So It's been brought to my attention that there are a lot of random characters. (Thank you ako94) I do realize that there are a lot. To help make it easier to follow, I've decided to summarize where we're at, because even I have to go back to earlier chapters to double check names. I'm sorry if it's tedious, but hopefully it helps. I promise these names are not just randomly thrown about. They are a part of the story (or at least my madman scheme that I call a story), but I'll try to make it so if you forget them, there'll be a small reminder whenever they're brought you.
And did you guys find out the title for episode 2x11?! I'm kind of through the roof right now.
Annnnnyyyyywwwwaaaaaayyyyyysssss...Please enjoy chapter ten.
Chapter Ten: The Strongest Among You
(Citizen Soldier – Three Doors Down)
"This is where we're at," Voight announced, taking a step back from the white board.
Ruzek, Olinsky, Atwater, Roman and Nadia stared intently. Dawson was to be on his way back from the hospital with Lindsay and Shelby. They were to fill them in on their new information as soon as they arrived.
"As of now, we know there are at least three main criminals involved. The leader is female, but other than that, we don't know anything about her. The one below her is male, but like the head, is also anonymous. Then, there is the hired hand; Ripper. Now, Ripper was supposed to have been anonymously hired through a middle man, but the system was rigged so Ripper would be picked. The man who did this is known only by an alias, which is an anagram for the corporation known as Avail Gem. We don't yet know how this company is connected or the man's real name. It is likely that this mystery man is the second in command," Voight explained.
"It is likely that the reason they chose Ripper specifically is connected to a case Halstead Lindsay worked earlier this year, when a man named Greg Henricks commissioned Ripper to take out a defence lawyer who let his brother get put away. Hendricks was killed by an unknown assailant on his way to prison," Olinsky added. "It is possible that the assailant was Ripper trying to stay anonymous, or for an entirely separate reason. Either way, the Hendrick's case is linked to Ripper's role in this crime."
Voight nodded before continuing. "This whole case is, in the criminal's eyes, centralized around a teenager I once knew; Hansen Kane. He died nine years ago when his father strapped him into a bomb vest. These criminals blame me for Hansen's death. Because of this, we have two possible suspects to be the head and her second."
Voight slapped a new photo of a woman onto the whiteboard. "Vanessa Sykes was Hansen's girlfriend before he died. Her life fell apart when he died and she completely blames me. I have reason to believe that her roommate is part of her plan. We don't know his name, but we have the name of a therapist she may or may not have gone to. Alvin and Ruzek will go talk to her."
"The second suspect," Voight added, slapping a male's photo on the board. "is Leland Marshall. He was Hansen's best friend. He seems to have moved past the death of his friend. He has a fiance with a baby on the way, but we should still keep an eye on him. He and Hansen were like brothers."
"Somehow the almost married man with a baby on the way doesn't quite strike me as our number one possibility," Ruzek grumbled.
Voight turned to the detective. "What part of we should still keep an eye on him did you miss Ruzek?" he snapped.
"Hey, hey," Ruzek blurted, putting his hands up defensively. "I caught all of it. I was just saying."
Voight groaned, but didn't say anything further.
"Alright Ruzek," Olinsky teased. "Let's go meet that therapist before you shove your foot so far down your throat that you choke on it." He nodded at Voight as he headed to the stairs. "Text me the address," he insisted.
Ruzek gave a sigh of defeat and followed.
After the two had left, Roman and Atwater approached Voight. "What would you have us doing sir?" Atwater asked.
"For now," Voight ordered, "hang around. I want you both ready to go at a moments notice as soon as Lindsay and Dawson get back here. In the mean time. I want you two to help Nadia make a new list. Go over the Kane case and find anyone else who might be a suspect, and try and find me the name of Syke's roommate."
"Right away."
The two walked over to their desks and sat down. Voight texted Olinsky the therapist's address, which he'd searched up a couple minutes ago.
Nadia turned to her boss. "What do we do with the old list?" she asked, holding up a large stack of files.
