CHAPTER TWELVE
brotherhood

Hank walks back over to the window to take another look at Rizzo, then turns around to look at the three and says, "Alright. Antonio, listen. We gotta get you out of here. Take your gun. Take your gun, okay" he says, handing Antonio his gun back, "Now give me your phone and go. It's alright. I got this. Now, go. It's okay"

Antonio then leaves, holstering his gun and Sam and Adam look back at their Sergeant who gives Adam Antonio's phone and says, "Alright, put this in your car"

"Alright" Adam says.

"The phone comes up, you say Antonio left it there at the beginning of the tour"

"Copy that"

"You two arrive on scene. You came around that corner, through that door. You guys witnessed me and the offender engaged in a physical altercation"

"Now, hold on, hold on.."

"Then you witness Rizzo..."

"No, no, no, Hank" Sam says. Hank puts his hand up to stop them from talking and says, "You witnessed Rizzo go over the wall"

"No, no, no, Boss, no" Adam says.

"Hey! You both run downstairs. You attempt to administer aid"

"No, no, no. We're not gonna let you take the fall" Sam says, as she and Adam walk over to him at the window.

"He's unresponsive. You determined he was dead on impact"

"No. You're not doing that. You can't take it" Adam states.

"The phone. Then body. Then attempt to help him"

"Hank, listen to me" Sam says, "They will bury you! Okay, there is no way the department.."

"We are not having a discussion!" Hank yells, "I need to know right now, are you two with me?"

"Of course I'm with you" Adam says. Hank looks at Sam who says, "Always"

"Then you need to go, now. Go!"

Adam and Sam look at each other and run out of the room. Once the two leave they rush out of the old factory and they run to the car to throw Antonio's phone on the dashboard.

Then they walk over to Rizzo's body, taking deep breaths. Sam then watches Adam take Rizzo's hand, putting his finger prints on his gun and says, "Adam, what the hell are you doing? Stop it!"

"No, Sam. I'm not letting him take the rap for this"

"So, you'd rather get buried over this? No, it's not happening, give me the gun" Sam says, going over to Adam to try and take the gun away. Adam lifts it over his head and says, "No. Sam, stop it. It's done"

"Listen to me. Hank is my family and I don't want him to take the rap for it either, but he's smart, he'll figure a way out. You on the other hand...Adam don't do this"

Adam holsters the gun, then places his hands on Sam's face and says, "Sam, listen to me. It's done. Are you with me?" he asks but Sam doesn't say anything, "Are you with me, Sam? Please"

"Yes, I'm with you. Always"

"Always" Adam says, as they walk away from the body to a couple patrol cars that are driving towards them. Hank leaves the building, at the same time Adam and Sam are walking away from the body and a patrol officer asks, "You good, Sarg?"

"Yeah" Hank answers.

"Call came in over the zone, Intelligence in pursuit. You guys need a transport vehicle?"

"It's over" Adam says, pointing to Rizzo's body, "The offender and I got into an altercation. He tried to disarm me. He didn't make it, so..Do us a favor. Roll the crime lab. I need to talk to IRT about an officer involved death" then he takes off his vest as the patrol officer walks away, "Thank you"

