Chapter 10

Jacob

They're letting me do the honors of gunning down whoever was behind the steel doors of the warehouse. There were two machine guns and Clarence said he'll also be doing it with me, while the six other men stand behind us and watch our backs.

"You got this, just keep it level as it sprays," Andrew said, keeping my aim high. "But, in case your arm can't take it, I'll be here to assist you."

Clarence looked at me, his gaze switching from me to Andrew like he was processing something in his brain. "You're growing soft, big man," is all he said as he chuckled.

"I am not, I'm just taking the necessary precautions," Andrew said from behind me, placing his hand on the exposed skin of my neck. Again, It itches, my whole body suddenly itches. The places he touched itches and burns.

But...

I push them to the back of my mind. I don't need to see anyone, I just want to...

I don't know...

All I can think about is Andrew...

I want to tell him everything.

I want him and only him to be the person who knew and I don't know why. He kidnapped me but he's not holding me hostage or anything.

I just find myself trusting him more than I do to anyone else I've ever met. I mean he saved me from almost going through an immensely traumatic experience and now he's helping me save my sister.

"Alright, on my count, you unleash bullet hell," Andrew said. "Now, Jacob, hun. It usually only takes a couple of seconds to go through a round of just 50 bullets. So after you shoot, we go and let Kenny take over," He told me like I was a child, I didn't bother remark at the tone because, in a scenario like this, I might as well be a fetus.

"See told ya, totally whipped," Clarence said elbowing me lightly with a wink, which made heat rise immediately to my cheeks.

"Whatever," Andrew said smirking, having enough of the man's teasing. He switched his attention to me. "These should lessen the recoil, but if you can't handle it, just release the trigger, re-aim, and then fire again."

"Though we won't know for sure where they are so the first few seconds where we'll get them in complete surprise is important, " Clarence said his focus already on the big warehouse doors.

"3...2..."

"1"

They weren't kidding when they said the recoil was intense. Clarence looked like he was handling it fine but the veins on his neck popped every so often but he kept on spraying. What were only seconds felt like minutes on end as I felt the vibrations of the gun course through my arm. The ringing in the air was another thing. Hearing gunshots has scared me less these days but the shock and the ringing never left me. Nor did the fear of a loved one getting shot.

Andrew took me by the shoulder as Kenny took my place and began reloading the gun immediately. " You did good for a first-timer," Andrew said his hand on my hip, our backs turned from the men as we kept watch from all sides. I shuddered at the sound of the bullet after bullet being shot every millisecond. "Kenny!"

The Kenny guy understood, taking a stick of dynamite from his bag along with a lighter. Clarence stopped his barrage of bullets as Kenny walks up to the doors and stuck the explosives on them before lighting them up.

"Take cover!" He said running towards us and we all sought for cover. He pulled the pin on three grenades, just as the explosives blew the door into mere splinters. Kenny threw the grenades into the warehouse and a series of screams were heard as I heard more explosions, sounding wetter than ever.

"Ewwww, guts," Clarence shivered removing his fingers from his ears as the commotion died down. He took his position behind the machine gun once more and aimed it at the smoke, waiting for anyone to step out, dare they step out.

"I love it when they explode," Kenny said with wide eyes, I didn't bother to ask whether he's pertaining to his explosives or to something else entirely.

We waited for a couple of minutes before another one of his men devised another chaotic idea. "Want me to start a fire to suffocate them all?" He asked and I gave the man an incredulous look.

"What? Don't! My sister is in there," I said and the man nodded as if he only just thought about that just now.

"Oh yeah,"

"I do have tear gas," Kenny said bringing our attention to the canister in his hands. Andrew was looking at me as if it was my call to make.

"I guess a little tear gas won't hurt," I said and shrugged as the guy, literally, giggled taking two more canisters out. Throwing them a minute after the other. No more than a hot minute after it was thrown, people started to exit the warehouse little by little, coughing and swatting at the air.

Bang.

A bullet went past me, ripping my shirt as it hit the floor. On the top left of the warehouse's roof was a figure. It had a gas mask on and very baggy clothes so it was hard to tell anything about the person. They pulled off the mask, dramatically flipped her hair to the side.

"Ugh, Viper always had a flair for the dramatics," Andrew told us. "It annoys me to the core."

Clarence was aiming at the men on the ground floor, who all had their hands up in surrender. The arsonist behind me also has a sniper rifle with him so he was aiming directly at the Viper chick. "Can I shoot her yet? Can I burn them all afterward? Can I burn down the warehouse?" He asked, a bit too twitchy for 'normal' human standards but hey at least he got his priorities straight.

"Calm down Hunter, focus on your mark," Andrew said, he was still staring at this 'Viper' girl up on the roof. It was tense, the atmosphere held so much tension, it was starting to suffocate me.

But then she spoke...

Well...

Tried to...

The thing is, We were a good distance away from the warehouse, and that warehouse is tall, round 4 floors tall, the figure of the warehouse was looming even from a distance.

We could not hear a single thing she's trying to say. The only indication we got that she was talking was her dramatic arm flails, hair flips, body language, and the fact that her mouth was moving.