"You can cross reference it will any link to the Kane case, but I'm betting it will just need to be set aside. We know the connection for the leader, but it is still possible the second is working under her for another reason."
Nadia nodded. "Of course."
Olinsky and Ruzek pulled over and got out of the car. "So Marshall suggested this...Serena Courtney to Sykes?" The younger asked.
"Yeah."
"We don't even know if she took him up on his suggestion?"
"Nope. Is that a problem for you?"
Ruzek shook his head and sighed. "Just feels like we're grasping at straws. Like this whole case is grasping at straws."
"We've made progress," Olinsky pointed out. "A fair amount of it."
"Have we really though? We know why and we know a couple suspects and a couple alias's, but we don't know where Jay is, only that he's got a bomb strapped to him."
"We've made progress Ruzek. You keep that in mind. Nothing else."
"Sure!" he snapped. "We can write they made progress on his damn gravestone!"
Olinsky sighed, "What did I just say? Nothing else. Certainty not anything about a grave."
Ruzek took a heavy breath. "Nothing else," he muttered under his breath.
With that, Olinsky walked up to the door of the apartment building. Ruzek followed close behind his partner who pressed a button beside a label reading Dr Serena Courtney.
"Chicago PD, here to see Serena Courtney."
A click was heard and the door unlocked. The two detectives made their way to the elevator and up to Courtney's floor. Upon arriving they abruptly located her room and knocked on the door.
"You must be the police," greeted the blonde haired woman that answered a moment after they knocked. "Detectives, I presume, by your attire."
Olinsky nodded. "Yes. I'm Detective Olinsky and this is my partner, Detective Ruzek. May we come in?"
"Oh, of course," she insisted. "I'm afraid my boss is in a session right now, but, by all means, feel free to wait here." She pointed at the chairs in the small waiting area. However, neither detective sat down, instead they stood opposite the desk that the secretary sat down at.
"Dr Courtney, would you say she serves the middle class, or more wealthy clients?" Olinsky wondered.
"Primarily the upper middle and the wealthy. Although she does get some poorer clients come in for only a few sessions. Sometimes they're financed by wealthier parties and stay for multiple sessions."
"What about a Vanessa Sykes? Was she financed by 'a wealthier party?'" Ruzek inquired.
"I'm afraid I can't disclose that information," she stammered. "It's against our confidentiality agreement."
"But she was a client," Olinsky assumed.
The secretary shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah."
"Probably financed by Marshall," Ruzek assumed.
"Yes?" Olinsky asked.
"Look- We have an agreement not to discuss matters of money or whatever they tell Dr. Courtney."
Ruzek showed the girl his badge. "We're the good guys. Please, we need your help. Our friend is in danger. We already know it was Marshall. Please, just clarify."
The secretary sighed. "Yes. Valerie Marshall finances all sorts of...misfits. She's very charitable."
"Wait Valerie?" Ruzek blurted.
"That's Leland Marshall's wife," Olinsky explained. "Could we have a list of all the other clients she's financed?"
The secretary shook her head. "It's really not my place. You'd have to bring it up with Dr. Courtney."
Olinsky smirked. "I think we will then."
He threw open the door to Dr. Courtney's room and entered. Ruzek and a terrified secretary followed.
"Dr. Courtney, I'm so sorry," she whined. "I tried to stop them!"
The therapist raised a hand, signalling to her secretary that is was fine. "Don't worry about it Daisy. You may go back to your desks." The blonde did as told and the brunette (Dr. Courtney) turned to the detectives. "Gentlemen. I'm in a session. Could you not wait?"
Olinsky shook his head and turned to the man sitting across the therapist with a gentle, but clearly threatening smile. "Could you give us a moment?" he asked as he and Ruzek showed their badges. The man nodded awkwardly after surveying the situation and stumbled out of the room. Olinsky sat down on the couch where the man had been and stared at Dr. Courtney as he threw his hands out across the top of the couch. Ruzek stood behind the couch to his partner's left.
Dr. Courtney let out a disappointed sigh. "For cops, you two are awfully rude. You scared away a man trying to get past his PTSD after being shot in a mugging."