Hank turns around and looks at both Sam and Adam with anger as they walk away.

~~~

"Sarg. What's going on?" Burgess says, as she, Hailey, Kevin, Jay and Brayden walk over to Hank and Sam at the old factory where there is now the crime lab and cops cars everywhere.

"Officer involved death" Hank says.

"Rizzo?" Kevin says. Hank ignores Kevin and says, "You all should probably get back to the district"

Hailey looks over at Adam who is standing behind some red tape, waiting to talk with IRT and says, "Ruzek's involved. Where's Antonio?"

"I called him off"

"I thought he was on his way here"

"He wasn't here"

"Sam, you okay?" Jay asks and Sam nods her head, looking at the ground.

"Alright, you can all head back to the district. I don't want any of you logged in on this crime scene"

The team walks away and Sam and Hank turn around to see Adam now talking with IRT.

"You been through one of these before?" IRT officer Davis asks Adam.

"Yes, sir. Unfortunately, I have, yeah" Adam answers.

"I'll just remind you that as IRT, we're here to investigate the behavior of the offender. You understand? You're not on trial"

"I understand"

"Can you tell me in simple terms what happened?"

Adam clears his throat and says, "I was in hot pursuit of the offender. As I closed in I announced my office several times. I ordered him to stop. He did not. He was non compliant. He was violent. He lunged for me. For my weapon. And, in fearing for my life, I had no choice but to defend myself"

"He wasn't armed?"

"No, sir. It was a physical altercation. But weapon or no, I did believe my life was at risk"

"You, your sargeant and a detective Halstead were the only ones on the scene?"

Adam nods his head and says, "Yes, sir"

"Are you injured?" Davis asks and Adam shakes his head, "I need a verbal yes or no"

"No, I'm not injured. No"

"Okay, then. Let's get some pictures. You gotta piss and blow, and then, hopefully after everything checks out that's the last you'll have to see of me"

"Copy that"

"But remember, I'm the nice one, yeah? When you get to COPA, they'll investigate your behavior. Be clear, be short and be dead honest"

"Yes, sir. Thank you" Adam says, giving the man a handshake.

🌙🌙🌙

Hank and Sam walk onto the unit, when Hailey gets up from her desk and asks, "Hey. You gonna explain what's going on now? Where's Antonio?"

"Antonio is taking some time off" Hank says, walking to his office as Sam goes to sit at her desk.

"Time off? He was on his way there"

"Antonio is gonna be taking some days with his family. Ruzek is dealing with an officer involved death investigation. And that's the last this team will discuss it"

"Sarg, is he.." Hank cuts Burgess off and says. "You never have to explain something you didn't say or hear. Is that understood?"

"It is. But I wanna know if Antonio is gonna be okay"

"Yeah. He will be. He just...he just needs some time. We all okay now?" Hank says as Trudy walks onto the unit.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt whatever this is. There's been another carjacking downtown. North side, broad daylight. This time the victim died. She was 18. Brennan is requesting you take this one"

"Alright, you heard her. Let's do our jobs" Hank says, as everyone grabs their jackets to head out, "Hey, uh, Trudy. We're down two today. Ride with me and Sam to the scene?"

"Yeah"

🌙🌙🌙

Hank, Sam and Trudy arrive at the crime scene in downtown Chicago and they get out of the SUV and Trudy says, "Hey, Wigand" to the patrol officer.

"Hey, Sarg"

"Same MO" she asks, as they walk under the crime scene tape to where the victim is with a blanket over her body.

"Yeah, looks like it. All the witnesses are saying that there were two carjackers, both of them masked and gloved. It's just like the other four carjackings" Wigand says, as Kim takes the blanket off from over the victim's face, "You know, they waited for her to step away from the vehicle and then charged. You know, only this time..."

"She fought back" Sam says.

"We got multiple witnesses. They say the carjackers moved fast. She reacted to the violence"

As Kevin puts the blanket back over the victim's face, Platt says, "Okay, I'm gonna get forensics to set up a tarp" then she walks away, getting out her phone.

"Hey, uh, listen, I want you to get her hands bagged" Hank tells the crime scene tech, "Hopefully you'll find some DNA under her fingernails" then he looks over at Kim, "Girls parents been notified?"

"Patrol is en route to her house"

"I think you should take it. Look, this is already gonna be all over the press. Don't want some rookie cop confirming their kid's gone"

"Alright" Kim says.

"I got you" Kevin says, as they walk away. Jay walks over to Sam and Hank, followed by Hailey and says, "We put out an investigative alert on the stolen vehicle. It was a lexus F type. Seems like the carjackers sped directly onto Lakeshore, probably hooked up with 94 or 55"

"Mmm" Hank hums.

"Talked to a witness who owns that shop. Said there's security cameras that look directly at the scene" Hailey says.

"Go check it out"

"That's where we're headed" Hailey says, as her and Jay walk away.

🌙🌙🌙

"Whoever they are, they're smart. They never look up at the camera once" Hailey says, as she and Jay are standing next to the corkboard, where they printed out pictures they had screenshot of the video surveillance footage and pinned them onto the board, "But they took the L train the whole way there. We were able to trace them back to the red line and they hopped on at the 47th Street station"

"Right. They paid cash, so nothing to trace, but I'm sending the footage to the CTA workers." Jay states.

"47th street station. That's Canaryville" Adam says, "47th streets, like, two blocks from my mom's house. I got a real good CI there, Mark Rollins. Guy I grew up with. He's working off a home invasion case. He's plugged in it, too. Runs with Pat Kent's crew and...if these carjackers are Canaryville locals, Kent will know about it"

"You know nobody in Canaryville is gonna willingly talk to us, so we do need an angle" Brayden says.

"Alright, so dig into the pattern. Find the nexus between time and neighborhood. And I want a detail posted on every L stop above Jackson. And uniformed patrol sitting on 47th. We don't let another one of these happen. Understand?"

"Copy that" Kevin says. Hank walks over to Adam's desk and says, "I'm assuming it's not news to you IRT wants you on a short leash. So, you visit your CI with me and Sam"

"Alright" Adam says.

"Let's go" Hank says, then looks at Sam and nods his head to follow him and Adam.

🌙🌙🌙

Hank drives down an alley with Sam in the back and Adam in the passenger seat and stops the car and says, "You have no idea what you just did. There could be witnesses. Cameras. They could have caught you on PODs. And now you put Sam directly into the middle of it, more than she already is for helping you"

"Hank.." Sam breathes out. Hank puts his hand up for her to stop talking and says, "Phone records could indicate Antonio was there"

"I know" Adam says.

"There could be forensics. DNA evidence"

"But, boss..." Adam says, opening the car door.

"You're not getting out of the car yet"

"All of that would be there had you done what I did"

"And who the hell do you think you are? You don't protect me. I protect you. That's my job! I'm the one who allowed Antonio to be there. This is on me. From this point on, you don't say another word about this, you get me?"

"Yes, sir"

"Sam?"

"Yeah" she answers.

"There's a single crack in this, this tips sideways, we're all on the hook. Sam has a family. A three year old daughter a home. My grandson too"

"I'm sorry Sam, but, Sarg, I did what I had to do. I don't know what you want"

"We buried Al six months ago"

"This is not that" Adam says, closing his window.

