Page 54 of In My Blood
“Don’t pull your punches, do you, big guy?” I asked through my tight throat.
“What would be the use in that?” Dante returned, but he never dropped his glare from the cars in front of us.
“Usually I’d agree. I’m all for honesty, but right now I could have done with a little less of it.”
“They’re not getting their hands on you. I’d never let that happen,” he added confidently. It didn’t help me feel safer, but it was nice he felt that passionately about keeping me safe.
“I agree,” Cal spoke up. “It’s not happening.”
Before I could find any words to plead with them not to get hurt on my behalf, I heard car doors. I lifted my head enough to look out the front of our car, and saw men getting out of the others, all of them armed and dressed in black, head to toe, including balaclavas covering their faces. The sight of them made my heart skip several beats, then start to race even faster to the point I felt light headed.
“Oh shit!” I gasped as I tried not to lose it.
“Here we go,” Dante said.
In total, eight balaclava covered men stepped from the three cars and surrounded the front of the Range Rover we were in.
“GET DOWN!” Dante roared. I saw the eight guys raise their guns towards the car, and Dante drop to the side so he wasbehind the dashboard, then the shooting started. I shrieked in fear as I threw my head forwards and covered my ears as best I could with the gun in my right hand. The sound was deafening and I could feel glass shattering and landing in tiny pieces over my back.
Shots started to ring out even louder and I realised Dante was firing them. I lifted my head and saw two of the men at the front of the car drop to the ground hard. A shot to my left had me turning to Callan just as he fired through his smashed side window at a figure stalking towards the back of the car.
I looked to the window beside me and didn’t see anyone close to it, so I sat up more and leaned out slightly. I could hear Dante yelling, but it was just a background noise over the buzzing in my ears. Most of the men who had stepped out of the SUVs were aiming for Dante, obviously thinking they just needed to take him out to get to me, so I started shooting at anyone who looked to be aiming his way. I tried hard to breathe the way Hilton had taught me as I squeezed the trigger, but I was way too panicked and high on adrenaline for that. I shot three times, and was just lining up a fourth shot, no idea if my bullets were hitting anyone or anything, when firm hands grabbed my hips and ripped me back inside the car.
I turned to lash out, sure one of them had gotten inside to grab me, but stopped myself in time when Callan’s face came into focus.
“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.
