Yn's POV
"Hailey, hey" I say to her as I met up with her in the district. "I heard about what happened between you and Adam. I'm sorry it didn't work out."
"Yeah, well, I knew working with someone you dated would be hard, but I didn't think it would be this hard. I don't know how you and Jay do it" Hailey said.
"Believe me, I know. Sometimes I ask myself the same question. It comes down to whether or not you can seriously see yourself having a future with that person, and if you'd risk everything you have for them" I say.
"Hey. Who's presenting" Voight asked.
"That would be me, Sarge" Hailey said and walked over to the white board. "Hugo Campos, 17 years old. He moved to Pilsen a year ago with his mother. Clean sheet. No disciplinary issues."
"Gang affiliation" Voight asked.
"We're not sure. We've talked to a few CI's, but nobody knew him" I respond.
"All right, who runs the tip where the kid got gunned down" Voight asked.
"His name is Derrick Winslow. He calls the shots in that area. He's real slick, low key, doesn't touch his product at all. His cousin also got lit up last month. Word on the street is a Mexican gang had something to do with it" Kevin said.
"So maybe this was retaliation" Jay suggested.
"Kevin, you got an idea where to find this shot-caller" Voight implored.
"I can put some pressure on my CI" Kevin said.
"Good. Do it" Voight said.
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"What'd you get" Kim asked me as her and Antonio walked into the computer room. They had just been at Hugo's house, but I found some important information, so I called them over.
"The shooting happened at 9:02 a.m. Derrick said his boy saw a black van fleeing right there" I say and point to the van on the screen. "We have surveillance on it until Pilsen and then we lose it."
"It looks like two guys inside" Antonio said.
"Anything you can run through facial rec" Kim asked me.
"Nah. I got a hit on a plate though. The car was reported stolen this morning. It's registered to Carlos Martinez. He's got one prior, aggravated battery. He got into a street fight and beat the guy to a pulp. His address is 23rd Street in Pilsen. It's a restaurant. La Casera" I say.
"That's where Hugo Campos worked" Kim pointed out.
"Let's hit it" Antonio said.
A while later, Kim and Antonio came back from the restaurant. They had talked to Carlos, but got nothing on him. However, on their way out, they caught something.
"Alex Del Toro. He's a major player in Pilsen. He's got direct connections to Mexican cartels. He's been a source of supply for heroin and coke for years, but he doesn't call attention. He stays off the radar. Narcotics has tried, but they could've put a glove on him. I worked this guy. Let me tell you something, there is nothing about him that's good. Mike Flores was my CI. He was a low-level player. Del Toro thought he was stealing products when he killed him, but we couldn't prove it" Antonio explained.
"All right, so what's the connection between Hugo and Del Toro" Voight asked.
"The restaurant. I pulled the business license for La Casera. Now, Carlos Martinez is the manager, but the owner is Alex Del Toro. He owns a bunch of cash businesses. That's how he launders his drug proceeds" Kim said.
"Guys" Jay said as he got off the phone. "That was Todd Harris from Auto Theft Robbery. They got Martinez's stolen van at a chop shop in Pilsen."
"Okay, Jay, you, me, Kevin, and Adam, let's roll on it" Voight said.
The witness at the auto shop, Fernando Diaz, got a good look at who had brought in the van, so we brought him in to see if he could pick Del Toro out of the lineup. However, things came crashing down when Fernando did not pick Del Toro out of the lineup. There was something off though, because right before Fernando looked at the lineup, he glanced at his phone. Upon further investigation, we found that he was looking at a picture of his kids standing on either side of a man who had a gun in his waistband.
"Fernando Diaz isn't being charged. He's on his way back to Mexico" Jay informed us.
"All right, what do we know about the kids" Voight asked.
"Platt's trying to reach out to the Mexican police. We're doing what we can, but we can't do much" Kim replied.
"Do you know if Del Toro got to him" Adam asked.
"Well, like I said, Del Toro's got reach all the way to Mexico. He's smart" Antonio responded.
"Well, we've got to be smarter and we're on the clock. Let's come at this a different way" Voight said.
"Del Toro is a known supplier and Hugo Campos was found with a kilo in his bedroom. We got the restaurant as a nexus" Jay explained.
"It's a licensed premises, so we don't need a warrant. We could just walk right in" I say.
"All right, let's do a city license check and go for maximum disruption. Shake the tree. See what falls out" Voight said.
Kim, Kevin, and I headed to La Casera, and while they searched the place, I was trying to talk to Beto. Beto was Carlos' younger brother, so I figured if anyone could help us out, it would be him.
"Kitchen looks clean" Kim said.
"Of course it's clean" Beto said.
"Hey, you got a key for this lock" Kevin asked and gestured to a lock keeping a tiny office shut.
"No, it's Carlos's office" Beto responded.
"Hey look, just so you know, your brother's in a lot of trouble" I say to Beto.
"He didn't kill Hugo. He's out of that life" Beto told me.
"I don't think he pulled the trigger, but he's not helping himself out. I know he cares a lot about you. So maybe you can talk sense into him" I say.
"My brother can take care of himself" Beto said.
"He's taking care of Alex Del Toro. Now I know you both feel loyalty for him, but unless your brother comes clean, he's going to be the one that winds up in jail" I sate.
"Like I said, Carlos can take care of himself" Beto spoke.
"Hey. Look what I found that under the floorboard along with six other bricks" Kevin said and placed a brick of heroin on the table. "Same stamp as the brick in Hugo's room."