~~~

Hank and Sam follow after Adam who opens the back gate to where his CI lives, then they walk up the stairs and Adam knocks on the door. Once the door opens he says, "Hey"

"Oh, hell no" Rollins says, closing the door but Adam puts his foot in the door and pushes his way through.

"I said I'm not working with...I'm not doing this. I'm not working with you anymore" Mark says, taking a towel to cover up his weed and pipe that's on the kitchen table.

"Nice to see you, too" Adam says, as Hank closes the door behind them, "May I remind you, you still have a case you gotta work off"

"Yeah, I've been working that off for the last ten months" Rollins says, closing all the curtains in his house to they don't see his stolen items, "You got me snitching on the whole damn neighborhood. You sent me those narco cops last month"

"They were beat cops and they had one question for you"

"They were all idiots"

Hank and Sam look around the house when Hank pulls back a curtain to find several, clearly stolen items in a room.

"This is all legally personal. Legal.."

"Would you just calm down, alright? We're not here to search your stuff and shutting curtains and slamming doors in my face isn't gonna stop us if we were"

"Sergeant Hank Voight. Detective Halstead" Hank says.

Rollins looks at the other two, he's never seen before then back at Adam and says, "You brought your boss?"

"What, you don't wanna work with me, either?"

"Yeah, no, no thanks"

"Well, see, I think you do. Cause I'm the guy who can actually get your whole file cleared"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah" Adam says.

"And what do I have to do for you to do that?"

"Inform on the carjacking crew working out of Canaryville"

Rollins chuckles and says, "What, are they boosting Saturn twin cams on the 42nd?" then he looks at Voight who has a serious look on his face, and sighs, "I don't know any crews jacking cars. Sorry"

"That so?"

"Yeah, that's literally what I just said"

"Okay. Well, you know anyone who might know? Pat Kent?"

"You gotta be kidding me"

"You inform on this one thing, you get Pat to give us something, and you're done. Alright? You're off the hook. No more me, no more cops, nothing"

"No. No thanks"

"Okay. Well, consider your case still open. I got a lot of friends who'd love to talk to you" Hank says, as they start to walk away.

"Okay. Fine, fine, fine. What do I gotta do? Just tell me. What?"

🌙🌙🌙

After getting a name from Billy Cowen ( who was named during an undercover sting Rollins did) who runs a chopshop. Kevin pins up a video surrviellance picture onto the board and says, "Our friend Billy installed his own camera. Said this is the guy right here that comes in and drops the cars off. Comes in alone, drops them, and Billy pays him cash same day"

"No ID, license plate, any identifying markers, so.." Kim says.

"That's the best shot we got" Hailey says.

"Yeah"

"Alright, so we do it the old fashioned way. Farm it off. Every beat cop, CTA worker, get every gang and tact unit across the city. If someone knows this guy, that picture is gonna be enough to spark it" Hank says, then turns to Adam, "Hey, you run it past Mark"

"He should be around here. Hey" Trudy saying walking onto the unit with someone behind her, "Hank, this is detective Tim Powell"

"Hank" the man says.

"Powell"

"Are you officer Adam Ruzek?" Powell asks and Adam nods his head while putting on his jacket, "I'm with IRT. I'm taking over your officer involved death"

"Why the change in lead?" Adam asks.

