Hi everyone! I apologize for the long waits in between chapters, but I don't want to rush any of them and give you bad chapters. I tend to go through periods of having no ideas to many ideas hitting me at once whenever I write. Nevertheless, I hope you are enjoying the story!
Please R&R as it gives me pointers on where I can improve, whether it's plot, the action scenes, character development, etc. All criticism is welcomed and appreciated! :)
Chapter 7: Spotted
Jacks and Christine froze, listening intently for the source of the sound. Every second that passed, the source of the sound came closer and closer until-
"Christine, it's the police! Hide!" Jacks shouted.
Both ran further into the cemetery and hid behind the largest gravestones they could find, which unfortunately, happened to be at the other side of the cemetery. There was twenty feet of distance between them. Jacks and Christine pulled out their phones and hacked the cameras that were closest to the entrance of the cemetery.
Two police cars with sirens wailing were closing in on their location; there were eight officers against the two of them. Jacks made eye contact with Christine and made a hand gesture that said to run for it, but to be careful too. Christine nodded and they pulled their hoods up. The pair then heard barks coming from the same direction as the police. Jacks nodded and they bolted.
"Hey! Stop!" The shouts from the police and sounds of barking coming closer spurred Jacks and Christine on. They still had their phones on just in case, but hidden in their coat pockets. Christine fell behind quickly due to Jacks' long strides and one of the dogs was closing in on her. They ran towards the walls surrounding the cemetery and hoisted themselves up. Christine was halfway up when one of the dogs managed to bite on her boot, causing her to lose her balance.
"Jacks!" Jacks spun on top of the wall and grabbed Christine's hand. Christine shook her leg violently, trying to force the dog let go while using her other hand to pull herself onto the top of the wall. The dog was stubborn and nearly caused her to slip with their combined weight, but she managed to unzip the boot so it was loose enough to fall off. The dog fell with a cry.
Not wanting to take anymore chances, both ran towards the street, looking for a car. Christine pointed out a white Fiat parked near an alleyway, which she hacked and they got in. Jacks started the car and drove through the alleyways to avoid the police. They almost made it towards the apartments on a main road when Christine spotted four black cars with tinted windows that were about to surround them.
"Jacks!" she shouted.
"I know!" Jacks shouted as he made a sharp U-turn to lead the cars away from their hideout. Christine held onto the car seat and clenched her teeth.
"I think they're part of the Viceroys!" Christine exclaimed.
"Damn, and I thought they were scattered years ago after Iraq's death." Jacks checked the rear and side mirrors constantly.
"Oh shit," he muttered, as two of the cars were flanking them. The gang members in the one on their left and two in the back were pulling out their machine guns, trying to steady them as they shot at Jacks and Christine's car. Christine ducked and tried to pull her two handguns from her coat when Jacks yelled at her to keep ducking and to hold onto something.
Jacks then made a sharp right turn onto a ramp leading to the highway, which caused two of the Viceroy cars to crash into incoming cars. The other two swerved, tires screeching, to avoid the collision and continued on their tail. Jacks kept up his speed of 90 mph while Christine turned in her chair to see two guys aiming their guns right at them. She pulled one of her handguns out and waited until they stopped shooting to poke her head out the window.
"Hurry Christine! We're going to run out of gas if you don't shoot their tires out!" Jacks yelled over the racing wind as he weaved through the cars. People honked and yelled at them as they sped by.
"I'm trying! This isn't easy you know!" Christine shouted through a mouthful of hair. She aimed and shot at the closest car's tires, managing to pop one of them and causing the car to screech to a jerky halt and flip over. The cars around them either crashed or swerved around the busted car, quickly creating a pileup. Jacks took that split second to accelerate the car so that they were pushing 100 mph.
The last Viceroy car miraculously avoided the pileup, much to the pair's chagrin, and was gaining on them. Jacks took an exit and led them to a more abandoned area of town, where they were least likely to cause anymore major accidents. Christine was trying to shoot the last car's tires, but they were still too far away.
"Christine, there's a steam pipe in front of us!" Jacks yelled. Christine spun around and whipped her phone out. The pair's car raced past the steam pipe while the last car was unaware of what they were approaching.
"Now!" Jacks shouted. Christine hacked the steam pipe and it exploded, creating a huge and dense grey fog that enveloped everything within a thirty-foot radius. Jacks was forced to slow down a bit as they escaped the grey fog. They heard a crash somewhere behind them in and signed in relief.
"Time to head home." Jacks turned on the GPS.
It was late when Jacks and Christine managed to get home without any disturbances. The car they had hijacked was battered and riddled with many bullet holes so they left it a block away from their apartment. Christine had jammed the cameras as Jacks entered the alley and hastily parked the car. The pair trudged back home with caution; paranoia was running rampant between the two of them. There were many close calls similar to this even before Jacks reunited with his uncle.
"What happened to you two?!" Aiden rushed to them when the pair entered and closed the door. Jacks looked like he was about to fall over from exhaustion while Christine looked disheveled.
"Visited Lena, police found us, escaped them, Viceroys came after us," Christine panted, hands on knees.
"So that's what I saw on the news," Aiden rubbed his face, "You both look like you're going to pass out so go get some sleep." They nodded and headed to their bedroom.
"Hmmm I haven't even given them 'the talk' yet now that I think about it," Aiden mused when he heard the door close. He sat back down on the couch to sift through some data.
Jacks and Christine took their turns taking quick showers and then got into bed.
Just as Jacks was about to fall asleep, his phone buzzed. Grunting in annoyance, he reached for it on his nightstand and saw a text. It read, Got a lead. Meet me at the Dot Connexion tmrw night at 8. Jacks' eyes flew open despite his exhaustion and turned over to shake Christine awake.
"What Jacks?" she grumbled.
"Take a look at this." Jacks showed her the text. The bright light caused her to blink several times and she squinted through still sleepy eyes to read it. She started awake.
"Finally! It's been so long," Christine grinned. Jacks put the phone back on the nightstand.
"We can't tell Uncle Aiden about this. He would never let us, especially me, see this through," Jacks solemnly.
"Jacks, you said yourself we couldn't do this without him. You know we can't take that risk," Christine cupped Jack's cheek with her hand and touched foreheads with him. "We would both be devastated if we lost you," she breathed.
"I'll be careful. I promise." Jacks wrapped an arm around Christine's waist and kissed her.
"I'll hold you to that," Christine whispered when they broke apart.
"Mhmmm," Jacks mumbled, falling asleep. Christine listened to his even breaths and eventually fell asleep to them.
