Page 27 of A Captive Situation

Suddenly, Jake stiffened.

His eyes snapped to the rearview mirror, and as soon as he did, he exploded into action. “Down!” He wrapped his arms over me, throwing himself on top of me. At the same time, he twisted around, his arm rising.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

The window shattered.

I screamed as the glass fell over us, but Jake was still shielding me.

Someone or something was going past the window, and fast.

Jake jerked upright, aimed, and he shot.

It happened so quickly. A few seconds.

Then he was gone, out the door, and running after something or someone.

I sat upright, my heart in my throat. A part of me didn’t want to run after him. I didn’t want to see further violence happening in front of me, but that was just a brief thought. The next thought, that came immediately after, was to get out and help.

I hurried out of the truck, choosing to go through his already opened door. Once I stepped down, my knees gave way. I clung to the door, keeping myself upright, but I was transfixed by what I was seeing happening a few yards in front of me.

Jake was wrestling with another man. They were both in dark clothing. The other man was wearing a ski mask, and he had more bulk on him, looking like he outweighed Jake by twenty pounds. Not that it seemed to matter. Jake kicked out the guy’s knee, and when he would’ve screamed, Jake shoved his gun in the guy’s mouth.

And—bang!

I stumbled backward.

My hand let go of the door handle in shock.

He—killed him. Just like that.

I mean, of course like that.

That guy shot at us first. It made sense Jake would shoot him, but in the mouth ...

I think I was in shock.

I drew in a breath, wanting to cry. Wanting to scream. I didn’t, though. The pop sounds from the other guy’s gun. They’d been like soft pops. My vast knowledge accumulated from movies told me that he had used a silencer.

I groaned, my knees buckling, and this time I couldn’t hold myself up.

I slid to the ground. My legs splayed out underneath me.

Who would shoot at us with a silencer?

Two men. Two men just shot at us.

I ... I was trying to have that make sense, but no plausible explanation was coming to me.

Jake knelt down over the guy and looked around. Who was he looking for? His gaze skimmed over me, hardening for a second, before continuing his scan.

There was no one else on the street.

Was that odd? I didn’t know. It’d been late when we left the diner. I had no clue what time it was.

Jake rolled him over and pulled off the ski mask.

Then he cursed. It was a fierce whisper, but I heard it and he looked back at me. His eyes were stark.

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