"Let's talk downstairs"

"Yes, sir" Adam says, following after the detective. Sam looks at Voight and says, "Hank?"

Voight shrugs and says, "I don't know"

~~~

Sam closes her locker and with the anger that's built up inside her, she punches it. Jay walks into the room and says, "Sam?" then he rushes towards her, seeing her hold her hand, "Sam, what the hell?"

"It's nothing. I'm fine" Sam groans, holding her right hand. Jay places his hands on his wife's tear stained face and says, "Tell me what the hell is going on so I can protect you"

"I can't, Jay. I don't need you getting in the middle of this. Not when we have a family"

Jay stares into Sam's chocolate brown eyes and whispers, "Please tell me Ruzek didn't do what I think he did. Did he cover for Antonio" Sam stays silent, wishing she could come up with an excuse, "Damn it. And now you're involved. I'm gonna kill him"

"Jay, please" Sam says, choking back her tears, "It's not his fault. Voight was gonna take the rap, but then Adam took his gun and put Rizzo's fingerprints all over it and I promised to protect him. You can't say anything. Please, Jay"

Jay brings his wife into a hug and kisses the top of her head and says, "I'm not going too. But I am going to protect you over everyone else, do you hear me?" and Sam nods her head, "I love you, Sam. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, not while I'm around"

~~~

Sam and Jay walk down to the main floor of the unit and opens the door to walk down to the roll up when they hear Hailey and Adam yelling at each other, so they walk down the stairs towards them. The couple suddenly stop yelling when they see Jay and Sam.

"We could hear you guys in the stairwell. What the hell are you doing?" Jay says.

"Nothing. It's fine. Sorry" Hailey says.

"You cannot be having this conversation here. And we're supposed to be out securing an ID" Jay says, grabbing ahold of Sam's hand as they head out to their covert cars.

🌙🌙🌙

While out getting an ID on the mysterious guy, dispatch called in another carjacking that Ruzek and Upton responded too. Now at the crime scene, where Hailey shot one of the offenders and the other got away. Adam explains to Hank that the victim will be okay when Jay and Sam walk over to them and Jay says, "The offender Utpon shot and killed, he had an ID on him. John Crawford. He's a match for the chop shop photo. He lives in canaryville"

"Hold on" Adam says, taking the ID from Hank, "He's local?"

"Yeah, born and raised. His name pops in the CHRIS system right alongside Mark's"

"You gotta be kidding me. Mark lied to me"

"Just go bring him in" Hank says, as Adam walks away, "Alright, tell me we got a bead on this second carjacker"

"He's in the wind. We're tapping PODs. Flooding the zone" Sam says.

"And notify Air one. Have patrol start knocking on doors. This guy ran somewhere. Let's find him"

"Alright" Jay says, as he and Sam walk away.

🌙🌙🌙

Trudy and Hank meet up with Detective Powell on the roof of a parking garage and Voight says, "Thank you for doing this"

"We don't have to go through all that. Trudy asked me to take the case. I'd do anything for her. But I have no clear answer for you. There's no surveillance footage. No PODs. We've yet to scrum up a single witness. And the blood on the scene is gonna be a problem" Powell says.

"COPA's first move will be to file a search warrant for Ruzek's blood" Trudy states.

"Yup. And it's not gonna match. From there it's how far COPA wants to dig in. Listen, file is still open. I'm on lead. I'd be willing to make some changes. You, Adam and Sam come in, we sit down, we rework the case, the evidence. You three tell me the truth. We get a new story on the books"

"I'll talk to Adam and Sam. Thank you" Hank says.

"Once COPA gets this, it's out of my hands. This is the very best I'm gonna be able to do for you"

"Appreciate it"

"Thanks Tim" Trudy says, as detective powell walks back to his car.

🌙🌙🌙

"This guy can really do that?" Adam asks, after Hank tells him and Sam about the meeting he just had with Platt and Powell in the police parking lot at the district.

"Yup. And you're gonna do it" Hank says.

"It's not that simple"

"Yeah, it is"

"Adam, please" Sam says.

"Adam, you go to COPA. I mean, things could go way wrong. It's an election year. COPA ain't gonna be taking it easy on police. Just walk it back now. Say it was me"

Adam scoffs and says, "Of course"

"Rizzo reached for your gun. Listen to me. I intervened, we got into a physical altercation. Sam tried to help stop it, but he went over. Just put me on the hook"

"If I do that, then you're standing right where I am. Antonio is still at risk of losing his job and you're at risk at losing yours. And if you go down, boss, the entire...the entire unit goes down"

"I can handle this"

"How? How can you handle it?"

