⋆° დ ༄ UNTIL THERE WAS FOREVER
chapter sixteen. favor, affection or ill will.

Sam is on the floor playing with Gracie when there's a knock at the door. As Sam gets up to go answer it, Gracie mimics her and stands up to go follow her.

Sam opens the door to see, Ruzek and she smiles, pulling him into a hug, "Oh, my god, Adam. How are you?"

Adam detaches from the hug and says, "I'm good." then Sam punches him in the arm, "Ow. why?"

"Because you didn't tell me you were leaving. I thought we were closer than that"

"I know, and I'm sorry. I just had to clear my head. Kim was coming up to the unit and I got scared, but now I'm back. Can I come in?"

"Yeah" Sam says, moving to the side. Adam spots Gracie standing there and grows shock, "she can walk now?"

"Sorta, but she's been doing great" Sam says, closing the door, as Adam goes to pick his niece up and kisses her cheek, "what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you before I head to the district. Voight has me doing patrol"

"I'm sorry, Adam, but you'll be back on the unit in no time" Sam says, reassuring her friend.

"You're right. I just gotta play it out. So, uh, how's this new guy, Rixton"

"He's cool. You just gotta give him a chance"

Adam clears his throat and says, "And this Porter guy. I heard he's your partner now. And I know I met him once but do I need to roughen him up a bit"

Sam smiles and says, "No, I think I'm good"

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"Rebecca Clark." Hank says, standing next to the whiteboard, as Erin tapes up her picture and several others. Jay sits on the edge of his fiancés desk and smiles at her as she rubs his back for a minute, while Porter watches them, then clears his throat and asks, "That's the girl that moved here and was gunned down in Bronzeville a couple months back, right?"

"That's right, she'd only been in Chicago six months before she got killed. Happened when she pulled over to buy a bottle of water at a corner store. Shot with a .45 semi auto"

"Father is Donald Clark" Erin says, pointing to his picture, "he is a poetry professor at West Michigan college. Mothers in a mental institution. Checked herself in after rebecca's death. She couldn't handle it."

"So, who's he want dead?" Burgess asks.

"Uh, Omar Fry. He's a documented south ave hustler, prime suspect in Rebeccas murder. Gang intelligence and area central homicide both cleared him, so he was released a few weeks ago. Since then, open murder investigation, no other suspects." Jay says.

"Now, Clark is convinced that Omar Frys the guy who killed his daughter." Al states.

"Alright, Sam, you and Porter hit homan square. See if you can dig up the original gang file. Kenny you and Burgess go pay Omar Fry a visit" Hank orders, as Sam gets up from her desk and puts on her coat.

"What's the next step with Clark?"

"Let's see if we can get some perspective on the original homicide first, shed some light on who actually killed his daughter. For now, just...just string Clark along"

"Yo, uh, Sarg, I heard Ruzek's back" Kevin says.

"Yeah, he's back at 21, yeah, but he's not back up here"

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"You guys got your work cut out for you, dealing with all these cliques, huh?" Sam asks, as she and Brayden walk into area central homicide, following the lead detective over to his desk, "so, what do you have for us?"

"Uh, Rebeccas murder wasn't a typical mutual combatant killing." Detective Chiliwech says, putting on his glasses and picking up Rebecca's file, "it was an innocent girl new to the city. So the mayor's office gave us a directive to saturate the area."

"And you guys like Omar Fry for it?" Sam asks, taking the paper from Chiliwech.

"Ah, well, we did at first. He's a banger with a ton of priors. He was recorded on security camera at a corner store buying a tall boy where Rebecca had purchased a bottle of water approximately a minute later. We assumed he followed her to her car, and it was a robbery gone sideways."

"Mm. So, now you cleared Omar?" Brayden asks.

"Yeah, we never found a murder weapon. Passed the gun residue test. We got no confession"

"Have we given Rebecca's dad this information? He's in town now, asking a lot of questions."

"Yeah, he showed up after Omar got released. Almost had him arrested, he was so worked up. Even when I showed him the evidence, he wouldn't listen"

"We don't want to step on any toes. You mind if we take a stab at it?" Sam asks.

"Stab away. I got ten cases here I haven't even read yet"

"Okay, thanks" Sam says, taking a couple more files from the detective and heads out.

As the two walk down the sidewalk to their car, Sam turns around when she hears someone calling her name, "Sam"

"Asher, hey" Sam says, bringing her friend into a hug, "what's up?"

"I was getting a coffee and saw you and wanted to say hi"

"Cool. Asher Montgomery this is my partner, Brayden Porter. Brayden this is an old friend from high school, Asher"

"Hey. Nice to meet ya" Brayden says, shaking the guys hand.

"Yeah, you too. You guys, working a case?"

"Yeah and we actually should get going, it was nice seeing you, Asher" Sam says, as she and Porter walk away.

