Chicago PD season 7, episode 2 recap: Assets
By Kari Highman
Meet Vanessa Rojas and Darius Walker
Not one, but two new characters made their Chicago PD debut in season 7’s second episode. First up was Nina Rodriguez (Lisseth Chavez), who appeared to be a bartender at Chatham – but was really an undercover cop named Vanessa Rojas.
Nina was first spotted bartending and talking to Kevin, along with his pal Andre. Things that started out as casual, quickly turned ugly when Darius Walker walked into the lounge. This spooked Andre and his associate, Peanut, who then drew a gun on Kevin, claiming he wasn’t who he said he was.
In the surveillance van across the way, Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) was ready to breach, but her partner Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) held her steady, saying that they had to let it play out.
Kevin managed to de-escalate the situation, and things seemed to simmer down from there. Darius even invited Kevin back to his office for an “interview” where he asked him about his “professional aspirations.” Kevin turned on the charm, but things got crazy quick when another dealer under Darius was brought in.
Bryce (the aforementioned dealer) was warned about selling outside of schools where kids would be hanging out. Darius scolded him, and when a baseball bat appeared in his hands, things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse. But, given Darius’ reputation as an “educator” – aka: a “good” drug kingpin – he did not use the bat for violence. Instead, the bat was part of Bryce’s new gig as a coach, as he would no longer sling dope for Darius.
As Kevin was leaving the bar, Nina stopped him again and asked if he wanted to grab a drink. He politely rain checked her offer, and went to meet up with Jay and Hailey to give them his intel.
As they were in the middle of conversation, Jay and Hailey were dispatched to the scene of shots fired. Two offenders were gunned down in a warehouse, and they found a young girl holding a gun. The girl’s name was Gloria Romero, and the two men? They were Latin players named Benji Rodriguez and Luis Torres.
If you were wondering, yes they did in fact tie-in to Darius Walker and the drug deals. See, Darius sought revenge after one of his men got shot, so he hired someone to kill those two in retaliation.
Jay, Hailey, Kevin, and Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati) were then tasked with putting all the pieces together, trying to figure out who killed Benji and Luis. They combed through security footage and found a blue Ford Taurus idling outside the crime scene. And guess who that car belonged to?
If you guessed Darius, you were wrong, as Chicago PD gave us a mid-episode twist. The car actually belonged to Nina Rodriguez!