Taken

John (Chapter 11)

        (PRESENT)

"It came from over there!"  I yelled as I ran towards the ally.  Dad and Chris followed close behind.

            I ducked behind the car closest to the ally.  I put my hand on my holster for reassurance. Who knew what was waiting inside that ally?  It could be as simple as a suicide shooter, or as complicated as a drug deal gone wrong.

            "What's the plan?"  I asked Dad when he and Chris ducked behind the car as well.  "Can you see anything?"

There was only one dim streetlight in the ally, and it was not helping at all.  Dad inched closer to the back of the car to get a better look.  The shots had stopped, so I figured it was safe for me to peek over the top of the car.

            Crap.

            There were six men total, all but one armed with machine guns, one girl, and one body covered in blood on the ground.  It looked like the girl was a hostage, but her back was turned towards me, so I couldn't see her or how the man behind her was holding her.

            I looked at Dad and Chris.  They didn't look comfortable with the situation either.  I looked at my revolver, then back at the machine guns.  Suddenly, my gun didn't offer any reassurance.

            "What are we going to do?"  Chris asked.

            Dad seemed to be trying to figure that out too.  "We have to see if they'll drop their weapons.  If they don't, then we shoot them.  All but one, the one without a gun.  I think he's the leader of this group."

"What do you think this is?" I asked, trying to better understand what we were dealing with.

"I have a feeling it has to do with why we're here," Dad responded.  Okay, cool, very specific.

"Is it safe for me to shoot at them?  I mean, we don't know if there is anyone else back there..."

"I think you are more than capable to shoot without any bullets going past. And we're not shooting at them, we're definitely taking them down."

"But what if..."

"Good lord, John!"  Chris whispered. "You sound like me now!  Just shoot them!  You've had harder shots before, like in New York."

I looked at my brother.  I couldn't tell what he was thinking.  I wondered if he wished he had a weapon right now to help us with the case, or if he was happy he didn't have the pressure.

"Are you sure you want me to take a kill shot? I mean-"

"John, look at that girl. And I mean, really look at her. This is not necessarily the time for protocol," my dad cut me off, more than annoyed I wasn't just going along with his plan. For the sake of argument, I looked at the girl closer.

I could barely see the her, but I could make out what she was wearing; a red blouse and blue jeans. I wanted to see her face before I was convinced.

As if trying to help me, the man moved slightly to his left, so I was able to get a better view of the girl's face, even if it only was from the side.

Crap.

Could we really be that unlucky?  Could we really be too late to save Zoey?

Chris voiced his opinion.  "Yup. It's Zoey," he said as causally as someone would say, "Tomorrow's Saturday."

"I get it now," I said, slightly ashamed for not having trusted my dad.

"Keep the guy we said was the leader and the guy holding the girl alive.  Now get ready.  On my signal, shoot.  I'm going to go behind that car over there so they don't zero in on us."

"Ok..."  I said as I get my weapon ready.  Clearly he was upset with me. I was not looking forward to what came after this, assuming we all survived.

Dad moved down to the car across from us and positioned himself.  He put his hand high enough so that I could see it so I'd know when to start shooting.  I looked over at Chris, and saw that he wasn't there.  That wasn't good.  I was about to alert my dad, but just then one of the men started talking and my dad gave the signal.

Dad and I opened fire.  Two out of the six men went down instantly.  Two others tried firing back, with no success.  Dad and I each shot one before they had the chance to aim.  That left the two men we had been meaning to spare.  That was easy.

We stared at each other for what seemed like a long time.  The man holding the girl looked shocked, but it also looked like he had tightened his grip on her, by the expression of sudden pain on her face.

I steadied my gun on the apparent leader.  He seemed very calm.  He started yelling something at us in a foreign language, so I couldn't understand.  He had a really deep voice, so even if he was speaking in English, I was pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to understand him anyways. I looked at my dad briefly for help, but he seemed to be trying to figure it out too.

Suddenly Dad yelled at me to put my gun down.  I hesitated for a minute.  I didn't want to put my gun down, and I didn't understand why he was having me do it.  By the time I did figure it out, it was too late. 

The man stabbed the Zoey in the side.  That was why Dad had been telling me to put down my weapon.

My second strike of the night.

However, just as the girl had been stabbed, a figure fell from the rooftop onto the leader.  I groaned when I realized who it was.

Chris.

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Here's a longer chapter! ;) hahaha Do you guys like this one? Comment and vote! :) <3

~Emily