CHAPTER FIVE
ride along

Sam opens a letter that was addressed to her and Jay. As she's reading it, her eyes grow wide and a smile forms onto her face and says, "Oh, my god"

"What's up?" Jay asks, as he walks into the kitchen. Sam looks over at her husband and hands him the letter. After Jay finishes reading it he looks over at Sam, with shock written all over his face and says, "No way"

"Yeah, it's about time too. It's been 4 years"

Jay takes out his ringing phone and says, "That's Hailey, says we got a shooting"

"Awesome" Sam smiles, then looks up at her husband who is eyeing her, "I mean, not awesome for the shooting, just-" Jay cuts her off and says. "I know"

Out of instinct Sam kisses her husband on the lips, then walks away to go get her gun and badge. Jay stands there stunned for a second then smiles, following after his wife.

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Adam and Sam follow a detective into the backdoor of the house where the shooting occurred and the man says, "Two offenders broke in through the back door. They entered the dining room, started opening drawers" as Sam and Adam put on their latex gloves.

"Homeowner comes in, surprised them?" Adam says, as they walk into the dining room where one of the bodies were.

"Yeah. He took two to the chest. Name's John McCafferty" Detective Cullen says, as they walk into the living room to see the second body, "Looks like the third shot missed, went through the window"

Sam points to the bullet hole in the glass window and asks, "And that's the one that hit the pedestrian?"

"Yeah. Bad time for a walk. McCafferty fires back, clips offender one. Meet Clay Young"

"Do we know what happened to the second offender?" Ruzek asks.

"He hightails it through a side door, engages with officer Burgess"

"Okay. Anything else?" Sam asks.

"Talked to Robbery. They think this is the same crew that's been hitting the Gold Coast the past few weeks"

"Yeah, I figured. Alright thanks Cullen. Hey, uh, what about the wife?"

~~~

As Sam and Adam leave the house Adam asks "What's got you so smiley today?"

"The adoption for Denise finally came through" Sam smiles.

"Seriously?" Adam asks, pulling his friend into a hug, "That's great. How'd she take it?"

"We haven't told her yet. She was already on her way to school when I opened the letter, but we've been waiting 4 years for this Adam and it's finally happening"

"Well, I'm happy for you" he says as they walk over to their Sergeant, Jay, Hailey and Brayden, "Alright, so we got two DOA's inside. The homeowner, John McCafferty, and one of the bad guys, a uh, Clay Young, male, white, 37. He's got a long sheet, Burglary. Meth distro. No gang ties, though"

"Wife said her husband had a gun, and he's the one that opened fire on this Clay Young guy" Sam says.

"And during the shootout, a bullet came through the window and hit the civilian here" Porter says, pointing near where they stand on the sidewalk.

"Wife get a look at the offender?" Hank asks.

"She caught a glimpse, but she ducked into the bathroom when the bullets started flying. She said white male, tall, gray hoodie" Jay says.

"Same guy that opened up on Kim. I have two witnesses that saw a big guy with a gray hoodie run out of the house, shooting at a police officer" Hailey says.

"Alright, chase Clay Young's knowns, dump his phone. Talk to neighbor's check all nearby POD's" Hank says, as the team departs ways.

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"So, we recovered a laptop in Clay Young's apartment that traces back to a Gold Coast robbery from two weeks ago" Jay says, going over to sit on the edge of his desk.

"Well, that's good, but Young's dead. Do we have anything on the second offender?" Hank asks.

"Nothing so far" Sam says.

"Nah we got a name" Adam says, as he and Hailey walk onto the bullpen, taping a picture onto the board, "This is, uh, Trent Stow. Techs found his fingerprints all over the mustang"

"Record?" Hank asks.

"Long and impressive. He's a repeat violent offender, this guy"

"Two armed robberies, three narcotics charges. Looks like he's into meth, coke and heroin" Hailey states.

"Alright, that makes sense, cause the M.E said they found high doses of meth in Young's system" Brayden says.

"Alright. So we've got two hopped up junkies robbing to support their habit. Besides drugs, we find a nexus between Stow and Young?" Hank says.

"Yeah. They were both busted 10 years ago for a robbery when they were in college at CCU" Hailey says, then points to Trent Stow's picture, "Stow actually played quarterback for a season"

"He was a pro prospect until he beat a kid into a coma at a bar. The judge was an alum, so he got off on probabtion" Adam says.

"He's been busted a few times for robberies, never convicted. This kid's been getting a free pass his entire life"

"Hey Kim, you recognize this guy" Hank asks, turning to look at the officer. Kim shakes her head and says, "No. All I saw was a hoodie"

"Alright. Bring in Trent Stow. See if the wife of the victim can ID him"

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After finding out that Trent is staying with his brother Vince. Sam and Kim head out to his house with Jay and Hailey as back up. As the two walk up the driveway, they see a man standing by the entrance to the backyard and Sam says, "Vince Stow?"

"Can I help you?" Vince asks.

"Yeah. We're looking for your brother, Trent"

"It's my son's birthday. Can we do this later?"

Sam shakes her head and says, "No"

"Listen, I've got a lot of friends here, a lot of business colleagues.." Sam cuts the man off and says, "Mr. Stow. How do you want to play this?"

"Excuse me?"

"We can be real quiet, or we can be real loud. Making sure that everyone knows what's going on. It's your choice"

Vince scoffs and says, "Alright, you can talk to Trent, but only if I'm there with him. I'm his lawyer"

