“I know this guy.” Catherine Hayek frowned as she studied the photo Jack had just captured.
“That’s Jimmy Shi, a sergeant who worked Asian organized-crime cases with the Gang Unit.”
Jack turned toward her.
“He’s a cop?”
“He was, at least officially.” Catherine kept watching the men across the street.
“Jimmy built his reputation working Chinatown gangs, but a few years ago there were rumors he crossed too many lines and got suspended pending investigation.
I didn’t know he was back in the field.”
Across the street, Jimmy and his men seemed to have gotten whatever they wanted from Lee.
One of them gave the casino manager a final pat on the cheek before the group walked back toward an unmarked Ford Explorer.
“Follow them,” Catherine said as she sent the photo and a brief report to the Intelligence Unit.
Jack started the Chevrolet Malibu and pulled away from the curb several seconds after the Explorer.
They stayed far enough back to avoid drawing attention.
Hank’s raspy voice came over the radio a few minutes later.
“Catherine, explain the picture you just uploaded.”
Catherine picked up the handset.
“The man threatening Lee is Jimmy Shi.
Former Gang Unit sergeant, mostly Asian organized crime.”
The radio went silent.
Jack could almost imagine Hank’s expression.
Seeing a fellow officer threatening a civilian with a gun was bad enough.
Seeing one who might be connected to seventeen murders was something else entirely.
Hank finally answered.
“Keep following them and don’t burn your cover.
I’m checking whether Jimmy has any operation filed with the department.”
“Copy,” Catherine replied.
Jack kept the Malibu behind the Explorer as it left Chinatown and headed toward the West Side.
Neither Jimmy nor any of the other four men showed signs that they had noticed the tail.
About forty minutes later, the Ford turned into an industrial area and stopped outside an abandoned warehouse.
Jack parked out of sight and watched as Jimmy and four other men climbed out wearing tactical vests and carrying rifles.
Catherine’s expression immediately changed.
“Five men,” Jack said quietly.
“Same number as our robbery crew.”
“And they’re geared almost exactly the same way.”
Jack picked up the radio.
“Hank, we found Jimmy’s team.
Five men total and all of them are armed with rifles, sidearms and tactical armor.”
Hank answered almost immediately.
“You said five?”
“Five exactly.”
Catherine leaned toward the radio.
“They match the profile we’ve been working.
If Jimmy’s team is involved, this could be them.”
“Don’t move yet,” Hank ordered.
“Keep eyes on them.
I’m bringing backup and I want direct evidence before anybody gets tipped off.”
“Understood.”
Jack and Catherine stayed in position.
For the moment, there was nothing else to do but follow the ghosts.
At 1:00 p.m., Jimmy’s Ford Explorer returned to Chinatown and stopped near an underground gambling operation at 236 West 21st Street.
Jack and Catherine had taken a position on the second floor of a building across the street while Hank and the rest of Intelligence quietly spread out around the block.
The Ford sat motionless for several minutes.
“What are they waiting for?” Catherine asked while watching through binoculars.
Before Jack could answer, all four doors opened.
Five heavily armed men stepped out.
Jimmy gave a short hand signal and the team moved immediately.
Their formation was tight and disciplined as they crossed the sidewalk and entered the gambling room through the front door.
Jack watched through binoculars as panic erupted inside.
People rushed toward exits, only to be forced back while Jimmy’s team systematically took control of the room.
In less than two minutes, nearly everyone inside had been pushed to the floor or ordered against a wall.
“They know what they’re doing,” Jack said.
“That’s a professional entry.”
Catherine nodded.
“But there are no uniforms, marked cars or visible badges.”
“And no perimeter.”
Hank’s voice came over their earpieces.
“Jack, Catherine, get ready to move.
I confirmed with Gang Unit command.
Nobody authorized this operation.”
Jack’s expression hardened.
“Either Jimmy is running an off-book raid,” Hank continued, “or we just found the crew we’ve been hunting.”
Jack and Catherine immediately drew their weapons and crossed the street.
Hank arrived from the opposite side with Antonio, Jay, Erin, Al and Ruzek while uniformed officers sealed the nearby exits.
Within moments, the entire gambling location was surrounded.
