Chapter 1 7
"Hands up, where I can see them!" Ordered the blonde, watching Ayesha drop her chin and exchange looks with Xander, which was surprised, that that seemed the end of their road.
"Don't worry, just move out of the car slowly with your hands up. We'll find a way out of here," Ayesha commented placing her hand on the handle of the car looking at Xander, which nodded a little tensed from believing, that there wasn't really a way out of there. Together the two left the car, while placing their hands behind their heads, afterward another police car drove over the grass to park behind the first police car and Ayesha dropped her mouth as she recognized her ex-boyfriend getting out from the driver's side, while on the other side came out the school friend Hank Goddard, from Xander's time which made him bite his lips in shock from recognizing the friend.
"Oh no," Xander commented along with Ayesha, then both looked at each other at the common sync. "I forgot to tell, I had a friend who's an FTO here," Commented Xander having eye contact with the brunette, which stared at Xander believing he was familiar to him. "It's me, Hank. You don't need to act surprised," Spoke Xander making Hank wide his eyes surprised, then Aman chuckled at recognizing Ayesha.
"Guys, put the guns down," Aman ordered watching Jake and his partner from the other vehicle look at him confused. "Don't worry, I just want to talk and we can do that without having to aim guns at them,"
"I'm slightly confused," Stated Jake looking at the blonde, which looked at the duo in front of the ambulance and Ayesha frowned at the look of the corps, then the blonde figured out, what was going on.
"I think that's Aman's ex-girlfriend he claimed to be one of the culprits in the last robbery back at the museum of Twinbrook," Mentioned the blonde, then Aman nodded.
"That's right Goodwin," Commented Aman walking towards the duo to check them out, wearing the different outfits for the prom. "Not bad. You two really do like a stage younger, when I look at you dressed like that,"
"From all the people around the world, it had really to be you," Commented Ayesha, then Hank yelled at Nick, which was making a move towards the ambulance and Nick put his hands up in the air again.
"That's not fair, you said no weapons," Mentioned Nick making Aman chuckle.
"I really did, didn't I young Hank?" Questioned Aman looking back at Hank, which frowned and took his gun down not liking the way things were going. "Ayesha, I still can't believe you're out here with those guys here wasting your time,"
"The biggest waste of time I had ever had in my life was being together with you," Ayesha countered taking a step forward. "I thought you really meant to accept me for the way I was, but in the end, you just tricked me and left me back alone with the police,"
"You know, that my job has always been to put people like you behind the grids. Protect the citizens, serve the town and see, that everything is well. That's what our badge says and I follow with loyalty,"
"You were more loyal to a job, rather than an important person in your life. What's so hard on doing both?" Questioned Xander making Aman chuckle.
"Who's that?" Questioned Aman. "You don't look much wiser,"
"Eh that wasn't wisdom, just a common fact," Commented Xander watching Aman shrug his shoulders, then Ayesha took a step forward to talk to the ex.
"Listen Aman, let my friends go. They have only followed my orders, they're not guilty of anything, that happened back there," Ayesha spoke. "They only followed me, because I had blackmailed them," Ayesha made up making Aman laugh.
"Gosh, how can you make up lies so fast? Honestly, some criminals do have an impressive way to make up things quite fast," Aman commented, afterward Nick immediately took out from his jacket a gun to point at Aman, followed by the three cops by the cars do the same at Nick, while Ayesha and Xander raised up their hands in the air.
"Ok, a bullet through this guy's brain seems more, than valid for me," Xander commented making Ayesha chuckle, then shrieked as she heard Aman pull out his gun as well to aim at Ayesha making the blue-eyed rookie gasp.
"That makes us two," Nick said pointing the gun at Aman while having three cops aim at him and the ex at Ayesha. The whole group stood there frozen, waiting for somebody to make the next step, but it didn't seem like at the moment no one was prepared for the result after the one to have the courage to do so.
Inside the second ambulance, Don looked at the scenario along with Claire and Robbie, which sat inside the vehicle.
"Why aren't we doing something?" Questioned Robbie making Don shrug his shoulders.
"The road is blocked," Mentioned Don watching Claire look at the side mirror to see from behind nothing seemed to block their way. "No one's brought a gun, but Nick,"
"From looking at the side mirror, there's nothing blocking us from behind," Mentioned Claire," Just turn on the engine, I switch the gear back to reverse, then press the gas pedal," Ordered Claire.
"Now?"