"As tragic as that is Dr. Courtney," Olinsky said coldly, "we are not here without just cause. We are trying to prevent another injury, possibly a death. We need to talk to you about Vanessa Sykes."
"I'm not at privilege to discuss her files. If I even did see her."
"We know she was here," Olinsky stated. "She was financed by Valerie Marshall along with many other lower class citizens. Just tell us what you know and we'll be on our way."
"I'm not going to be intimidated by you. You're not the first cops who've come to me demanding to know more about the people Valerie Marshall has financed."
"Who?"
"What part of not going to be intimidated did you not hear detective?"
Olinsky ignored her and turned to Ruzek. "Call Atwater. I want him to see if he can find any connection between Valerie Marshall and troubled, lower class people. Tell him to send me the list of people that she's associated with right away."
Ruzek nodded and stepped out of the room, pulling out his phone.
"Are you out of your minds?" Dr. Courtney snapped. "Valerie is doing the world a favour sending those troubled kids to me. Shouldn't you be applauding her not attempting to incarcerate her?"
Olinsky stared right at the doctor. "Not if she's trying to kill my friend."
When Dawson, Lindsay and Shelby arrived at the precinct Voight had Nadia take the young girl upstairs to finally see her father. Lindsay and Dawson got a brief yelling in Voight's office about how she was clearly not better and if she left her desk for even a moment, Voight would haul her back to the hospital himself.
"I understand," Lindsay said finally, "I'm not going to leave my desk, but first I want to see the video."
Voight raised an eyebrow. "Lindsay-" he tried.
"I'll tell you what Shelby told me. You can look into it while I watch the video."
Voight seemed uneasy, but Dawson spoke up. "I'll watch it with her- make sure she doesn't do anything afterwards. Besides, she's Halstead's partner. If he left any clues that we missed, she'll notice them."
Voight let out a sigh of defeat. "Alright. What did Shelby tell you?"
"She knows who Ripper is. Jay recognized him. His name is Elijah Vanto. I don't recognize the name though, so I don't know how Jay knows Ripper's identity, or why he didn't tell me his name when he met him on the Hendricks case."
Voight poked his head out of his office. "Roman!" he called. The cop's head peaked up. "Elijah Vanto is Ripper's name," Voight finished. Roman immediately began searching up Vanto.
"Elijah Vanto," Atwater mumbled. "Voight! I need a word with you!" he called.
"One moment," the sergeant promised, before returning to his office. He turned to Lindsay. "You're sure you want to watch the video?"
Lindsay nodded. "I need to see it."
"I wouldn't dream of stopping you," he confessed. "Go see Ranger in the tech room downstairs. He'll show you."
"Ranger?" Lindsay asked.
"A tech specialist. He's an acquaintance of Platt," Voight explained.
Lindsay nodded, before her and Dawson left the office. Voight soon followed them, stopping in front of Atwater's desk.
"You get Alvin and Ruzek that list?"
The younger detective nodded. "Yes sir, a while ago. I decided to look into Avail Gem a little more, find out how the criminals gained access to that warehouse. I figured it had to be significant if they used it's name as an anagram for an alias."
"What'd you find?"
"On first glance, their CEO is clean as a whistle. But when I looked deeper I found something. His brother's name is Elijah Vanto."
"Wait. Our hit-man is the brother of the CEO?"
Atwater nodded. "I know. It's strange, but I think I can explain how it's all tied together."
"Shoot."
"Okay, so until five years ago Elijah Vanto was in a great place financially. He had a ton of money, but he was registered only as having menial jobs. None of them lasted longer than any more than six months. His brother, our CEO, was clearly financing him."
"So, what happened five years ago?"
"Our CEO cut him off. Cold turkey boss. Vanto didn't even get a penny. He just lost his job, had no income and clearly no idea how to save his money. He racked up some pretty serious debt, even got himself tossed in jail because of a bar fight. After he was released a year later, on good behaviour (if you can believe it), he disappeared.
"Disappeared?"
