I pulled Lutz aside while we waited for a report from the deputies stationed out of Dolton. “Hey, Boss, who do you think Everly will choose to serve the warrant when it comes in?”
“Are you volunteering?”
I shrugged. “I wasn’t hinting at anything, just curious. I’ve taken a close look at every detective assigned to the task force, and they all seem very capable. Tommy would have been my first choice, but that’s not happening.”
Lutz scratched his cheek. “So?”
I raised my brows. “So, what?”
“How about volunteering? It can’t be too dangerous of a task to enter an empty house, and you’ve already been inside and know the layout. You wouldn’t even have to ram the door.”
I agreed. “I did leave the garage door unlocked after I picked it. Okay, I’ll do it.”
“Good. Choose someone from the group to go along, and let Everly know. The warrant should arrive anytime now.”
I gave every detective a long look. We had to be thorough during the search and try to find something that would give us Terry’s location. Morish was a lead detective from the Eighteenth District and very competent. He was a man who didn’t miss anything, always up for the task assigned to him.
Pulling Everly aside, I explained my reasons for requesting Morish. “He isn’t going to miss anything, Ron, and we need every shred of evidence we can find to track down Terry.”
He nodded. “You’re right, and I’ll let him know that it’ll be the two of you serving the warrant. Have a couple of those knock-and-talk officers help out when you arrive. I’ll give them a heads-up. Make sure you double-check everything they inspect, though.” He tipped his head toward the wall of phones. “I’ll see how we’re doing on that warrant.” Everly excused himself and took a seat at one of the landline phones.
Moments later, he returned to the group, but he wore what looked to be a smile of relief. “The warrant is on its way. McCord, Morish, and a couple of the officers who are already on site will go in and thoroughly search the residence. Meanwhile, everyone stay busy. I’ll check with the deputies again to see how many lake cabin doors they’ve knocked on.”
It was after five thirty by the time the warrant was in my hand. The update Ron received was that they were at the third lake and, so far, had spoken with five people. They were told that the majority of those cabins were weekend retreats and most owners didn’t live there full-time. Nobody had seen a black truck or anyone that appeared suspicious either.
With the “all clear” confirmation that Terry Lasko had never returned to his home, Morish and I headed out. We’d be tearing apart Terry’s house in less than fifteen minutes.
I took the driver’s seat in the cruiser that we grabbed from the lot, and Morish sat shotgun. I didn’t know the detective well since we worked at different districts, but he seemed like a conscientious, get-it-done kind of guy. I liked that about him, and we seemed to be on the same page with most everything.
I turned into Terry Lasko’s driveway at six o’clock. Morish and I exited the cruiser and approached two of the officers who were assigned to conduct interviews with Terry’s neighbors.
“Anything more than what was reported a half hour ago?” I asked.
“Nah,” Officer Reynolds said. “We’ve canvassed the entire neighborhood, and nobody had anything bad to say about Terry Lasko.”
Just hearing that comment made my job even tougher. He had committed numerous atrocities against the law enforcement officers and EMTs of Chicago, and before his wife died, Terry was an upstanding, well-liked neighbor. I had mixed feelings, but I also had a job to do as an officer of the law. We’d locate Terry and take him into custody, where he’d never feel the fresh air of freedom again.
“Okay, as long as you two aren’t busy, you can give us a hand searching the residence. We hope to find something that’ll tell us where Mr. Lasko took Tommy and his wife.” I tipped my head toward the gate. “There’s an unlocked door that enters into the garage and another that goes into the house. Follow me.” We passed through the gate, and I opened the garage door. I pointed at the door across the room. “That’ll take you right into the kitchen. You fellas can start there. Morish and I will be right in, but first, I want to have a quick look at Terry’s car.”
Officers John Reynolds and Tim Jackson headed for the house while I popped the car’s trunk and Morish opened the passenger door. I heard the doorknob turn and the men take their first steps into the house. Within seconds, a round of ear-splitting gunfire was released on the doorway. Bullets ricocheted off the garage walls and pinged against the cars.
“Get down!” I hit the floor. We were being ambushed. From beneath the cars, I saw Reynolds and Jackson drop to the tile in the kitchen doorway, both bleeding severely from the head. “Morish, Morish! Are you okay?”
“I haven’t been hit. How about you?”
“I’m still breathing, but Reynolds and Jackson are down. We’re sitting ducks in here. We need to get out of this garage. What’s your position?”
“I’m at the passenger-side footwell. The door to the side yard is six feet behind me, and it’s closed.”
I craned my neck. Neither officer had moved, and my gut told me they were dead. The kitchen door stood open two feet because of the fallen officers, which gave Terry plenty of opportunity to take us out if we tried to make a run for it. Everyone outside must have heard that rapid fire, but what did it come from? I’d taken the AR-15 out of the house earlier.
“Son of a bitch, Morish. He has another semiautomatic rifle.” I slapped at my shirt pocket for my phone, but my pocket was empty. Jerking my head from left to right, I saw the phone on the floor beyond Katlyn’s car. It had to have fallen out of my pocket and skidded across the garage when I hit the floor. “Morish, I’ve lost my phone. Do you have yours?”
“Yeah, give me a sec.”
“Call Everly and tell him we need SWAT here immediately. We have two officers down, and we’re stuck in the garage. Tell him Terry has another rifle, we’ve been taking on gunfire, and we can’t get to the outside door. They’re going to need tear gas and flash grenades to flush him out.”
There was no hiding from Terry. He probably didn’t know who was in the garage, but he knew it was law enforcement, and I was sure that was all that mattered to him. He could wipe us out within seconds.
“Morish, how many rounds do you have?”
“I have a full magazine. How about you?”
“Same, but I don’t want to provoke him. If his bullets hit the car’s gas tank, this garage will explode, and it’ll be over for us.”