Chapter 3: Jay

                                    

                                          

"The whole thing is a mess. We're basically looking at three crime scenes. It started back there on Washburn with a carjacking that Atwater and Rojas responded to," Jay said, briefing Hank, who had just arrived at the scene.
"Okay," Hank nodded, processing the information.
"The two offenders crashed into that car. Then one offender took off in that car, the other one Rojas chased down and got impaled by a rebar," Hailey explained, filling in the gaps of the story.
"So that's our DOA?" Hank asked, his voice serious as he looked over at Rojas, who was lying motionless nearby.
"Yeah," Hailey replied quietly.
"Carjacking victim?" Hank asked, shifting his attention.
"Yeah. She's a young woman. Beaten pretty badly. She's on her way to Med," Hailey added, her tone sympathetic but steady.
Hank paused, scanning the scene, his mind working through the details. "Listen, did the responding backup units pick up anything? Because you were in the zone, and I didn't hear any chatter," Hank asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"That's the thing, Sarge. They didn't call for backup," Hailey responded, frustration creeping into her voice. "It's like they tried to handle it all on their own."
Jay exchanged a glance with Hailey before turning back to Hank, his expression serious. Hank stopped walking, turning to face Jay. "Huh. All right, do me a favor and see if you can tie this thing off," Hank said, his tone shifting to command mode.
"Yeah," Jay replied, his voice firm without another word, he walked away from Hank and Hailey, 
⋆˚✿˖°
"You all know Officer Rojas?" Hank said, nodding towards her as she walked up the steps into the bullpen. "Welcome to Intelligence."
"Thank you," Rojas responded, a small chuckle escaping her lips. "Okay, I hope this isn't the part where I have to make a speech."
"Nothing like that," Hank replied, giving her a reassuring smile.
Rojas gave a relieved nod before turning to the board. "Okay, what do we got?"
"Straight-up aggravated carjacking," Kim said, stepping forward and placing a picture of the female victim on the whiteboard. "The victim's name is Ruby Garcia. She's 24. She's at Chicago Med with head trauma. We lodged a BOLO on her stolen car, but nothing yet."
"We ran prints on our DOA John Doe," Hailey added, stepping up to hand Kim a photo of the crime scene where the offender had died. "He's not in our system. No wallet, no ID."
"That means we gotta ID his partner," Hank said, his tone firm. "So talk to your CIs. Let's get a list of everyone previously arrested for carjacking in that area. Kev, reach out to Major Accidents, start the paperwork."
"Yes, sir," Kevin replied, immediately moving toward the whiteboard to take care of his task.
Jay, looking frustrated, leaned forward on his desk. "We've been chasing a major cartel supply, and we're dropping that for carjacking?"
Hank paused and turned back to face Jay, his tone unwavering. "The offender died while we were chasing him, so we own it. Let's just tie it off cleanly and quickly and move on."
Without another word, Hank turned and walked toward his office, but before he could enter, Rojas spoke up.
"Sergeant?" She called, catching his attention. "What would you like for me to do?"