Jimmy had only shot the young man in the arm, a non-fatal area, and had simply applied a tourniquet until the ambulance arrived at the door.
By the time Jimmy escorted the young man to the hospital and returned to the station, word of his shooting had already spread at headquarters. Shooting wasn't a big deal; everyone had seen it happen multiple times within the year, but shooting just the arm was rare.
Jimmy filed the case report, and then it was time to face the dreaded Ministry of Internal Affairs investigation. However, the incident was very clear, and even the suspect's father was willing to testify that the suspect had first drawn a gun, threatened, and pointed it at the police before Jimmy fired. This surprised Jimmy, as family members could actually refuse to testify.
What saddened Jimmy most was that, although all conditions were met and he had undergone a Ministry of Internal Affairs inquiry, his administrative leave was still canceled without any reason provided. Without notification of leave, Jimmy had no choice but to continue working.
As time gradually reached the end of November, Thanksgiving arrived, and like last year, Jimmy was still one to work overtime on Thanksgiving.
Lately, Jimmy had clearly abandoned his style of directly eliminating suspects. Most of his shootings aimed only to neutralize the threat by targeting limbs or areas like the abdomen or shoulders, leading to a significant reversal in his reputation at the station. The former "brutal butcher" was now gone.
The main reason was that the recent cases involved minor crimes where the suspects' actions were not fatal, and Jimmy was not going to kill every threatening individual. Additionally, the 92F, his main gun of choice now, had seen a rise in use. Although it was also 9mm, the .357 Magnum revolver had more load, higher initial speed, and greater destructive power; it had been used less frequently recently.
Jimmy had ordered takeout in advance. Even though it was a holiday, he did not prepare any special dinner—just pizza, salad, dessert, and coffee. With exams coming up in December, Jimmy had spent considerable time revisiting his previous studies to prepare himself to complete 1/3 of the credits. If he could secure more in the second half of the year, he could apply for early graduation.
This was also preparation for a promotion. Although the county police did not have strict conditions for promotions, a high school diploma was definitely limiting. Having an associate degree from a community college was at least sufficient for the next step in his career progression, which was one of the reasons Jimmy had prepared to further his education early.
At 11 PM, a notification came from the dispatch center.
"A28, street shooting incident, North District station requests backup at the intersection of Glen Street on West 50th Street, North Little Rock, channel 4."
"A28 received."
Jimmy arranged his gear and immediately drove off in his police car. The location of the incident was a bit tricky; there was a military base on the west side of North Little Rock. Cage had once mentioned to him that it was tough to deal with the base, advising him to avoid going there if possible. And the position reported by the dispatch center was near there.
The county police headquarters was located in Little Rock, and crossing the Arkansas River to North Little Rock took Jimmy over 40 minutes to reach the scene. He found no police cars at the intersection and switched his radio to channel 4, shouting directly: "Calling North District, A28 has arrived at West 50th Street, please report the location."
"West 54th Street at Marion Road, over."
Jimmy glanced at the map in his car and continued towards the target location. He rarely came to North Little Rock, so he was unfamiliar with the area's roads and terrain and needed to carry a map to determine his position.
He saw police lights flashing before he reached the site. Plaskey County police had replaced the lights on their vehicles—all were now LED lights, which flashed alternately and were much more dazzling than the old halogen lamps but also more noticeable.
Jimmy parked his police car at the end of the line of police cars and took an M16 from the trunk, running toward the frontline. Several officers were already aiming at a house, and two policemen were calling for the people inside the house to come out and surrender, although it was certain that the suspects would not just give up and come out.
Jimmy joined the officers, who were all like him, county police from the North District. He seldom interacted with them, but he knew the district's sergeant—Ellie Holly, who had been promoted after departmental restructuring and used to work under Cage.
Jimmy: "Sergeant Ellie, can you update me on the situation, and tell me what you need me to do?"
Ellie: "Street shooting. After a civilian called it in, we traced them here. That car over there is the one driven by the suspects. After it hit a telephone pole, they ran into this house."
As Ellie explained the situation, Jimmy glanced at a sedan by the roadside. The right front of the car was dented in, and the telephone pole was tilted, held up by the wires still connected above.
Ellie continued: "There are two people in the car who ran into the house ahead. It's confirmed there's a middle-aged woman and a child inside, now taken hostage by them. Both are armed with handguns, they've fired at us before, but no officers were injured. We're just surrounding the place for now; we can't storm in yet."
Jimmy: "What do you need me to do?"
Ellie: "We need to resolve this quickly. The base has already called the station. If we can't handle it, there will be trouble later. We absolutely can't let them get inside the base's security perimeter."
Jimmy: "How many guys are at the back? Is there an exit?"
Ellie: "Two guys at the back. There's a back door, but there are no high points around; we don't have an angle to shoot."