Detective Ln; An Adam Ruzek Love Story

Fagin

Yn's POV

"We got a four-man takeover crew armed with Sig MPXs, dressed to the nines in Kevlar and motorcycle helmets with blacked out visors to conceal their identity. As soon as this crew enters a bank, they shoot out the security cameras, which is why there's so little footage of them.
In this latest robbery, they killed a security guard, and they shot a female teller who was going for an alarm" Voight said. "We know they also use cell jammers so that nobody in the banks can call 911" Erin said. "And this crew comes in heavy, demanding all the money in the drawers and the vault. They use dirt bikes as getaway vehicles, easily cutting through traffic, which is how they've eluded responding patrol cars."

"All right, I talked to an ex-burglar C.I. buddy of mine. He said the cell jammer came from Bucktown. This is Jimmy Rickert. Old-school tech guy. He illegally imports cell jammers from China into the US and sells them through his electronics business to burglars. I was able to track the serial number from the supplier in Beijing. It was delivered, along with other jammers, to his storefront a month ago" Jay said. "Sarge" I say. "There's a Detective Upton coming up to see you." "Is there any sort of pattern to the types of banks that they're hitting" Adam asked.

"Credit unions" a blonde woman said and came upstairs with Chief Lobo. This must be Detective Upton. "They're targeting them downtown. Lots of daily on-hand cash, but less security than the corporate branches. In the last few weeks, this crew's hit five banks and done over half a million in cash" Upton said. "You get lost on your way back to Area Central" Voight asked. "You got balls, trying to steal my case" she replied. "Detective, that's enough. Your office" Lobo said to Voight. Lobo, Voight, and Upton then headed into Voight's office and shut the door. "I like her. She seems bad ass" I say.

So Intelligence ended up keeping the case, and we got a lead from Al and Adam who went to see Rickert. Rickert led us to T-Rod or Thaddius Rodgers. He had been interviewed, but no one thought he was our guy. While all of that had been happening, I was doing research on Upton's files. "Voight, I think I found something" I say. I lead him over to the map I had been working on. 

"All right, these red pieces are the banks that have already been hit. And this is the crew" I say and hold up a bullet. "Now, what do the banks that they've already hit have in common? They're all credit unions that don't have counter-to-ceiling bullet-proof teller windows. So I've
narrowed it down and these green pieces signify the last three banks downtown that don't have teller glass, and they're all within a few blocks of freeway entrances or Lakeshore Drive, which makes it really easy for a motorcycle to just disappear" I say. "All right. Get Jay and Erin hip to this. Break up into teams. Check out these banks and their surveillance cameras, see if anyone's casing them" Voight said.

When we split up, Erin and Jay were at a bank that got robbed while they were there. They were able to get one of the robbers back to the station where he was interviewed by Voight and Kevin. "Someone coached that kid on what to say in case he got caught. All right, call the public defender's office and get a Juvenile Advocate down here" Voight said. "I found a file of interest in Upton's files" Al said and held up a picture of the boy that was in the interview room. "That's Corey Jenkins, 14. Upton got his prints from Child Services. He's a runaway foster child from Harvey." "Anything else in that file" I ask. "Actually, yeah. This guy, Lavar Spann. He was in the same file as Corey. She wrote a bunch of notes on the back, but her handwriting's worse than mine" Al said.

"I'll get her down here then" I say. I called Upton and waited in the lobby for her to arrive. Minutes later, she did. "You must be Detective Ln." "Please, call me Yn." "Hailey" she said and shook her hand. I then lead her upstairs where she went to talk to Voight. After they talked, Voight went with Adam, Kevin, and Hailey to a used car lot that was owned by Lavar. They however, couldn't get anything that would link Lavar to the crime.

"Hey, where are we at ID-ing these kids" Voight asked. "They've all got juvie records. Underage drinking, possession, assault. And they're the future leaders of tomorrow" Adam said. "Alright, Yn, Al, gas up the van. Call Halstead to join you. Upton, you want in" Voight asked. "Sure" she said. "Alright. We're going to start surveillance on Spann." So Jay, Al, Hailey, and I parked a van near where Lavar was and just watched him.

"Got to admit, there's something inspiring about this guy not letting his bum leg ruin his American dream" Jay said. "Sense of humor? Don't get that much on my current unit" Hailey said. "Rumor has it you were meritoriously promoted to detective is that right" Jay asked. "Yeah, that's right." "What, you shake your feathers in front of the right commander, or is your uncle an alderman" Al asked. "I was undercover for a year. So, put that in your pipe and smoke it" Hailey replied. "Would you like to elaborate on this UC case for us" Jay asked. "I would love to, but I'm under a gag order from the AUSA's office. It's still being adjudicated. The US Attorney's Office made it very clear: if I talk, I get fired. And no offense, but this is the first time in the back of your van" Hailey said. 

"Hey, check it out. That's Sammy Ray. 17. He was one of the kids at the car lot" I say. "Kawasaki. That's the same motorcycle the other kids used to rob the banks. We got to go after him" Hailey said. "We're not following a dirt bike in an Econoline van. First thing that kid's gonna do is lose us down an alleyway. But I admire your enthusiasm" Al said. When we got back to the district, the rest of the team informed us that some of the kids who worked for Lavar had been murdered. 

"This happened 15 minutes before we got there. Had to be a hit. Spann is tying up loose ends" Erin said. "Any idea who the shooter was" Jay asked. "No. Not yet, but we got patrol canvassing a ten-block area" Kevin said. "That teenager we saw on a dirt bike when we were in the van, Sammy Ray I ran his plate and got a hit on a POD camera. Guess where he was spotted earlier. A block away from the Wilkes brothers' house. Not only did the POD spot him, but a neighbor from across the street stated he saw Sammy run into the foreclosed home, jump on a loud bike, and take off like a bat out of hell" Hailey said.

"Alright. Do you have anything else" I ask. "When Ray was 12, he used a baseball bat to put his stepfather in a coma. Did two years in juvie, ten months in a psychiatric facility. Now he runs errands for Spann from time to time" Hailey said. "Ah, double murder. That's a hell of an errand" Adam said. "You got a location" Voight asked. "License plate's actually registered to a Tana Pearson, Sammy Ray's girlfriend. Her LKA is in there" she said and handed Voight a folder. "Hit it" Voight said and handed the folder to Adam. Adam, Kevin, and Jay then left the district.

While Erin and Hailey were interviewing Sammy, and Kevin was talking to Corey, we ordered pizza. Adam and I were sitting on the couch in the break room and Jay, Erin, and Al were at the table. My feet were resting over Adam's legs as we ate and talked. "Corey agreed to give a statement" Kevin said and walked into the room with Voight behind him. "His juvenile advocate signed off on that" Erin asked. "Yeah. She's alerting the State's Attorney as we speak so that she can witness the written statement signed." "How'd you get him to turn" Al asked. "I mean, he saw his best friends shotgunned. That hit him pretty hard. And, uh, I told him we'll take care of him. We got Spann" Kevin said.

After work, Kevin, Adam, Jay, and I headed to Molly's to celebrate Jay's birthday. Erin told me that she was just buying Jay a present, and after that she'd be here. Erin came in a little later, dropped Jay's present off, and then left. She didn't give me a reason. She just said she had to go. Her present to Jay was a fancy bottle of whiskey. Jay, being the kind man he is, poured us each a glass. "Happy Birthday Jay" I say as we clinked glasses and downed the whiskey.