"Now!" Ordered Claire watching Don turn on the engine, followed by Claire after the turn on move the gear to the R and Don pressed the pedal down to reverse back quickly watching the three police agents at the car begin to shoot at the transporter, which turned aside earning the bullets on the side of the car body.
"Guys, don't waste any munition!" Ordered Aman, afterward, Ayesha punched him one into the face, making him yelp and fall a few steps back, then growled at his ex-girlfriend. Aman raised his gun back to shriek Ayesha, along with Nick and Xander. Aman pulled the trigger followed by Xander, which jumped in front of Ayesha to catch the bullet for her on his arm and fell down in front of Nick's feet, which immediately pulled the trigger as well to watch it hit Aman on the chest and shrieked as he saw he had used a different ammo on the gun.
"Ugh Don, why did you give me the wrong ammo?" Questioned Nick annoyed, then Goodwin and Jake disappeared into their vehicle to pursue the ambulance, where Don went along with the others. Hank approached the people while holding the gun up for his own safety to see Xander move around while covering his arm, which was hit.
"Xander, why did you do that?" Questioned Ayesha watching Aman take out the handcuffs from his belt and Hank got beside Aman to look at his friend with a slightly hurt face from seeing his friend like that.
"Come on, don't worry. You'll get to see a nurse or two, that will fix your issue. Experienced ones," Commented Aman watching Hank get down to move his friend up, which yelped in pain making Hank flinch his teeth. The raven-haired man rolled his eyes, then got down to help Hank by grabbing Xander by the arms from the front, a little harshly, rather than gently due to the injury. Ayesha frowned at seeing her friend being mistreated and she moved her leg to kick Aman in his face making him fall down, while Hank jumped aside in shock and Nick aimed the gun at Hank, which moved his hands in the air. Ayesha took the handcuffs from Aman, then placed them on his hands. Aman looked up at the woman, which smirked at him, then the man looked at Hank, which had his hands up in the air as Nick had been pointing the gun at him.
"Hank, why are you hesitating? You saw their bullets weren't real ones," Warned Aman having eye contact with Hank, afterward Nick stepped the brunette man on his feet to distract him and took away the gun of the police, then did a few shots up in the air to spend them and threw the gun against the police car, which Hank followed with the eyes.
"Quick! Pick Xander up and let's get out of here," Ordered Nick opening the side door to help along with Ayesha Xander enter into the ambulance, afterward Nick ran to the opposite side to enter into the driver's cabin, then drove off leaving Aman back with Hank, which had returned to pick up his gun and miss the vehicle leave. Hank opened the door to pick up the walkie-talkie and contact the other units.
"Here's Officer Goddard. We have been tricked out and now the first ambulance is escaping in direction of Appaloosa Plains. I repeat, they're leaving town to go in direction of Appaloosa Plains,"
Inside the vehicle, Nick used his cellphone with the voice setup on to call Don on the other side of the ambulance and the call was attended by Claire, who was sitting beside Don.
"It's Claire. Don is still trying to get rid of the cops," Mentioned Claire. "I don't think we can get rid of them before arriving Riverview,"
"Ok look, I will see, if I can call Oriole Bird or Kanoa Parrott from Appaloosa Plains to see if they can let us stay in their warehouse until things get cleared out," Nick suggested. "If you four somehow make it out of there, give us a call and we tell you, what to do," Nick spoke, then heard Xander yell as Ayesha had tried to remove out the bullet with her bare fingers only. "We hopefully get there fast enough, Xander was hit by a bullet and Ayesha is trying to take it out with her bare hands,"
"Oh by the way, both vehicles have a first aid kid stored in the back, If you make it to stop somewhere you could check it out and use it. It's perfect for every occasion," Mentioned Claire making Nick nod.
"That's quite informative," Replied Nick, then he heard somebody knock on the wall behind them, shrieking Nick. "Oh Marcela, I totally forgot you were in there,"
"I'm fine. I'm glad you guys made it out of there," Commented Marcela. "I would have lost my job there, if they saw I was corrupt,"
"I wouldn't celebrate too soon. They have Bert and my daughter Holly was present as well. Of course, she didn't see anyone of you there, besides me, him, Xander, and Ayesha. But I'm certain she will be questioned and she might reveal most of us at least,"
"I'm definitely not going to return back to Sunset Valley. I've lost my only friend there and I believe I'm going to get revealed as well,"
"We're all going to have to change our routines now. I'm not sure if my wife already knows what's up, but she needs to know, soon or later the cops will show up by her house and question her as well," Mentioned Nick, then Ayesha placed her hand on Nick's hand.
"Can you go any faster? We really should stop soon with Xander somewhere," Warned Ayesha making Nick nod.
