"Relax, relax." Bishop glanced at Jack, who stood beside him with a half-smile on his face but remained silent, with some fear, and consciously changed the subject.
"I want to confirm one more thing, that is, why did you protect me? I thought you would just throw me out and then try to negotiate with Duval, begging them to let you go.
I believe that if that old man was the one calling the shots here, I would definitely be a corpse now."
"I'm the chief of this police station. Of course I'm responsible for everyone here. This is my job." Ronick raised his eyebrows at him and replied without hesitation.
"That sounds really noble," Bishop sighed, then looked at Jack. "What about you, the mysterious federal agent?"
"This is Sheriff Roenicke's territory. My opinion doesn't matter."
Jack smiled at the guy, already guessing what he meant. It was nothing more than a deal. If Roenicke or Jack promised to spare his life afterward, he would work together with everyone in the police station to overcome this difficult situation.
If they didn't agree, then don't expect him to fight to the end with everyone else; he would slip away if he had the chance.
As expected, Bishop continued, "But I'm not like you. Otherwise, I wouldn't be alive today. If someone were in danger in front of me, especially a police officer, I would simply stand by and watch.
If I were asked to risk my life to save them, it would only happen if the outcome was favorable to me. That's just the way I am."
Ronnick scoffed and was about to say something, but Jack spoke first. "Then we'll have to wait and see. I've said before, I'm not here for you. You're not my responsibility."
Jack's response gave them both different expressions. Bishop raised an eyebrow, as if they had reached some kind of tacit understanding. Ronnick seemed about to retort, but in the end, he said nothing.
Just then, the clatter of high heels could be heard from outside, followed by Alice's panicked cry, "Sheriff! Jack, where are you? There's someone outside."
Ronnick pushed open the door to the storage room. "Who is it?"
"I don't know. It's an SUV. It's too far away to see clearly. I saw it from the west window." Alice hurriedly pointed them in the direction.
"You and your men hold this place and the hallway," Ronik said to Bishop, hurrying toward the front door.
John and the old police officer, who were guarding the front hall, were cautiously leaning against the wall, peeking out through the blinds. Jack, upon entering, reminded them, "Put out the candles!"
Alex quickly blew out the few candles in the hallway, while Alice led the two of them to another window.
The snowstorm had weakened somewhat since its heaviest point at night. Led by the streetlights, they could barely see that the DPD police car on the west side of the main road had stopped an SUV of unclear make and model.
"Oh my God, that's Capra, Sheriff," Alice squinted as she tried to identify it, then covered her mouth with her hands and let out a low exclamation. "That's his old Ford."
"Do you know him?" Jack asked, pulling out his SIG Sauer.
It wasn't Alice who answered him, but Ronnick. "He's from our station. He's supposed to be off today. Damn it, they'll kill him."
"Then give him a heads-up." Jack pushed the two men aside and was about to fire a warning shot out the window.
"Stop! You'll get him killed! They might even trick him into leaving." Seeing the man in the car leaning out to chatter with the black cop, Ronnick quickly put a hand on Jack's arm.
However, things clearly weren't going the way the sheriff had hoped. The black cop, who had stopped the car, got back into his squad car and out of the way. But before the Ford SUV had even moved far, he set up his rifle and began firing.
As the sniper on the rooftop of the opposite building joined in the fire, the SUV, splattered with sparks, swayed and slid along the snow-covered road as it passed the front door of the police station.
"Damn it, we have to help him." Ronik raised and lowered his rifle. He had no angle to fire from here, nor was he confident enough to engage the sniper.
Everyone shifted from the west window to the east, watching helplessly as the SUV drove across the main road in front of the police station, made a difficult turn, and scurried into the parking lot behind it.
Ronik tossed his AR-15 to Alice and turned toward the back door. "I'll go help him."
"What?" Alice froze in her tracks, bewildered.
"Wait, you two follow me, the rest of you hold your ground." Jack, knowing what Ronik was planning, immediately led Alice and Alex to the stairs.
"Tell the sheriff I'll cover him and let him find the right moment." He gestured for Alice to wait at the stairs, then hurried upstairs with Alex in tow.
The second floor of the police station was only one-third the size of the ground floor. The entire "匚"-shaped structure consisted of only the center, with the north and south ends consisting of single-story annexes.
Jack found an east-facing office on the second floor and noticed the sniper who had been blocking him was still hiding in the old, running car outside the chain-link fence. A wave of relief washed over him.
He wasn't just armed with his two small pistols anymore
. At a distance of over a hundred meters, his AR-15 might be able to put up a good fight. Moreover, the enemy was visible, while he was invisible, giving him the advantage. In the parking lot ahead of him, a Ford SUV had lurched headfirst into a pile of snow, but the driver was clearly still alive, or at least struggling.
"Tell the sheriff I'm in position," Jack said to Alex, who stood at the office door, looking at him with a worried look.
"Okay," Alex agreed, regaining her composure, and ran for the stairs. Soon, Jack could clearly hear the stomping of Alice's boots running downstairs. With the radio blocked, he had to resort to this primitive relay method.
Soon, the rear door of the police station opened again. Ronnick, crouching, sprinted toward the SUV, about twenty or thirty meters away. Jack had already secretly cracked the window a crack.
Luckily, no one seemed to be paying attention to his position. Frankly, Jack was beginning to admire the young sheriff. Although he seemed unreliable at first, even lacking any authority, he was truly decisive when it mattered.
A more timid person would have simply stood at the door and waved at the people inside.
"Bang!" A subtle gunshot rang out in the distance. The bullet shattered the SUV's windshield, spraying Ronnick with broken glass as he pulled the door open and dragged the person down.
This time, the sniper had learned his lesson. Upon realizing the situation was amiss, he immediately emerged from his hiding car, found a better angle on a pile of snow, and began firing.
Unbeknownst to him, his every move was now visible through Jack's scope.
Unlike what is shown in some shooting games, the red dot scope in reality does not have magnification, but fortunately, the snowstorm has begun to weaken, and there are still a few street lamps emitting dim light around the parking lot.
Before the sniper could fire a second shot, Jack pulled the trigger. He used the single-shot mode, but he pulled the trigger three times in succession.
The sniper's equipment was different from those of the black police responsible for the breakthrough. He was wearing a white snow suit. Jack was not sure whether he had a bulletproof vest, so he aimed at the opponent's head.
The distance was too far and the snow interfered with the shooting effect, but a living person would not bury himself face down in the snow. As soon as Jack retracted his head, a bullet was fired, hitting the window frame and sending wood chips flying.
Then, gunshots rang out one after another in the distance. Bullets rushed into the window and shattered the entire glass window.
(End of this chapter)