There were a total of 7 large warehouses, each several meters tall and about twenty to thirty meters wide, all built with thick brick and stone structures. Jimmy moved faster and eventually spotted a human figure in a warehouse by the riverbank.
Starting from the back of the warehouse, Jimmy approached to observe. There were 5 people near the inside of the warehouse. As Jimmy crept along the wall, he spotted 2 people guarding the main gate at the front and 2 others visible in different parts. Unless there were any blind spots caused by the distance, there were a total of 9 people inside the warehouse.
Jimmy tiptoed back to the rear of the warehouse, made a call to Jones, then hung up, which was the agreed-upon signal for the two of them to meet back at the entrance to the warehouse area.
As Jimmy was about to return, a sudden sound of metal hitting the ground came from the front of the warehouse, followed by Jimmy seeing the people inside the warehouse starting to stand up, with someone opening the warehouse door and walking outside.
"Who's there! Come out!" "Go check it out."
The noise had been made by Jones, who, although not having Jimmy's deceptive skills, was still a senior detective familiar with reconnaissance and was thus not slow, having just arrived at the front of this warehouse.
As he turned around, he accidentally knocked over a piece of metal, making a loud noise. With the people inside the warehouse coming out with pistols to search for him, he had to take the initiative.
"FBI! Drop your weapons."
The presence of the FBI did not scare the two individuals. Jones, still hiding behind a barrier, heard their pistols fire, shooting in the direction of his voice.
Jones was pinned down, unable to return fire. He drew his pistol but was completely unable to retaliate. When one of the men stopped firing to reload, Jones fired two shots in their direction and then ducked back behind the barrier.
The gunfire stirred the people inside the warehouse. In Jimmy's view, several people, all armed, ran towards the front door of the warehouse.
Jimmy couldn't just abandon Jones, who was being attacked by several people from the front door and would not fare well. It was time for a rescue.
He moved from the back to the side of the warehouse, where several human figures were very clear in his sight, but without a direct view, Jimmy had to keep moving towards the front of the warehouse.
"FBI, drop your weapons, you are surrounded."
Jimmy shouted from behind them; they immediately turned and fired at the wall corner where Jimmy was located. Fortunately, the old warehouse had solid walls, not partition ones, keeping Jimmy temporarily safe behind the corner.
The sound of gunfire, "da-da-da", continued relentlessly. These experienced individuals didn't all fire at once; some provided covering fire while others paused, occasionally calling out "changing magazine", as others continued to suppress Jimmy's corner, while Jones was similarly restrained.
As the gangsters didn't know the exact number of people with Jimmy and Jones, they didn't rashly charge towards Jimmy's corner but instead suppressed while retreating towards the other corner of the warehouse.
Jimmy could wait no longer. If they all left the main entrance, Jimmy would have no angle to shoot from.
Seizing a gap in their firing, Jimmy swiftly extended his arm from the corner and fired two shots, then retreated. Fortunately, although he wasn't aiming directly, he hit one of them, but it looked like a non-fatal wound. The hit man, clutching his waist but still firing at Jimmy's corner, continued to retreat.
Jimmy shouted, "Fire back!"
Luckily, Jones had served in the army before. The brief relief from Jimmy's gunfire allowed Jones to lift his spirits. Hearing Jimmy's shout, Jones promptly raised his pistol and emptied his magazine at the crowd, not checking the results, and immediately ducked back behind the barrier to reload.
While Jones was firing, Jimmy also peeked from the corner, releasing his remaining four bullets, then returned to the corner to switch from his revolver to his Glock.
The carefully aimed four shots paid off, resulting in two individuals writhing on the ground, apparently hit. The gunmen weren't wearing bullet-proof vests, which meant no protection against the .357 Magnum; the bullets penetrated them completely.
Two individuals put down their guns and bent to drag the ones on the ground; Jimmy didn't waste the opportunity and leaned out from the corner to empty his magazine. This time the yield wasn't large; aside from the two bending individuals Jimmy targeted, the rest had already taken cover behind the corner.
This marked the end of the first stage of the battle; five gunmen were down, one by Jones and four by Jimmy, while four others had moved to the other side of the warehouse behind the corner. Although the five who were down weren't all dead, they still had the capability to fight back, thus Jimmy and Jones stayed behind their cover.