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Alex Del Toro was soon released, even though it hadn't been 48 hours yet, meaning we needed to scour up more information. Hugo's mother then stopped by and said that right after Kim and Antonio had talked to her, Hugo's boss came by and gave her some money for the funeral. She even ID'd Carlos. When Antonio confronted Carlos, he agreed to tell us what really happened, but we had to protect his brother. After agreeing to that, Carlos said that Del Toro thought Hugo stole some heroin from the office, so he went out and killed him.
"Did we hear from the ASA" Voight asked.
"She's on her way to take Carlos' statement" Haile replied.
"Well, we can't wait. Any word on Del Toro" Voight questioned.
"Not yet. Patrol units in the area just hit his house. His wife said he packed a bag, he left two hours ago" I respond.
"All right, put out a statewide BOLO on Del Toro. He's a flight risk. He's got a head start. I want his photo in every bus station and airport" Voight said.
"What do you want to do about Beto" Adam asked.
"Let's scoop him up. Just stash him someplace safe till we find Del Toro. Let's go" Voight said.
Beto was not at the restaurant when we arrived. One of the bus boys said he left with Del Toro about an hour ago, and they were driving a white BMW. We then tracked Beto's phone to a boatyard.
"Last consecutive ping from Beto's phone came from this area 20 minutes ago. Looks like Del Toro was going to smuggle himself out of town" Adam said.
"Look. White BMW" Antonio said and pointed to a car.
All of us ran to the car, and inside, it was clean. However, when we opened the trunk, we found Beto's body. He had been shot in the back of the head.
"All right, we've got to fan out in pairs. Hailey, tell the port supervisor don't let anything out. Let's go" Jay said.
I started walking in one direction by myself, because I knew that if I found Del Toro, I could get him. But Jay grabbed my arm before I could get far.
"Hey. I said go in pairs. Come with me over this way" Jay said.
"Jay, I'll be fine. No one is checking this way, so I'm going to" I say and shake his hand off of me.
"Yn" Jay said as I walked away.
"I said I'll be fine" I shout back and continue in the same direction.
As I was walking, I spotted a man wearing a red flannel, and he was bald. Right away, I recognized the man as Alex Del Toro.
"Alex Del Toro" I call out.
Del Toro turned around to see who had called his name, and as soon as he saw that I was a cop, he took off in a run. I cursed under my breath and chased after him, following him inside of an industrial building right at the edge of the boatyard. Once inside, I un-holstered my gun and glanced around. When I got to a more open part of the building, Del Toro started shooting at me from a higher level. I ducked behind a metal column as the bullets whizzed past me. As soon as I the gunfire stopped, I peaked my head around the corner to see that Del Toro had taken off again.
I clambered up the stairs he had taken and followed him down a long walkway, dodging bullets as they came towards me. Del Toro tripped, and his gun fell down to the floor below, but that didn't stop him. He got right back up and continued running. My legs started burning a bit, and it felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest, but I pushed through and pursued Del Toro. At the top story of the building, I cornered Del Toro with my gun raised at him.
"There's nowhere to run Del Toro" I say.
"Go ahead. Arrest me" Del Toro said.
I put my gun away and stepped forward, pulling a set of handcuffs from my belt. When I got within a safe enough distance, I pressed Del Toro up against the side of the building and made him place his hands behind his back.
"If you try any funny business on the way down, I swear I'll beat your ass" I tell Del Toro and guide him towards the stairs.
On the ground, after I had given Del Toro away to some cops so they could lock him up, Jay approached me. He had an angry look on his face, and I'm guessing it was because I went off on my own.
"What the hell, Yn? You could have been shot, or worse, killed" Jay said to me.
"Yeah, well, I got him, and that's all that matters" I say.
"Are you kidding me? You could have died. The least you could have done was key your radio and say you were pursuing a suspect. That way, one of us could have joined you" Jay lectured.
"You know, if anyone else had chased the suspect on their own, you wouldn't be having this conversation with them. You'd congratulate them, give them a pat on the back, and then go your separate ways. But because it's me, and because we're together, you're acting like it's the end of the world. If you were in my shoes, you would have done the same thing" I exclaimed.
"That's completely different" Jay argued.
"Is it though? I went off on my own to arrest a suspect, who, mind you, has murdered two people. Get over it" I snap.
"Yn, I'm not going to continue arguing with you. Just agree with me on this and we can move on" Jay seethed.
"You know what? You can kiss my ass, Jay" I say and storm away.
That night, after work, I had to ride home with Jay, and the whole way home, we were both silent. No words were exchanged between the two of us like usual because we were still angry at each other. As soon as we got to the apartment, I walked into the bedroom and slammed the door behind me, signaling that Jay was sleeping on the couch tonight. I turned on the TV in the bedroom, and immediately, the press conference popped up. Supposedly, Kelton was dropping out of the mayoral race because of what had happened with the serial killer case being covered up.
"Good evening. Thank you all for coming. I'm Deputy Superintendent Kate Brennan. I'm sure you've all heard the disturbing rumors floating around the city about how a serial killer was allowed to commit additional murders due to mishandling by the CPD. There was indeed a cover-up, but Superintendent Kelton had nothing to do with it. I am the one responsible" Brennan said.
At that moment, I realized what was going on. Brennan was taking the bullet for Kelton. That meant Kelton was going to win as mayor, which in turn meant that the Intelligence Unit was going to be destroyed.
"I made an ill-advised decision and I will live with that mistake for the rest of my life. I am deeply sorry and I take full responsibility. I've handed in my resignation to Superintendent Kelton. Effective immediately. Thank you" Brennan finished off.
In those few seconds following the press conference, only one thought was bouncing around in my head. That thought was; What the hell are we going to do now?