Two days later
Thursday
Chicago PD, District 21
Sergeant Hank Voight was debriefing Detective Erin Lindsay in his office, when several gunshots rang out.
Voight and Lindsay ran out of the office, hot on the heels of other members of both Voight's unit and the Organised Crime Taskforce, across the hall. Everybody ran to the back entrance and as they entered the area that Intelligence and OCT shared Lyndsay and Halstead saw several prone forms on the concrete floor, blood pooling around them.
"We got Officers down!" Halstead bellowed.
The first Officer, in plain clothes was obviously dead, with a bullet wound to his head and a spreading pool of blood.
"You see anything?" Lyndsay shouted as she reached the large vehicular access door, which was open.
"No. Nothing." Came the response from Ruzek.
"I'll go left." Lyndsay announced.
"No visual!" Ruzek called out.
"Lieutenant Williams is down!" Voight called out and checked for a pulse – it was there.
"Somebody call an ambulance!" Ruzek shouted, as he scanned the area, his pistol out in front of him.
Voight had his radio out, "Ten-One, squad! Officers shot, 21st District at the OCT compound!"
West Ridge
I was at home when an unmarked SUV slammed on the brakes outside, there were blue strobe lights flashing inside the windshield. I opened the front door to see what was happening and saw that Fellowes was driving and he was ashen.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Why aren't you answering your damn cell?" Fellowes yelled.
I grabbed the cell out of my pocket. It was off. I turned it on.
"Must have turned it off by mistake," I said. "Sorry!"
"Get in!" Fellowes said. "It's Marcus!"
I slammed the front door of the house and jumped in the front of the SUV. I had barely closed my door when Fellowes floored the accelerator and slewed the SUV around and headed out of the street. The moment he reached the main road, he hit the siren.
Oh, God, not Marcus!
Northwestern Memorial Hospital
The ride down had been fast.
Fellowes had rarely dropped below fifty, racing through red lights where it was safe to do so and we hit one-twenty on the Interstate. All Fellowes would say was that Marcus had been shot, along with some other Cops at the District.
I wished Dave was with me, but he was at the Safehouse, although Fellowes said that he was on his way to the hospital. I wished that I could have been with Marcus when it had happened. However, what could I have accomplished?
"Mindy, he's going to be okay, the bullets went straight through," Cathy said trying to console me. I knew that there was more, Cathy's expression told me that there was more.
I was a fucking wreck; I could not control my emotions, my tears, nothing! Dave came into the room, concern etched into his face, and I just crumpled into his arms, sobbing. We both went to the waiting room, which was filled with Cops, some in uniform others not. Most I recognised, but only a few knew that I was Marcus' daughter and even fewer knew that I was Hit Girl.
..._...
Hank Voight came over and I could see blood on his clothes. It had to have been Marcus' blood.
"Mindy, isn't it?" Voight asked gently and I nodded.
Did Voight suspect that I was not who I appeared to be? If so, he did not let on.
"We're doing everything we can and we will hunt down the bastards behind this; you have my word."
"Thank you, Hank. Marcus always had a good word to say about you. He also said that you're like a Rottweiler with a steak when it comes to a case," I said and there was a ripple of laughter from the Cops.
"You need anything; we're here to help, all of us!" Voight said waving his hand around the room and I received nods from everybody there.
"Thank you, all of you," Dave added.
There was a tense moment when Kim arrived and saw some of her ex-colleagues, but most of them were more shocked to see how pregnant she was. The biggest surprise however was when Marcus' deputy arrived; Sergeant Vicky Richards and she was accompanied by a very shy looking Hailee.
Hailee answered my unspoken question.
"Mom, meet Mindy; Marcus' daughter. Mindy, please meet my Mom; Sergeant Vicky Richards," Hailee said.
Therefore, Hailee's Mom, the second-in-command of the OCT, which was charged with hunting down Chicago's vigilantes, was also the mother of Petra!
"Hello, Mindy. I'm sorry we didn't get to meet under better circumstances," Vicky said with a genuine smile.
The following day
Friday
Northwestern Memorial Hospital
The grumpy bastard was awake and ready for visitors.
"Damn bed is like a piece of lumpy concrete!" He moaned.
