⋆° დ ༄ RISKY BUSINESS
chapter fifty two. nationwide manhunt.
special victims unit crossover event.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Maverick asked, placing his hands on his fiancés shoulders as she was packing to head to New York with Antonio to talk to Greg Yates in prison.

Maxine turns around and nods, "I'll be fine, promise. I need to do this. For Nadia. And all the other women he killed"

Maverick leaned down for a kiss, cupping her cheeks, "okay. Be safe, please. And I love you"

Max smiled, "I love you too"

🪩🪩🪩

Green Haven
Correctional Facility
Thursday, February 4th

Once Maxine and Antonio land in New York City they grab a cab and head to the facility that Greg Yates is being held at to ask him questions.

Max puts some pictures of skeletal remains in front of Yates. Greg takes a minute to look through the pictures and Maxine notices the look in his eyes, a very weird look, like his eyes had turned dark.

"Yates" Max says.

"Yes?" Yates says, "These are disturbing. Fractured skulls, broken hyoid bones. These girls were driven all the way from Chicago to that bleak Bronx boneyard. That same place that your friend, Nadia, was found"

"After you murdered her"

"Dr. Yates, we're here because you might have information about these victims" Antonio says.

"Who they were? How they got here? Where did they come from" Yates mocks.

"Why don't you start with who they are"

"These are just bones. Yeah? You couldn't find DNA on any of them, so I will guess that they came from working girls"

"Guess? You told SVU some of these victims might have been from Chicago"

"Did I? Oh, yeah"

"We have some missing persons photos we'd like you to take a look at" Dawson says, showing Yates 5 pictures of missing girls.

"Hmm. So young" Yates says, biting his lower lip and Max wanted to knock him out right then and there, "I don't imagine that's what they looked like when their killer encountered them"

"Where?" Maxine asks, getting fed up.

"Maybe a truck stop, whoring themselves out for cocaine. You and detective lindsay must know the power of addiction, where is she by the way?"

"We're here to talk about these girls, not me or another detective"

"Nadia, talked alot about you on our drive" Yates smiles, looking between the two detectives, "How Sergeant Voight took you under his wing. That man has a lot of anger. It must have been very scary working with him, since you're his kid and all"

"How the hell do you know that?" Maxine asks in anger and Yates just shrugs, "We're done" Max says, as the two stand up to leave.

"Sorry you wasted your trip"

"Sure"

"Tell the warden I'd be much more comfortable talking with detective Rollins"

"She's not coming up here" Antonio informs him. Yates turns around and says, "Why not...ooh, she must've had her baby by now. Is it a boy or a girl?"

"That's none of your business" Max says.

"You want closure for these families? Get her here" Yates demands, "By tomorrow"

🪩🪩🪩

Maxine and Antonio are now back at SVU with Lieutenant Benson, Sergeant Dodds, Detective Rollins and Detective Carisi sitting around a white board.

"I knew I should have gone up there" Rollins says.

"Rollins..." Liv says. Amanda turns around and says, "what? He didn't give you anything, did he?"

"I don't know that he has anything to give" Max states, taking a sip of her coffee.

"He never shows his cards on the first pass. And nothings for free. What did he ask for?"

"He wants to talk with you" Antonio says.

"He's bored!" Olivia exclaims, "he gets off on pulling everybody's strings"

"He gave us Rudnick. And he knows more about those bones than he's ever let on." Rollins says.

"Yeah, he's still claiming those bodies might be Chicago girls? Come on" Carisi states.

"We do have these four women who went missing when Yates moved to Chicago" Antonio says, "one of them is a working girl who was a patient at his urgent care center"

"And he did seem to recognize her. He could've driven her East, like he did with Nadia" Max says.

"Isn't he appealing that conviction? I mean, why would he confess to more crimes?" Dodds asks.

"No, but he doesn't confess" Rollins says, "I keep the conversation hypothetical, and he just fills in the blanks"

"Look, Sergeant Voight would really like to give these girls' families some answers" Max says.

