Chapter 29: "Your Move, Aiden"
Now in a sedan that had been commandeered from a "Fixer" following Nicole Pearce's successful rescue and the subsequent FBI raid of the Brandon Docks warehouse, Harrison and Voight were racing through Parker Square trying to isolate the GPS location provided by Aiden Pearce's cell phone. With Voight behind the wheel, Harrison eyed the tablet screen and provided directions to him at every step while also monitoring CPD radio chatter detailing other officers' dogged pursuit of the now fugitive hacker. Pearce had been outed as the city's mysterious "Vigilante", seemingly leaving CPD with no choice but to act on the arrest warrant they had for him.
"We've got a high-powered patrol car in pursuit of suspect", a female dispatcher's voice said from the radio.
"Where is that?" Voight asked.
"I've got the radio scanning between frequencies", Harrison said, "That's the Thirty-First District's channel. Sounds like it's coming from Parker Square, so I would assume that's in the immediate vicinity of Nicky Pearce's house."
"What's Pearce's location?" Voight asked.
"Looks like his hauling ass out of the city", Harrison replied, "the GPS ping is zigging and zagging all over the place, but his general direction looks to be headed towards Pawnee."
"That's where we go then", Voight assuredly said, "Hang on." He then sped up the sedan and quickly fish-tailed the vehicle through an improvised shortcut onto the highway towards Pawnee.
A now astounded Harrison clutched onto the grab-bar above the passenger-side door for dear life. "Sweet Jesus, Hank!" he said while catching his breath, "Have you chased a lot of folks before or what?"
Voight chuckled and gave him an understated smirk in retort. "Twenty years as a Chicago cop, kid", he said, "Sometimes you've just gotta do what you've gotta do. Don't ever forget that."
"Noted", Harrison said, "Since we're headed to Pawnee, isn't that a little out of CPD's jurisdiction?"
"Yeah", Voight said, "Why don't you get on the phone to the Cook County Sheriff's Police and have someone meet us at Pearce's location?"
Harrison nodded affirmatively to his partner's request and took out his cell phone, dialing the Cook County Sheriff's Police.
"Hello", Harrison said into the phone a few seconds later to the dispatcher who answered, "This is Detective Troy Harrison with Chicago PD Homicide, badge number Three-One-Two-Five-Five. My partner and I are coming into your jurisdiction to apprehend a suspect with an outstanding warrant and we'd like some assistance from your agency if we could. We're tracking the suspect's cell phone GPS right now, and I should have an exact location for you momentarily."
The two detectives eventually caught up with Aiden, Nicole, and Jackson Pearce ten miles outside the city in the quaint small town of Pawnee. The three of them came to a stop at a public parking lot across the street from a local landmark called the Crazy Moose Inn. Not wanting to draw any unwarranted attention to themselves, Harrison and Voight pulled their own sedan into the inn's parking lot, exited the vehicle and stood beside it, just barely out of view.
They observed Aiden Pearce very regrettably bidding his beloved sister and nephew goodbye, at which point they saw Nicole get into the gray sedan her brother had been driving and drive off to parts unknown. Once Nicole and Jackson had driven away, Pearce caught sight of Harrison and Voight coming his way from across the street.
"Damn it", he muttered to himself.
"Hey Aiden", Harrison dryly greeted his informant as he and Voight crossed into the parking lot, "You okay?"
Pearce sighed and shook his head. "Not at all, Detective", he replied in a very frank and frustrated tone, "Everybody knows I'm the goddamn 'Vigilante', your department has a warrant out for my arrest, and I just sent away the two people I have left in the world because some assholes are out to kill me."
"We're very sorry about all that, Pearce", Voight chimed in, "We really are. However, the good news is that the FBI raided that warehouse where they were keeping your sister, and aside from the guy Nicole accidentally shot and the guard you killed with that junction box, everybody else made it out alive and are now in custody."
"Agent McCain should have some answers for you soon", Harrison added.
Pearce gave them a very tense look. "What?" Harrison sharply inquired, spotting the telltale look all but immediately.
"Let's just say I've had my answers all along", Pearce said with a concretely self-reliant tone in his voice.
Voight crossed his arms, perturbed by Pearce's choice to be so cryptic. "And exactly what the hell does that mean, Pearce?" he said with a tone that was just as biting as the one Harrison had just used.
"The guys who took Nicky", Pearce began to explain, "They were sent by a guy I used to work with. A guy I once called my friend, actually."
"You mean to tell us", Voight interjected, "That this whole damn time, you knew who was responsible for all the shit your sister went through?"
"Yes", Pearce replied with a degree of icy detachment in his voice.
"Christ, Aiden!" A now very irritated Harrison barked, "Why the hell didn't you tell us?"
"With all due respect, Detectives", Pearce said, "This ordeal that I'm involved in is bigger than the both of you, bigger than just Chicago."
"If Blume is involved", Harrison replied, "I'd have to say my 'no-shit' light just came on. So then, who the hell is this dude who orchestrated Nicky's abduction?"
"His name is Damien Brenks", Pearce began to explain, "He taught me how to take advantage of computers and the internet for profit and it eventually turned into a full-time occupation for both of us. I think we were hacking before most people even know what 'hacking' or even 'the internet' were."