"Yeah, just gone. There is nothing on Elijah Vanto after that point. So, I looked into his cell mate. The guy got let out a couple months after Vanto. I called up the warden of the prison. Apparently, this guy took Vanto under his wing. He helped him out. He taught him how to get through prison. He was his guide."
"You got me a name?" Voight barked.
"And an address." Atwater handed his boss a small notepad with a name and address written on it. "Recognize it?"
Voight cussed. "Grab your gear. We're going to go say hi."
"You ready?" Ranger asked. Lindsay and Dawson both nodded and tech specialist pressed play.
As the video played, both the detective's had their eyes glued to the screen. Lindsay held back a wave of emotion as she forced herself to stay emotionless. Dawson was also stone-faced as he watched, but on the inside, both the detective's were freaking out.
"This is on you."
Lindsay snapped to attention. "Play that back."
"This is on you."
As the video ended a second time, Dawson turned to Lindsay. "What?" he asked.
"The tone of his voice. It's sadder than the rest of it."
"It sounds like he's saying that it's not Voight's fault," Dawson suggested. "So he doesn't feel bad."
"But why?" Lindsay asked. "He doesn't have much time. He knows that. That's why he only got Shelby to give me one message. He didn't have time for a second message. So, he decided to use it on facts- on helping us find him, not sentimentality. Why is this different?"
"It's all he can say?" Dawson suggested.
Lindsay shook her head. "No. It's something than that. It's gotta be. Play the video again," she instructed. As Ranger dragged the time back to zero, Lindsay muttered under her breath. "Come on Halstead. What're you trying to tell me?"
As the video ran through again the two detectives paid attention to every word and body movement. The two had already had the bomb vest explained to them, but there was something more to the video. Lindsay could tell.
"This is on you."
"Damn it Halstead!" Lindsay snapped.
Dawson grabbed her shoulders. "Maybe there's nothing there Erin," he said softly. "Maybe you just want there to be something."
"Maybe you just don't," she spat. "Don't you feel it Antonio? There is something that Jay's trying to tell us."
Dawson sighed in defeat. "Alright. Let's take a step back. What do we know already?"
"He doesn't know if I'm dead or alive," Lindsay listed.
"Then why say the message was only for you. If you were dead, why would he want to risk us never finding out the identity of Ripper? It's like he doesn't want to be found if you're not alive."
"No," Lindsay insisted. "He wouldn't just give up."
"Or would he?"
"What the hell are you trying to say?"
"Maybe Voight's right. Maybe he is trying to tell us that it's not our fault, it's his. Remember when that bartender got shot? He takes things as his fault even if they're not."
"So he blames himself for my hypothetical death," Lindsay summarized. "That doesn't mean he's going to blow himself up. He's not suicidal!"
"I'm not saying he is," Dawson insisted. "But what if there is something we're missing? What if the head has bigger plans or is badly wanted? Would he blow himself up if it took them down with him?"
Lindsay stared at Dawson in horror. "It's just speculation Dawson, don't get carried away."
"I know it's not 100%, but look. When he says this is on you he turns his arm to reveal the wire. You know Jay, Erin. You know him. What's he trying to say?"
Lindsay let out a jagged breath. "It's not our fault that there's a bomb attached to him," she whispered.
"And?" Dawson urged.
Lindsay shook her head. Not wanting to believe what she already knew.
"If Halstead gets the chance, he's taking them out himself Erin."
I'm sorry. For the double cliff-hanger and the late update. This week has been chaotic for me, but I finished the chapter for you guys. I hope you enjoyed, because I'm actually content with this one. I know there are so things I've added that seem a bit strange and out of place, but you're going to have to hang tight for it all the come together (never-the-less, feel free to point them out to me). I hope you're starting to see the pieces falling into place.
As for the last scene, it is just speculation, but as we all know, Halstead and Lindsay know each other. She can read him. Hopefully she's wrong. You'll just have to wait and see.
I hope you enjoyed and are having a happy holidays. Next chapter will be on time on Sunday and will include some serious ass kicking (hence the title).
Next Chapter:
Chapter Eleven: I Am The Fear