"Give it a rest old man!" I said.
"Don't go doing anything stupid, Mindy – I mean that!" Marcus warned.
"Would I?" I replied innocently.
"Do I even need to honour that comment with an answer?"
"Not really," I muttered.
"Look, Mindy, I'm fine; just a few new ventilation holes! "Marcus chuckled. "Nothing important was damaged, although I understand my shoulder is going to be a little sore!"
"Take it from somebody with more holes than a damn sieve; take it gently!" I warned.
"What, like you always do?" Dave laughed.
I scowled.
That night
South Chicago
Voight and Olinsky rolled their vehicles the last few metres with engines and lights off.
The team exited the vehicle quietly and without fanfare. They all wore ballistic vests and three of their number were carrying the long-guns, the AR-15 assault rifles. As they approached the building there were signs of life; a light was on in the front room.
The team split up with four heading to the rear of the property and the rest arraying around the wooden steps that led up to the porch. Just seconds before Voight gave the go signal, there were two shotgun blasts and the front door partially disintegrated as the Cops out front, dove for cover.
At the same time as the shotgun blasts, the rear team smashed open the back door. They entered the property with Detective Halstead leading and Ruzek immediately behind him. There was a man in the hallway, beyond the kitchen; he was feverishly attempting to reload a shotgun. At the sight of the armed Cops, he dropped the weapon and pulled out a pistol, firing off several rounds before Halstead and Ruzek shot him dead with their AR-15 rifles.
"Clear!" Ruzek yelled and Voight appeared through the demolished front door.
"Damn it!" Voight breathed. "We needed him alive!"
"Search the place, top to bottom!" Olinsky ordered, heading upstairs. "Every fucking mouse hole!"
The following night
Saturday
Voight and I met in a discreet coffee shop, after dark.
"I'll get straight to the point, Mindy; I know what you do at night..."
Voight must have read my expression as he continued quickly.
"... You are not going to get an argument from me about what you do. I believe in what you do one hundred and ten percent. No to mention that without your team, I would probably be long dead!"
"Okay, I trust you."
Voight nodded.
"It looks like the orders came from within Chicago, but the gunman was imported for the hit," Voight explained. "Now, we can handle the Chicago end, but I know that you will want the shooter and I wouldn't mind a piece of him, either, for that matter..."
"So, where is the gutless bastard?" I demanded.
"A seedy little backdrop that makes Chicago and Ralph D'Amico seem like a walk in the fucking park!" Voight explained. "Gotham..."
"Gotham?" I repeated.
"That City is like nothing on this earth; makes Mogadishu seem quiet and safe in comparison!"
"We can handle it..."
"I know; that is why I am giving you this information and I never let a Cop killer get away, ever!" Voight growled.
"We'll do it; just keep us informed with your end, Hank and thanks," I said.
"Good luck my purple friend."
The next afternoon
Sunday
Safehouse F
My emotions were very mixed about letting Mindy and Chloe head to Gotham alone.
However, we needed an advance party to check things out and to give us time to gather all of our equipment. We had been packing for a couple of days, just in case and we had prepared plans for just this eventuality, ever since the last time we had needed to operate outside of Chicago.
"You take care, both of you!" I said, emotions growing inside me. "Just one missed check-in and I will kick your fucking ass, Mindy Macready!"
"No picking up strangers in Safehouses this time!" Josh quipped and I could sense the worry in him.
"We promise to behave and not take any risks," Chloe said. "Don't we, Mindy?"
"I promise to behave; happy?" Mindy growled.
"Not really, but it will have to do!" I said, hugging Mindy tightly.
"Keep me informed about the old man and stay safe, yourself," I said and I could feel tears welling up. "We'll see you in a few days."
I started the engine and dropped the SUV into gear. We accelerated up the ramp and then Chloe and I were on our way.
Destination: Gotham.
Authors Note: At this point, you are strongly advised to read my other story: The Gotham Vigilantes, for the next events in the Forsaken timeline. You can ignore the story, but events and characters in The Gotham Vigilantes will be referred to from time to time. Forsaken may continue in parallel with the events in Gotham from Chapter 174 of Forsaken.