Unlikely Partners (#1 Burgstead Universe)
Chapter 1
They had been partners one time on a case, they think, but can't really remember. They've both been in Intelligence too long, worked too many cases, logged too many hours to say for certain. Today would be the second time, and only because Hailey didn't know the Cubs played baseball not football. Kim, on the other hand, was a huge Cubs fan and had convinced Voight to send her in less than a minute.
Earlier that day…
"Okay, listen up." Sergeant Hank Voight's voice rang out across the office of the Intelligence Unit of the 21st district of the Chicago Police Department. "Today's assignment is to shadow a couple of guys from Victor Perez's crew. We have intel saying there is going to be a big drug deal going down today after the Cubs and Brewers game is over, obviously hoping the large crowd will be easy to blend into."
Most ears perked up at that assignment, it was a May spring day in Chicago, and spending it at Wrigley Field would be infinitely better than most undercover assignments they get assigned or anything else that their Sargent could find for them to do today.
Hank's initial thought was to send in Jay and Hailey, but before he decided who was going, he needed to know who would blend into the crowd as a Cubs fan.
The blonde detective was one of the only ears who hadn't perked up and paid attention to the assignment as Voight had been explaining it. She said aloud, "The Cubs play football right?" she questioned honestly.
Jay sighed, he knew now that he (if picked) would not be going with his partner.
But he was still excited to go see a Cubs game during working hours especially.
"Okay, we will see who answers the most Cubs trivia gets to go with Jay, since he's the senior member of the team, he doesn't have to play." Hank declared.
Jay looked around the room and realized that Voight was right, he was the senior member of the unit. How times have changed from when Al and Antonio and Erin were here. And then that meant that Ruzek would be the second most senior member of the unit. Crazy, he thought, shaking his head.
"Who is the all-time hits leader for the Cubs?" Voight asked question number one.
Atwater guessed first, "Sosa!" He shouted confidently. He was more of a Bears fan anyway.
"Wrong." Voight stated, shutting him down quickly much to Kevin's chagrin and everyone else's laughter.
"Ron Santo." Kim declared confidently.
"One point for Kim" Voight said matter of factly.
"Name the 2016 World Series MVP." The Sargent continued with the trivia.
Adam groaned, if it was football trivia he would do better than this, he shook his head clueless.
"Ben Zobrist." Burgess shouted out for her second point. Jay had to admit that was a tough question, most people would not guess him when Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, and Anthony Rizzo were on the team.
"Who wore number 23 for the Cubs?" Hank continued, by now realizing Kim had this gig in the bag and deservedly so.
"Ryen Sandberg." She called out with excitement. She knew she was going to win, no matter what question Hank threw at them.
"Alright, Kim and Jay, you are going to be here in section 112, three rows back of Perez's crew. You will follow them out and they are going to make a transaction outside of Sluggers on Street. Once they make the exchange, we go in and scoop them up. Flip them so we can get Perez." He reminded the team of their objective.
"If they get spooked, do not engage. We can try another go another time. Kim and Jay get dressed, we leave in twenty." The meeting ended with everyone scurrying to get ready for their assignments.
"I have an extra hat if you want…" Jay offered, waiting for her outside the locker room. She gladly accepted knowing that last time she didn't wear a hat to a baseball game she got a horrific sunburn. "Thanks." She pulled her ponytail through the back of the hat that matched her vintage Sandberg t-shirt with jeans and white sneakers. For his part, Jay was wearing an Andre Dawson jersey and his own Cubs hat with jeans and two headed out to the parking lot to Jay's Ram 1500 truck and jumped on the highway.
"Hope you don't hate country, Hailey has reprogrammed all my radio stations." Jay said with a small grin.
"I've had so many partners, so I like pretty much everything." Kim admitted with a laugh. "Kev likes old school rap and R&B, Sean liked music from the 80's and 90's, Julie liked classical music, Al liked the classics like Frank Sinatra, Adam loves classic rock and Antonio had the Spanish station on all the time."
She always put others first, Jay thought."What music do you like?" Jay asked her opinion. "Bad 90's music, boy bands." She admitted with a laugh.
"There are worse ways to spend a day." Jay declared as they made their way through the gate to section 112. "Bet" Kim agreed, picking up on one of Kevin's favorite word choices which made Jay laugh. Kim and Kevin were the funniest duo on the team.
