Ray glanced at Jimmy, "Did you spot the hostages? How many people?"

Jimmy, "Three robbers, two hostages, seems to be a middle-aged couple. Couldn't get a clear look at the woman."

Ray nodded and walked over to the sergeant to communicate.

Jimmy looked at the house, figuring there was little chance of a fight breaking out anytime soon. He turned and walked toward the car the robbers had abandoned, took a pair of gloves from a police officer nearby, and began to inspect the car. He opened the door—nothing inside. Then he opened the trunk, where three large black travel bags lay.

He unzipped one of the bags, revealing stacks of cash. After zipping it back up and closing the trunk, Jimmy walked over to Ray, "Ray, there's the robbery cash in the car's trunk. Should we handle it now, or wait until the robbers are caught and deal with it all together?"

Ray also came over; they had arrived a little late, and when the robbers had run into the house from the car they hadn't checked to see if the robbers brought anything with them besides weapons. It seemed the robbers were in a rush and hadn't taken the money inside with them.

That was good, it saved the hassle of tracing the funds later, but the only problem was whether the three bags here were all there was.

"Bang," "Bang," shots rang out from inside the house as the robbers fired outside. At the sound of the gunfire, the police officers outside hid behind their respective covers, "The police out there, listen up, we want to negotiate with your boss. Send someone over right now, we've got hostages."

The surrounded robbers seemed to be on the verge of breaking down, and astonishingly, they asked for negotiations before the police even sent a negotiator. Ray peeked out from behind the car to look toward the sergeant, but it appeared no one was willing to step forward. Ray checked his watch; the Special Police Team would be more than ten minutes away. It looked like he was the only one who could negotiate with the robbers at the moment.

Jimmy looked at Ray, who propped his M16 against the car and adjusted his bullet-proof vest, "I'm FBI Special Agent Ray Hope; don't shoot, I'm coming over."

Jimmy reached out to stop Ray, "Ray, is that necessary? We could just storm in soon."

Ray, "The robbers are getting impatient, we have to stabilize them first, try to buy time."

Ray raised his hands above the car to signal he was unarmed, then walked around the side of the car and up to the front door. He stood at the side of the door, not directly facing it. "What do you want to talk about?"

Ray was at the door of the house, a distance from Jimmy and the others; their voices weren't yelled out, so Jimmy couldn't hear the content of the conversation. He just saw Ray shaking his head after saying a few words, as though the negotiation wasn't going smoothly.

Jimmy picked up Ray's M16. It didn't have a scope mounted, and from the position of the car, he aimed at the house's window. The angle wasn't great—the robbers inside were visible, but there was no proper line of fire.

Jimmy abandoned the rifle, taking his revolver with him as he approached from the side to reach the corner of the house. From there, he only needed to move slightly to have a clear shot, and he could hit at least two of the three robbers. Now, he was just waiting to see the results of Ray's communication.

Jimmy hadn't heard the earlier conversation, but after hearing the response from inside, Ray said, "It's impossible, forget about escaping, that won't happen. Your only chance to live is to surrender voluntarily. Robbery and taking hostages are completely different from murder. This is Texas, you have to be clear about that—there's the death penalty here."

The robber's voice got much louder, "Give us a car, we'll leave with the hostages and then release them. If you don't agree to my terms, I'll show you I mean business."

Ray, "That's impossible, if you insist on this, then when the Special Police Team arrives, that'll be when we storm in."

The robber, "Don't waste time, tell me your answer now."

Ray, "It's not possible. Even if someone else comes in to negotiate, the outcome will be the same."

Suddenly, the robber raised his gun and fired at a hostage, "Bang." Jimmy saw the hostage suddenly grab at one leg and began to scream loudly.

Ray, "What have you done? Don't shoot!"

The robber said to Ray, "Meet my demands now; get the car ready, now."

Ray, "I need to go back and make a contact, please don't harm the hostages anymore."

Ray retreated, hiding behind the wall as Jimmy suddenly shouted, "Get down!" He moved to the side and raised his gun toward the window, but it was a bit late. The robber had already raised his gun toward where Ray was, firing through the wall.

"Tat-tat-tat," the rifle easily penetrated the hollow brick walls. Jimmy hadn't gotten into position when Ray was hit. He didn't stop to check on Ray's condition but immediately started firing from the previously determined angle. As his concentration focused, a white line indicating the line of fire appeared in Heart Eye. Without hesitation, Jimmy fired at the two visible men, emptying his cylinder and crouched down to avoid being seen from the window, starting to reload.

The two robbers in the room targeted by Jimmy unsurprisingly fell down. The last one, hiding by another window, saw what was happening and moved over to Jimmy's side, firing near the window. Although he didn't see Jimmy, suppressing fire at the window was still possible.

The robber must have been trained. He didn't continuously pull the trigger but used short bursts of fire. Jimmy was also worried about being shot through the wall, so after reloading, he immediately laid down on the grass outside the window, crawling forward a couple of steps before getting up. The robber stopped firing after a few shots, as if to observe. He pressed against the wall by the window, inching his head out to check the outside. With the curtains not entirely covering the window, he could see most of the outside area—only, he didn't know there was a man outside with "wallhack" already aiming a revolver by the window, waiting for him to peek out.

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