The Cadillac pulled into the Chicago Police Department’s 21st District, bringing Adrian Knight’s thoughts back from the Punisher System to the real world.
A short time later, he followed Sergeant Hank Voight and Detective Alvin Olinsky through the busy front entrance.
Officers moved constantly through the building while phones rang and conversations overlapped throughout the bullpen.
Behind the front desk sat Desk Sergeant Trudy Platt, her short dark hair framing her usual stern expression.
She barely looked up as the men approached.
“Morning, Sergeant.” “Morning,” Voight replied without slowing down.
Alvin stopped beside the desk with Adrian.
“Hey, Trudy.
This is Adrian Knight.
Can you get him processed?” He gestured toward Adrian before adding, “New member of Intelligence.” Trudy finally stopped what she was doing and raised an eyebrow.
Her sharp eyes moved over Adrian from head to toe as if she were trying to determine what Voight had brought into her district this time.
Adrian simply smiled and offered a polite greeting.
“Nice to meet you, Sergeant.” Trudy didn’t return the warmth.
Instead, she looked past Adrian toward Voight with obvious confusion, silently asking for an explanation.
Voight glanced back at her and answered before she could speak.
“You know why.” He then turned toward Adrian.
“Come on.” Adrian gave Trudy a small nod before following Voight and Alvin toward the stairs.
Once they disappeared from view, Trudy turned toward the computer and began entering Adrian’s information so she could complete his registration.
The moment his file appeared on the screen, however, her expression changed.
“What?” Trudy leaned closer to the monitor.
“How the hell is that possible?” Upstairs on the second floor, Adrian entered the Intelligence Unit for the first time.
Voight stepped into the room ahead of him and called out in his familiar gravelly voice, immediately drawing everyone’s attention.
“Morning.
Everybody, say hello.” “This is our new partner, Adrian Knight.” Adrian looked around at his new coworkers and gave them an easy smile.
“Hey.
It’s an honor to be here.” There weren’t many members in the office at the moment.
Adrian quickly recognized Jay Halstead, the sharp-looking detective with a neatly trimmed beard, along with the younger Adam Ruzek and the tall, heavily built Kevin Atwater.
Before he had much time to speak with any of them, another man came up the stairs carrying a case file.
It was Antonio Dawson, one of the senior members of Intelligence and Voight’s second-in-command in the unit.
Antonio wasted no time on small talk as he approached the group.
“All right, guys.
This is Benji Keyes.” “Street name is Hardbone Benji,” Antonio continued.
“He’s previously been picked up on possession with intent to distribute and weapons charges.
Now he’s working as a street boss under his brother.” Antonio handed the file over, and Kevin opened it before taking out several photographs.
He pinned them to the large case board while the others gathered around.
After giving the basic rundown, Antonio turned toward Adrian and extended his hand.
“Antonio Dawson.
Good to meet you.” Adrian shook his hand firmly.
“Adrian Knight.
Glad to be working with you.” The two released hands and turned their attention back toward the board.
Voight was already in work mode, and he pointed toward a black-and-white photograph pinned near the center.
“This is Derek Keyes.
One of Chicago’s most wanted.” “Narcotics estimates the Keyes brothers are supplying a major part of the heroin moving through the West Side,” Voight continued.
“They’ve been watching Derek for years.
Every undercover operation they’ve tried has ended in failure.” Antonio folded his arms and looked around the room.
“One of my CIs gave me an address for Hardbone Benji.
We get Benji, he gives us a way to Derek.” Voight tapped the case board with one finger.
“This isn’t a normal arrest.
If Derek gets even a hint that we’re watching him, he’ll disappear deeper underground and we’ll lose him again.” His eyes moved across every member of Intelligence before stopping briefly on Adrian.
“So Benji gets taken without anybody knowing about it.
No attention, no noise, and nobody on the street gets a chance to warn his brother.” Adrian remained completely calm under Voight’s stare.
If the possibility of confronting armed criminals frightened him, joining Intelligence would have been a ridiculous choice in the first place.
Chicago’s gangs and illegal guns made police work dangerous enough that one bad decision could easily cost an officer his life.
Seeing no hesitation from the newcomer, Voight gave a small approving nod.
“That means everybody stays covert.” He looked around the room one last time.
“All right.
Get ready.” “We move tonight.” With that, Voight turned and walked away.
Adam came over and gave Adrian a friendly pat on the shoulder, already looking considerably more relaxed than their sergeant.
“You can call me Adam.” “Come on, man.” Adrian followed him toward the locker room.
“Works for me.” Once inside, Adam glanced over while opening his locker.
“First day on the job and Voight throws you straight into something like this.
How’s that feel?” Adrian tilted his head slightly.
“Feels great.” Adam paused for a second before giving him an awkward nod.
“Good.
That’s…
good.” He reached into his locker and started checking his equipment.
“And hey, if you need anything, come find me.
I’m pretty good with the secondhand market.
I can usually track down decent stuff for a good price.” Adrian smiled at the offer.
“I’ll remember that.” The Intelligence Unit handled gangs, narcotics organizations, major homicides, and other high-level investigations, which meant its members normally worked in plain clothes rather than standard patrol uniforms.
Tonight’s operation was different, however, and they would be using black CPD tactical jackets and additional protective equipment.
Adrian had barely started preparing when Trudy suddenly entered the locker area carrying a collection of department-issued gear.
She walked directly over to Adrian and handed him his badge, service weapon, tactical clothing, and the rest of his standard equipment.
Unlike her cold reaction downstairs, she now wore an unmistakably pleasant smile.
“Here you go.
These are yours.” “If you need anything else, come see me.” Adrian accepted the equipment and smiled back.
“Thanks, Sergeant.
I will.” Kevin stared at the exchange as though he had just witnessed something impossible.
He slowly looked toward Alvin, who was standing nearby, before speaking in disbelief.
“What the hell did I just see?” “She smiled?” Kevin shook his head.
“Trudy actually smiled at a rookie.
That’s unbelievable.” Before joining Intelligence, Kevin had spent time in patrol under Trudy’s watchful eye.
As desk sergeant, she had never hesitated to hand younger officers unpleasant assignments, tear into them for mistakes, or make sure they understood exactly where they stood in the department.
To Kevin, seeing that same woman greet Adrian with genuine friendliness was almost unnatural.
What Kevin didn’t know was that Trudy had already looked through Adrian’s information downstairs.
His background wasn’t anything like that of an ordinary rookie, and the amount of wealth attached to his name had been enough to make even her take another look.
Whatever else Adrian might be, he clearly wasn’t someone who had walked into the 21st District without resources or connections.
Alvin had no interest in discussing it.
He merely shook his head and walked away.
Kevin watched him leave before looking back toward Adrian.
“What am I missing here?” Adrian paid no attention to the confusion around him.
His focus had shifted entirely to one of the objects Trudy had just handed over.
The Chicago Police badge felt surprisingly heavy in his hand.
Police badges varied greatly between departments across the United States, but Chicago’s unmistakable design was shaped like a star.
Adrian slowly turned it over between his fingers and looked at the emblem under the locker-room lights.
Holding that star-shaped badge in his hand, Adrian finally felt the reality of it.
He was now a Chicago police officer.