Page 49 of Beyond Rosy Irish Twilight

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After three different explanations of how to start a fire, we finally touched down for a smooth landing back home. I unbuckled and practically ran from Scottie. I wasn’t sure what was worse, having to listen about starting a fire or hearing Patrick talk about how sexy my wife was.

I headed to the back of the plane and slid in front of Jade as we were about to walk down the steps and onto the runway. She rolled her eyes in irritation, but this wasn’t about keeping up appearances. This was strictly about her safety. If someone was trying to shoot her, my body would hopefully block any shot.

The doors opened and the men deplaned, then cleared the area. When Patrick nodded at us, I started down the steps, making sure not to walk too fast. I didn’t want to leave Jade vulnerable. With my sunglasses on, I took in our surroundings, watching for any threats. I wouldn’t put it past Ambrose to try and pull something right when we landed. He hadn’t been informed that we were coming home early, but with his contacts, I had no doubt he knew the minute we landed.

I opened the back door of the armored car and waited for her to slide inside. The back of my neck was twitching as I glanced around again. Something was off, but I couldn’t find a single threat in the area. Chase walked up to me and nodded.

“Something’s wrong.”

“I know. Let’s just get you home,” he said quietly.

I lowered my voice, not wanting Jade to hear. “If anything fucking happens, you grab Jade and get her the fuck out of here. Take her to OPS.”

“Wouldn’t we be better off taking her to the island?” he asked. “At least they wouldn’t be able to easily attack.”

I shook my head. “That location is blown. Ambrose has had time to study it.”

His eyebrows shot up. “You think Ambrose is behind this?”

I thought about it again, but there wasn’t another damn person I could think of that would attack. “I don’t know. We can’t count out that he has other plans for our organization.”

“Let’s get out of the open. We can discuss this at the house.”

I nodded and slid into the backseat with Jade. She continued to stare out the window, completely ignoring me. She’d built up her armor within the last few hours, making it nearly impossible to talk to her. Not that I had anything to say. This was the way I needed it to be. And it seemed she felt the same way.

The car lurched forward as we took off for the hour drive home. It was going to be awkward as hell just sitting with her, so I pulled out my phone and got to work. The time flew past as I answered emails and made phone calls, trying to always keep the conversation short and discreet.

“Tuesday,” I answered the asshole on the other line. “I’ll send you the location.”

Patrick pounded on the window, but I had to finish up this conversation. I glanced over at Jade, who had tensed beside me. She was staring out the window, her fingers gripping the seat for dear life. Patrick pounded again and this time I hung up without finishing what I was saying.

I pulled my gun and only then noticed that we weren’t moving. “Shit.” I said as I stared out the window. We were boxed in. I finally rolled down the window and Patrick turned around. “We need to get you—”

Glass shattered and he slumped forward against the steering wheel as blood dripped from his back. I quickly unbuckled and flung myself across the seat to Jade, getting her unbuckled and pulling her to the ground. She screamed as I tossed her onto the floor and covered her body with mine. More bullets pierced the windows, plunging into the leather seats all around us. We couldn’t stay here, but leaving the vehicle was too dangerous.

“Fuck!” I swore, trying to figure a way out for us. Jade was breathing heavily under my body, her eyes wide with fear, but I couldn’t look at her right now. I needed to figure out how to get us out of here.

I could hear the return fire as my men surrounded the vehicle and did everything they could to protect us. The door was flung open and Chase stood there, holding out his hand. “Let’s go!”

I got up immediately and hauled Jade up, dragging her out of the car with me as I did my best to protect her. With one last look at Patrick in the front seat, I wrapped my arm around Jade and took off. Chase led us away from the scene, across another street.

An explosion shook the ground as we ran. Gunfire came from every direction, making it impossible to get Jade to safety. She tucked herself into my side, allowing me to guide her away, but didn’t scream or even falter as we ran for safety.

We were nearly to the safety of another building when Chase turned around and yelled something just as a bullet pierced his upper body. He winced and started to fall to the ground as if in slow motion. Everything around me was crumbling. Men fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Rapid gunfire pierced the air as blood ran through the streets.

I shoved Jade to the ground, ignoring her panicked scream as I fired round after round at anyone that approached us. There were too many of them coming at us. My men formed a circle around me, trying to protect us, but I saw the muzzle flash as a sniper fired at us from a building across the street. Our only way out was to run. I pulled Jade to her feet and pushed forward.

A bullet tore through my thigh, bringing me to my knees. I grunted in pain, keeping Jade tucked against my side, but I couldn’t protect her like this. “Run!” I shouted at her. She stared at me with wide eyes, then scanned the area quickly. But instead of running, she shoved her shoulder under my arm and grunted as she pushed to her feet. Another bullet tore through my side, making me stumble once again. My weight dragged her to the ground, leaving her even more vulnerable than before. I rolled over and fired every last bullet in my magazine at the men running at us.

I ejected the magazine and grabbed another from my pocket with bloody fingers. Shoving it in place, I grabbed Jade’s hand and pressed the gun into her palm. Her eyes were terrified as she stared at me. “Fucking run!”

With a shaky nod, she got to her feet and ran for her life. I pushed up and crawled over to Chase who was lying unmoving on the ground. Pain tore at my side with the movement, but I pushed it aside. I had to get Jade to safety. I grabbed his gun and checked how many bullets were left, then rolled to my side and fired at anyone that was close to Jade. She was almost to the safety of a building, but she didn’t see the man barreling toward her. I gritted my teeth and focused on the man, despite my vision wavering. I fired off round after round until he fell to the ground. Then my head jerked back as pain tore through my scalp and I hit the pavement hard. The last thing I saw was Chase doing the slow blink of death before my world faded around me.

20

JADE

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