Jay tried hard to stay focused on the case, but his mind took him back to when he was in Afghanistan.
At that dark period of his life.
He was sitting at his desk, but around him there were no longer the walls of the district, the furniture and his colleagues.
His eyes saw only sand and wasteland.
There were tanks, soldiers with loaded guns ready to fire.
He was really at war.
He was there watching everything around him.
He was alone in a wasteland in the middle of the war.
Two soldiers to his right began shooting, wounding and killing local men.
Suddenly he was distracted by a small group of children who were secretly playing.
They were throwing some kind of ball at each other.
A ball in the middle of the desert?
Jay looked through his binoculars for a better look and noticed that what the children were holding was not a balloon. It was a small, green thing and Jay knew his shape well.
Those kids were throwing a grenade at each other.
I try to reach what he had in his hand or at least he was about to do it when ...
there was an explosion.
The safety of the grenade had gone off and it had exploded.
Before him was now a scene of pain, screaming and crying.
The boys were injured, one was dead.
The wind had slammed the district door. A firm and dull blow.
Jay who was still stuck in his flashback and sensed it as an explosion.
A second later he was on his feet and quickly walked out of the room, jumping the steps and immediately rushing out of the district.
There was a cool wind. He wore only a very light shirt.
He did not feel the cold, his body burned in the desert sun. His breathing was very fast.
He was hyperventilating.
Meanwhile, despite everything, he continued to stagger out of the district until he fainted because of his too rapid breathing.
Fortunately he didn't hit the ground with his head. It hit his arm.
The boys saw Halstead running away and looked at each other with questioning eyes. Something was happening to their colleague.
Hayley immediately jumped to her feet and ran down to find her partner.
She grabbed Jay's jacket and took it with her.