"You too"

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The team is now vested up and at the Red Line Tunnel on 47th and wentworth where Omar Fry said he saw the suspect ducking into.

"Alright, search the drainage grated along with the stairwells. Bangers file the grated loose, use them to hide contraband. They get spotted topside, come down here to sling away their guns or drugs. I suggest you all split up." Hank says, as the team splits up to look for the gun.

While Sam and Brayden look through loose grates for the murder weapon, Porter asks, "so, that guy, Asher"

"Yeah, what about him?"

"He seemed a little...coozy to you"

"We've known each other since we were 13"

"I don't know, he seemed a little off to me"

Sam looks at her partner with a raised eyebrow and says, "You just met him"

"And I told you, I'm good at reading people. He said he was out getting coffee right?"

"Right"

"But the nearest coffee shop is 3 blocks away and he's dressed like he works at a construction site, didn't see a construction truck near by, the nearest construction site is 20 blocks away"

"Okay, so it's a coincidence"

"You really believe in those?" Brayden questions. Sam shrugs her shoulder and says, "I don't know"

"Well, I don't. And I smell something fishy"

"Right" Sam says, looking through a grate, "Ooh, what do we got here"

Porter takes out his phone and takes a couple pictures, before Sam sticks her hand in the crate taking out a gun and says, "Looks like we have a murder weapon"

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Sam tapes the picture up of the gun into the board and says, "Had the lab rush the test on our gun. The ballistics are a 100% match to the rounds they pulled out of Rebecca Clark's body."

"Any prints or DNA?" Hank asks.

"Nothing usable"

"But we may not need them." Kim says, standing next to Sam with a file in her hand, "I ran the gun through the CAGE unit, and it came back registered to a Thomas Kade." then she tapes up a picture of the man next to the gun, "turns out he had been on CPD's radar the last few weeks, identified as a person of interest in illegal gun sales."

"Yeah, but what's his connection to Rebecca?" Atwater asks.

"We're still working on that part"

"Kade has a fake federal firearms license and he's a known straw buyer, so he's probably not our shooter. More likely, he sold the gun to whoever killed Rebecca." Jay says.

"You got an address?" Al asks.

"Yeah. Uh, it's a business called Smoke Bliss on 44th and Calumet. "

"Wait, the pot shop?" Rixton asks and everyone looks at him.

"I drive by on my way to work."

"Let's go have a look" Hank says.

~~~

Voight walks down to the roll up, where Thomas Kade is being held in the cage by Sam and Jay and says, "Rebecca Clark"

"Never heard of her"

"Yeah? Well, one of your guns was used in her murder, so either you shot her yourself or you sold that" Hank says, pointing to the murder weapon in an evidence bag that Jay is holding up, "to her killer"

"I know people. I'll never do a day in jail"

"He's knows people"

"Oh! In that case, we should let him go" Jay says sarcastically. Hank pinches the brim of the man's broken nose and says, "Who'd you sell the guns to?"

Kade chuckles and says, "I like this kind of party"

"Yeah? Then let's go all night" Hank says, pinching the brim of Kades nose again.

"Hank" Platt says, walking down the stairs.

"Sarg" Sam says.

"Hank, this is group supervisor Greg Hammet from the ATF."

"You need to release him right now" Hammet orders.

"You gotta be kidding me. This is our offender. He's not going anywhere" Hank says.

"Well, he's an undercover federal agent, so it's best you uncuff him"

Kade smiles and says, "Told you. I know people"

~~~

"Alright, back up a second" Voight says, walking to his desk, where Hammet and Kade sit in front of and Jay and Sam off to the side, leaning on the wall, "so what is this operation?"

"Overload. It was initiated last September. We got over 1000 hours of manpower on this case so far" Hammet says.

"So I understand, the ATF didn't deconflict this operation with CPD or any other agency?"

"No, no, no, it's classified deep cover. No offense. Look, guys, as soon as we tell local PD, we know it's burnt"

"I've seen the G do some crazy stings, but intentionally putting guns in the hands of criminals? That's a new one" Jay says.

"Yeah, man, I was just getting into character. You know how undercover works, you gotta sell it" Kade says.

"Alright, guys, look, we surveillance all activities. You understand? Any guns sold were tracked by their serial numbers. Arrests were made if they were used in a crime, taking major offenders off of your streets" Hammet says.

"One of your guns was used to kill an innocent 22 year old girl" Sam says, "so exactly how many firearms have you lost track of?"

"No, we don't lose track of anything." Kade says.

"Then you should be able to tell us where we found the .45 that killed Rebecca Clark"

"Alright, look, look, is any operation 100% ironclad? You know, maybe a few guns fell through the cracks, we lost track, but we have made over 80 felony arrests so far. What's important here is the victim. We're in agreement on the same page. So what can we do to help?" Hammet says.

"I need the reports in everyone you sold guns to and every piece of surveillance you got" Hank says.

