"Pappie, where did all your cars go?" Skye looked in surprise at the blank wall in Jackson's office
"Because today is my last day here for a little while" He grinned happily at Skye. He needed to completely distance himself from Dealers at the moment. He may not know what to do next, but getting away from his toxic family and anything connected to them for as long as possible was one of his first priorities.
"Are we going to celebrate?" He grabbed Jackson's hand as they walked out of the office.
"I think we could have a little bit of a celebration, but you have to tell your Papa." He wasn't sure how Raymond would take his sudden extended vacation, but even he would understand.
Getting into the lift, it stopped on the next floor and two men came pushing through to stand behind them. This was the first time the lift had stopped to pick up people when Jackson was using it. Looking at the two men, they seemed to be sizing him up before looking at each other.
Skye noticed all of this within seconds. He knew something wasn't right, and quietly slipped behind the men, letting go of Jackson's hand. When he saw one of the men grab at Jackson, he leapt onto the other, so that his arms were clasped around his neck. Jumping down with his full weight, he could feel the man struggling to breathe while trying to shake him off.
When he had Skye's back to the wall, the young boy immediately dropped down and crouching between his legs, gave a hard shove with his elbow into the man's groin. With him on the ground whimpering, three hard kicks, he had him unconscious, then he turned his attention to the other who was still trying to restrain Jackson from behind. Quickly looking around, he grabbed the gun that the other had dropped, his heart beating as if he'd been running for miles.
But he didn't have time to panic now, there was a job to be done and he tried again to calm himself by taking a deep breath, before quickly taking aim and firing a shot at the man's leg, which had him doubled up in pain on the floor. Skye started pressing all the buttons on the lift before turning to Jackson.
"Are you okay, Pappie?" He asked out of breath and slightly in shock at what had happened. He'd never shot a person before, but there was no other way to stop them from hurting his Pappie. He only hoped he wasn't going to be grounded for life.
"I should be asking you that, little one. Did you get hurt?" He held onto Skye, looking him over with worry.
When the lift stopped at the next floor, Skye dragged him out, before grabbing a nearby chair to jam between the lift doors, holding them open.
"Come on Pappie, we have to find a safe place." He automatically moved between the desks, considering all his options. He wasn't sure if this was the real thing or a training exercise by his grandfathers, but surely if they'd arranged it, there'd be no guns. The way the men grabbed at Jackson, he knew he was the target.
Grabbing pens, staplers and anything that could be used as a weapon from the desks they passed, he led Jackson to the back of the room where the fire exit was, setting up station near the door.
"It's not the best, but Grandpa always says that as long as it can bring prey down, it's good enough." He smiled briefly, tying the cord around two staplers. "We only need to hold out, Papa will be here soon," he said confidently.
"Skye, I'm the adult here and should be taking care of you. Let's take the stairs to the lobby and we can get security from there." He reasoned as Skye crouched down to make himself even smaller.
"Shh..." He placed his finger to his lips, keeping an eye on the exit, making sure that Jackson was also crouched behind him.
--
"They're not at the school or the house. Best get to Jackson's office fast, we'll do the rest." Damon informed him briefly cutting the line. He knew they'd go to any lengths to make sure that Skye was safe.
Raymond brought his car to a screeching halt in front of Jackson's office building. From a quick scan, he knew that Alexi's men had already found their way into the building. Well, if they wanted a fight, then that's what they're going to get, he thought angrily, worried out of his mind at what he was going to find inside and whether the two were safe and pissed off that Alexis would even try something like this. Now it had become personal.
As he stepped through the revolving doors, he immediately saw a group of men approach him. With a sigh, he ran toward them, slamming his elbow into one's nose before turning his attention to the others. It gave him a grim sense of satisfaction as he mowed them down, making sure they wouldn't get up.
He didn't even bother with the lift, knowing that if Skye was aware of what was happening, he'd avoid the lift. Running straight for the stairwell, he started taking them two at a time. Where the hell was Eric when you needed him, he thought as he knocked on the door of another floor.
"We found them, bro'." Eric's voice broke the silence.
"Where are they?"
"Fourteenth floor. They seem to be near the stairwell exit."
"Any of the men that have entered the stairwell?" He needed as much information as possible now.
"Yeah, two stepped onto the twelfth floor and the others are still on the lower levels. You're going to have to run bro', the suit can't help you this time."
Raymond stopped listening, he was sprinting his way to the fourteenth floor before he was beaten to it. He was starting to feel winded and took a few slow steps to catch his breath before heading on.
"Ray, the two guys just entered the fourteenth floor, what do I do now?"
"Nothing, I'm almost there." He panted, reaching the door and pulling it open. Before he could make out the scene, something sharp flew past his head, which he narrowly missed, while two staplers on cord roward hurled toward him, locking his ankles in place, causing him to fall forward.
"Papa?" Skye asked moving closer to him.
Making sure that his mask was on straight, he got up.
"I'm not your Papa little buddy, but he sent me here to keep you safe." His heart was beating fast, the only thing he wanted to do was grab Skye and hug him for the rest of his life. But he had a job to do and that meant keeping Skye and Jackson safe.
"Green jellybeans,." he gave their safe words, setting a tense and suspicious boy at ease. "Come on, we don't have much time." He led them back to the lift, removing the unconscious men, and then descended to the ground floor.
"Now, stay inside the lift until I come back," he warned them, "and keep your eyes closed when the doors open.
As soon as he heard the ping of the doors opening, he threw two of Eric's light grenades down the passage. Looking around a corner he saw another group of men running his way. He didn't have time for this, he thought as he pulled out his retractable metal baton. Slashing his way through the group of men, he called for Skye and Jackson to follow him to the next exit toward the underground parking garage.
As they rushed down the stairs, Damon and Jesse came running to meet them.
"Everything's been taken care of downstairs, but we should still get out of here as soon as possible," Jesse informed them. "Damon and I will take Skye and Jackson." He said grimly, not looking directly at Raymond.
They soon left, running down the steps as fast as they could go, with Skye on Jackson's back. Raymond watched them leave, his heart beating fast, almost unable to breathe. This time they'd messed with the wrong person. He knew that Jackson was the target, but the fact that Skye was involved made it even more scary. This time, the gloves needed to come off!