Before the breach, Jack activated Life Radar Lv.1.
His awareness expanded through the building.
Most of the people inside were crouched low with their hands near their heads.
Only five figures remained standing and moving with weapons, matching Jimmy and the four men Jack had followed.
Jimmy appeared to be questioning someone near the back of the room.
The distance prevented Jack from getting more detail, but the positions were enough.
“Five armed targets still standing,” Jack reported.
“Everybody else looks compliant.”
Hank nodded.
“We go.”
Jack and Catherine took the front while the rest of Intelligence covered additional entrances.
“Chicago Police!” Hank shouted as they breached.
“Drop your weapons now!”
The expected gunfight never came.
Jimmy and his men turned, saw the number of CPD officers surrounding them and immediately understood the situation.
One after another, they placed their rifles on the floor and raised their hands.
Jack glanced toward Catherine.
She looked just as confused as he felt.
If Jimmy’s team had actually murdered seventeen people, surrendering this easily made very little sense.
Still, Jack wasn’t going to complain about avoiding a shootout with five trained police officers.
The five men were restrained, escorted outside and loaded into police vehicles.
Hank didn’t waste time arguing with Jimmy at the scene.
That came later.
Back at the 21st District, Jimmy and his four men were brought into the Intelligence Unit and their restraints were removed under supervision.
The moment Jimmy saw Hank, his expression darkened.
He walked straight toward him.
“Voight, this is my damn case.”
Hank didn’t move.
“No authorization.
No filed operation.
No backup.”
Jimmy’s jaw tightened.
“You call that your case?” Hank asked.
“Looks more like vigilante work to me.”
“These places run illegal gambling, loan-sharking and half a dozen other rackets.” Jimmy stepped closer.
“Three people killed themselves because of debts tied to these operators.
The department moves too slow, so I handle them my way.”
“Your way destroys cases,” Hank replied.
“You kick in a door without authorization and any defense attorney with a pulse starts attacking the evidence.”
Jimmy scoffed.
Hank pointed toward Jimmy’s team.
“Then look at yourselves.
Five armed men, tactical gear, no uniforms, no marked vehicles.”
The room became quieter.
“You look exactly like the crew that’s been hitting these gambling rooms.”
Jimmy’s expression froze.
“What the hell are you implying?”
“I’m telling you what it looks like.”
Hank’s tone softened slightly, but only slightly.
He and Jimmy had once worked together.
That history made the accusation harder, not easier.
“Jimmy, I need the truth.”
Al Olinsky stepped forward next.
He had known Jimmy from the same earlier days and looked even less pleased about the situation.
“Three gambling operations hit in five days,” Al said.
“Seventeen people dead.
Now we find you leading a five-man armed team into another one without anything on the books.”
He held Jimmy’s gaze.
“What would you think?”
Jimmy’s anger returned immediately.
“You serious right now?”
He pointed toward Hank.
“After everything Voight has done, I never once treated him like some dirty cop every time things looked bad.”
Antonio and Jay exchanged a glance.
Jack noticed it.
With Internal Affairs already looking at Hank, Jimmy had just opened a door neither of them was likely to forget.
Hank ignored the remark.
Before the argument could continue, Sheldon’s voice suddenly came over the radio from his workstation.
“Hank, we just got another report.”
Everyone turned.
Sheldon continued.
“About twenty minutes after we pulled away from the gambling room on West 21st, it got hit.”
Hank’s expression changed.
“How many?”
“Five shooters.
Automatic weapons.”
A pause followed.
“Nine dead.”
The room went completely silent.
Jack looked toward Jimmy.
Jimmy and all four of his men had been in CPD custody during the attack.
That meant they couldn’t possibly have carried it out.
The total death toll had just climbed from seventeen to twenty-six.
Jack folded his arms and began putting the timeline together.
“Hank, what if Jimmy’s team and the real shooters are selecting the same targets?”
Everyone turned toward him.
Jack continued.
“Not just similar locations.
The exact same ones.”
Jimmy frowned.
Jack stepped closer to the whiteboard.
“Jimmy’s crew hits a gambling operation off the books.
Then after they leave, another five-man team comes in and carries out the real attack.”
Catherine immediately understood where he was going.
