⋆° დ ༄ RISKY BUSINESS
chapter fifty seven. kasual with a k.

The intelligence team jump out of their cars with their guns drawn. Hank walks over to where Roman and Burgess were, and Roman says, "we just got here. Dispatch relayed the witness heard screams, then multiple shots."

"Stores quiet. No gunshots since we got here, no movement, no sign of hostages. Shooter might
still be inside" Burgess adds.

"Thanks" voight says, then moves towards the corner store, "move in! Stack it up!" He yells to his team.

Maxine, Erin, Antonio and Jay walk into the store, guns drawn to clear it out. Once they do, they walk into the back room to see a dead body, sitting up against the wall, blood splatter everywhere. Jay goes to feel for a pulse and looks at Hank, "no"

"Whatever's up there, he died protecting it" Dawson says before walking up the stairs to an apartment.

As they go to clear it out, Jay opens a door, "Chicago police! I need to see everyone's hands" to see several woman and kids, "is everyone okay?"

"Is he gone?" A woman asks.

"Who's he?"

"I don't know" she says as Jay and Antonio try and get the kids to come out.

"Gunshot wound!" Maxine yells, as Erin goes to put pressure on the woman's chest.

"5021 emergency. We responded to that call of shots fired. I need you to roll an ambulance to 1950 south throop. Multiple victims with gunshot wounds...plain clothes officers on the scene. Will put out a flash message as soon as we can"

Jay walks into the room and says, "Sarg, offenders in the wind. We got patrol out looking for him"

The woman runs into the room and says, "oh my god. Jess. Jess!"

"Do you have a first aid kit?" Erin asks her.

"I don't—"

"Go find one or get some towels"

"What the hell is this place?" Jay asks.

"It's a battered women's shelter. Secret location" Maxine states.

"Yeah. Not so secret" hank says.

~~~

Dawson and Olinsky walk over to Voight and Bishop and the older man says, "well, the shelters unaffiliated with any city services. We got nine women and three children living here."

"Well, three of those women fled when the gunman opened up, they're still unaccounted for. So everyone here needs to be interviewed and identified. Let's hit it" Hank says as he, Max, Al and Antonio walk away.

🪩🪩🪩

"According to CPD Special Victims, Jess Saxon takes on the most extreme cases, no questions asked" Erin says, as the team is now back on the unit talking about the case.

"Yeah, doing a job that must make a lot of enemies" Al states.

"Exactly. She's still in surgery at Chicago med. no indication of when we're gonna be able to talk to her, but Sharon Goodwin says we will be alerted as soon as she's in recovery. Sergeant Platt already has a protective detail on her room at the hospital."

"So the three missing witnesses, no logs, no contact cards at the shelter?" Voight questions.

"Well, we recovered a laptop, but nothing, nothing useful." Mouse says.

"The lady from the shelter said Jess wanted everybody to stay anonymous so.." Kevin says.

"There is a camera at the rear of the building. Footage is stored offsite by a private company. Judge just signed a warrant so we should have it in about an hour." Adam says.

"Jess Saxon has an ex with a laundry list of violent priors." Antonio says, walking into the bullpen and taping a picture onto the board, "Jarrod Ganek. Broke her jaw two years ago."

Maxine scoffs and says, "Look at this jagoff"

"Yeah, he recently did 30 days in county for violating a restraining order against her. He was released from Division 6 a couple weeks ago."

"Start there" Hank says.

"I wanna go with you" Erin says.

"No. You and Al" Hank tells Dawson then looks at Erin, "your adrenaline needs to drop a little"

Max leans over her desk and watches her partner. Jay looks up and says, "what's up?"

"You good?"

Jay nods his head and says, "I'm good"

"Are you sure a week's medical leave was enough?"

"Max, I promise. I'm good."

Maxine nods her head and says, "okay"

~~~

As Maxine goes digging through paper work with Erin and Jay. Al and Antonio walk onto the unit and Dawson says, "Ganeks alibi held. Supervisor and a handful of coworkers confirmed he was on the clock during the shooting"

"And, uh, we've been digging through his financials just to see if he hired anyone, and the guy doesn't have two nickels to rub together." Jay states.