"So you're gonna jeopardize our whole operation?" Kade says.

"Your operation is jeopardized. You're through in my city. I mean, you got a problem with that? Just ask around about Hank Voight"

"Yeah, we already did. Listen you can have the files. Just, uh, preserve the work we've done here" Hammet says.

~~~

"Alright, the ATF supplied us with all their UC reports, including listings of all the weapons and individuals that they sold to, including photos and video surveillance of every purchase." Jay says, then tapes a picture onto the whiteboard, "Now, this is Maxwell Clay, aka goldfish. This guy has priors for gun and narcotics possession. And three months ago, he bought a batch of over 20 guns from agent tucker, including the .45 that was used to kill Rebecca Clark"

"This guy preparing for war?" Rixton asks, sitting back in his chair.

"Well, he's his own mini straw buyer, so he buys the guns from Tucker and sells them out of his bar." Erin says.

"Goldfish is definitely the worst street name I've ever heard" Kevin says.

"I knew a guy named Poodle head" Porter says.

"Poodle head, that's definitely the worst street name I've ever heard"

Kim chuckles before saying, "okay, goldfish runs a dive in Kenwood"

"Alright, let's go snatch his ass up" Hank says.

~~~

After picking up goldfish, who said he sold the murder weapon to his cousin, Big O, who got shot two weeks before Rebecca was killed. The team minus Lindsay and Olinsky are back on the unit, when Rixton and Burgess walk onto the unit and Burgess says, "So, the .45 we picked off Goldfish's cousin, Big O, he says it was gang related, apparently some Latin player. So we had CPIC and gang investigations pull the cards of all known gang members in the bronzeville area. It's a dead end on Big O. They couldn't find any player who was a documented enemy of his."

"But they did tell us that the 54th street gangsters and the Latin players have been at each other's throats lately. So we took a closer look and found something interesting." Rixton says, going over to the board to tape up a picture, "Jeremy Reynolds, 26, multiple gang cards, arrested a dozen times. He was a hardcore 54th street G."

"Was?" Hank asks.

"Yeah, until about a year ago. Then he became inactive. He got a civilian job at Pioneer machining. Guess where that's located. Ten miles north in Logan square. Which is right across the street from Grainger, which is where Rebecca Clark worked as a clerk in shipping and receiving." Burgess explains.

"Well, I mean, we know the Latin players and the 54th street Gs do have a pretty long history of gang warfare. How Rebecca Clark got involved, I have no idea, but this could be a retaliation hit, Sarg" Atwater says.

"Yeah, well, why don't you start by asking him?" Hank says, pointing to Jeremys picture.

~~~

After questioning Jeremy Reynolds, who was actually out on a date with Rebecca that night, Voight tapes up a picture onto the board, saying, "Carlos Brigante, 26, lifelong Latin Player. Turns out he's been gunning for Jeremy Reynolds ever since Reynolds shot his baby brother, Pikey Brigante, in the ass two years ago"

"Reynolds say what went down?" Sam asks.

"Yeah, talk about random. After work, Reynolds and Rebecca Clark, they go out to dinner. Now, Reynolds doesn't have a car. So being the nice girl that Rebecca is, she offers to drive him home. They stop at the corner store just as Brigante happens to be walking by. He spots reynolds, pulls his gun, shoots up the car. Reynolds dives out the passenger side, doesn't get hit once." Jay says.

"So Brigante is our silver hoodie" Kevin says.

"That's right, emptied his piece, ran into the red line station. Rebecca was just a casualty. Wrong place, wrong time. All this over some old beef" Hank says.

Rixton hangs up the desk phone and says, "Gang unit has the location on Brigante. A players stash house on Pilsen"

"Hit it"

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After a gun war at the stash house where Brigante is, Kevin shoots him in the head, while Al and Erin arrest Rebecca's father, Donald for solicitation to murder.

The team heads back to the unit, when Porter walks over to Sam's desk with a file and says, "Can I talk to you?"

"Uh, yeah" Sam says, before getting up from her desk to follow Brayden into the break room, "what's up?"

"I did a background check on Asher"

Sam sighs and says, "Why?"

"I told you, he seemed off"

"And you found?"

"Nothing much" Porter says, handing his partner the file, "he's got a construction business. Married. He got popped a few years back for having weed and he's had a few parking tickets but that's it"

"So what's the problem?"

"I don't know. I can read people, the way that they react. I went to college for psychology before I became a cop and it just...he doesn't seem right"

"He's a good guy, Brayden. I know him"

"Do you? Even you said, he's an old friend from high school. When's the last time you seen him?"

Sam sighs and says, "11 years"

"Right, a lot can happen in 11 years"

a/n:

Things are starting to get crazy! 🤭
The wedding is coming up very soon💗 which is so exciting!!
And Adam's back!! He was so shocked and happy seeing his niece being able to walk! 😭