“The first raid weakens the target.”
“Exactly.” Jack nodded.
“Staff are shaken up.
Security is disrupted.
Everybody’s focused on Jimmy’s team.”
He looked toward Jimmy.
“Then the second crew moves in.”
Jimmy’s anger had disappeared, replaced by suspicion.
“Someone’s copying us?”
“Or using you as cover,” Jack said.
Hank looked toward Jimmy.
“How do you select targets?”
Jimmy hesitated before answering.
“We hit or pressure gambling rooms three or four times a week.
Mostly warnings to keep them from expanding.”
“And communications?”
“Encrypted radios.
We rotate channels every week.”
Catherine walked toward the board and started rebuilding the timeline.
“If somebody has been listening to your team, they’d know where you were going before you got there.”
Jimmy looked at her.
Catherine continued.
“They wait until your operation is finished.
Then they hit the same place while security is disorganized or already compromised.”
“Perfect cover,” Hank said.
Jimmy looked toward his own men.
Nobody said anything.
Hank faced him again.
“I need everything.”
Jimmy frowned.
“Everything?”
“Operational records, target lists, communications logs, equipment history.
Every place you planned to hit and every place you already hit.”
Jimmy hesitated.
Hank’s voice hardened.
“If somebody is using your team to kill people, this stopped being about your pride five minutes ago.”
That finally did it.
Jimmy nodded.
“Fine.”
He paused before adding, “But I’m involved when we find them.”
Hank stared at him.
Jimmy’s jaw tightened.
“These people killed seventeen civilians and now nine more.
Twenty-six bodies because somebody turned my team into their cover.”
He looked around the room.
“I want these bastards.”
Hank considered it for several seconds.
Then he nodded.
“You and your people work under Intelligence from now on.”
Jimmy started to respond, but Hank cut him off.
“No independent moves.
No disappearing.
No private raids.”
He stepped closer.
“You do what I tell you.”
Jimmy finally nodded.
“Understood.”
By 5:00 p.m., the Intelligence Unit conference room was crowded.
Jimmy and his four officers sat with Hank’s team while two separate timelines covered the whiteboard.
One side showed Jimmy’s unauthorized operations, while the other listed every robbery and murder committed by the unknown five-man crew.
The overlap was becoming impossible to ignore.
Everyone searched for the same answer.
How were the killers getting Jimmy’s plans?
Sheldon suddenly stopped typing.
“Found something.”
The room immediately went quiet.
Hank walked toward him.
“What?”
Sheldon kept his eyes on the screen.
“Jimmy’s radio traffic has been compromised for about a week.”
Jimmy frowned.
“Compromised how?”
“Somebody tampered with the equipment.” Sheldon brought up a technical readout.
“There’s an unauthorized component in the communications chain that shouldn’t be there.”
Hank folded his arms.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning someone got access to their equipment and created a way to monitor their traffic without the team knowing.”
Jimmy stared at the screen.
Catherine looked toward the whiteboard.
Then something clicked.
“We can use that.”
Everyone turned toward her.
Catherine stepped forward.
“If they’re still listening, we feed them false information.”
Al narrowed his eyes.
Catherine pointed toward the timeline.
“Jimmy’s team broadcasts a fake operation.
Clear target, clear time, clear location.”
She tapped the board.
“The killers hear it and think they have another opportunity.”
Jack immediately understood.
“And instead of an unprotected gambling room, they walk into us.”
“Exactly.”
Al leaned back in his chair.
“That’s risky.”
“It is,” Catherine admitted.
“If they realize the traffic is fake, the whole thing dies.”
“Or worse,” Al added.
“They change tactics.”
Jimmy spoke before anyone else could.
“I’m in.”
Hank looked toward him.
Jimmy leaned forward.
“We’ve been reacting to these people for five days.
It’s time they react to us.”
He glanced toward his team.
“My guys can make the radio traffic sound real.”
Catherine nodded.
That would make the deception far more convincing.
Hank slowly looked around the conference room.
Nobody spoke.
Finally, he rested both hands on the table.
“All right.”
His gaze moved from one officer to the next.
“Vote.”
Hank’s expression hardened.
“Who’s in, and who’s against?”
[Reader Support Milestones]