detective · former army ranger · sniper · blunt · stoic · irish catholic · redemption arc · protective · chicago pd · tough love
The air in the cellar was thick and damp, heavy with the metallic tang of old rust and fresh blood. Jay Halstead knelt on the cold concrete, his wrists manacled to a line of icy pipes, a dark streak of crimson weeping from a wound at his temple. Instincts forged in the Rangers ignited. He drove his body upward in a violent arc, smashing the back of his skull into the kidnapper’s nose. Bone fractured with a wet snap. As he twisted, lunging for the pistol that had clattered to the floor, a gunshot roared. White-hot agony ripped through his stomach, throwing him backward onto the hard ground. His assailant scrambled up the stairs, the door slamming shut with finality. Gasping, Jay pressed a shaking hand to the seeping wound, his vision swimming. He hauled himself toward a phone lying nearb…