"Sarge." Strolling up to the front desk, I greeted Trudy who was moving her focus from the file that was sitting to the side, up to the computer screen in front of her. She was pretty focused, and the expression on her face was clearly stating she didn't want to be bothered. However, I had learned it was one thing for her to be interrupted by someone she liked more than one she didn't.
"Hailey." It took a few seconds but she greeted me without taking her eyes off the screen. "You haven't taken a weekend off in a while. Hope you were able to rest up. Intelligence just landed a case."
"I did, thanks." Tapping the desk a few times with my hand, I turned to leave before she could say anything else. "I'll head up now." I could tell she was probably wondering why I hadn't been there when she had come upstairs after the last case. I already hoped this one wrapped up sooner so I had the chance to tell her and everyone else on the team.
As I hit the top of the landing, Voight and Adam were missing from the room. I realized they probably were the ones who had discovered the case and were out chasing the bigger leads, which was fine because we all at some point we all had done that.
"Hey, Hailey." Kim made her way towards me with her notebook in hand. "Voight wants us to head downstairs. He's trying to track down a missing girl he was meeting with."
"Got it." Draping my coat over my chair, I silently grabbed Jay's attention and promised we would catch up later. He seemed to understand and nodded as I followed Kim out into the hall and we made our way downstairs.
"Didn't get much when I was on the phone, other than he was meeting a girl named Hannah Cates. She asked for his help, although he wasn't sure what for. They never got that far. She excused herself to go to the bathroom. When Voight followed her into the alley, she bolted with a guy in a silver Toyota Land Cruiser."
"Bolted or taken against her will?"
"Hard to say." Kim opened the door to the room and I immediately got comfortable at the computer knowing we could either be here for a bit before having to head out to the scene as soon as we got the information we needed. "I'll work on tracking plates on any cars fitting the description Voight gave us."
"I'll pull up traffic cams and see what I can find there." Fingers tapping rapidly against the keyboard, I did my best to narrow down the search. The room fell silent as Kim walked to the desk directly behind me and sat down.
"5021 emergency squad." Voight's voice came through the radio almost five minutes later. "We are in pursuit of a silver Toyota Land Cruiser. Last seen headed southbound on Noble and Hubbard. High rate of speed. Partial plate 8-4-2. Offenders wanted for possible aggravated kidnapping. One male, Hispanic, armed. White male driver."
"Sarge, we have 112 hits on that partial plate. We're sorting through them looking for one registered to a Land Cruiser." Kim didn't waste any time reporting our progress as she looked at the screen and walked back to the computer she was using. "Hailey's accessing the traffic cams, but we don't have a bead on Hannah. Now she doesn't have a cell phone registered to her so I can't do an emergency ping."
"Keep looking. There's got to be something out there that can lead us to what she's involved in." Voight encouraged from his end, a low hum from tires driving across the asphalt as they continued through the streets of Chicago.
"Copy."
"Kim," I called her back to the computer before she could walk away as she keyed the mic so Voight and Adam could listen in. "Late-model silver Land Cruiser, partial plate 8-4-2 passed a traffic camera six minutes ago, 16th and State."
"We're near 16th and State. Hailey, we don't have them. Did the eye in the sky get them past 16th?" Adam called out, most likely after searching around to see if they could spot the Land Cruiser again.
"Checking."
"Hailey?" I had hardly noticed Kim was still standing next to me or that I had left my phone sitting on the desk, but it was lit up with the school's number and I knew exactly who was calling. I had to keep myself from pushing the red decline button and shoving my phone back into my pocket. However, that would make me look even more suspicious than I already was at the moment.
"Why would an elementary school be calling your phone?"
"It's kind of a long story. I'll tell you after this case is over." I went back to tracking the car as the radio in Kim's hand crackled to life.
"5021 Ida. We've got shots fired at 16th and State." Adam's voice was a little more urgent this time as the radio picked up the slight gunfire he was talking about. "Be advised: plainclothes officers responding."
"Copy that 5021 Ida." The dispatcher repeated back that she had received his message loud and clear before she went off to relay that message to any other officers who might be responding to the call.
"5021 Ida, those shots are coming from the South 1600 block, North Schiller Credit Union." His words were shrouded by the sound of heavy gunfire which suggested they were in the building now. "10-1, 10-1, we got shots fired at the police. We got a bona fide robbery happening at North Schiller Credit Union."
"That escalated quickly." Kim pointed out as she dove back to the desk behind me, probably to see what else she could find that could help us track Hannah.
"I still can't get a read on where that Land Cruiser went. If Hannah and whoever was with her are behind this shooting, they did everything they could to avoid traffic cameras and every other camera in Chicago."
"5021, Land Cruiser fleeing southbound towards 18th street. Young, David, Henry 8-4-2." Voight's voice was full of frustration with how this case was going. "Get me an ambulance. 1656 South State Street."
"I guess we just got our answer."