From Gun Clips to Money Clips
A/N I: Thanks to Long Live BRUCAS and knirbenrots for the reviews on the first chapter.
A/N II: I realized I missed the 'not mine, just borrowing' part. So, not mine, just borrowing. There. Done.
Chapter II
The harsh buzz of the gate jolted Adam out of his reverie. The last few months had been rough, but not in the normal way. He'd begrudgingly listed to Voight's decree, trudging along at the back of the pack during raids. When the two months had ended Hank had let him move forward but he still wasn't at the front. He'd also been partnering up with Halstead more; it'd been different than working with Olinsky or Kim in that Jay seemed to always make it to the perp first in a chase and since Adam was always driving, he was stuck getting the truck. He was also still waiting for Will to clear him for his full gym routine. Every time he called (which was a weekly thing), the Doc just seemed to waffle and almost say yes and then give a firm 'it's too early for that kind of weight'. No matter how much arguing or bargaining or pleading Adam did, it was still relegated to the baby weights.
Swimming. That he could do as much as he liked and, while he would never admit it out loud, he'd applied his competitive nature to beating the clock. Those lessons his Mom forced on him before she'd allow him to go to the community pool alone were finally paying off.
He found himself full of restless energy and while he was still doing all the normal aspects of his job, there was a certain itch that hadn't been scratched in too long. He just couldn't put his finger on what had changed. On the drive down to the jail he mused that maybe whatever had John/Frank so riled up could be his ticket back to normalcy.
"Inmate?" The guard at the end of the hall asked. Adam had arranged an interrogation room during his drive; best not to talk police business surrounded by criminal ears.
"Uh, Frank Smiley." The guard smirked at the name and pointed to the second door on the left.
John/Frank was pacing the back of the room when Adam pushed through the door. "Good. Let's get started."
"Hold on there, cowboy. A couple things first." Adam pulled out his chair and settled down. "What am I going to call you? John? Frank? Dimples?" He got a glare in return at the last one. "Y'know, because of 'Smiley'?"
"Just keep it to Frank." He huffed and sat down. "Where's your paper?" You're going to need to take notes."
Adam leaned back and crossed his arms. "Just get rolling, I'll remember what I need."
His eye twitching, Frank clanked his cuffed hands on the table. "You're not taking this as serious as you should."
Adam's eyes slowly lifted to meet those across the table. There was an intensity in them that Frank had not seen. "So convince me then. Tell me a story. Spin me a tale."
"Fine. You already know that I only do jobs for other people. I hire who is necessary, achieve the objective, take a cut, and try" he glared at Adam "to make some money on the side. I contract for criminals."
"Yeah, you're criminal scum with a business card. I get it."
Frank rolled his eyes and then continued. "Well, like any other industry, one has to pay their dues. I started with clients and jobs that weren't always my choice. There was one client – don't bother asking about the job because I know the statue of limitations has far run out – whose job didn't go quite as planned. We came to an understanding where I'd owe him a booking in the future."
"Booking?" All the business speak was an attempt to cover up the real activities but Adam decided to roll with it for now.
"A slot in my schedule to do a job. See, I had jobs lined up for a year and a half when you landed me here."
At that Adam raised his eyebrows. An organized criminal was a rare find.
"Not only that, I start the prep work long before I actually start hiring people or solidifying the plan. So now those plans are just rotting away." Frank looked a bit perturbed for a moment and then shook himself out of it. "This client contacted me six months ago and called in his booking. The job had a deadline and it was supposed to start next week."
Adam finally leaned his chair back on all four legs and sighed. "Help me understand here Frank, why are you calling me in a panic about this client and this job?"
Frank glanced to the side and his shoulders rolled forward. "Because, this was a client I didn't want and I didn't like the original job. I like this next one even less. This guy is the reason I wrote down a code of ethics or 'no's list'. I can't be a part of his enterprise…again."
"You're in here. It's a great reason to back out."
A groan. "Adam, someone needs to stop him. I need you to be the one. I need you to be me."
It had been a lot to take in and he was still mulling over everything Frank had said when he walked back into the bullpen. Avoiding Voight's gaze, Adam went straight to his desk and tucked in to the list of forms he had to finish. The information he'd been given swam around in his brain like a background program on a computer. The forms took the rest of his computing power. That eliminated his focus problems and he steadily worked through his to-do list, much to the relief of his coworkers.
Except for Jay, but Adam didn't notice the glances that flicked from his unbroken pace to the occupied desk chair inside the office.
Slowly people wrapped up for the day and left Adam behind until he was the last one remaining. When he finally pushed himself away from his desk the entire area was quiet. No noise swept up and around the staircase from the lobby. Adam scrubbed a hand down his face and shut off his monitor. Then chewing on his lip, he turned it back on and ran some searches through their system using a protected username so to not alert any other officers to his target.