"This is so anticlimactic," Kenny said lowering his machine gun for a bit.

"Kenny, you have your megaphone with you?" Andrew asked as if this man would just carry around something so-

Never mind.

Kenny pulled out another bag and pulled out an old and dirty megaphone. "You never know when you need to be loud," all he said placing his bags aside and resuming his take on the machine gun.

The megaphone started out with a screeching sound but settled down to be able to amplify Andrew's voice.

"Viper dear, nobody can hear you, Even your men can't hear you," Andrew said and she looked incredibly annoyed as she walked out of sight, only to re-appear on the ground floor.

"I said-" Viper was stopped short when Kenny unleashed a short burst of bullets onto Viper's feet.

"WHY YOU LITTLE!" Viper screeched stopping short when Andrew stepped in front of everyone.

"Viper, It's been so long, now. We don't want to kill any more than we already have," Andrew said motioning to the blood and guts splattered inside the warehouse. It was a nightmarish scene, blood was splattered everywhere, guts and chunks of flesh strewn about. It made me wanna puke, which Clarence did the moment that the smoke dissipated.

"Magnificent," Kenny said in amazement and bot Andrew and Viper looked at him weirdly for a moment. Clarence wiped his mouth and raised a brow at Kenny.

"Yes, Indeed." Andrew said shaking his head and turning away from the man, "Now, all we need is Jacob's little sister, Shaina," Andrew said with a small sarcastic smile on his face that turned grim, "Also let us collect one of my men who was shot in your vents, and give us the man who did it," Andrew's glare held level to the older woman, and dare I say it, it looked even more menacing than any other glare I have ever seen my whole life "Do that and you won't end up like Zander."

The woman's face paled at this, I didn't know what happened with this Zander dude, but it's not good apparently. "Fine," She said staying in place as she barked orders, her feet not moving an inch. Seeing as there were bullets embedded in it and it was a bloodied mess.

"Get the girl out of the basement, Rico Jones! Get that guy you killed from the vents," Her men did exactly as she told them to and minutes later my sister was being escorted out of the warehouse with a blindfold. I was about to take it off but Andrew held my hands and shook his head.

"Sorry, Shay can't take this off till she's home," She was still gagged, Andrew didn't even want me to take that off. But since he was the one who orchestrated this whole thing, I let her.

A tall man came over us with the corpse of Mark, his eyes were in a state of shock as a bullet hole bled in the middle of his head. Andrew closed Mark's eyes, his own training onto the guy who gave us the body.

"You guys stay here and watch over Kenny and Hunter," Andrew said towards the four other guys including Clarence, he then pointed at Kenny and Hunter, " You two, have fun with him, ya?" Andrew said and the only response we got was giggles as the two took out their equipment from their bags. Andrew already guided my sister and me out of there. Even Viper and her men left, not wanting to see what gruesome fate that was in store for him.

Andrew looked tremendously concerned about Mark. And no, I don't feel jealous. I don't want to feel jealous over someone dead, that's like disrespect.

"I can practically see the cogs in your brain working," Andrew said with a smirk, giving me a sideways look. "Aiden, Wendy, Mark, and I go way back. Before the gang even started. We met during the times where I still ran dirty errands for someone else." Andrew said, the grief in his voice was prominent but I can see he was trying to hold himself together. "He... he..." Andrew was physically chocking up, so saddened by grief that he can't explain to me just how special Mark was to them.

"Hey," I placed my hand on his shoulder, "I understand," Andrew nodded appreciatively towards me as we approached the parking space where we left the van. I helped my sister inside first before I went to the back to help Andrew with Mark if I can provide any help that is. There were body bags behind the car, just in case we needed some. I don't think they packed these with the intent to seal in one of their own men.

Andrew was suddenly hugging me from behind, I could feel hot tears, dripping down onto my neck. I turned in his arms and wrapped my own around his neck, letting him bury his face in the crook of my neck. I can feel the tears but he wasn't shaking nor was he making any sounds. You wouldn't even know he was crying if you were not in my position. I held him in that position for a few minutes before we heard the distant chatters of Andrew's men. He rubbed my back for a bit before letting go and turning away from the approaching crowd. When he looked back to give more instructions, his eyes and cheeks were clear and dry as if he never cried at all.

"Any casualties, Steve?" Andrew asked Steve's group, they looked banged up but none looked like they were close to death, which soothed me.

"Ya a few of Viper's men, we told them to take care of it on their own," Andrew nodded and Clarence was quiet. His earlier behavior of joking around and teasing Andrew was gone and all he did was to stare blankly ahead oh him. Kenny and Hunter were in the worst states of us all, appearance-wise that is. They were covered from head to toe in blood, it was obvious they tried wiping some off but it looked like a futile attempt.

"Alright, the guys who want to go home, can go now. Kenny, Hunter you too. Thank you for the help tonight. I'll call again if we need to meet." Andrew said and a couple of men headed their own separate ways.

"Aw shucks, no problem you know how fun it is," Kenny said just as he was about to leave, Clarence grabbed him and planted a furious kiss against his lips.

"I-I'll see you tonight, wait up for me," Clarence said, not caring that the other boy was covered in blood, Which is now on his lips.