"And you guys eventually went to work for Blume together, right?" Voight asked.
Pearce nodded. "We worked together writing the code for a program that, over time, was developed into the CtOS", he continued, "I think it goes without saying that neither of us thought Blume would develop it into the huge, privacy-invading monster that it's evidently become."
"Then I guess the question becomes", Harrison said, "Why are you back on this Brenks guy's radar now?"
"We did this huge job together at the Merlaut Hotel a while back", Pearce replied, "Let's say we…uhhhh…'redistributed funds' from a bunch of rich people."
"Meaning you stole money and decided to play 'Robin Hood' with the wealthy and well-dressed Lakeshore Drive crowd", Voight quipped, "Exactly how much of these funds did you 'redistribute'?"
"One-Hundred Grand and some change", Pearce said, "We siphoned the money from half a dozen people in less than thirty seconds. Ever since then, he's been trying to blackmail me to working with him again. I refuse to fall for it, though."
"I see", Harrison said, "You are aware that the immunity agreements that CPD and the US Attorney arranged for you don't apply to crimes you committed before the agreements were drafted and signed, right, Aiden?"
The once smug hacker now hung his head out of harsh realization now that reality was kicking in. "No", he sardonically replied, "So, I guess now I'm up shit creek without a paddle and you guys can't hand me one to save me, huh?"
Voight chuckled. "Not so fast, Pearce", he said, "We're willing to go to bat for you with both our bosses and the Feds if you answer us this question. Where the hell did you stash Maurice Vega? He's wanted for a murder that Harrison and Tran have been investigating since the beginning of all this."
Just then, a Cook County Sheriff's Police patrol car pulled into the parking lot and instantaneously caught Pearce's eye. "The only way I'll tell you is off the record", Pearce very matter-of-factly said, "And only with the assurance that my immunity agreements remain intact."
Harrison and Voight traded looks for a moment, at which point Harrison nodded affirmatively. "Fair enough", Harrison replied, "Here's what comes next." He gestured to Voight. "Hank here is going to escort you back to the city with the sheriff's deputy", he continued, "where you'll have to spend the remainder of the night in Cook County lock-up."
"I'll bring you to the courthouse in the morning and get you in front of a judge to take care of that 'Vigilante' warrant", Voight added, "I'll pull some strings and get an Assistant US Attorney to meet you at the courthouse. He or she can discuss your immunity issues right after you see the judge, at which point I'll process you out and have you back on the street by tomorrow night."
"Okay", Pearce replied. He then turned around and placed his hands behind his back to be handcuffed. Voight did so, at which point an older blonde well-built female sheriff's deputy exited the patrol car and assisted the detective in placing him in the backseat.
Before the door was shut, Harrison leaned down to the now seated Pearce. "Keep your head up for now", he said, "It's your move, Aiden."
Parker Square
The Next Night
9:00 PM
After finally picking up his suitcase and gym back that he had mistakenly left at Detective Asher's apartment when he had been housesitting, Harrison rode the elevated train back to Parker Square from Asher's neighborhood in Sheridan Park. He disembarked from the train and very carefully descended the long stairway upon arrival in Parker Square, at which point he hailed a taxi and climbed into the backseat, placing his reclaimed suitcase and gym bag at his feet on the floor.
"Hey buddy", the heavyset older African-American cab driver greeted, "Where you headed?"
"The Owl Motel, please", Harrison replied with a very exhausted tone in his voice.
"Long night?" the driver asked as they pulled away and started heading toward the motel.
Harrison scoffed in retort. "You have no idea, my friend", he said.
They arrived at the motel within minutes, at which point Harrison was greeted with a very shocking sight. Several CFD fire engines, CPD patrol cars, and other emergency vehicles crowded the parking lot, and Harrison could see a pair of firefighters high up on a ladder attempting to hose out a fire on the motel's second floor.
A now anxiety-ridden Harrison passed a twenty-dollar bill to the cab driver through the divider window. "You sure you want to get out here, pal?" the driver asked.
"I'm sure, man", Harrison apprehensively replied, "Keep the change. Thanks."
Harrison exited the taxi and it promptly drove away. Harrison took in the devastating scene, clutching his suitcase and gym bag for dear life. Those two things were apparently all he had left in the world.
The confounded detective didn't even notice when a firefighter came up to him. "Do you stay here, sir?" the young male firefighter asked.
Harrison turned around to face the man, startled. "Uhhhh…yeah", he muttered as he struggled to come back to the sad reality. He put his gym back down, using his free hand to lift his shirt up, displaying his CPD Detective's badge he had clipped to the belt loop of his jeans. "I'm a Detective with CPD Homicide", he explained, "Troy Harrison. I live on the second floor."
"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, Detective Harrison", the firefighter said with a very penitent tone in his voice, "But it looks like the second floor was the most effected by the fire. Everything up there has pretty much been incinerated."
"What the hell happened?" Harrison asked.
"The call came in initially as a gas explosion", the firefighter explained, "But when we got here, we found several unidentified male bodies on scene. They all appeared to have been shot. CPD detectives are on the way to take over the scene."
Harrison had all but blocked out the last part of what the kind young firefighter had said as he took a deep breath. "Aiden, you son of a bitch", he said under his breath.