Chapter 27

"I wish my heart could stop racing around her." Jack lay on the bed that night thinking of Claire, her blue eyes and blonde hair, the smile. He found himself restless thinking of her.

He then turned on his side and saw a family photo from when his mom was asleep, they looked like the happiest family, and in a matter of days, everything fell apart; he then remembered he had not heard of Angela. He reached down for his phone and dialed her number. It went through to voicemail, thats odd; her phone is always on. He tried redialing her number it went through to voicemail. He then called his dad, "Dad, how are you?"

"I'm doing okay, thanks, son; how is your sister doing?"

"Thats why I called you dad; I cannot get hold of her. Have you heard of her?"

"No, son, but I will be home soon; I will try calling her phone."

"Dad? Hello? Are you there?" The line on the other end dropped; Jack looked at his phone; his mobile lost signal, " dammit, this network."

Jack placed his phone on charge and walked to the shower. As he removed his t-shirt, he heard a door opening from downstairs, and the neighbor's dogs started to bark; Jack walked over to his room window, looking down; the spotlight of his house was on, and he switched off his room light, and put on his leather Jacket, removing his gun from his bag. He quietly walked over to the room door and opened it; the house was quiet; you could hear a pin drop on the wooden floor; Jack then heard what sounded like footsteps on the staircase; the sound was that of a heavyweight being applied to old flexible oak wood. Jack peeked through the door when he noticed the lazy red light shining on the wall. At least five lights were shining on that wall; Jack took his bag and made his way outside his window on the porch, standing against the wall as he saw the red lights shining out the window. Whoever that is will find me here. Jack made his way down the ladder as fast as he could; as he reached the bottom, the window opened wider. "Who builds a porch outside a window." said an unfamiliar voice.

"Someone who's smart and knows that sooner or later, we would be paying him a visit."

Jack tried to see who the people in his house were, but it was too dark.

"Shit, my phone," he mumbled.

"I have to get out of here and figure out what the hell is going on here."

Jack had nothing on him except for his car keys. He was wearing only his leather jacket, denim jeans, and socks. He ran to his car and started it as the lights switched on; guys came running out of the house, shooting at the car; Jack fired back. He was hitting one guy in the leg as he sped off. The men jumped in their Jeep and chased after him as he picked up speed. Luckily, they stayed close to a police station where he turned into.

Jack ran into the police station. "Please help. They are trying to kill me."

The tall, dark in complexion officer stared at him, looking down at his feet, then made eye contact, "Sir, calm down."

"Why are you out there looking for those guys?" The cop walked over to the window glancing through it. "There is no one except for your car with an open door," the officer turned around. Bullets flew through the window out of nowhere.

They were shooting the officer in the back; he fell to the ground. Jack jumped to the ground and used the officer for cover from the bullets flying through the window. As everyone in the station jumped for cover on the ground, three officers were shot, two in the chest and one in the head. The other four cops drew out their guns and ran to the window, firing back.

Jack stood up and fired back at the jeep; two shooters were shot as the driver sped off.

The officer's radioed back and described the jeep. Within a matter of minutes, police chased after the jeep. There were gunshots, and they heard a loud crash.

"Everyone stand behind me," said the officer as he held out his weapon. He told everyone in the station to go behind the reception desk as he strolled to the door, sticking his head up and holding the firearm with both hands up straight against his chest.

A few more shots went off as police cars fled down the road. Screams from pedestrians echo through the streets as the cop runs out of the door. They fired a few shots down the road. Jack hurried out of the police station, jumped into the car, and sped off in the opposite direction. Jack, the leather jacket he had on, had suddenly felt like it was sticking to his arm. It burned when touching the upper part of his arm. He stopped the car in a dark alley, switched on the car's lights, and removed his black leather jacket.

"Dammit, it's a bullet scrape that ruined my favorite Jacket," he searched around in the back of the car for a bandaid, that's when he noticed something in the car he had not seen before, it was Nicole's handbag, the one with colorful beads on. She had the initial J on the bag. He opened the bag, found a bandaid, and covered the wound. He searched through the bag, and there was a small mobile phone. On the back of the phone was written backup phone, he scrolled through the numbers, and the only number he recognized was Marcus. If he phones Marcus from this phone, there will be alot of questions about why he had her bag in the car.

So Jack took out a pen and paper, and under the letter C was Calvin, Claire, and Craig.

"Wait, Claire, could this be the same Claire he was thinking of all night? I need to find a prepaid phone."

Jack always had pocket change in the car. He drove for twenty minutes before finding a paid phone close to a liquor store.

The liquor store was packed with people, pool tables, women in short skirts, leaning over the men, drinking from the same bottles and cups.

Jack stood against the sidewall and dialed his dad, then dropped the call before his dad answered.

If he told his dad now, wouldn't it be a disaster? This will make his dad fly down immediately, and that would raise skepticism.

He then dialed Claire's number, which he knew well out of his head. The phone rang for a while before she answered. "Hello?"

"Hello Claire, it's Jack. Is this a bad time to talk?"

"No, not at all. I am just surprised you are calling from a paid phone."

Jack's heart raced as he gulped, "I am not sure why I am calling you. Sorry if I disturbed you."

"Jack, you are not disturbing. What is wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong. Are you busy right now?"

"No, I am not busy. Why?"

"Can I come to see you? I promise I won't take too much of your time."

Claire turned into the mirror, sighing, "sure, it's okay. Don't knock on the door. It's late, so my parents ask too many questions."

It had started raining harder, and Jack. He had difficulty seeing the road signs. He used bus navigation.

How will he let her know he is outside if he doesn't have his mobile phone with him, Jack decided to make a turnaround and go back to his house. While driving, he saw the Jeep from Marcus passing him on the opposite street. He decided to turn the car around and follow Marcus. Marcus was heading in the direction of Claire's house. The jeep stopped at the opposite side of the road from Claire's house. Jack parked out of plain sight a few meters away from the Jeep. The rain made it harder to see who was in the jeep. Claire's front door opened, and she had an umbrella and a raincoat. She had walked up to the jeep. Jack leaned closer to see what they were talking about. She looked stressed and pissed off, swinging her arm at the person in the car. The person looked up in the rearview mirror and opened the door.

She leaned into the Jeep. It can't be Marcus and Claire together. He secretively tried wiping his window. When the jeep lights switched on, Claire smiled and leaned over, hugging the person. As she turned around, she walked back to the house. The brake lights went on as the jeep drove off. Jack sat in the car leaning back in his seat when she switched on her room light. She looked down at her phone and smiled. Jack drove off and headed back home.