Although the SWAT search was slow, it absolutely did not miss any corner it passed through. The officer at the front held his shield up to the door while the second officer in line tested the handle. Finding it locked, he lifted his foot and kicked the door open. All SWAT members are trained, and even Jimmy had learned this technique during training. He used to need a few tries to kick a door down, but now he could usually do it in one kick, two at most for a wooden door.
The door opened, and the second officer returned behind the shield. Almost simultaneously, a gunman inside began firing at the doorway. The officers behind began to retreat, with the officer at the door returning fire while also pulling back.
In such a situation, there was no need for a forced entry. Since the presence of the gunman inside had been confirmed, it was time for the Shock Bomb to be deployed.
With the exception of the officer wielding the shield, who continued to guard the entrance, the other team members had already moved back. The officer with the rifle quickly swapped hands, pulled the pin from a Shock Bomb, and tossed it obliquely into the office. In such a confined space, the disorienting effects of the Shock Bomb were intensified, and the gunman inside fired wildly without a target until his bullets were spent.
The rest was simple. Several SWAT members fired into the room from the doorway, and upon confirming that the hits had incapacitated the gunman and he could no longer resist, they began to enter in a protective formation. Kicking away the handgun, they then handcuffed the suspect before proceeding with emergency medical procedures.
When the waiting medical personnel entered and confirmed the gunman no longer showed signs of life, LRPD took over, and both SWAT and Jimmy withdrew.
Jimmy had just gone through the motions, doing nothing significant; however, after numerous collaborations with SWAT, they had developed a solid understanding. There were no incidents of bumping into each other like on their first operation together.
Thanks to the training received from SWAT, Jimmy filled the gap that he had missed from not attending the police academy, where officers are trained in armed searches and team tactics. Lacking this experience, Jimmy had previously relied almost entirely on instinct to coordinate with others during operations.
Actually, this was very dangerous. If Jimmy entered another officer's line of fire, the likelihood of injury increased significantly, and others might cease firing due to his interference. Without suppressive fire, even other officers could have been injured.
The scenario during Jimmy's cooperation with DEA was the most telling. If the DEA agent hadn't stopped firing just as Jimmy rushed to the doorway, he would have certainly been hit by the bullets that followed. Back then, he was reckless, relying only on his innate talent, acting freely and whimsically in the game, inconsiderate of others' feelings.
The Jimmy of now seemed more like a regular police officer, albeit with exceptional abilities.
After returning, Jimmy didn't continue to practice shooting at the range; instead, he went straight back to the police station. Recently, everything had been going smoothly, except for the two paintings Roland had sent him, which still had no leads.
Jimmy had examined those two paintings repeatedly. The figures' clothes were indeterminable in the paintings, only revealing what appeared to be long trench coats. The faces weren't clearly depicted either, with hair showing, but not excessively long; there were no flowing mid-length hairstyles in the paintings at least.
The hair in the paintings was different from both Jimmy's and Roland's. Since becoming a police officer, Jimmy's hair had been just slightly longer than a buzz cut, as county police often wore cowboy hats, and long hair would leave an impression. Roland, on the other hand, sported hair that was hardly more than a buzz cut, and if it were in a painting, it would be hard to distinguish from being bald.
As for the gun in the painting, judging by the shape, the area from the muzzle to the cylinder was noticeably flared. This was likely Roland's Remington 1875, the same pistol Roland had used last time Jimmy visited. Over the past year, Jimmy had been using a Smith & Wesson M686-1, which had a very different appearance.
Suddenly, Jimmy thought of someone—Chambers. Chambers hadn't been present during Jimmy's last visit to Roland, and Jimmy had no idea what Chambers looked like. Could these two paintings be of Chambers? Did Chambers get ahold of Roland's gun?
With so little information, Jimmy couldn't deduce any further. It seemed that if he had the chance, he'd need to communicate with Roland again.
After receiving notification from the dispatch center, Jimmy stowed the paintings back in the drawer, gathered his gear, and headed to the northern part of Plaskey County, Mei Ken. This case was trickier than a standard traffic stop, public order case, or shooting incident—it was a missing person case.
Mei Ken was enveloped by forests, and many homes were built on the edge of the woods. The person who reported the incident wasn't on site but asked the police to check the home after failing to contact their family member.
Officers from the North District precinct arrived at the reported address and found the front door open, with some bloodstains on the living room floor, but no one inside the house. They contacted the dispatch center for personnel support and K9 assistance.
Jimmy arrived at the scene about 40 minutes later. It was quite a distance, as Plaskey County is vast, both North District and South District had large areas under their jurisdiction, but the number of officers had not increased much. When support was needed, they would usually contact the nearest town police or directly request additional personnel from headquarters.
By the time Jimmy arrived, the K9 unit was already there and had begun searching around the house following the bloodstains.
Jimmy caught up with the officers on-site to understand the situation. The missing person was a white man in his 50s who lived alone. His son, who was studying out of town, reported him missing after failing to reach his father.
The house was built next to the forest, and only the living room seemed to be disturbed—other rooms appeared untouched. Outside the house, there was a pickup truck with no bloodstains on it.
Considering the scene, officers speculated that an armed struggle likely occurred there. The bloodstains on the floor didn't resemble the spatter from a shooting but looked more like they were flung onto the ground.
Jimmy had not received any training in bloodstain pattern analysis and couldn't make a judgment. The search now depended on the K9. The K9 officers alerted the team; several county police began following the K9 into the forest.
The K9's nose was indeed keen. With various scents converging in the forest, tracking the smell of blood and doing so accurately was something only a K9 could manage.
Not far into the forest, Jimmy and the team found a partial bloody handprint on a tree trunk, with a single drop of blood beneath it on the ground.
Continuing the search, after traveling several dozen meters, the K9 suddenly veered off and began barking furiously at a large tree.
Jimmy and the others circled the tree without finding anything unusual on the ground. They looked up, and a young officer began to climb the tree, discovering a blood-stained dagger on a branch. Wearing gloves, he placed the dagger into an evidence bag and brought it down.
The K9 pressed on, and the officers followed in the forest, winding around until they suddenly emerged back behind the house where the incident took place.