"Al, you like him for it?" Hank asks.

"Once a wife beater, always a wife beater" Al answers.

"So, Ganek stays on the board, but we drill down on the other suspects."

"That's a long list, Sarg. Lot of men with a lot of grudges." Kevin states.

"Hey, uh, boss, we got the security footage" Adam says, walking away from Mouse's desk with a tablet in hand to show everyone, "this is the loading dock behind the store, right?"

"Mhmm" Hank hums as the team watches the video and see Edwin get shot, "ooh"

"Alright, there's more. This is two minutes later" Adam says, as the video shows a masked person looking away from the camera and walking away with a woman with a gun to her head.

"Back it up" Hank says, and Adam does so and then tries to zoom in on the suspect.

"Who the hell is that?" Kevin asks.

The phone rings at Maxine's desk and she goes over to answer it, "Detective Bishop ...okay, thanks" then she hangs up the phone, "one of the women who fled the shelter this morning is downstairs."

~~~

Max and Hank take Clarissa to the break room to question her and she says, "I heard gunshots and screaming. So I opened my door and I looked out. I saw the back of this man. And he was pointing a gun at Jess. She had her hands up. She was...she was trying to stop him from, I guess...shooting one of the women at the shelter. I looked over jess' shoulder and I saw...it was Val. She was like, she was curled up, crying"

"Can you tell us anything about the shooter?" Hank asks.

"He was tall, white. He had a ball cap that didn't have a logo on it. I think he had a beard, but I'm not sure."

"You ever seen him before?"

"No"

"Do you know Vals last name?"

"No. Jess didn't like us using last names. Is Jess gonna be alright?"

"She's hanging in there" Maxine tried to reassure the blonde.

"Clarissa, can you describe Val for us?" Hank asks.

"Brown hair. Um, my height. Brown eyes, thin. She went to school in Saint John, Indiana. I think she played soccer."

~~~

"I pulled the virtual yearbooks for both high schools in Saint John, Indiana. Now, if this girls about 27, that means she graduated in about 2007" Mouse says, typing on his keyboard.

"Sounds about right" Max says.

"Well, the problem is that there are no girls named Val or Valerie on either the JV or varsity soccer teams. But I tried the next town over. One high school." Mouse says, pulling up two pictures into the screen, "and two valeries"

"Great. Get me printed on both please" Maxine says, walking over to the printer.

"You got it"

After the pictures printed, Max takes them to show Clarissa who is still in the break room and she points to the right one and says, "that's her. That's Val"

"Great. You've been very helpful. Do you have anywhere to go? No family in the area or anything right?"

"Not since I left my husband. I'm not gonna call him"

"Of course. Don't worry. Detective Lindsay and I will get you taken care of." Maxine says before walking away.

~~~

"Valerie Holt" Hank says, standing next to the whiteboard, "she was our target at the shelter. She's got a file with special victims that names her live in boyfriend Reed Danzig as the abuser."

"Danzig beat her with a blunt object. Responding officers reported he was not on scene, a warrant was issued for his arrest, and Valerie got an order of protection against him." Dawson says.

"Alright, Mouse, what do you got?"

"Uh, it looks like he's got a pretty deep sheet. In possession, aggravated assault and domestic battery. To his mother"

Adam hangs up his desk phone and says, "well, that was the 34th tactical team. They've been looking for Danzig for an outstanding warrant for the domestic battery and failure to appear. They already checked his addresses. They can't find him."

"Hey, hold on. The last three times Danzig was arrested, he was bonded out by a Matthew Markum." Jay says, as everyone gathers around his desk, "Markums another valedictorian. He's got felony possession of drugs, battery."

"And an address. Everybody gear up" Hank orders.

🪩🪩🪩

The team minus Erin, get out of their vehicles that are parked behind an abandoned building and they line up behind each other with their guns drawn as Adam checks the inside with a special camera.

"Got a least one down"

"Hit it" Hank says and Kevin then uses the Ram to smash the metal door in.

As the team enters, they immediately see a guy shot dead on the ground, then they continue on with the search to clear the place where they then find empty beer bottles and loads of heroin out on the table.

"Body!" Max calls out as she, Jay and Hank walk into the back room to see a tub with blood and a hammer and a body leaned against the cement walls. Hank checks out the body and says, "Reed Danzig. Vals boyfriend."

