21. Josh
Jury stared at me, his eyes wide his expression the very definition of gobsmacked.
“Are they seriously arguing?” he asked me in a hushed whisper, pinching the bridge of his nose.
We had just made it around the back of the Blessing property saw the broken door, but stopped when we heard loud female shouting.
My pregnant wife was inside the shop being held hostage along her sister and mother, guns pointed at them, and here Jury and I could hear the ladies bickering about something that happened back when we were in high school.
The joys of loving a Blessing woman.
Shrugging I tried not to smirk, considering the serious nature of their predicament and my desire to get Claudia out of danger, this was predictable behaviour Jury was going to have to get used too.
Jury was in full detective mode, even with the bruise on his jaw from Jock’s clocking his demeanour was as stoic as ever, laser focused and ready to storm the building without any help.
Well fuck that.
I figured the chances of rescuing the girls without anyone getting caught in the crosshairs were better if Jury had an extra set of hands or two.
Turning around, I faced my father-in-law. Jock had calmed down and when he found out why Jury had to stay quiet and that I already knew as well. It took some convincing before we were satisfied Jock was done using his fists. But even stubborn old Jock Blessing saw that Jury’s hands were tied as were mine. Public safety sometimes meant making difficult decisions and Jury had to make the hardest one in his life, because now I knew he was blaming himself and there was nothing I could do to help him with that.
I had my own demons to deal with.
I promised Claudia nothing was going to happen to our baby this time, that she had nothing to worry about, she will carry full term and that she will hold our baby.
Not to mention the guilt I was carrying for not walking over to the shop when it was time to pick her up, instead I looked out of the workshop roller door and determined when I didn’t see her that she was hanging around to talk with her mum and sister or was finishing a task. Every now and then I had looked out the door to get sight of her but then I got emersed in a gearbox rebuild.
“Josh, you ok mate?” Jury asked me, standing in front of me his arms stretching out to me with a shotgun in his hands. Without blinking an eye, I reached for the weapon automatically checking the safety was off.
“Good to go,” I replied my voice steady and laced with danger. Just because the girls sounded like they weren’t hurt, that didn’t mean they weren’t scared out of their minds. If anything happened to my wife as a result of this ordeal, nothing or no one would be able to stop me from taking this gun and firing a bullet into each of the arseholes holding my family hostage.
Nodding at me, Jury handed a similar gun to Jock, his face stern. “Do not shoot anyone unless I say to, got it Jock?”
My father-in-law smiled the kind of smile that would raise the hairs on the back of your neck if you didn’t know him. Snapping the gun open to check the ammo was loaded properly for his liking, Jock nodded.
“I understand but if I see my girls are hurt then all bets are off,” he warned Jury menacingly. While I understood Jury’s position I wholeheartedly agreed with Jock.
God help those pricks if Claudia has even a fucking scratch on her perfect skin.
Just then the sound of a gun going off echoed ominously from the direction of the front of the shop followed closely by three panicked screams. Instantly my blood went cold, my lifeline and reason for living hanging in the balance.
Jury pushed passed me, his police issue handgun out of the holster, “Behind me, stay on my hip.” He ordered harshly, shouldering his way through the broken back door, me, and Jock a footstep behind him.
I could hear the Gisele shout something about paying for it, but homicidal rage engulfed me when I heard my wife crying.
“Hold on gorgeous,” I whispered, seeing Jamison tense for a split second, obviously from hearing his woman yelling. Holding up a hand, Jamison counted down using his fingers then when the last one went down, he spurred into action, exploding into the shop front with his gun drawn, Jock and doing the same.
“DROP YOUR WEAPONS!” Jury shouted in a voice that I’d never heard from him before, it was enough to make me think twice about getting on his bad side.
“Honey!” Gisele cried out happily.
“Joshy!” Claudia breathed her relief palpable, tears staining her beautiful face. But it was Georgina’s reaction that stunned me.
“My fucking ceiling has a hole in it Jock! I want these idiots hung up by their toes and bled like a dead pig!” she screeched, her hands waving around wildly finally coming to rest of her hips, steamed up like I never seen before not even when she found me climbing through Claudia’s bedroom window when we were seventeen.
I could see Jury hiding a smile, but when his eyes collided with Gisele the half smile turned into a full on scowl. Gisele had blood dripping down from a gash on the hair line near her temple, her face pale.
The two men looked part pissed off, part relieved, it took them all of two seconds after seeing Jury to drop their weapons and put the hands behind their heads.
“For the love of God, will you get us the fuck out of here.” One pleaded while the other one opened mouth had an expression that said it all.
The Blessing women strike again.
“You’re hurt Gisele,” Jury said his gun still pointed at the men.
“I’m fine honey, I knew you would rescue us,” she gushed. The whole scene was fucking surreal and laughable … if my wife had not been crying that is.
