“You’re taking it away from me,” I whisper. “I deserve to watch my home disappear.”
Jackson’s eyes soften. “Your home? Shit, baby...”
“I don’t mean it like that, but it’s where I grew up. Those men, they were all I knew. I don’t like them, and each and every one of them are pigs, but I deserve to watch that go...”
Jackson strokes my cheek. “You might think that now, baby, but when it comes down to it, you will regret seein’ that.”
I feel a tear leak down my cheek. Jackson swipes it away with his thumb. “Got to trust me, ok?”
I nod.
He leans down, and brushes his lips across mine. “Love you, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
I turn, letting him go, and I walk off towards the truck. I climb in the back when I reach it, and I wait for Granger. It seems like hours pass, and I find myself glancing down at my watch after about ten minutes. Where is Granger? Am I meant to leave without him? Jackson said he would follow, but maybe I heard it wrong. I don’t want to go back, I know Jackson will flip, but I can’t stay here either.
I’m about to get out of the car, when I hear a shot - a loud, ear piercing shot. My knees buckle, and I quickly slide out of the car. Something is wrong; I can feel it in my gut. I drop to my knees, pulling out the gun that is in my jeans, and I begin crawling back towards Jackson and the guys. God, what if they’re all dead? Did Hogan find them?
What I see when I get them in view, breaks me apart.
I was right.
Hogan and three of his men holding machine guns - huge, massive, lethal, machine guns. Jackson and the guys are standing in a small group, only one of them has a gun, but it’s on the ground now. God, why didn’t they bring more guns? They never thought it would get this bad. I turn, and my eyes widen as I see who got shot. Granger is on the ground bleeding, his chest convulsing. I cover my mouth to stop the scream that threatens to escape. Hogan is going to kill them, god, he’s going to kill them.
“Where the fuck is she?” he barks.
Jackson’s eyes are hard. “I don’t fuckin’ have her.”
“Bullshit, I put a GPS tracker in her phone, you stupid fuck. I know she’s around here.”
My phone. He was tracking my phone? Oh god. That’s the reason he only just found me. I hadn’t had my phone on out at the warehouse, things were hectic and I just left it switched off. Jackson said it was the safest option anyway. Today was the first time I turned it on and decided to bring it with me. Oh, god, if I didn’t come...
He would have found us at the warehouse. Either way, this would have gone bad.
I wrack my brains trying to think of something quickly, and then I see the tiny remote poking out of Jackson’s pocket. He just needs to press that button, make a distraction, and then I can shoot Hogan. God, but still, his guys have those guns...it could go so wrong. How are we supposed to get out of this? I feel ill, and panic rises in my chest.
“Move, you are goin’ to stand in my fuckin’ compound, and we’re gonna fuckin’ kill you slowly,” Hogan barks.
Jackson turns his eyes quickly towards the trees when Hogan looks away, and he notices me standing there. I quickly point to the remote in his pocket, but he turns his eyes back quickly, as though he was watching nothing. He slowly reaches around behind him, and he presses the button. It wasn’t exactly what I meant, but the explosion is huge, so huge it sends all of us through the air from sheer force. I land on my knees beside a tree, and cry out in pain as rocks cut into my skin.
I hear Hogan’s clear roar of anger, and I know I have seconds. I hear two gunshots, and I quickly crawl forward, clutching my gun. The smoke is filling the air, and the sky is alight, red flames shooting into the horizon. I begin to cough from the smoke, and my eyes burn. I get blurred a view of the guys, and I see both of Hogan’s guys dead on the floor. Hogan has two machine guns in his hands, and he’s pointing them at Jackson and the guys. They have no guns. Who shot those two guys? Then I see Granger on the floor, even though he’s convulsing and bleeding, he has a gun in his hand. Oh god. He tried to save them. My body shudders, and I grip my stomach to stop the bile escaping.
Hogan raises the machine guns, pointing them at Jackson and the guys. “You stupid fuckers,” he roars. “You stupid motherfuckers. Did you think your stupid plan would work? Did you think I wouldn’t get my revenge on you? Those men down there, they were fuckin’ easy to find. I will create more. You won’t get away with this, you fuckin’ bastards. I will kill you now, and then I’ll create another group and kill everyone you love, slowly.”
Granger chokes, and Hogan spins, shooting the machine gun. Pop, pop, pop, it’s all I hear. Then I see Granger’s body jerking as Hogan shoots him in the legs, not enough to kill him. The sick bastard. Spike bellows loudly, and the pain in his eyes breaks me. Hogan turns back to them, his eyes falling on Spike. He gives him a slow, sick grin.
“Did that hurt? Seein’ him get shot? Maybe I’ll force you to finish him off. You wouldn’t want him to die here, now would you?”
Spike tenses, and his body begins to shake. Oh god.
“You’re goin’ to fuckin’ die, Jackson,” Hogan barks, turning back to Jackson. “Now fuckin’ walk. There’s a nice big cliff ahead, I might watch a few of you fuckers jump.”
Oh god.
He shoves the gun at them, and they start walking. They have no choice. They die if they fight. Hell, they’re going to die anyway, but the longer they survive, the more chance they have of figuring a way out of this. As soon as they disappear through the trees, I run forward, dropping to my knees at Granger’s side. There’s blood everywhere. It’s all over him.