"I know" Liv says, "okay. But, Carisi, you go with"

~~~

"Yates wants to be transferred to Honor Block" Olivia says, not believing what she's hearing right now.

"He's a serial killer. That's not happening" Dodd's says.

"Actually, once you're in prison, whatever you did to get there doesn't really matter" Sonny says, "they use the carrot of the honor block to encourage good behavior"

"He's not capable of good behavior" Max states.

"He did make one show of good faith" Rollins says.

"He knows something about the girls?" Antonio asks.

"Siobhan Kelly, the patient at his urgent care center? He suggested you check truck stops outside of Gary" Rollins says, as Antonio walks away from the group to catch Voight up on what's been happening, "and he may know more but he's not gonna say anything until he's transferred"

"Of course he won't" Benson says. Maxine crosses her arms over her chest and asks, "Lieutenant, is this a good idea?"

"I doubt the warden would approve that" Dodd's says.

"Find out. I want you both back here tonight"

~~~

"No we haven't heard anything yet...Okay, we'll let you know" Maxine says, then hangs up her phone and walks back over to Antonio who is sitting at Finns desk, "Voight wants us back tonight"

"We should at least wait to find out what Yates had to say" Antonio says.

"Okay, thanks" Sonny says, hanging up his desk phone and stands up, "I just tried Barbas office. They haven't heard from him in four hours."

"What the hell is going on up there?" Max questions.

"Hopefully, Yates is talking. I'll try the warden again" Rollins says, walking over to her desk and picks up her desk phone.

🪩🪩🪩

After getting a call from Voight telling Maxine and Antonio not to board the plane back home, they instead meet up with the SVU team to help find Yates and Rudnick who had escaped and who are now looking for Bronwyn Freed, who helped them escape.

"What's the deal with this girl? She got a thing for serial killers?" Antonio asks as he, Maxine, Rollins and Benson find Bronwyn's husbands car.

"More or less" Rollins says.

"This her car?" Max asks.

"Well, it's the same make and model as her husbands but different plates" Liv says.

"Yates would switch them"

"No sign of him or Rudnick?" Antonio asks.

"There was nothing in the car. But they were here. The dogs picked up their sent" Amanda says.

"Hey, Lieutenant! I got something over here!" Carisi shouts, as the group runs over to them to find Sonny taking something out of the dumpster and handing it over as evidence, "I got a jumpsuit, a dress and a wig"

"Okay. So the question now is, where's Rudnick's body?" Benson questions.

"Hey! The dogs are on to something" Dodd's shouts out as the group run after the sergeant to a maroon car.

"Cars locked, Lieutenant"

"What? Open it!"

Dodd's smashes in the drivers side window to open the trunk. Max and Antonio take their guns out and nod at him and when the trunk flies open they find Bronwyn tied up. 

"Where are they?! Where's Yates?!" Maxine demands.

"I don't know. Help me, please"

"Alright well you were with them. How long ago?" Amanda questions.

"Before noon. He, Yates, he made me..." Bronwyn starts crying and Olivia says. "Get her out of here"

🪩🪩🪩

New York State
Police Barracks
North county station
Storyville, New York
Sunday, February 7th

"Just got a still from the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge, time stamped yesterday morning" Dodd's says, showing Maxine, Antonio and Carisi a still from the iPad.

"That looks like two church ladies" Antonio comments.

"Nah, that's Bronwyn and Rudnick" Carisi states, walking over to one of the large white boards with the New York State map on it, "he's wearing the wig and the dress we found near the car"

"Yates was probably hiding in the back while they drove upstate" Max suggests. 

"Yeah, it's a smart plan. Nobody's gonna be looking for them at that hour, and even if somebody were, two women in a Subaru ain't gonna raise any flags"

