23. Whiplash
The team, sans Atwater still, and plus Rixton, stood in the room as Adam put a new face on the whiteboard. "Meet Whiplash. Aka Rudy Rodriguez. He's been suspected of flipping dope all around the city these days, mainly to high schools and the dime bags usually have his patented monkey print on the outside. Apparently kilo's also have that monkey on them but that's more of a rumor."
Jay and Hailey exchanged a look at the mention of high schools. "Why are we going after this guy?" Jay asked.
Rixton shrugged. "Superintendent called Voight because Narcotics haven't been able to get anything on this guy."
"Obviously he hasn't been caught because he has dealers. Who's running the dope for him?" Rojas asked.
Kim shrugged. "Good question. Narcotics was a little reluctant to hand over the files."
Voight nodded. "Jay and Hailey, you go over to Lincoln Park and go see if any of the students know anything thing. Rixton and Rojas, go talk to your CI's and Ruzek and Burgess, go beat down Narcotics' door a little more."
Hailey had texted Hayden to meet her by the office and five minutes after she sent the text, he was approaching.
"Uh. When one cop shows up, it's normal but when both of you, what the flying fuck did I do wrong this time?" Hayden asked.
Jay laughed. "Nothing."
Hayden looked at the two cops. "If I did nothing wrong and I know this isn't a social call because I don't see a Kosta's Greek Tavern bag with you then what is this about?," he asked, referring to his and Hailey's favorite restaurant. Said restaurant was not supposed to be operational but they liked it so much that they were still running because Kosta was on the books as Hailey's CI.
Hailey looked at Jay and then at her nephew. "Perceptive," she commented.
"We need your help," Jay explained.
Hayden crossed his arms as he looked down on his aunt, who he towered over. "Help requires Tina's."
She rolled her eyes. "Tina's? Really?"
"I'm craving pancakes and bacon."
"It's 11:45 in the morning," she replied.
"There is never not a right time for pancakes and bacon," Hayden shot back.
Jay wanted nothing to do with the standoff between aunt and nephew and had to bite the inside of his cheek from laughing at the situation. He tended to agree with Hayden but that was also his love of Tina's Diner speaking as well.
Finally Hailey relented. "Go grab your fucking shit then. If you want to go to Tina's, your spending the rest of the day at the district."
Hayden weighed his options of being stuck in a police station all afternoon or school and decided the police station it was. Hailey turned to the office where the office administrator was looking at them very curiously. "I'm taking him for the day."
The office administrator did not look too pleased. "He's a minor. You can't do that."
Hailey groaned. "Please. I'm also his legal guardian. Yes. I can."
An hour later, they finally arrived at Tina's. Rixton was waiting for them in a booth, because he apparently also shared Hayden's craving for pancakes and bacon. He looked up when he saw the two cops and the teenager.
"Kenny Rixton meet Hayden Upton. If he acts too mouthy, feel free to smack him," Hailey introduced. She slid into the one side with Jay, Hayden sat beside Kenny.
Their favorite waitress came around with coffee pretty quickly and guessed everyone's orders as they had been here quite often, just not usually in the middle of the day.
Jay pulled a dime bag out of his pocket and put it on the table. "Have you seen any of these around?"
Hayden shrugged, noncommittally. It was the same shrug that Hailey had that drove Jay nuts. "Yeah, I have."
"A guy name Whiplash."
The teenager shook his head. "Nope."
Rixton and Jay exchanged a look while Hailey sighed. "Share with the class," Rixton replied.
"Some chick who goes by K-stop. Her real name is Kiley James. She doesn't think anyone know her real name but she's not the sharpest crayon either."
Jay drank some of his coffee. "I'll bite. How do you know about Kiley James?"
Hayden shrugged. "One of the guys on my travel team was fucking her. And doing the drugs that she was supplying."
"He still on your team?" Hailey asked.
Hayden laughed. "No. He wasn't exactly hiding it well either so he didn't last long. You only get one chance on this team and drugs nullify that change immediately."
