CHAPTER 14 #3
“STAY IN THE CAR!” he yelled loud enough for me to hear over the ringing in my ears and the thundering booms of shots around me.
I nodded shakily and Callan turned back to his side of the car and started shooting again.
I rose up onto my knees to try and do the same without leaning out of the car this time, but my hands were shaking so hard I could barely grip the gun properly.
I shot a bunch of times from the window when I saw some movement from behind the car parked off to the right side, but I ran out of bullets, the empty clicking of the gun in my hand the indicator.
“I n-need bullets!” I called, not even sure if Callan could hear me over the deafening roar going on all around us.
When he didn’t turn to face me I laid down across the seats and tried to find the compartment he’d slid out earlier, knowing the ammo was in there, but I couldn’t even feel a compartment there.
It was obviously well hidden. I started to panic that one of those balaclava-covered men would get to my door if I weren’t shooting from it and turned to check if anyone stood there, or were getting close.
“Cal, stop!” Dante yelled. Callan stopped firing and I sat up and looked at him too. “Back-up’s here. I don’t want you hitting one of our men. They’ll handle the scum that’s left out there now,” he explained.
Multiple shots rang out around us, then everything went quiet, or at least it sounded it over the ringing of my ears.
I sat in the back seat just staring ahead, trying to calm the adrenaline that was coursing through me harder than it ever had before.
I was shaking so hard it made my bruised ribs throb and my teeth chatter.
“It’s over, Cara. It’s all over now,” Callan panted as he scooted closer to me on the seat and laid his hand over my knee.
“I’m alright,” I told him as I forced myself to meet his eyes. “I’m okay.”
“Is she hurt? Are you?” Dante asked as he turned in the front seat to look at us both.
“No,” Callan replied as he seemed to look me and himself over. “No blood anyway. Are you?”
“I’ll live. Stay in the car until we get the all-clear.”
“C-Can you even carry guns…i-in the UK, I mean? I…I didn’t think you can have guns here, right?” I started to babble as my eyes landed on the gun I had been firing. It laid on the seat at my side, amongst the millions of beads of smashed glass.
“Hey, we’re all clear, Dante. You whole, man?” Arran’s voice yelled, then I could see him approaching the car. He was dressed in black jeans and a grey wool coat. His hair was pulled up into a knot at the back of his head, and he had a gun held in his hand, hanging loosely at his side.
“Just a graze. Get Cal and Cara out. I think they’re okay, but you need to check them over,” Dante ordered.
“A graze?” I whispered as I rolled the word around in my head. It was like I couldn’t think straight though.
“He’s alright, Cara. We have a doctor who can patch him up when we get back.”
“Dante got grazed….b-by a bullet?”
“Yeah. He’s gonna be fine though. No need to worry,” Callan told me as he leaned in closer and looked me over more closely. “You sure you’re okay?”
“She’s in shock,” Dante spoke up.
“Shock? No,” I shook my head. “I’m n-not. I’m good.”
The passenger door at my side was ripped open and I jolted hard as I looked to it with alarm.
“Just me, lass. It’s safe now. Ye both alright?” Arran asked as he leaned in and looked between me and Callan.
“Glad you taught me to shoot a bloody gun,” Callan laughed flatly.
“Aye. I wish ye didnae need to know, but this just proves we were right to train ya.”
“I agree,” Callan nodded. “Though I think Cara was a better shot than I was. Maybe you should train her.”
“Ye know how to shoot?” Arran asked with surprise.
“Hilt taught me,” I shrugged.
“The armed robber?” he questioned, and I nodded. “Of course he did.”
“Let’s move. We need to get home and rethink our security. Whoever wants Cara just upped their game, big time,” Dante said.
“Can ye walk, Cara?” Arran asked.
“Yeah,” I started to shuffle across the glass covered seat until I got to the door. Arran held out his hand and I placed my shaky one in it, grateful for the help.
Once he helped me down from the back of the car he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into his side. I found myself leaning heavily into him, even though I knew I shouldn’t. Not when I barely knew him.
When we rounded the shot up car we’d been inside of, Callan met us and he wrapped himself around my other side, holding me too.
I didn’t say a word. I just allowed them to be there, because I needed them to be.
I had no idea why, when I knew not the first damned thing about them, but I felt safe with them.
