Warning. Über badassery. And a familiar face!
Jack watched Sophie in the seat opposite him on his brother's favourite private jet. Something was different between them, Jack didn't know what, but he was certain Sophie could feel it too.
They'd be landing in Venice soon and Jack grimaced. Something must be really amiss if Jim wants him and Sophie with him on a job, and Jack knew exactly what that meant. Jim wouldn't admit it but Jim did truly care for Jack. And he obviously adored Sophie (who didn't?) so their safety was Jim's priority. And his eyebrows. So the idea that they'd be safest with Jim was absurd.
Jack's gaze trailed Sophie's features and his stomach turned.
He didn't want Sophie hurt.
When Paul was doing what he was doing to Sophie that night, it wasn't just the fact he was touching and kissing her that compelled him into driving him away. It was also the pain; the possibility that Sophie was hurting made an instinct in Jack snap. And now she was being thrown into more danger than what she could ever dream about being in.
And she was excited.
"Sophie? Sophie wake up. We're in Venice." Jack gently rocked Sophie's shoulder; she'd slept like a rock throughout more or less the entire flight.
"Hm?" Sophie mumbled and realized what Jack was saying. They were in Venice. Sophie rose from her curled sleeping position with a stretch and gave a half-conscious smile to Jack, suddenly realizing they were no longer inside the jet.
"We're in the car. You really do sleep like a log."
He's wearing that look again Sophie thought. The look where he seemed confused, like he didn't understand something. And Jack understood everything, he was a genius. So what was puzzling him?
Sophie rubbed her eyes and looked out of the windows of the car, the beautiful landscape that was Italy rolled over Sophie's vision, the sky was clear and the sun radiating down on the land below. The dusty streets were quietly occupied with few people strolling about their lives, some alone, some with their family. Hm. Old cream buildings loomed above the water that ran throughout the city with water cars and Italian men rowing a couple happily under a crumbling but captivatingly stunning bridge that by the looks of the direction they were heading in the car would soon cross.
"It's really beautiful, isn't it?" Sophie asked, tearing her eyes away from a family sitting on a wooden boat to look at Jack sitting parallel to her.
Jack didn't reply, just slowly nodded and stared at the driver in front of him with his eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched slightly. Licking his lips, Jack tore his gaze from the back of the faceless driver's head to press a button which raised a soundproof screen, separating Sophie and himself from the driver in front.
"We're being abducted." Jack sucked his bottom lip with a creased brow and finished the sentence bluntly, raising his gaze to Sophie to observe her reaction.
"What? That's insane. No we're not? Are we? Why would you think we are?" Sophie prodded Jack's upper arm to gain his undivided attention. What was he saying?
"That driver, he's not one of ours. And Jim wouldn't send us someone we didn't know in a foreign country." Jack was speaking in a tone she'd only heard Jim use. It was Jim's business, Jim's 'serious business' voice, and it struck Sophie that Jack had made a point. She'd never seen that driver before, and he wasn't wearing the usual attire their chauffeurs did, so it was plausible.
"Are you sure? We can't go jumping to conclusions." Sophie gnawed on her bottom lip. If they were being abducted, who could it be? No one in their right mind would cross Jim Moriarty unless they had the power to do so. So if they were in danger it was big people taking them.
"When you were asleep and we landed, I carried you out the jet. We were in a secluded area, no houses. No markets. No stalls. Nothing but the car and the driver." Jack raised his eyebrows and eyed the seat where the driver sat. "Strikes me as suspicious, don't you think?"
"Well what are we supposed to do? Jim must've sent us a car. If this guy is really taking us..." Sophie's voice dropped, instinct telling her if they were in danger, the driver was likely to be listening into their conversation, no matter the soundproof screen. "… What happened to him?" She didn't need an answer; she knew exactly what had happened to him.
"There's already trouble since Jim's bringing us here." Jack rose his head and hit face lit up, he had an idea. "Take your seatbelt off."
"Sophie looked up and saw Jack's beaming face. "Because…?" She didn't know why, but she found herself undoing her seat belt and following Jack's command.
"You don't want to be abducted, do you?" Jack smirked at Sophie and undid his own.
It struck Sophie at that moment what they were going to do. She nodded slowly and licked her lips, she understood exactly what was about to happen. Without words, Jack pressed the button which separated them from the driver, opening it and confirming Sophie's suspicions. Jack said nothing but turned, Sophie doing the same. They sat facing straight forward, and Sophie watched Jack's hand raise slowly off his leg. He was sat directly behind the driver, and there was a gap between the driver's seat and the car door for Jack to just about fit his hand through. He paused and met Sophie's gaze, catching her eye and switching his gaze to the driver's seatbelt. They'd only have a few seconds to do what they were about to. Sophie watched as Jack slowly edged his hand closer to the front car door, the driver completely oblivious to what was going to happen.