~~~

"Yeah. Yeah, I know Clay Young" Trent says, rocking back and forth on the couch, "I haven't seen him in months, since I've been sober"

"You don't look sober" Kim states.

"Where were you this morning?" Sam asks.

"I was at a NA meeting" Trent says.

"Where?"

"A church off of Wabash. St. Mary's"

"You own a gray hoodie, Trent?" Kim questions.

"Don't answer that" Trent says, making the officer glare at him.

"What's this all about?" Trent asks.

"There was a home invasion murder, and a guy, married man, two kids, was shot and killed" Sam states.

"Well, I got nothing to do with that"

"Trent's been working as a quarterback coach at a high school. He's had his share of trouble in the past. He's not that guy anymore. Okay? He's clean and sober. You people are making a big mistake" Vince says.

"Okay, then I assume you wouldn't mind coming down to the station, doing a lineup" Kim says.

"Do you have a warrant?"

"No. But since he's so innocent, I'm assuming that he'd want to do it of his own free will. Prove to us that he's not involved"

"Okay, we're done talking"

"Are we?"

"Please try not to disturb my guests on your way out" Vince says, as he and Trent walk away. Kim sighs as the two start to leave when she takes out her ringing phone and Sam says, "What's up?"

"It's Brennan"

"What does she want now? She shouldn't have put you on the spot like that for a ride along. She's all about politics, Kim. Don't believe everything she says, got it?"

"Yeah. Got it"

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"Let me get this straight. This guy, Trent Stow, is our lead suspect, but we can't get him in for a lineup?" Hank asks, standing next to the whiteboard.

"All we have are his prints in Young's car. No gun was recovered. No DNA. So, we got nothing tying him to the crime" Jay says, sitting on the edge of his desk.

"We run his alibi?"

"Yeah, we got three people that put him at that NA meeting, but it ended at 9 o'clock. Gives him plenty of time to pick up Young, and get all the way to the Gold Coast" Sam says, sitting at her desk.

"Alright, use what we got. Get a search warrant"

"Already tried. Judge says we don't have probable cause" Kim says.

"Alright, let's work the stolen property angle. He has to be selling the stuff he's stealing to somebody, right? Find out who and work our way back to Stow"

"I think I got something" Antonio says, walking over to the board, taping a couple pictures of a building next to Trent's picture, "Talked to Robbery. They gave me the addresses of 10 suspected cleaning houses. Got a hit off this southside auto body shop"

"How's it connect to Stow?"

"NVLS records put Stow's pickup outside of it three times last month"

"How soon after the break ins?"

"It's always the next day"

"Alright, who owns the shop?"