“Rafe’s meetin’ us back at the house. He wanted to come here, but I didnae think it wise. Lord help whoever set this up. Yer brother’s gonna rip ‘em limb from limb,” Arran said.
I saw more men spread throughout the space around us as we walked towards some cars parked a short distance away.
Obviously, they were Rafe’s men, and there to protect us, but they made me feel uneasy, especially since they seemed to be predominantly dressed in black too, and were clearly armed.
Bodies were laid out on the ground around the car we had exited, pools of blood surrounding them, and I forced myself not to look, because with every body I saw, I also got a flashback of my Mum’s remains laid in a lake of blood, in pieces.
I was reassured of the knowledge that those men were there to protect us though, when a car came careening up the road and right towards us/ Instantly, all of the men moved to form a semi-circle around us, blocking us from whoever got out of the fast approaching car.
Arran tensed at my side and I saw him start to raise the gun he held in his hand, but then he sighed and lowered it again almost instantly.
“Relax lads. It’s Dario,” he called out, and all of the men around us seemed to just disappear and return to where they had been before.
We were almost to one of the three black Range Rovers, which we seemed to be heading for, when Dio parked beside them and leapt out of his car.
“What the fuck?” he snapped as he looked around, then to me. His eyes were lasered on mine and he didn’t look away as he stalked closer.
“Is anyone hurt?” Dio asked as he finally looked away from me and up to Arran.
“Dante got grazed, but it’s nothin’ serious. I was just gonna get the three of them home. I think Cal and Cara are both a wee bit in shock,” Arran explained.
“Rafe’s waiting at home for you, Piccola,” Dio said. He cupped my right cheek in his hand and lifted my face until I was looking up at him. “You’re sure you’re not hurt?”
“I’m s-sure.”
“You’re shaking so hard,” he uttered as he stepped even closer and placed his other hand on my hip.
“I’m okay,” I assured him shakily, as I became ensnared by the intensity of his stare.
He stood so close I could feel the fabric of his suit touching my skin, and smell what I was sure was his aftershave.
It was something fresh and citrusy. It was a nice reprieve from the smell of my mother’s blood that seemed to have been clinging to me since I saw those bodies, and the flashbacks started.
“I thought you…that you were on a flight this afternoon?” I asked, as I recalled saying goodbye to him earlier.
“I was. I was on my way to the airfield when Arran called me, but after this the plans have changed. Rafe wants me close until this threat is handled. I’ve sent another of our guys to Chicago to investigate, and he’ll let me know if he finds anything.”
“I’m sorry you had to do that,” I told him, feeling guilty. All of this trouble was because of me and I knew it. It was because someone wanted to get their hands on me for some reason I didn’t understand, and it was causing chaos for Rafe, Dio, and the family.
“Don’t. You have nothing to be sorry for. None of this is your fault. I don’t know what’s going on, but I will find out. We won’t let this happen again,” he told me firmly, and I was sure he believed it, but he had no way to guarantee it.
“You didn’t let it happen this time, Dio. It j-just happened,” I told him tiredly.
“It will not happen again,” he said even more firmly. He leaned in and gently kissed my cheek, then pulled back, taking his gentle touch with him, and I instantly wanted it back.
“Get them home and make sure Dante gets patched up. I’ll handle this and meet you at the house later,” Dio said, then he walked past us and over to where Dante was chatting to another guy not far from us.
“How exactly do you handle this?” I asked as the thought occurred to me.
“We’ve a team of men who’ll clean up the scene and get rid o’ the cars and bodies before the police become involved,” Arran answered honestly.
“Do you know who they were? Who sent them?” I asked as I glanced behind me to the bodies once more.
“No’ yet, but Dario will try to find out.”
“Come on, gorgeous. Don’t look back there again. Let’s just get home before Rafe loses it and comes out here himself,” Callan said, and I nodded. It wasn’t doing my already addled mind much good being around death, blood, and bodies. I needed to get out of there.
“Dante needs to come with us. He needs a doctor,” I worried as I turned to look for the big guy.
“He’s comin’ now. I’ll make sure he gets taken care of. Dinnae worry,” Arran assured me. Once again he and Callan held me between them and I found myself feeling safer there with them, despite the madness that had just occurred.