Sophie slowly began to raise her own hand and edge it closer to the seatbelt which held the driver in place.
"One…" Jack's voice was a whisper, he wasn't removing his gaze from the front car door and it was only just audible to Sophie.
"Two…" Sophie replied as she braced herself, this had to go exactly right.
"Three." Their voices rose in unison as Sophie dived forward and pressed the button of the driver's seatbelt, releasing it in one quick move and bracing herself as she heard the car door opening. In a second the driver's door was open. It was now or never.
Sophie dived forward to push the driver's arm to get him out of the car, until she saw his swiftly producing a gun from underneath the driver's seat. Time stood still as a bullet fires out the passenger seat window, smashing it and sending shards of glass out onto the streets.
Sophie grit her teeth and realized if she didn't act herself and Jack were going to die. Pushing her whole body forward, clasping her hands around the driver's gun wielding arm and felt her whole body move though the car was the driver tried to fight off her grasp. It was like she was holding on to a tightrope that was on the verge of snapping. The driver was strong and her arms were shaking with the grip she held onto his arm.
"Bitch." The driver grit his teeth and yanked Sophie through to sitting in the passenger seat and managed to free her iron grip from the gun.
Sophie never imagined that her life would flash before her eyes when she was on the verge of death, but it did. Her parents on Christmas moving. Waving a final goodbye to Sebastian when he left. Her first day of school. Jack punching Paul. Jim hugging her before he left. Seeing Seb for the first time since he left. Being told her parents had passed away.
Her eyes widened as she saw another pair of arms emerge from behind the driver just as the trigger was pulled. Jack had his teeth bared as he watched the bullet narrowly miss Sophie's head and fly out into the nothingness that was outside. It was like something hand been pumped into his system and that was all he knew.
In a swift action Jack forced the gun down onto the drivers knee and pulled the trigger down, sending the bullet directly into the driver's knee and causing a scream of agonising pain. Jack forced himself forward from the back seats and watched Sophie use her legs to kick the driver out of the car door.
Jack leapt from the front and sat in the driver's seat, grabbing the wheel and taking the car door and slamming it shut.
"Sophie get ready!" Jack's voice was a shout as he gripped the driver's wheel and stared out into the open space ahead of them.
"Jack do you even know how to drive?" Sophie steadied herself in her seat and looked out in front of her. They were in the middle of a huge deserted area, no people but a great river ahead of them, and Sophie knew exactly what was coming.
Jack steered the wheel as he sped up the car and revved the engine as he directed the vehicle straight forward, the lake getting closer and time growing thinner. Jack's arms left the wheel and from instinct he took Sophie's hand tightly in his. "Brace yourself and don't let go!" The lake was getting nearer and Jack leaned over Sophie's body for the car door. He pulled the handle and held Sophie close to him and left her adjust her positioning as they pushed in unison out of the car no more than five metres from the laze ahead of them.
For a few moments Sophie's vision was completely blurred, she was flying. She was falling. A burning pain overcame Sophie's leg as she hit the ground and instinctively forward-rolled and away from the car which was now crushing into the lake, broken and aflame from what Sophie wasn't sure. Sophie felt her body still moving across the sandy ground and realized her eyes were closed.
Discombobulation was all she felt. And then the horrific pain she'd felt in her leg moments ago return to her. Damn, why did I wear shorts? The world didn't exist anymore, it didn't feel like it. Her heart felt like it was about to explode with adrenaline and it came to Sophie's attention she was still. Slowly, she took a breath and stared down at her leg which sported a huge gash from her impact with the ground from her mid-thigh to her ankle.
"Sophie? Sophie are you alright?" Reality came back to her in a heartbeat as she heard Jack's voice booming towards her. Blinking harshly, Sophie stood and her gaze aligned to see Jack running towards her, sporting a similar bloody gash over his left arm and a harsh scar across his temple.
"I'm fine, I'm fine are you?" Sophie stood and looked about her, she could taste the metallic taste of blood in her mouth.
"I'm fine." Jack paused and assessed the damage to his arm and let his gaze drop to checking Sophie's leg. They'd survived. A pause arose between the teenagers as the stood to catch their breath. They'd hijacked a car, killed a man, and jumped out of a moving vehicle and survived.
Sophie looked up and met Jack's gaze and bit her lip. And they laughed. They laughed for they didn't even know how long, all they knew was laughing was releasing everything from them. The fear, the adrenaline, everything.
Sophie couldn't be certain, but it felt like they'd been laughing for an hour of just a few seconds before a pair of footsteps could be heard coming towards them. They abruptly stopped and looked up to who was accompanying them.
"Well, that just heart-warming." The man stopped about 10 metres away from the pair and watched the two turn to see him, umbrella in hand.
Eeeee! I had so much fun writing that chapter, I've been dying to let out some of Sophie and Jack's badassery! I wonder who the man with the umbrella could be, and who was abducting them? ;)