"And once they get past Albany, in a less trafficked area, they don't need Bronwyn anymore. So they dumped her in that lot" Dodd's adds.

~~~

"Benson says Bronwyn gave Rudnick a gun and a map of the Adirondack State Park" Dodd's says, as Carisi rolls out a map and Maxine and Dawson look over it with him.

"Adirondack park? That's six million acres" an officer says.

"Yeah. It's why we need to look in the north end" Sonny says, "when Rollins and I apprehended Rudnick he was in Buffalo. Just shy of the Canadian border"

"What was his escape plan?" Antonio asks.

"He has passports and cash but beyond that we never found out" Carisi says.

"That's Rudnick, but yates? The last time he was on the run, he killed Nadia and he went on a spree" Maxine states.

"Yeah, we're not even sure if these two are still together. There's bad blood between the two of them"

"Yeah. Well, anything is possible. They could have split up. One could've killed the other" Dodd's says.

"We had some more sightings" an officer says.

"How many?" Antonio asks.

"Too many" the officer says, handing the paper to the group, "all over the county, state. As far as the Texas Mexico border"

"Any sightings on the way up to Canada?" Dodd's asks.

🪩🪩🪩

108 Brady Road
Gloversville, New York
Sunday, February 7th

"Son of a bitch" Maxine says, as she and Antonio look at the body of a trooper who was killed and raped. Antonio puts a hand on his friends shoulder and asks, "you okay?"

"This is Yates"

"They found prison issued underwear. They're checking for DNA." Dodd's says walking into the house where Max and Antonio are, who stand back up.

"It's Yates. How'd the trooper end up here?" Max questions.

"First responder got a call from a neighbor who saw smoke coming out of the chimney. The owner never stays here in winter" Dodd's says.

"How long ago?" Antonio asks.

"An hour. They also found a blood trail outside. One of them may be hurt. Might have slowed them down. Dogs are on both scents." Dodd's says, leaving the house.

Antonio looks over at Maxine, placing his hand on her arm, "hey, we'll get him"

🪩🪩🪩

"Copy that Lieutenant" Dodds says into his phone then hangs up, "all the agencies are on it. They'll find him. My lieutenant wants us to come back"

"Yeah, I'm not doing that. I'll drop you off at a rest stop if you want" Maxine said, driving down the dark road.

"Detective, I know he killed someone close to you, but this isn't us anymore"

"What the hell was that?" Max says, stopping the car and backing up to see a state troopers vehicle and a truck parked on a dirt road.

"There's been no radio traffic. Pull over, let's check it out" Dodds says. Maxine pulls onto the dirt road and they get out of the car with their guns drawn.

"This is Sergeant Dodds, NYPD. Requesting back up. County road three, six miles west of Plessis" Dodds says over the radio.

"Copy That. Back up en route"

"Clear" Maxine says, looking into the trooper's vehicle, then runs over to the trooper who is laying next to the truck, shot point blank in the head, "he's gone. And so is his gun"

The next thing that was heard was gunshots. A bullet hitting Dodd's shoulder, who falls down onto the snow. "Dodds!!"

"Stay down! Take cover!" Dodds shouts, groaning in pain, scooting towards the troopers vehicle then takes out his radio and says, "this is Sergeant Dodds. Shots fired. Two officers down. Suspect is armed and in flight. Requesting immediate back up."

"Dodds, are you okay?" Max asks, her gun drawn as she looks for the shooter.

"I'm fine. Just stay down" Dodds says then not even a minute later Max gets up and starts walking towards the woods.

"Detective, what are you doing? Stay down"

Max walks into the woods, gun and flashlight out. She then starts running and trips and loses balance, holding her knee. "Damn it"

Maxine quickly stands up and looks for her gun she had just dropped with her flashlight.

Then she comes across a log cabin and slowly walks inside with her gun still drawn and looking around when she sees a little girl hiding under a bed.

"Hey, it's okay" Max says, kneeling down, "i'm the police. Are you okay?"

"My daddy" the girl says in fear when they hear gun fire.

"I need you to stay right where you are, okay?" Max says, before she walks outside, gun and flashlight drawn looking around the wooded area.

She hears a truck behind her, and with the driver being Greg Yates, about to run her over, Max jumps out of the way. She quickly stands up and starts shooting at the back of the truck.

She then turns around and walks towards a tree to see a man shot in the head and a piece of paper sticking out from his mouth. Maxine checks his pulse and he was gone.

Maxine takes the piece of paper from the mans mouth and opens it up and reads, "'see you back home, Maxine"

to be continued . . .