"John Randall" Antonio says, showing the picture that's attached to his file and handing it to Voight, "He's got a long sheet. Paroled two months ago for felony possession of stolen property"

"Alright. Grab this Randall. Rip the place apart"

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"Hi, we're looking for John Randall" Brayden says, showing his badge to the worker, after walking inside the auto body shop. The worker points to the man in the back and says, "Back there"

The two detectives walk to the back of the shop and Sam says, "John Randall? Chicago PD. We just wanna ask you.." then the man cuts her off by running, then the brunette gets on her walkie and says, "Targets running out the back" as she and Brayden chase after him.

Antonio and Adam try to stop him with the car but he runs past them as Adam gets on his walkie and says, "We got him. We got him" as Antonio backs up his covert car.

"Let's go" Brayden says, as he and Sam run back towards the front and out to the street where they see Randall almost get hit by a car.

Sam runs to grab him, slamming him on top of the car, then slams him onto the pavement and puts her gun to his knee and says, "Alright! You move, I shoot your kneecap"

"Alright, alright. I'm done" Randall breathes out.

"You good?" Adam asks. Sam holsters her gun and says, "Yeah, I'm good"

Adam chuckles and says, "Yeah, you are" as Sam takes out her handcuffs to put him in the bracelets.

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Sam walks into the locker room to see Kim putting her uniform onto a hanger and putting it into her locker so she leans on the surrounding ones and asks, "How'd the meeting go"

"Good. I think"

"Good. You're a good cop, Kim. So, don't let anyone take that away from you"

"Thanks Sam" Kim smiles softly. Sam smiles back and goes to leave the locker room and takes out her phone, sighing and puts it to her ear, "Hi, yes. Can I speak with commissioner Miller, please"

"May I ask who's calling?"

