Chapter 84: Robbing the Gun Shop (Please Keep Reading)

After everyone had chatted and laughed together for a while, they truly slept soundly.

No one knew how long he had slept when Ao Xi was jolted awake by a burst of shouting. He stepped out of the lounge and saw Antrim arguing with Deputy Director Robin.

“I’ve worked for the county police in Los Angeles for so many years. Is this all I get for it?”

“Antrim, you know that isn’t what we mean. We just want you to go home and rest for a while. Once the public uproar dies down, we’ll let you come back to work.”

“Save it! What I did was by the book. There was nothing wrong with it. You think the pressure from public opinion is too great, so you suspend me. What if the pressure gets even worse after that? Will I still be able to come back?”

“We’ll do everything we can. You have to trust the department.”

“I don’t dare trust you!”

The quarrel was brief and swift. Before Ao Xi could even make sense of what had happened, Antrim slammed the door and stormed out of the police station with heavy strides.

Ao Xi found Wally and asked what was going on.

Wally sighed. “It was still that night when Green got into trouble. Do you remember? There was a black guy in the house shooting at us. After he surrendered, he refused to put on handcuffs, and Antrim gave him a baton strike.”

“I remember. What about it?”

“Someone in the crowd of onlookers filmed the whole thing on a phone. But what got posted online was an edited version—only the part where we arrested him and beat him. It stirred up a lot of noise online. The cybercrime unit picked it up and reported it to the chief.

“The department decided to suspend Antrim first, to try to calm things down.”

“Why is Antrim taking it so badly?”

“Because he’s afraid the department is making him a scapegoat.”

That... did make sense.

“So what can we do?”

Wally glanced at him. “What can lowly officers like us do? Nothing at all.”

Before Ao Xi could say anything else, Wally went on, “Mark and I want to go to the hospital to see Rick. Are you coming?”

“Of course. Is Rick allowed visitors already?”

“His mother says yes, but it’ll be a long time before he can leave the hospital.”

After Mark returned from a call, the three of them went together to visit Rick. On the way they bought some nutritional supplements as a token of their care.

When they arrived, Mark’s mother was wiping his face. Rick looked thoroughly unwilling, shaking his head from side to side to evade her hands.

Seeing that his colleagues had come, she smiled, said she would go for a walk, and gave them some privacy.

“Rick, how are you feeling?”

Rick sighed. “All right, except my mother is treating me like a child now, which is a little troubling.”

“Then hurry up and get better. That way you won’t need your mother to take care of you anymore.”

“I’d like that too.” Rick pouted.

“What did the doctor say?”

Rick’s expression visibly darkened. “The doctor said my life was saved, but the bullet did a lot of damage. Because of the injury to my lungs, I can’t do strenuous exercise. My leg is broken too. I’ll need either a wheelchair or crutches. After I’m discharged, I won’t be able to be a police officer anymore.”

The three of them looked at one another, not expecting Rick’s injuries to be so severe.

Wally pulled at the corners of his mouth. “What’s so great about being a cop anyway? Four days of twelve-hour shifts, three days of ten-hour shifts, not even a holiday. Every day you’re working under serious danger. If it weren’t for this job, you’d have found the girl you love long ago.”

Rick managed a strained smile. “Yeah. At least now I finally have enough time to do what I want. And the department’s finance office has already come to speak with me. They’ll be giving me the highest level of disability pension. From now on, I’ll have money. I can buy whatever I want...”

As he spoke, Rick suddenly rolled over and burst into tears with his face in the pillow.

The three of them exchanged looks, all feeling deeply miserable. In just a few days, everything had changed beyond recognition, like seas turning to mulberry fields, and there was nothing they could do.

When Rick’s mother returned, the three of them took their leave.

The two others went home, while Ao Xi returned to the police station. Zhuo Ning said she was going to the school to play with Tan Ying and the others, and would not be back that night.

So Ao Xi simply stayed at the station and slept a little longer.

When he opened his eyes, night had already fallen. It was just the right time to wake up and go back on duty.

He had barely changed clothes when a report came in: an armed robbery had taken place at a gun shop on East Badiro Street, and officers were being dispatched.

The few people still at the station got into their cars and sped off. When they arrived and looked from a distance, they saw an old pickup truck parked in front of the gun shop. A thick rope was tied to the tow hook and attached to the shop’s front door.

It was obvious they had used the car and rope to force open the gun shop’s reinforced door. The shop had not expected anyone to do something like that, but there was nothing to be done about it. After all, you could hardly build a gun shop to the standards of a bank vault.

Inside, lights flashed wildly. Clearly, the suspects were still there.

As the police cars drew closer, the people inside the shop realized the police had arrived. They rushed out at once, carrying more than a dozen guns and wearing belts full of ammunition, then broke into a run.

In the blink of an eye, six or seven black men burst out, ducked into the darkness, and vanished instantly.

The black man in the pickup hurriedly started the engine and tried to flee, but several others had already escaped. How could they let him get away too?

One police car swerved in front of the pickup, cutting off his route of escape. Two more blocked the road on either side, leaving him nowhere to run.

The black man panicked. He pulled out a pistol, leaned halfway out of the window, and opened fire on the police car blocking his way.

Ao Xi had no time to get out of the car. He decisively fell back into a reclined position and fired at the black man through the windshield. Two shots rang out, and the man was killed.

He quickly got out of the car and ran to hide behind the police car beside him. Only then did he have time to feel sorry for the fourth police car and its driver. It had been hit again. So tragic.

“People inside, listen up! We are the county police of Los Angeles. Put down your weapons and surrender with your hands up!”

Their answer was a burst of gunfire. Ao Xi hurriedly took cover, circling to the other end of the car. He quickly peeked out and saw several black men emerging from the gun shop, their bodies loaded with weapons. Using the stolen guns, they fired at the police while running.

Ao Xi immediately fired at the nearest black man, dropping him after several shots, then aimed at the next.

This black man had so much ammunition strapped to him that he looked as if he were wearing a bulletproof vest. The impact of the bullets made him stagger, but he somehow held on without falling. Then he slipped into the darkness and disappeared in an instant.

The other officers brought down two more. In total, only four black men were shot down, and that was the entire result.

Ao Xi walked over slowly and took a quick look. The gun shop was already empty. Inside was a scene of utter ruin, and all the glass in the display cases had been smashed.

Long guns, handguns, ammunition—the black men wanted it all. Much had been taken, and much had fallen to the floor. No one knew whether it had been damaged.

If the shop owner came and saw this scene, he would probably burst into tears on the spot.