~~~

As crime techs work the scene, Al and Adam walk over to Hank and Max and the older man says, "guy on the floor, that's Matthew Markum."

"No sign of Valerie" Adam says, "I counted a half dozen shell casings for a sig 357. Just like at the shelter."

"Medford, you got an idea on time of death?" Hank asks, one of the crime techies.

"Body temp suggests two hours. Tops."

"Whoever kidnapped Val came here after the shelter."Al says.

"Hey, the hammer that was found in the bathtub, that was used to bludgeon Danzig, can you get that over to the crime lab, and put a rush order on it please" Adam asks Medford who nods her head.

"Looks like they were breaking down a load of heroin." Dawson says.

"Then why snatch Valerie?" Jay asks.

"Trojan horse. No sign of forced entry. Danzig opens the door for his girlfriend, shooter pushes past, rips them off." Hank says.

"Then she might have outlived her purpose."

"Check this" Kevin says, walking over to the group, "neighbor say they saw two cars leaving this place, and one of them was a BMW. now, when I ran Danzig earlier, I noticed that he owned a late model beem"

"Huh. Well, maybe she was in on it" Adam says.

"Alright, go to your CIs. This is gonna lead us to Vals kidnapper." Hank says.

🪩🪩🪩

"I pulled up everything we had on Billy Pac Man Shaw." Adam says, walking from his desk and sitting on the corner of Atwater's, "Guy just beat a manslaughter charge after running over a rival dealer in a Taco Bell parking lot. Here's the problem. Silvar from Narcotics just called. He hasn't left the house. He's no good for the murders. Certainly didn't abduct Valerie."

"Okay, thank you" Max says, hanging up her desk phone, "that was Chicago Med. Jess Saxon just got out of surgery"

"Run code" Hank says, and looks at Jay, "go with"

🪩🪩🪩

As Jay and Max walk into med, they run into Dr Rhodes, who says, "So, we removed the bullet and managed to stop the bleeding, but she's got a long road ahead."

"Thanks Doc" Jay says.

"If you guys had been five minutes later, she would've bled out." Connor adds, as he leads the two detectives to Jess' room.

Jess slowly opens her eyes and weakly says, "my mother tried to talk me out of it. She called me Don Quixote. But I couldn't let what happened to me happen to others. I just couldn't."

"It was a brave thing that you did for those women. A noble thing" Max says.

"Is Valerie still out there?"

"Yeah" Jay says.

"When she came in, she was broken. Scared of her own shadow. The man who did this, the man who shot me, he knew her name"

"We think she got away. Or he let her go"

Jess starts whimpering and Maxine places a hand on her arm and says, "hey. You are okay. You did nothing wrong."

"Do you have any idea where Valerie might be? Anything that could help us" Jay asks.

"Did you find my safe?"

"At the shelter?" Max questions.

"When the women arrive, they give me what they came in with. Anything that can remind them of what they're hiding from or what they're fighting for."

When Jay and Max leave Jess Saxon's room, Bishop says, "you know they name parks and streets after politicians in this city. Women like that, they're real heroes, and nobody ever knows their names."

"You alright?" Jay asks.