"Any sign of them yet?" Voight demanded over the radio. "Not yet, Sarge. Traffic's a bitch on I-90 and most people don't show up until the second inning anyway. " Jay answered patiently, not worried in the least. He was relaxed and enjoying himself.
"What is worse, dealing with a drunk suspect or a drunk passenger?" Jay asked Kim in between bites of pretzels and rootbeer. "I think a drunk passenger because I didn't have a gun." She admitted honestly and made him laugh. "True."
"Where is the most exotic place you have ever flown?" Jay continued the casual conversation between two co-workers who didn't know each other that well.
"I would say, Bali or Greece because of the beaches or Rome or Prague because of their old city charm." Kim declared with a smile, fondly remembering the fun times she did have traveling before settling down in Chicago.
He groaned. "That sounds amazing." He was a little jealous, the only traveling he did was with the Army and one could not consider that a vacation.
"Why did you stop being a flight attendant?" Jay continued questioning, much to Kim's amusement. "Well Detective," she began…
"Sorry, I…" he apologized for asking so many questions. Baseball games were long and sometimes boring.
"It's fine," Kim teased. "I wanted to do something that meant something, that made a difference. I always had a sense of fairness so I thought being a cop would be a good fit. And I liked being in one place for a while."
"A good decision." Jay agreed.
"Did you always want to be a cop?" Kim asked in return.
"It seemed a natural progression after being in the Army." Jay answered truthfully. "I had the skills, and after being in the army I didn't feel like sitting behind a desk doing a boring desk job would satisfy me. "
"But some days, boring would be nice." If pushed, Voight would say that Kim and Jay were the most grounded on his team, the most likely to settle down, have a family, to be boring.
"This is on my bucket list- to sing Take me out to the ball game over the loudspeaker or throwing out a first pitch." Kim admitted with increasing excitement as the game was about to start.
"You really are a huge Cubs fan." Jay admitted with appreciation.
"Yep." Kim nodded her head. "Even took off to go to the Cubs Parade in 2016 and sang "Go Cubs Go" until I lost my voice." She said proudly. She was about to reprise the silly theme song when she saw the people they were waiting for.
"Hey, we've got eyes on 3 guys." Kim spoke into the walkie talkie to the team, while Jay took pictures to get confirmation from the team in the van.
"Confirmed." Hailey Upton communicated over the Intelligence radio frequency. "We have Tony Pena, Carlo Vega, and Santiago Perez."
"They are all dangerous, having served time at Stateville Correctional Center, all on drug charges. That's where they all met. And Santiago introduced Tony and Carlo to his brother Victor" Adam informed the group.
Kim and Jay slipped into work mode babysitting the trio from the Victor Perez gang. They were two rows behind them, with Kim eating pink cotton candy and Jay the more traditional popcorn. Once the deal was completed, the rest of their team, the DEA, and narcotics officers would come in and arrest the three men.
For the first few innings, Kim and Jay were able to enjoy the game while watching the group. They didn't leave to get food or drinks or anything. They had an easy give and take in conversation, But as the game neared the end in the eighth inning, with the Cubs leading 3-1, Kim and Jay were feeling a bit nervous as adrenaline started to churn up in their bodies, ready to spring into action at any moment.
Top of the ninth inning, one of the guys gets a phone call and motions to the other two that they were leaving. Jay radios into the team. "On the move."
"Copy that." Voight returned and the team sat up in anticipation of action. Adam and Kevin were in Kevin's pickup truck across the street from the ballpark, Hailey and Trudy were in the communication van parked in front of the Wrigley Field entrance and Hank was in his car just down the street with a few undercover narcotic cops scattered up and down the street. A select few DEA agents were in the parking lot ready for a foot chase if necessary.
5 minutes passed, and it was quiet. Too quiet. Nothing suspicious. The game hadn't let out yet but they didn't see anyone waiting for the Perez crew. Hank felt his uneasiness grow with each passing minute.
"We are going the wrong way." Jay whispered to Kim as they followed the trio in the opposite direction that their whole team and support system was waiting. They were far enough back to not be seen, but they had to be super quiet to not be heard, turning their phones to silent.
Kim nodded that she understood, but they had to make a split second decision, do they stop following them and lose them and the whole operation, or take a risk and keep following not knowing what was ahead?