After moments of silence, Hank says, "Adam, if you go to COPA, I can't guarantee I can protect you if things go bad. There's a price to pay for this kind of loyalty. You and I both know that. Hell, Sam knows that. She's done things for me, you can't possibly imagine. I'm asking you to take my help now"

"Adam, look at me" Sam says, and he hesitantly does, "Please, Adam. You can't do this on your own. Voight knows how to hold his own with things like this. Think about me, about Gracie. What do you think would happen if she couldn't see you?"

"Look, kid. I'm begging you" Voight says and after a couple minutes of silence, he walks away. Sam catches up with her Sergeant and says, "Hank. You're good, right? I mean, you can handle this?"

"Yeah"

"Ever since Justin died. Wyatt's been a mess, until he got onto the baseball team anyways, but he looks up to you, Hank. You're his grandfather. He needs you in his life. I need you in my life. So, please, just be careful"

Hank pulls the brunette into a hug and kisses her head and says, "Always"

~~~

Adam walks onto the unit where the team is in a huddle and over to his desk as Kevin says, "Mark still ain't talking. Transit team is up, but investigative alerts haven't popped anything yet"

"Not much to go on without a concrete description or ID" Hailey states.

"Alright, so look into every carjacking within a two miles radius from where he ran" Voight says then turns to Adam, " Let's talk to mass transit again, too"

"Alright"

Brayden and Sam walk onto the unit holding up a photo and Brayden says, "Mark didn't just call John. He made another call a minute later. To his brother" then hands the picture to Hank.

"This is Tommy Rollins, Mark's older brother" Sam says, "He's been in and out of prison and in and out of Chicago for the last decade. His last known address was in Gary, but we looked into his financials. He used two ATMs in Canaryville last week. So, he's here"

"Tommy grew up six blocks away from John. Same elementary school" Brayden says.

"You guys get this intel off the street?" Hank says.

"Yeah. Called two contacts. I gave them one name, they both filled in the other. Tommy and John run together. They always have"

"So, Mark saw John's picture. Figured his brother was probably involved"

"He called Tommy to warn him" Adam says.

"Alright, I'll get an emergency ping and expedited warrant. Let's gear up"

~~~

After finding Tommy and arresting him. Adam goes to talk with Mark before he was arrested for obstruction of justice. Jay walks into the viewing room where Hailey is with tears in her eyes and says, "Hey"

"Hey. I didn't think...I didn't think this was gonna turn into anything. It sort of caught me off guard. I should have told you. I'm sorry"

"I get it. When I first met Sam, I was in awe of her and I didn't even think she liked me that much, but then we started dating and we were both caught off guard for the feelings we had for each other. And you didn't have to tell me anything. We're good. And we're always gonna be good. Partners, right?"

Hailey blinks her eyes a couple times and says, "Right"

🌙🌙🌙

After visiting Antonio at a rehab facility with Hank to tell him what's been going with Ruzek, Sam heads home and walks into her room to see Jay on their bed fast asleep with Gracie, who is curled up in his arms. She smiles, and goes to put her gun away when she hears, "Hey gorgeous"

"Hi" she whispers, "How'd this happen?"

"I was reading to her and she fell asleep and I didn't want to move her and then I fell asleep waiting for you"

"You are the best father anyone could ask for Jay Halstead" Sam says, sitting on the edge of the bed and leans in for a kiss.

"And you are the best mother anyone could ask for Samantha Halstead. Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Brayden actually texted me asking to meet up with him at Molly's for drinks. Is it alright if I go for a couple hours?"

"Yeah, of course. It's been a long few days"

"Thanks baby" Sam says, before walking into the bathroom.

🌙🌙🌙

Sam and Brayden sit at the bar in Molly's having a drink (well Sam is having water due to her not feeling well. She just needed to take a breather and talk with her partner) when the brunette says, "I never got to thank you the other day for coming to my rescue and punching that guy in the face who pushed me"

"Hey, I wasn't gonna have anyone mess with my partner. No way" Brayden says, making them both chuckle, "So, can I, uhm, tell you something?"

"Sure, what's up?" Sam says, taking another sip of her water. Brayden takes another one of his shots and says, "Now, I'm only saying this because I need to get it off my chest and I'm buzzed"

"What is it?"

a/n;

I hate reading cliffhangers but I sure as hell love writing them *evil laugh*
Anyways...hope everyone likes this chapter. 🥳
It was a long one, but Sam is ride or die for her family and that's all I'm saying!
And Sam and Adams friendship is getting stronger. They'd do anything for each other.
And we all love a protective Jay Halstead 💖
Also, any guesses on what Brayden wants to tell her?