"Ayesha is right, we're going to turn off," Warned Claire, then turned the call off and Nick threw the phone at the dashboard to accelerate faster with the ambulance, then rolled her eyes at Ayesha, which was looking at Xander worried.
Later at a large lot in front of a house, which was for sale stood Nick Alto together with a blonde woman looking around the area together to see the roads were empty.
"Oriole, it's really great, that you got out of your house in the middle of the night to help us out," Nick said. "We owe you something when we redeem the relicts,"
"It's not necessary. I didn't even do anything to help you get them," Mentioned the blonde.
"You're helping us hide, You obtained the keys to the shrine here. You didn't per coincidence have a key in your pockets, didn't ya?"
"Uh the shrines aren't locked up with keys. You just pull up the wood and it's unlocked," Explained Oriole, then they heard the engine of a vehicle and they watched the second ambulance arrive. "It's them, right?" Questioned Oriole and Nick moved to the road to instruct the ambulance to turn into the path leading to the shrine, then he waved at Don, which sat in front of the steering wheel and waved back.
"Good, we're safe for now," Nick said following the vehicle along with Oriole Bird into the shine and closed the door behind them to see the ambulance, which had been there first had its headlights on to light the room and Xander lied against the wall with Ayesha try to remove the bullet out of Xander's arm, while Marcela stood beside her ready with the rest of the first aid case and a measuring cup with water.
"Are you feeling good?" Questioned Marcela watching Xander observe Ayesha remove the bullet out gently with a pincer and he flinched his teeth while seeing the ammo covered with blood, making Ayesha warp her face disgusted at it.
"You're lucky it didn't hit any of your arteries. This would have been dangerous for you and we would really need to see a doctor," Ayesha mentioned. "The one good thing is, most of us know, how to heal simple shot wounds,"
"Yeah, except the latter one most of the people rather die, than get arrested and healed," Marcela mentioned making Xander nod, then pondered about her words.
"Perhaps, I would be that person as well," Commented Xander.
"I'm certain most of us say that," Commented Nick opening the door of the second ambulance to help Claire step out, followed by Robbie and Don ran out from the other side to meet the women around Xander to take a look at him.
"You're alright?" Questioned Don making Xander nod, then gasped as Marcela gently tapped the injury with a wet towel, she had dived into the water cup. "Which smartass cop hit you with the bullet, was it Aman?" Questioned Don, then saw Ayesha nod.
"He caught the bullet for me," Mentioned Ayesha. "Aman was aiming at me and Xander got in our way,"
"He did?" Questioned Don impressed.
"Very nice. He was willing to give up your life for one of us," Nick mentioned watching Xander look at Ayesha, which smiled at him, afterward Xander avoided eye contact with her smiling embarrassed. Nick noticed Xander's reaction and smirked, understanding, there was more than just basic loyalty. Ayesha got up to watch Marcela take care of the man, then she watched Claire sit on the step of the entrance of the ambulance and approached the older woman, then got beside the ambulance to stand next to her.
"You're thinking about the girl River, aren't you?" Questioned Ayesha making Claire nod and keep her face down. "We're here for you if you want to talk about it,"
"She was like a daughter to me and now I lost her, because of this," Claire complained and covered her face to cry, making Ayesha feel bad, then caressed her on the shoulder. Ayesha heard the other door of the ambulance being opened up and watched Robbie climb into the car to turn on the radio, then turned up the volume to hear the soundtrack of the news track.
"Here's Hannah Remington with some breaking news straight coming from Sunset Valley. The famous archeologist Johnathan Lefre has been robbed by a well-thought plan tonight at the Doo Peas tower. It was discovered, that these criminals had dug from under the office their way up to the community school to transport the relics and take them. On said night there happened to be the annual prom night at the school and the thieves took the opportunity to use the school as a distraction and an easier way to enter. It was found out by one undercover cop, that at least two of the gang were dressed as teens to cover the robbery, but something went wrong and a few students had uncovered the crime. At least one student was harmed during the robbery and is interned at the hospital for future observations. At the moment, the police of Sunset Valley have caught one of the thieves and the rest of the team is still missing. The arrested culprit is the younger brother of Nick Alto, the town's prestigious businessman. Bert Alto for now has assumed to have attempted to kill one of the students to prevent him to follow the rest of the group, yet has been remaining silent during the first interrogation. According to another student, one of the other culprits of the robbery is a 40-year-old woman named Claire Ursine, a townie of Sunset Valley. The girl said to be befriended with the woman for years and it had been a shock for her to figure out someone, she knew so well would be capable of doing a crime this big," The moderator said making Ayesha move Claire's head gently towards her waist and the woman sobbed loud against her leg. "Furthermore the police had recognized a few criminals before they left and their faces were captured with the body cam. The currently known people are Alexander Clavell, a former fish monger, followed by Ayesha Ansari, a logistician of the A-plus Alto Warehouse, a company, that belonged to the businessman Nick Alto, which surprisingly happened to be one of the criminal members as well,"
Nick Alto upon hearing his name was now on the wanted list sighed and leaned his head against the wall, then was caressed on the back by Oriole.
