Chapter 9

Mika's POV

All my senses left me when I saw Jerry get shot.

Jack was standing on Kim's lawn with Maci and I was at my front door with Jina when that black Malibu drove by. I got highly confused. Rarely does anybody unfamiliar come down this street, but that was when I saw the window roll down, the black ski mask appear and the gun come up from the depths of the car.

He raised his gun and Jack started running towards the man to deflect the shot. To my misfortune, the man fired, Jerry went down, and the guy drove off down the street. Jack got to Jerry before I could even register what happened. Jina yelled for her father who was lying on our driveway bleeding.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that black Malibu coming back, and Maci standing alone on Kim's front lawn. I opened my mouth to tell Jack that Maci might be in trouble, but no words would come out of my mouth. All of a sudden, Jack looked away from Jerry to Maci and shot off towards her, but he was too late. The masked man grabbed Maci and threw her into his car. Jack ran after them, but couldn't catch them.

My legs finally moved and I ran to my bleeding husband and pressed the towel in my hand to his bullet wound. I heard Jack yell out and he was back at Jerry's side. Jack shook his head and we both watched as Jerry's eyes slowly closed.

Nobody's POV

Hopkins, Eddie, Milton, and Kim were all waiting for Jerry on the plane, when Hopkins' phone rang. He stood up and walked to the front of the plane. After a couple of minutes Aaron came back to his seat, buckled up, and the plane started moving. Milton and Eddie looked at Hopkins confused, but Kim looked completely terrified.

Why were they leaving without Jerry? Was he ok?

"Aaron where the hell is Jerry? Why isn't he here? I only said I would go if Jerry was going!"

"Kim calm down," Hopkins said giving Kim the calm down hands.

"Aaron, I can't calm down. Why isn't Jerry coming with us? He promised he would be here!" Kim paused for a moment. "There was an accident wasn't there?" she said calmly...too calmly. Milton and Eddie watched as Kim's face paled when Aaron nodded his head. She looked at Hopkins still holding her calm composure and asked, "What happened?"

Hopkins sighed and answered, "Jerry got shot."

Milton, who was sitting next to Kim, and Eddie, who was sitting next to Hopkins, both let out a gasp. Kim, on the other hand, still looked as calm as ever, which scared Milton and Eddie quite a bit. The only time she was like this, was when she is horribly mad or completely terrified.

"Kim," Milton gently whispered.

"Yes, Milton," Kim said even calmer than before.

"Are you ok?" Eddie asked finishing Milton's thought.

"What do you think?" Kim asked yelling at Eddie. "I'm on my way to work a case that is completely terrifying me, while my best friend is hurt. I am also freaking out because I am trusting Jack, who has become a COMPLETE stranger, to watch my little girl. And I am worried that something is going to happen to me and they are going to have to tell Jack that Maci is his, and that he won't want her. I have this feeling that something is going to go horribly wrong and I won't be able to prevent it."

Milton put his arm around Kim and pulled her close. "It's all going to be ok. Don't psych yourself out. You've got this."

Kim looked up at Milton carefully. " If he screws this up...if I get myself into trouble... Make sure Jerry gets Maci. I really don't want Maci's mind any more jumbled than it already is by telling her Jack is her father."

"Mika! Mika! Mika!" Jack yelled running down the hallway of Seaford Hospital. His yelling and running was met by a couple of "Sh!s" and "Hey! Slow down!s", when he finally came to a stop by Mika. "How is he?"

Mika turned and looked at Jack with tear stained face. Jack's heart plummeted. "He's is stable." Jack's heart lifted a little.

"How bad is the damage?"

Mika wiped away more tears. "It shattered his kneecap and pierced a major artery. They were able to patch it up and he needed a knee replacement. And he lost A LOT of blood. If I hadn't been putting pressure on it before the ambulance got there, he could have died of blood loss."

Her eyes were welling up even more, and Jack gripped her in a huge hug. "He's going to be ok Mika," Jack said sighing.

"Jack?" Mika asked weakly, "Did Maci really get taken?"

This time it was Jack's turn to tear up. "I left her in the yard for two seconds. I didn't think anything would happen to her! I was at Jerry's side when he asked about Maci. I turned around and saw him take her. I- I tried to chase down the car, but I wan't fast enough. Kim is going to hate me! Hell, I even hate me right now."