"Yeah"

"I'll call Voight"

🪩🪩🪩

After Kevin and Adam find Valerie at a cemetery where her son is buried they bring her in and Maxine and Erin question her about the shelter and who killed Danzig and Markum

"After he...after he killed Reed and Matthew. He got a phone call. I grabbed the keys and I just ran out the back."

"Who is he?" Max asks.

"I don't know. I swear."

"The police officers that picked you up said you told them that this was your fault"

"I...he made me knock on the door and stand in front of the peephole. And when Reed answered the door, I tried to scream, but..I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't...I don't...I don't know how I got here. I'm not this person. I've just been on a slide."

"Ever since you lost your son?" Erin asks.

"Yes. I guess I just gave up. I stopped caring about what happened to me, and sometimes...sometimes I think these things I've gone through, I think it's...think it's punishment, like I deserve it."

"I know what you mean"

"No you don't. You haven't.."

"I was in a shelter just like the one you were in for three months." Erin says, then looks over at her big sister, "I was 11 and my mom was...she was never good at taking care of herself. Always on something, always with a guy who'd hit her, and I thought it was my fault, I thought I didn't support her enough"

"But you came through it"

"Let us help you, Val. Okay? Talk to me about how this all got started"

"Reed and I were hanging out at this club. He told me he was gonna steal the owners stash of dope and I said that was crazy stupid, but he wouldn't listen to me. I told him that I was gonna tell them when he was gonna do it, thinking that maybe he would stop this insane plan, but he got so mad, he hit me. He kept hitting me. I went to the shelter after that."

"And Reed stole the drugs" Max says, sitting next to Val.

"The guy who got me at the shelter...I don't know his name, but I've seen him at the club."

"What club?"

"Volume on La Salle. I've seen him talking to the owner, this guy named Martin Ainge"

Erin looks at Max recognizing the name who says, "so, Martin gets ripped off, and he sends this guy to grab you this morning?"

"He didn't know where Reed lived. But he knew where to find me"

~~~

Erin tapes a picture of Martin Ainge onto the whiteboard as Al says, "that's Martin Ainge. Club owner at Volume in River north. And apparent drug trafficker. Didn't take kindly to being ripped off, so he unleashed the wrath of god to get even."

"The name Ainge gave us when we first interviewed him, Pac Man? Just a wank to get us to chase our tail." Adam says.

"Clearly" Dawson states.

"Right, get Ainge in here" Voight orders.

~~~

After interviewing Ainge again which he gave nothing and finding out the finger prints on the hammers were Vals which she explained why. The team is surrounding the white board where several faces of men are taped on it.

"These are the male employees working for Ainge. We've extended it to his vendors and suppliers." Kevin says, standing at the board with Adam.

"Yeah. We hit on four. Burglary. This guys a car thief. He's got assaults but looks like your typical bouncer sheet. This one though. He's interesting" Adam says, pointing to four different male pictures, "Greg Sutton. He was hired as a booze provider for the club, although his company name appears to be fictitious, and there's absolutely no invoices with his product being delivered to the establishment."

"Payout" Dawson says.

"Yeah" Ruzek says, handing Dawson a file, "now, look at his record. Misdemeanor possession. Felony intent to distribute. And five years ago, strong arm robbery. He beat a truck driver half to death with a tire iron. Back of the head. Just like Danzig"

🪩🪩🪩

After Val identifies Sutton as the man who shot Jess and killed Danzig and Markum, the team goes to his home where they get into a gun war and Kevin shoots him dead.

Maxine stands in front of the body length mirror as Maverick zips up the back of her dress. "You sure you wanna go, baby? I know it's been a long day for you"

Maxine turns around, playing with her fiancés bow tie and says, "this event is important to you, so it's important to me. I'm going"

"Okay" he says, leaning in for a kiss, "I love you"

"I love you too"

authors note;

my babies are so freakin' cute 💓💓😭😭