Operation sandstorm

The phonecall

The intelligence unit walked up the stairs to the bullpen. They just arrested Jamy Carston. He was trafficing and abusing children and then sold them to the highest bidder. He also was a major druglord in Chicago and it took the intelligence unit nearly five weeks to catch the son of a bitch.

Jay walked to the freezer in the breakroom and grabbed some ice. One of Carston's dealers managed to hit him in the face and his eye was already turning in a nasty colour blue and green. He put the ice on his eye and he moaned softly. That felt better. He walked to the couch and layed down for a bit. A big sigh escaped from his mouth and he closed his eyes. It has been a long couple weeks and he just wanted to go home, shower and get a long night of sleep. Everyone looked tired and for a short moment they all just enjoyed the silence.

Trudy walked up the stairs with a phone in her hand. 'Detective Chuckles,' she said while walking into the breakroom. 'You have a phonecall.' 

She observed his face and pointed to his eye. 'Nice shiner.' Jay looked tired and irritated but he accepted the phone she gave him and held it to his ear.

'Halstead,' he said while surpressing a yawn.

'Jay it's me,' said a familliar voice on the other side of the line. He sounded annoyed. 

'Hey Mouse, what's up bud?' Jay said.

'Jay can you do me a favor? Next time I call you 9 times and leave you 3 messages, please pick up your phone.' 

Jay looked surprised and apoligised. 

'I'm sorry. Whe finally got a lead and left in kind of a hurry. I forgot my phone on my desk.'

'That Carston guy you told me about last week?' Mouse asked.

'Yeah.' Jay sighed and pressed the ice against his eye.

'You okay? Did you get him?'

'We arrested him yes, I caught a nice shiner in the process tho.' He heard Mouse chuckle.

'You know what you should do next time?'

'What?' Jay asked.

'Duck,' Mouse answerd while he burst into laughter. 

Jay rolled his eyes and sighed. 'Please don't bring up the duck story.' His tone sounded tired, like he had heard the same joke for the 100th time.

'It's not that funny.' Mouse, who was still laughing, disagreed. 'Yes it is.' Jay stared at the ceiling above him and waited till his friend was done lauging.

He heard an unfamiliar voice shouting in the background.

'Staff sargeant Gerwitz,' it sounded.

'Not now, i'm busy,' Mouse yelled back.

Jay smirked. 'How are you liking that promotion? Staff sargeant Gerwitz sounds nice.' 'It is nice, I like it,' Mouse said. He sounded genuinly happy. 'To bad you can still boss me around tho.'

'Yeah, the day you make lieutenant is the day i'm going to bribe the colonel to promote me just so I can stay your superior officer,' Jay answerd jokingly.

'Wich colonel? The same one you bribed for your first two promotions?' Mouse bounced back with a teasing tone. Jay smiled but then he changed his tone to serious.

'So is there a reason why you called me 9 times?' he asked.

'Very subtle to change the promotion subject, but yes there is,' Mouse said while he also changed his tone to serious. 'We have a problem and you need to come to Benning right away.'

Jay closed his eyes and sighed. Great, just what he needed after the long hours they made in the last couple of weeks. Army stuff.

'Wait, you are at Benning?' he asked confused. A little bit late realizing what his friend was saying. 'Last week you said you wouldn't be stateside for at least a month.'

Mouse nodded his head but knew his friend couldn't see him.

'I know, I got called back early, because, like I said, we have a big problem and need your help right away.'

Jay wanted to protest but Mouse didn't give him the space to do that. 'I'm sorry pal, colonels orders.'

Jay opened his mouth to protest again but Mouse interrupted him. 'And before you say anything you are going to regret you should know he is standing right next to me,' he said with a warning tone.

Jay's eyes became big while he realized what Mouse just saved him from. 'Copy that, thanks,' he said. 'Uhuh,' Mouse said. He sounded amused.

'The colonel also said we should have all hands on deck for this so, if they are willing to accept the risks and sign the papers, you can bring the intelligence unit in on this one.' Jay frowns. Almost everything he and Mouse did overseas was classified so if the colonel was willing to involve civillians in this there must be something very wrong.

'Mouse, just give it to me straight and tell me what it is about,' he demanded. He heard how his best friend took a couple of deep breaths.

'It's about operation sandstorm.'