"They haven't found us yet, Don," Commented Robbie looking at Don, which stood beside Marcela and nodded. Don's cell phone rang, then he looked at the display to see a random number, he didn't know from anywhere. Don attended it and recognized the voice.
"He's here, yes," Responded Don and reached his phone out to Nick. "It's your wife, Vita," Mentioned Don letting his boss pick up the cellphone to attend to it.
"Where are you?" Questioned Vita. "I have to know, what I shall do without you around now,"
"Look into the counter in the toilet beside our bedroom. I have hidden there a laptop case with a laptop in it. There are instructions in a PDF file, that show you how to use the stick Volly to break all the computers from the range of 10 kilometers. It will cause a high tension in the servers and break all computers from the office, the city hall, the police, and even the library. Don't worry about your documents, I made sure to keep them all saved up-to-date on the SD card of your computer. Bert and Ayesha took care of the rest. You don't need to worry about it, just the most important thing is, that our illegal business gets erased through the blackout,"
"Okay, I will follow the instructions. I'm sure tomorrow or at some point of the next 24 hours, the police will sure stay here at the door of our house," Mentioned Vita. "I will turn off the phone and get rid of it. At least until I see, what the interrogation will go like,"
"Good woman. I don't know how long I will be off or when I will be able to contact you again, we all must dive down. We're all now wanted,"
"Take the time you need, Nick. I will be waiting for you,"
"Te quiero much, Vita," Nick said, then switched to Spanish, making Don chuckle and sit down next to Xander, which had now his arm tied with a bandage.
"Before getting along with Nick, I had no idea what te quiero meant until I dated one of the Caliente sisters," Mentioned Don making Xander frown.
"I don't really want to know, what you three did before," Mentioned Xander making Don chuckle.
"Don't worry, I'm quiet," Promised Don. "As you see now, you're stuck with us," Commented Don watching a chuckle slip out of Xander's mouth.
"Well, knowing, that I'm wanted there's no motive for me to go back there anyway. I'm pretty sure my dad heard about it on the radio and is fuming," Commented Xander. "The only other persons now were Hank and Tamara. Hank of course being a cop, has for sure my name out of his list. Just Tamara remains and I'm pretty sure, she'll ignore me as well or be mad at me,"
"Isn't Tamara the chick, that led you to us?" Questioned Don making Xander nod, afterward Don smacked Nick on his leg, earning his attention. "What about Tamara Donner, the one, that told Vita about Xander? Could she help Vita with us?"
"Perhaps she could. I have to ask Vita and see if she has any idea," Nick commented making Don nod.
Ayesha made her way toward the guys, then Don elbowed Xander, which frowned at his friend's deed, and watched Ayesha get down beside Xander to check his arm.
"Does it still hurt?" Questioned Ayesha making Xander nod.
"Well no. Perhaps, if someone touches it, it might," Commented Xander, then watched Don approach his arm, then Xander head bumped Don making him yelp.
"Dude, I was about to joke!" Complained Don making Xander laugh.
"No need to laughing, you're officially wanted as well." Commented Robbie. "The radio confirmed Claire, you, and Ayesha as the criminals. Your and Ayesha's DNA happened to be found on a hat on the outside of the school," Mentioned Robbie making Ayesha remember, that she threw off Xander's head upon the arrival at the school.
"Well, that's probably my fault," Commented Ayesha looking at Xander, which shook his head.
"No, it was mine. I took it and it wasn't even part of my disguise," Mentioned Xander watching Marcela move her hand up to order them to be quiet.
"Come on, it doesn't matter now. We're all…..well without me…..are screwed up," Commented Marcela.
"She's right. We're wanted. We just gotta disappear from sight for a quite long time," Don mentioned. "Have we got an idea at the moment?"
"I'm waiting for Nick to end the call and we can see it with him," Mentioned Robbie earning a nod from Claire.