His mind wasn't completely settled by the time he turned off the monitor again. He'd found enough to convince him to follow through on the next step. Which he'd have to do carefully. He grabbed his bag as he stood and swung it over his shoulder, tapping his phone against the desk twice before heading towards the stairs. He gave the desk sergeant a distracted goodbye while passing and typing out a text to Voight informing him that he had an errand to run in the morning. That would buy him an extra hour to investigate Frank's directions.
Sitting on a house all night was not high on his list of fun activities – especially alone – but walking into an unknown situation with no back-up was not a fantastic idea. It was doable but knowing that none of his coworkers were aware of where he was pushed it into something he shouldn't do...anymore. Chalk it up to personal growth, he mused.
It was a small basement apartment in a row of town houses. Four steps down to a door that was probably a foot shorter than a normal one. There was no way it was a legal apartment and probably didn't have a back door. Hopefully there was at least a window Adam could squeeze through if the worst happened.
He wanted to be inside before the school kids started passing but after the morning joggers had done their route. Watching people doing an exercise he was stilled barred from stung a bit. What could go wrong with running? He did it at work all the time. Well, less lately if he was being honest with himself. He shook that thought off as the block was empty.
Closing the car door, he shoved his hands in his pockets and strolled across the road and up the sidewalk. The cracked but clean concrete steps led to the small but sturdy door. Adam punched in the four-digit code and heard the deadbolt recede from the frame. He twisted the handle with his left hand, pulling his backup piece out of his waistband with his right.
The small window let in a dismal amount of light but it was enough to clear the apartment. A combination kitchen/living was at the front, bordered by a bathroom at the far end. Behind the bathroom was the bedroom where the bed was tipped up against the wall to make room for two folding tables jammed together to form a desk. A small window sat in the top corner but had even less light entering than the one at the front.
"Probably under a deck." Adam groused, knowing it would be a pinch point and making this whole apartment essentially a death trap. He flipped the lights on in the bedroom and fought a begrudging respect bubbling up for Frank. He stared at the wall and started to read.
"Hey boss." Adam's voice came through the cell Hank had jammed into his shoulder. His pancakes had been replaced by granola swirled through yogurt and topped with strawberries. Joelle had taken a motherly shine to Hank and had decided to intermix his pancakes with something 'better' for him. It did not put him in the best of moods to deal with his more difficult cop.
"Still running that errand of yours?" The sarcasm was thick, much like the yogurt.
"Uh, yeah, but I think you should see this."
"Send me the address. I'll be there as soon as I finish my breakfast." Hank let the phone slide down into his hand. He scooped up the last of his meal and dropped enough cash on the table to cover his bill plus a bit extra for the staff. He tapped out a text to Jay, who was effectively his number two in the unit, that he would be checking in on Adam before coming in so they'd both be a bit later than usual.
The drive wasn't too long, it gave Hank time to run a few potential scenarios through his mind. How he could continue to keep Adam on a path to recovery if he went UC was a challenge. When he arrived in a decidedly working-class area, he was no closer to a decision or a plan. He found a parking spot easily as he assumed most cars had made their way to their owners' place of employment. Checking Adam's text again, he scanned the road until finding the correct house and then he saw the door leading to the basement apartment.
Adam opened the door quickly after his knock and let him inside. Hank ducked through the doorway even though he probably could have cleared it. Once the door was firmly shut, Adam jerked his head towards the back and Hank scanned the living space as they walked through.
"Interesting choice for a hide-out."
Adam nodded. "A lot of these houses have somewhat legal basement apartments. I saw a lot of heavy work boots and lunch coolers leaving early this morning and there was a flood of Moms heading to the bus stops after the kids were off to school. It's definitely a two-income neighbourhood so these basements give them a boost into comfort."
"Good place to hide, the area's empty during the day and no one's too enthusiastic about drawing attention to the apartments." Hank had to give the guy credit, he was not stupid. "You didn't bring me here to discuss bylaw enforcement."
Adam tipped his head towards the back. "It's in the bedroom."
A few strides brought them through the doorway. Hank scanned the wall and then let out a low whistle. "This perp is organized."
"Boss, you haven't seen half of it." He pointed towards the tables. "This will be a six-person job. He has primary hires and back-ups for each position. There are the necessary IDs in the box for his entire list. There's a literal to-do list on the computer of what's been done and what has to be done next broken down by weeks, then days, and then on the actual day, by 15-minute slots."
"So where are we now?"
Adam turned around the laptop that was plugged into the wall. "That's just it, boss, this is all supposed to go down two weeks from today. He had all the prep work done before we caught him and the final countdown starts today."
Hank looked down; digital clock showed on the screen, flipping back the seconds.