"Have you seen this brand at school?" Rixton asked.
Hayden shook his head. "I've heard K-Stop's name around school but I haven't seen it. I'm sure you're all relieved to hear this but my friends and I know better to get around that crowd."
Hailey drank some coffee. "You think it's going around the school though?"
"Two cops wouldn't be showing up asking me questions if it wasn't, how about we say that. You know the answer to that."
Hailey was about to fire back at her nephew for being a smartass but the food arrived and she figured that was also pot meeting kettle so she kept her mouth shut and the topic changed to baseball and hockey.
Hayden was alone in the break room, doing homework. Hailey had told Voight she was stashing him here for the afternoon which Voight was perfectly okay with. Voight had told Hailey at one point Hayden reminded him a little of Justin, more so when Justin was a teenager though. Rixton had gone out to run an errand and Kim had been around for most of the afternoon except when she popped her head in and told him she was just quickly running down to the courthouse to get a warrant.
He was stumped on a question from his History class and he was out of data and Rixton wouldn't give him the wifi password- told him all the answers were in the textbooks. Hayden just had rolled his eyes. So he did what Kim and Rixton had both told him to do- call downstairs and ask Platt if he needed anything.
Trudy came up the stairs a couple minutes later and poked her head in. "You rang?"
"Sergeant, was the Gulf War the first war fought over oil?"
"You called me up here to ask me that?" she asked, incredulously.
Hayden shrugged. "Kim and Rixton both told me to call you if I needed help and I do. I can't find the answer in my textbook, I'm out of data, Rixton won't give me the wifi password and I'd like to get this homework done."
Trudy laughed and poured herself a cup of coffee. "Well, let's see what this homework says." She read it a little. "Oh, write a paper on the causes of the Gulf War."
"I know oil is the main cause. I was just wondering if there was any other wars fought over oil?"
Trudy was impressed that a teenager would put that much thought into the question. "That's a very complicated question. If I remember correctly, the Iran-Iraq war was also fought over oil."
"Thanks, Sarge."
She stood up. "No problem. If you need any more help, just holler. Oh and, if you need help; Rixton's your guy."
Hayden looked up at Trudy who stood in the doorway. "Rixton? Math?"
"Has a degree in Finance from U of Florida. May have also went there on a baseball scholarship but that didn't come from me."
Hailey wandered into Voight's office later that afternoon. "Rudy Rodriguez aka Whiplash, Kiley James and another dealer, Amos Baxter are sitting in holding cells."
Voight leaned back in his chair. "That was quick."
"Once we had Kiley's name, she flipped fast."
"So why couldn't Narcotics bust this case?" Voight asked.
Hailey shrugged and sat down in the chair. "They didn't have her name. No way to get to Whiplash without her."
"And Hayden gave her up."
"She didn't exactly cover her tracks well," Hailey replied. Happened when dealers were only 18 and dumb with no street cred to learn how it was done. Worked for the cops favor in times like this.
Voight looked out into the bullpen where Rixton was writing a math problem on the whiteboard and working through it with Hayden. "He's a good kid."
"Yeah, he is. Thanks for letting him stay here this afternoon."
Voight laughed. "Takes a village to raise a kid, Hailey. I think we're all more than willing to help you out, especially with a kid like him."
Hailey smiled. "Thanks."
Jay poked his head in the door. "You ready? Kosta will have dinner ready for the three of us in half hour for takeout. And I also got him to make some for Rixton and Alexa but Rix has to go pick that up himself."
She stood up and rolled her eyes. "Tina's and Kosta's? Spoiling that kid. And Rixton."
"Eh, the kid put three drug dealers behind bars today with his tip. We'll let it slide today," Jay replied. He couldn't imagine his life any better today- the team put three drug dealers behind bars within 8 hours, which was a record, he was having two meals with Hailey and Hayden and he was going home healthy and with both of them tonight. Life was good.
Next- X; X-ray
AN: I'm obviously going to have to whump someone for an xray so... Jay or Hailey?