"I think we can stick together as well. I don't think it's so easy to be all alone hiding from justice knowing, that we're wanted. At least, this is what I think," Commented Ayesha.
"I would feel the same, to be honest. Mostly I have never been alone in a chaos like this and I'd really like to be at least with a few of you around," Stated Xander making Ayesha nod.
"By the way, I meant to say this a while ago. The fact, that you jumped in front of me to spare my life from a bullet was really remarkable from you. Thank you," Ayesha said making Xander smile.
"That's what friends are for," Xander responded mirroring her facial expression.
Nick Alto ended the phone call, then knocked on the wood above the gang to obtain their attention.
"Guys, do you know a certain Kai Kahale or a Alana Kahale?" Questioned Nick watching the group shake their head. "Good Kai's the governor of an Island called Sunlit Tides and his wife happened to be friends with my wife. Just like us, she's in the corrupt business as us and she might be able to help us out along with Kai, eventually arrange for us new identities to stay undercover, until things have been cleared out. She will give them Don's number and they will contact us in the next 2-3 days, so we will know where to go or to expect them,"
"Great, see now you can keep your silly name from the prom night," Joked Don making Xander chuckle.
"I actually like the name Tyler," Commented Xander making Nick nod.
"We'll get other names there, that have nothing to do with us, don't worry. The most important thing for us is to stay offline for the others, mostly justice and familiar faces" Nick stated making Don nod.
"You know, what would have been cool, Xander?" Questioned Don placing his arm on Xander's shoulder. "If we brought the Langerak boy with us, he could have been our younger brother and we three would be a family. We were quite similar by our traits," Don mentioned making Xander laugh.
"Like the three musketeers almost," Mentioned Xander making Don nod. "I still can't see that boy as a casanova,"
"Neither do I," Commented Ayesha. "But I do have to admit, he does seem to know, how to charm a girl,"
"You found him attractive?" Questioned Xander surprised making Ayesha laugh along with Don.
"I'm pretty sure, if I was around his age, I wouldn't mind to have him around, but from knowing, that he's like Don and perhaps will be one in the future, I skip that,"
"Or one like Aman, perhaps that one is worse," Mentioned Xander making Ayesha nod.
Nick wandered off to the ambulance to talk with Claire, while Robbie stood in front of the ambulance to look at the duo. Marcela, which stood with the trio made her way to the group, then spoke at Nick, which paid attention to her words. Xander looked at them talking, then gazed at Ayesha, which observed them talking with a small smile, then Xander pondered about, what he should say.
"You know…...why do I feel, like you're not quite sad to be here locked with us all?" Questioned Xander making Ayesha smile, so Xander realized, that he was right about it.
"They're basically my family," Confessed Ayesha. "They're probably the best persons to be locked up with somewhere. I feel that's the same with you, right?"
"Yes," Admitted Xander. "And…..I'm not sure, if that's weird, but….I have been spending a quite amount of time with this group and you…..I have realized, that I had fallen in love with you," The blue-eyed man confessed making Ayesha smile and Don grinned glad to see the man had been able to easily confess his interest toward the woman. Ayesha chuckled, then got up, leaving Xander back a little confused.
"That's great," Responded Ayesha looking back at the man, which had no idea, what had just happened. "Work harder pretty boy. You will also get there," The woman said teasingly departing towards the group, passing by Nick, which had distanced himself from the others to see her pass by with a smirk, then he looked down at the two men.
"What did just happen?" Questioned Nick watching Xander shrug his shoulders perplexed, then Don placed his hand on Xander's shoulders.
"Dude, I don't understand women, mostly her sort, but one thing I know is, that she digs you too," Commented Don. "She teased you back. That's a good thing,"
"She told me to work harder as if I had to train to….oh…." Xander commented understanding, that she had actually an interest in him, but wouldn't just let him get to her so easily. "Now this is what taking the time means,"
"Just keep patience, brother. One thing for sure is, that it's better for a romance to work between one of us, rather than the alternative she had before," Mentioned Nick. "It's safer for the gang," Commented the Spaniard, then Xander glimpsed at Ayesha, which stood there leaning against the ambulance listening to Marcela talk, then Nick sat down next to Xander and placed his hand on the man's back.
"Keep up your head. The more you two spend the time together, the more reasons you will get to see, why you want to be on her side. One of thousand things you learn from love," Nick commented earning a smile from Xander, which took out from his jacket his wallet and opened it to look up at the picture he had of his wife when she was a little younger and their common daughter, which was a child on that time. Nick sank his head down, then patted the image with his thumb beginning to miss them.