“You got this Jury?” I asked my gun still pointed at the masked men, but my arms were desperate to hold my woman.
“Yeah mate, Jock put the zip ties on them.” Jury ordered; his body vibrated with anger at seeing Gisele hurt.
Thinking sensibly, I took time to put the safety on the shotgun before dropping it the wooden counter then ran to Claudia.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I chanted picking Claudia up in my arms bridal style, my face going straight to my favourite place.
Buried in Claudia’s soft throat.
Her arms went around my neck, her body shaking with sobs, cutting my heart in half.
“It’s okay gorgeous I got you now,” I crooned soothing her and me. “Did they hurt you gorgeous? Is the baby —”
Claudia cut me off with her soft lips, pressing them to mine, her lips were trembling and cold, but it didn’t matter. Claudia was in my arms apart from the tears she didn’t visibly look hurt, but I was worried about the stress that may come later. Claudia dealt with stress the same way she did her mother and that scared me.
“The baby is fine honey, they weren’t rough with me, they were just mean and yelled and they swore at us too,” she told me, making me chuckle at her indignant tone. Finally, the intense beat of my heart started to calm, holding Claudia knowing she wasn’t injured, that the baby was okay, it didn’t abate my anger, no that I was holding onto until the two men were back in jail and maybe not even then. For hours, my wife was lost to me, for hours I didn’t have eyes on her. That was a lot for me to take in and accept.
In my peripheral vison I could see that Jock had the two men tied at their wrist, their arms behind their backs, the urge to hit them with the barrel of my gun so strong I had to turn away from them to resist the temptation.
“Get me out of here honey,” Claudia whispered brokenly, her fingers digging into the skin at the back of my neck.
Knowing that Jury was going to be busy for some time interviewing the hostage takers, waiting for other police officers to arrive with a transport, I hated to leave him to it, but right now all I wanted to do was get Claudia as far away from them as possible.
“Jury?”
Jury broke his contact with Gisele to give me a slight chin lift. In his eyes I saw his torment that he could not take Gisele home until his job was done. I could imagine how hard that was for him to deal with, by the look on his face he ached to take Gisele in his arms, I felt sorry for the poor bastard.
“I got her Jamison,” I said quietly.
“Thanks man,” Jury replied his voice strained, his eyes rivetted on Gisele.
Gently putting Claudia back on her feet, I pulled her to my side, then draped an arm around Gisele and gently guided her away, her eyes glued to Jamison her anguish palpable.
“Claudia will you please sit down,” I grumbled my temper boiling dangerously below the surface. Since we got back to our place, Gisele and Georgina came too while Jock stayed behind with Jury. Before leaving Jock, embraced both his wife and daughters but he was lucky to take Claudia from me for no more than a few minutes before I reclaimed my wife. Letting her go when we arrived home so she could see to Gisele’s injury had not been my first choice but that was the bond the sisters had, and I never stood in between that bond. Even though this time it was tempting.
I wanted Claudia all to myself, selfish as that was. However I knew I had to wait for that, but I could make my stubborn wife sit the hell down and rest.
Walking over to my wife, I took the gauze from her then gently pushed her down on the couch beside her sister.
“Stay!” I ordered her, ignoring her eye roll and the cute growl, but grateful that for once she wasn’t arguing with me.
Reaching for the sterile saline solution, I dampened the white cloth then dabbed it carefully against the wound on Gisele’s temple. Her hiss of pain went straight through me, she didn’t flinch or move, and her eyes remained trained on the entrance to the lounge room.
Waiting for Jamison.
Elle still had Miracle; she was chomping at the bit to see her sisters, but Georgina convinced her to wait at least until Gisele was cleaned up before being reunited with her daughter. Elle had not been happy voicing very loudly over the phone that she wasn’t going to wait for too long before storming over to see for herself that her sisters and mum were indeed fine.
“He will be here as soon as he can Gisele,” I said quietly but confidently. Jamison had a lot to deal with other than what happened at the grocery. The campers that were tied up in their car had to be interviewed and their welfare checked on. His job meant he couldn’t be with Gisele when he wanted to be and that made me pissed off on his behalf. No way was I going to leave that shop without my wife. Not a fucking chance.
“How much longer do you think?” Gisele asked but before I could answer the front door banged open and seconds later Jury stormed into the room. I had just enough time to shift out of the way before he shifted me himself. Not that I could blame him, no one could keep me from Claudia.
Getting up from my spot on the floor, I let Jamison and Gisele have a moment.
“Come on gorgeous,” I said to a teary Claudia, reaching for her hand to pull her to her feet. Not giving her time enough to get her footing, I swung her up into my arms and headed for the stairs.
Giving Georgina a pointed look, getting back a smile and a nod, I carried my wife towards our bedroom.
Georgina understood that I needed time with Claudia, her smile assuring me she would lock up when she left.