Mika's motherly mode kicked into gear; she gently patted Jack's head as he cried into Mika's shoulder. "Jack, Maci's a fighter. She is going to find a way to contact us. Kim doesn't have to know yet. Let me rephrase that; she is NOT going to find out unless she comes home to a Maci-less home."

"And if that happens, I will have already changed my name to Charles Shearp, get a new passport, and I will be traveling the world as a mobile karate instructor."

Mika pulled Jack away from her, and wiped away his tears. "That's if absolutely nothing works out...right?"

Jack looked at her carefully. "Um, sure. We'll say that."

Mika looked at Jack with the most sincere look. "Jack, as soon as Jerry gets out of the hospital, we will do a complete search. We will find her."

"But what if their long gone?"

"It's a risk we'll have to take."

At that time Jina and Jason walked out of their dad's hospital room, into the waiting area. "Mom, do you want to see Dad? Jack can watch us while you go in," Jina said quietly wiping away tears from her cheeks. Jason wrapped his arm around his little sister and pulled her into a tight hug. Her tears started to fall harder, and Jason's eyes began to water

"Actually, Jack is going to go before me. He needs to talk to your father, and I want to talk to you guys."

"Mika are you sure?" Jack asked quietly.

"Yeah, I want to talk to the kids and make sure that they're ok. And I know you need to talk to Jerry about Maci"

Jason looked up at Mika confused, "What happened to Maci?"

"Ok, I'll see you guys in a second," Jack said as he walked towards Jerry's room.

Jason sat Jina, who looked like she was about to go to sleep, down in the chair next to him. After he made sure Jina was asleep, he turned back to his mother and asked again, "What happened to Maci?"

Mika studied her son carefully. He acted so much older that he was. She was proud that he was so responsible, but she was also scared that it would take away from his childhood. "Mom! What happened to Maci?!"

"Come here," Mika said waving to Jason. He walked into her open embrace and they sat down. "Something happened to Maci when your father got shot."

"What happened? Is she ok? Can I go see her? She isn't dead is she?"

"Ok sweetheart, calm down. No she isn't dead, but you can't see her." Jason looked at her still highly confused. Tears started springing up in her eyes, which made tears start to appear in the scared boys eyes too.

"Mommy, what happened to Maci?"

Jason was the big brother of the group and loved to make sure everything is ok when one of his "siblings" was hurt or scared. He made it his job to try and comfort them. But Mika winced when he said "mommy." He only said it when he was scared.

"When your father got shot, Jack came and tried to make sure he was ok."

"What does that have to do with Maci?"

Mika ignored his question and continued. "He had left Maci on the front lawn because he thought she would be ok, and he had to get to your father quickly. While he was helping your dad, the shooter got out of the car and..." Mika trailed off and the tears were coming down faster. Scared, Jason asked a little louder, "Mommy, what happened?"

Mika wrapped Jason in a hug and said, "he kidnapped her."

"What?!" Jason yelled jumping up out of his mother's grip. "She's gone? She can't be! How could Uncle Jack let that happen to her? He's supposed to be a hero. He's not supposed to let the bad guy get away, especially with someone!"

Mika jumped up and tried to calm down her son. "Jason calm down. Jack did try to get her, but the guy already had her and he drove away before Jack could get to her."

Jason looked at her, shock and rage filling his teary eyes. "He could have brought her over when he went to go help Dad. What kind of person leaves a SIX YEAR OLD unattended?!" Mika looked at her son. He had a point, but he needed to realize that there were occasions where you have to take a risk, and pray it all works out. "Jason," Mika said squatting down infront of her son and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Grown ups come across cases where they don't think about the consequences that their actions may cause-"

"I don't care! It wouldn't have taken him but all of five seconds to pick her up and bring her over!" And with that being said, he turned on his heels and huffed towards his dad's room. "Jason Blaiz, get back here now!"

Jason paused halfway down and turned around to face his mom. Mika jumped back scared, because of the look of pure hatred in her son's eyes. Jason turned back around finished his journey to his father's room. Mika sat back down and prayed that nothing too bad would come out of this.