Sam sighs and says, "His grand daughter"

~~~

"Sarg, Shelby Jarvek's in the wind" Jay says, standing up from his desk, "We got no known residence. Went by Stow's place. No sign of her, but the pickup was in the driveway"

"Well, I just ran her phone. It pinged early this morning at 2:35 in Englewood, near Elm and 112th street, but it goes dead shortly after that" Kim says.

"You know, there's an open air drug market right there on Elm"

"Alright, head over there. See if you can track her down" Hank says before Jay and Sam grab their coats to leave, as Trudy walks onto the unit and says. "Burgess, someone here to see you"

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Sam and Jay walk towards the open air drug market, when someone starts barking, indicating the police have arrived and as some of them start running, Jay says, "Hold up, hold up, where do you think you're going?"

"What do you need, man?" A guy asks.

"Just some information" Jay says, showing his badge.

"I ain't got nothing for you"

"No, it's not like that. We're not here to jam you up, alright? Have you seen this woman?" Jay asks, showing him a picture of Shelby on his phone, "she a customer?"

"What's in it for me?"

"How about we search you. See what you got on you. Take you down to the station" Sam suggests. The guy puts his hands up and says, "Alright, alright. I seen her around. She was partying last night. Alright, what'd she do?"

"Nothing. We just want to talk to her. Where was she partying?"

"That place on the corner" the man points behind the detectives, "There's always something going on over there. Can I go now?"

"Yeah. Have a nice day" Jay says, as the couple walks away.

As the two walk to the building on the corner, Jay opens the caged door and when Sam tried to open the red door, it's locked.

"Hey, kick it in?" Sam asks her husband. Jay kicks in the door as the two walk in to see the place obviously a mess, with graffiti on the walls and syringes lying around, when they hear music playing.

"It's clear" Jay whispers, as the two walk towards the back of the store, "It's coming from in there"

"Yeah"

As Jay removes the big piece of plywood from in front of the doorway, Sam grabs onto her gun, taking it out and walks forward to see another door that's cracked open.

"See anything?" Jay says, still whispering.

"Not really. Ready?" Sam whispers back.

"Yeah, go"

As Sam kicks in the door they see Shelby with something tying around her arm with a syringe still stuck in her arm and headphones on and she goes over to feel her pulse and says, "She's gone"

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Sam walks into Voight's office, shutting the door behind her and says, "Hank, we need to talk"

"What's up?" the Sergeant says, going to sit at his desk. Sam sighs, sitting in a chair and says, "I didn't want to go over Kim's head about this but, I talked to my grandfather, because I wanted to know what happened at Kim's IRT meeting and she didn't tell them about Kendra"

Hank sits up and says, "Okay, I'll talk to Trudy, who can.." Sam cuts Hank off and says. "If it's okay with you, since my grandfather is the commissioner, I can ask him to talk to Chen, to help fix it"

Hank thinks for a moment and says, "You sure? Cause I know how you and Daniel are"

"I'm sure, Hank. It's Burgess"

"Alright. Do what you gotta do. But tell me how it plays out"

"Yeah, of course" Sam says, getting up from the chair and leave the office.

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After Kendra (Kim's ride along), ID's Trent Stow as the man in the gray hoodie. The team heads out to arrest him at his brother's house, where Vince is found, beaten and bloody.

"Alright, thanks" Brayden says hanging up his phone as he and Sam walk over to the rest of the team, "Hey, Patrol found Vince Stow's car crashed in Cicero. There was blood on the driver's side, and no sign of stow"

"When did it happen?" Kim asks.

"Passerby called it in 20 minutes ago"

"Alright, let's get on the horn with Cicero Police. Let them know we're en route, running code. Get them a pic of Stow. I'll call Voight. We'll get on the ground there" Anotnio says.

"Alright we got this" Brayden says, as he, Sam, Jay and Hailey stay at the scene at vince's home. Sam takes out her ringing phone and says, "Hey, you guys mind if I head out? I got a meeting with the commissioner"

"Yeah, go. We're good" Jay says. As Sam walks away, Brayden turns to Jay and asks, "Why does she have a meeting with the commissioner?"

"It's her grandfather"

Brayden looks back at Sam, who gets in her covert car and says, "Huh"

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After arresting Trent, Kim walks into Hank's office to find him talking with Sam and says, "Hey. Boss, you got a sec?"

"What's up?" Hank says.

"I went back to detective Chen at the review board. Came clean about Kendra. She said it was taken care of, so thank you. You didn't have to do that for me"

"I didn't" Hank says, looking at Sam, then back at the officer, "It wasn't on me to clean up your mess, it wasn't Sam's either"

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, I heard about what you told the IRT. Anything else?"

"Listen, I should have listened to you in the first place.."

"I don't give a damn who you listen to. But don't you ever compromise a case again. You hear me?" Hank says, getting up from his desk, "You copy?"

"I copy, Sarg"

"You were sitting on the fact that Kendra was a witness? I mean, you ever do anything like that again, I'll bury you"

"Understood" Kim says, leaving her sergeant's office.

~~~

Sam walks into the locker room to see Kim slam her locker a couple times and says, "You good?"

"I'm sorry, Sam. You didn't have to go to bat for me"

Sam walks over to the brunette and says, "Kim, like I said before, you're a good cop. I'm not gonna let anyone take that away from you, alright."

"Thanks"

"It's not like it was a hard sell anyways. I talked to the commissioner, who talked to Chen and it's all figured out now. No one's looking to talk down a cop who's under fire"

"You didn't have to talk to your grandfather for me. I know how hard it is for you two. It means a lot" Kim says, bringing the detective into a hug.

"Of course, Kim. You're family, okay?" Sam says, departing for the hug, "But now I gotta have dinner with him, so after that we're getting drinks and you're paying"

Kim chuckles and says, "Deal"

Hank then rushes into the locker room in a panic, after getting off the phone with Jay and says, "Sam"

Sam turns around to see Hank in panic mode and says, "Hank? What's going on?"

"It's Denise and Wyatt"

Sam starts to hyperventilate and Kim says, "What's happening?"

"They're missing"

TO BE CONTINUED...

a/n;

Cliffhanger? *evil laugh*
Sorry, I haven't been as active on this book as I usually am. It's been a weird week.
Anyways, Kim and Sam are my new bropt! 💖
Denise's adoption FINALLY went through and she's now a HALSTEAD! 🥳
But now her and Wyatt are missing! 🤬