Chapter 5: Ambushed

A silence settled in the car once again after Jamison confirmed that he could be trusted. It was a silence that he decided not to breach this time, feeling that Kade probably needed in order to collect his thoughts. It wouldn’t be much longer before they arrived back to the manor and they both could focus on the work ahead of them, instead of the close call at the meeting. That was the plan in his mind, at least, until their car was suddenly slammed into just as they made it through another intersection.

A black vehicle came racing from the left when it passed through the red light and collided with a loud screeching crash into their car. In the back seat, the two of them were jerked to the side at the impact and the car’s tires screamed as it was sent in a circle. Instantly, Jamison felt the ache in his neck from being jerked so abruptly to the side. Beside him, Kade was holding the side of his head. He’d been looking out the window just moments before, Jamison wondered if he hit his head.

Before he could ask, the car that smashed into them suddenly threw itself back in reverse. Wreckage scraped the asphalt in protest and smoke emitted from the crunched front of the car, but that didn’t stop those from within from proceeding to lower a tinted window and direct a hand in their direction. A single hand which held aimed at their car a silver revolver.

As soon as the glint of it caught in the light, Jamison turned his gaze towards it just in time to notice it before it went off. The shots rang out in a loud bang. Not one, but three of the six that the revolver held. The first one was sent through the windshield and into the front seat. The other two broke through and shattered the back windows. At the sound of the shots, Jamison pulled Kade to the floorboard as quickly as he could, with only the hope that the quick movement and force he used wouldn’t injure him any further.

Pain rang through his left shoulder and Jamison didn’t have to reach up to touch it to know that he had been shot. Blood more than likely was now soaking through his jacket and staining his white undershirt. A fact that couldn’t be made his top priority now while he and Kade were under attack. He had to make sure to get his boss out of there alive or else the Monroe legacy would be lost.

Jamison reached over with his good arm to touch Kade’s shoulder. “Are you hurt at all?” Jamison huffed. He was doing his best to keep his voice composed through the pain in his arm.

“I just took a knock to the head. Are you okay? You’re bleeding,” Kade answered. He moved his hands out as though he meant to touch Jamison’s chest.

“I’m fine. Stay down, we’re under attack and I have no doubt you’re their target,” Jamison answered, and shrank away from his hands to instead turn his attention to the front seat.

Jamison leaned forward through the center of the two front seats to confirm what he feared. Their driver was killed. It looked like the first shot through the front came in and pierced the right spot for him to bleed out. He hissed in frustration through his teeth. They needed to get away from that car and going on foot would only put them in more danger.

He had no idea what condition their car was left in, but he had to try to see if he could get it to move. Right now, it was their best option. So, with some difficulty, Jamison slid into the front passenger seat. He made sure to keep low while he unbuckled the driver and reached across his body for the release on the door. A task that proved to be more difficult than it looked with his arm searing in pain from the shot he took.

By the time he managed to shove the driver onto the ground and hastily slam the door shut, his entire arm felt wet and sticky with blood. The crimson liquid had found its way down to his fingers and a few stray droplets spattered onto the driver side window when he reached up for the steering wheel. Beside them, the attacking driver abandoned their broken car. The smashed driver side door was left hanging open.

“Jamison!” Kade called from the back seat as the passenger side back door was suddenly pulled open.

“Hang on!” he shouted back, and without a second thought, threw the car into drive.

It screeched in protest, but jolted forward with the back door still open. Jamison purposely swerved the car on and off the road in an attempt to shake the person that had opened it off. Naturally, his reckless driving caused other vehicles and people to go swerving and diving out of the way of their ruined car. If they kept this up, it wouldn’t be long before the police arrived. The initial wreck probably already had them on the way to the scene. Which meant he had to shake their uninvited passenger and fast.

Jamison swerved onto another street, the car squealing as it was sent right and left. The back door flopped open and closed, with their attacker still barely clinging to it. Their ride was cut short when at last the door slammed shut and the silence that settled in the back seat was almost too still. With the threat of rushing sirens in the distance, Jamison whipped the car to a halt and then turned the best he could in his seat to glance back at Kade.

Sitting in the seat next to the young boss was a woman he had never seen before. The wild mess of her hair and rips in her clothing suggested that she was the one that had been clinging to the door. She had an arm around Kade’s neck and that silver revolver pressed to the side of his head. Kade had gone still and quiet in her grasp, being mindful not to struggle too much in fear of making the gun go off.

Jamison froze as well, the blare of the sirens growing closer now fading from focus.

“Here’s the deal,” the Woman said, and tightened her grip around Kade’s neck. “You’re going to let me and the little boss here slip out while you wait for the cops to show up.”

She didn’t have to say what would happen if he disagreed. The gun she had was pressed to the side of Kade’s head. Jamison burned with rage for not being able to react fast enough to prevent this. He could reach for his gun with his good arm, but he wasn’t sure his draw would be fast enough to beat her pulling the trigger on Kade. Risking it wasn’t something he was willing to do. So, he said nothing to her and just gave her an icy glare.

“Smart man,” she muttered with a smirk.

“Wait,” Kade spoke up before she could begin shifting to move the two of them out of the backseat. “Please, just let me say my goodbyes.”

“What kind of boss are you?” the woman scoffed. “Another reason you’ll never be suited to lead us. Fine, but make it quick.”

The grip she had around Kade’s neck loosened, but she kept her gun fixed on his head and her finger less than an inch from the trigger. Jamison dared not make a move while he watched and waited to find out what Kade had in mind. The request seemed strange to him, but he made sure not to allow his uncertainty to show on his face. Kade was new to this game and if his plan was to use that to their advantage somehow, he would follow his lead.

Jamison didn’t move as Kade reached up and took hold of his suit jacket. He gave him a tug forward so that the both of them leaned towards each other over the center console of the car. The tug caused Jamison to wince as pain shot through his shoulder in a fresh wave. An expression he only allowed to show for a moment before Kade’s face was close to his, dulling his senses in confusion just as the threat on his life had drowned out the sounds of the police sirens.

“There’s a knife hidden in a pocket on the inside of my jacket,” Kade said in a low whisper. His voice was so soft that if they hadn’t been so close, Jamison wouldn’t have heard it. “Take it while I cause a distraction.”

Jamison wanted to ask him how he intended to distract their enemy, but before the words could even form on his lips, Kade closed the distance between them. His whispered words and warm breath that had just been brushing along his face moments ago were now sealed inside a gentle union between their lips. The kiss took Jamison by surprise, and he almost slipped and allowed it to show in his expression.

A bold move to make, he thought, after the harassment that Kade had endured that day and the fact that the two of them hardly knew each other aside from pleasantries on occasion. If this was his idea of a distraction, then he had to make it convincing so that their assassin wouldn’t catch Jamison’s slide of hand. So, to sell it, he trusted his boss as he had already promised to do and he returned the kiss.