge, along with a box of shells." Antonio said, hanging up the phone.
"Let's grab this kid up." Voight announced.
The three cars belonging to the Intelligence unit pulled up to Hansen residence. Jay ran around to the back of the house, while the rest of them stayed in the front, keeping their guns aimed in front of them. Jay gave Antonio the sign, and Antonio nodded.
Kevin grabbed the battering ram, "Chicago PD!" He shouted, and went to bang the door down, but right before the ram could make contact with the door, Lauren opened the door.
"My brother's not here." She told them, raising her hands in surrender.
"Get back, get back." Adam pushed her aside, and rushed inside.
"Eyewitness described your son to a "T." Antonio showed Dale and Lauren the photo sketch.
"I think you got squeezed, you wanted some retribution, so you sent your son to do it for you." Jay said.
"I swear we just found out what Nate was doing. He ran off maybe a half hour ago." Dale told them.
"We're all clear, guys," Erin announced, walking back over with the rest of the team to where Voight, Antonio and Jay were standing in front of Lauren and Dale.
"No Nate, no weapons." Ariella told Voight.
"If you had nothing to do with it, how did Nate know who to target?" Voight asked.
"The three of them. Marcello, Fagan, and Valeo showed up one night. When I said I'd go to the cops, they threatened my life. My kids. Nate saw them do this. He saw me cower and beg. The look on his face. It's my fault." Dale explained.
"If you find Nate, please don't hurt him." Lauren begged.
"That's up to him." Al spoke up, and she looked over at him.
"Is there anyone else who leaned on you, your son might be gunning for?" Ariella asked, her voice not as harsh, more gentle.
"Uh... There was a boss who I paid money to a few times. Enrietto." Dale answered.
"Don Enrietto?" Voight asked, and Dale nodded.
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Erin, Jay and Kevin ran up the ladder from the train tracks. They had been running after Nate, who had already shot Entrietto. Antonio stopped the car in front of them, and Ariella got out, "We got a ping on Hansen's phone. It's right around here somewhere." She said.
"Where?" Erin asked.
"I don't know, this thing says right here." Ariella said, and they all crowded around the iPad, listening to the beeping coming from it.
"Police!" A women shouted, and they all turned around.
"What happened?" Erin asked.
"A kid. He had a gun." Was all the women managed to get out.
"A white kid in a Navy hoodie?" Erin asked, and the women nodded, "Okay." She sighed.
"Hey, he dumped his phone." Jay held up the cellphone.
"He took my car." The women told them.
"What kind of car?" Erin asked.
A police car drove down the street as a patrolman tried to contain the crowd forming, "It's not good enough. I want every blue 2005 Ford Escort on any highway coming out of Chicago to..." Antonio demanded from the person on the other end of the phone.
"Guys? White male with a shotgun just stormed into Chicago Med." Ariella announced.
"That's where Hansen's mother is." Antonio stated, and they all got back in their cars and headed back towards the hospital.
"Stay back!" Nate shouted, his shaky hands trying to keep the gun in them steady.
"Nathan? Please don't do this." He mother begged.
"Let's go, get 'em out." Doctors and officers pushed patients out of the way.
"Wait, wait, wait. Hey, put your guns down. Put them down." Jay shouted, "Put your guns down!" He shouted again when a few of them didn't put them down. He raised his hands in surrender, showing them to Nate.
"Stay back!" Nate shouted, his voice shaky and scared.
"Nate. Listen to me, okay?" Jay slowly walked into the room, removing his gun and placing it on the ground, "I was in the army. Third battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. My name is Jay. And I know exactly what you're feeling right now."
"Please. Listen to him." His mother begged.
"You were trained to protect. And that's what you did. But it's over, okay? So I need you to just put your gun down. And I promise you, you're gonna walk out of here. You're 17. They can't charge you as an adult, all right? You could still make a deal." Jay told him.
"They won't shoot me?" Nate asked.
"Buddy, they got to shoot me first." Jay told him. Nate let out a sob as he uncocked the gun.
"Here, sir." Nate handed Jay the gun, who handed it back to Erin. Nate turned to his mother, and grabbed her hand, crying with her.
"Okay, come on. All right. I need you to put your hands behind your back." Jay turned him around, and cuffed him as his mother sobbed.
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Ariella was laying in bed, Luca playing with a toy next to her as a movie played, "I'm home!" Antonio hollered.
"Bedroom!" Ariella shouted back. She turned her attention back to the TV as Luca babbled and played with his toy.
"Hey." He hung his jacket on a chair near the door, and walked over to the bed, and kissed her head.
"Hey. Dinners waiting for you in the microwave." She smiled at him.
He noticed her mind was in a different place, and spoke up, "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, sitting down next to her.
"It's just, today. This case. That boy was 17." She sighed, looking down at Luca, "Is this the world he's going to grow up in?" She asked.
"That's what we're here for. To protect him." Antonio told her.
"There's only so much we can protect him from, Antonio. We can't protect him from everything." She reminded him. He sighed, and cupped her face.
"I know. No one can protect him from the world, not even us. But our job, right now, is to make sure he's the happiest little boy in the world." He told her. She smiled, and leaned her head on his.
"I love you."
"I love you, too." They both smiled at each other.
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note.
okay, so I high key really love ariella and Antonio. they're one of my fav couples that I have, and I really enjoy writing this book. I really hope you like this book. anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will see you soon my loves 💕💕
SHOW: chicago pd:
season two, episode two
"get my cigarettes"
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