The heavy doors of the old building swung shut behind them with a dull thud.
This was the Eastern District Precinct's stronghold, a fortress they had maintained for years, every inch steeped in their presence. The reinforced steel frames on the walls, the cold bulletproof steel plates over the windows, and the sandbags hastily piled in the corners now offered some measure of reassurance.
"Check your gear! Move!"
His voice echoed through the ground-floor lobby, and the officers immediately sprang into action. The clack of charging handles and the clicks of magazines locking into place rang out one after another. Li Jie checked everything from front to back, his gaze sweeping the lobby. He spotted Wilson grinning as he lovingly stroked a PKM light machine gun mounted behind a makeshift barricade at a window, several long ammunition belts scattered beside it.
"Hey! Sheriff!"
Dren and Rongke came panting into the lobby from the service corridor, carrying a heavy wooden crate between them. "This is the last crate. The underground garage has been sealed."
He wiped his hands on his filthy work clothes. "Sheriff, can we fight too?"
"You two?"
"Yeah. You know the Modification Workshop isn't far from the Police Shooting Range. We go there to practice all the time." Dren raised his eyebrows proudly. "Actually... we're both pretty good shots. We just never got the chance to play with machine guns before."
"That's not the same thing..."
Li Jie exhaled. Good marksmanship mattered, of course, but keeping yourself alive mattered more. "Then... have either of you ever killed anyone? On a battlefield, I mean."
The two exchanged a look and shook their heads together.
"All right." Li Jie pointed toward the back. "Find yourselves some weapons, then stay under cover."
Fortunately, their most farsighted move had already been made.