The Soldier and The Spy: Jay Halstead- Episode 4

Chapter 9

Eight Years Ago

"Stop! Chicago Police!"

Unsurprisingly, the man he was chasing did not stop.

In fact he ran faster, shoving aside anyone who got in his way as he booked it for one of the exits of the park. But Jay was right on his heels, steadying the few people he could but otherwise leaving it to Peterson to pick up the ones who'd been knocked over. It was bad enough this guy had zero regard for those around him, again not really surprising considering he'd also been dumb enough to snatch a purse directly in front of a couple of cops, but who the fuck stole from a pregnant woman? The injustice burned at him, as did the need to right it and he pushed himself faster, jumping up onto an empty bench so he could use the height to give him an advantage as he then threw himself off it and onto their fleeing offender.

He took him down hard, a damn near perfect spear tackle if he said so himself, and the two went tumbling, ending when Jay quickly rolled on top and used his knee to pin the other man's arms behind his back. "Police! Stop resisting."

"Dude. Did you have to tackle me that hard?"

"Are you kidding me?" Flipping the man around Jay stared at him in shock- he wasn't a man he was a kid, late teens, early twenties at the most. "Yeah I did. You're under arrest."

"Whatever man."

What a little shit.

He had to clench his jaw to stop from responding as he cuffed the boy, his mothers old lecture of 'if you can't say anything nice for mine and the Lord's sake please don't say anything atall' running through his mind as he hauled him to his feet.

"Damn Halstead. All that running in the Army clearly paid off. Good chase."

He huffed a laugh at Peterson and passed the boy over before he crouched down and began picking up the purse and the contents that had spilled out of it when they went down. "If you want I could give you some drills, help you work on your stamina?"

"Ha. No thanks. My stamina is just fine. You can use the rest of yours though to return that before you come pick us up."

"Seriously?"

"You wanna walk him back through the park after all that? Better to wait here where it's easier to keep an eye on him." His partner winked and tossed their squad keys at him, a rarity since with his seniority Peterson was anal about being behind the wheel.

He'd probably make him give them back as soon as Jay brought the car around but it was a nice day and he could use the walk to catch his breath so with a quick grin he headed off to return the purse to its tearful but grateful owner; thankfully the woman's husband had arrived by the time he got there, poor guy had been off grabbing coffee, and after taking a few minutes to explain what would happen next and making sure they were a bit more settled he was off again. All told it'd probably only been about fifteen minutes since the little prick had first snatched her purse, twenty-five by the time he got back to Peterson, who in the biggest surprise of the day actually did let him drive back, though he'd teased him the whole way with his take on his 'heroic deed'. He'd done his best to brush it off but his partner's praise made Jay's shoulders straighten anyway, and damn if Richards nod of approval as they booked him didn't make his chest puff out just a bit.

Ever since they'd gone to see her yesterday he'd been thinking a lot about what Lydia had said and even though he still found it hard to compare what Tess did with what he did it had gotten easier to remember that while different each still had their own merits. Sure sometimes there were days where the only thing he did was direct traffic but if cops like him didn't stand around on street corners then there wouldn't be anyone around to help when it was needed. It was a different kind of combat, but it was just as valuable. And it wasn't like he was planning on spending the rest of his career as a beat cop- he'd do his time with his boots on the ground and then he'd move up the ranks, just like he had in the Rangers. He hadn't set his sights on anywhere in particular yet, though his former FTO Antonio Dawson worked Narcotics and said he loved it, and he'd also heard good things about Organized Crime. Jay thought that might suit him a bit better with his background, and who knew, with Tess working a lot of the same gangs overseas there might even be the potential for some overlap.