Chapter Thirty Two

Chapter 32

"Let's go!" Jay called out, signaling for the rest of the crew to stay behind him.
He poked his head outside and another series of shootings erupted, causing him to seek cover immediately.

"Dimitri, go over the back door through the kitchen, get Lilith and Vanessa to safety. Jem and I would gather the rest of the people to safety," Jay ordered, his voice strained as he tried to be heard over the loud whimpers of people screaming and crying.

"How do you know there's a back door?" Vanessa asked, casting a quizzical look at Jay.

"There's always an exit route in every restaurant," Jemima simply answered, her hand clutching the small pistol.

"Go! Go! Go!" Jay barked, prompting Dimitri to sprint into action as he crawled out of the vicinity with Lilith and Vanessa in the middle.

"Now what?" Jemima asked, glancing at Jay. She admired the way he was emphatic towards the innocent civilians.

"Go over there and try to get the people to the kitchen safely," Jay instructed, prompting a nod from Jemima as she rolled over to the other side.

Jemima got up, attempting to upturn a table to use as a shield but a bullet wheezed past her.

"What part of stay down do you not understand?" Jay yelled, his eyes widened in fear at the thought of a bullet nearly hitting Jemima.

"Don't yell at me! Everyone is panicking right now and your yelling isn't helping!" Jemima retorted from the corner she was crouched in.
She finally managed to upturn the table and finally got people to get behind it.

"Follow me!" Jemima barked, assessing the environment for possible signs of any imminent attack.

"Run!" She ordered the small crowd of people as soon as they were in the kitchen and one swift motion, the ground beneath her shook as everybody took off, running.

Jemima glided back into the main restaurant to help Jay, he was still crouched in the same spot.

"We can't be crouched here forever, it's an assassination and there is no way they'd leave if they don't kill us," Jemima explained, not proffering any tangible solutions.

"So what's the plan then because I'm guessing you have one," Jay demanded through gritted teeth, perspiration forming on the corners of his brows as he stared at Jemima.

"We go out there," Jemima stated simply, her ideas sounding absurd even to Jay because it resulted in him chuckling.

"Go out there? Jemima they want to kill us!" Jay stated exasperatedly. He hated feeling vulnerable and defenseless.

"Not out there but close enough to shoot and get a captive," Jemima suggested, with a wry smirk. Jay closed his eyes, momentarily considering Jemima's idea. When no other idea surfaced, he decided to go with Jemima's.

"Fuck it, let's do it!" Jay uttered, rolling over to a corner. Now the both of them were on either side of the restaurant, their breathing shallow as they locked their gazes on each other.

Jemima put out her hand, drawing the attention of one of the shooters, and just as predicted, a shot was fired in that direction.

Jay mirrored Jemima's action from his end and another shot was fired in his direction.

"Switch guns," Jemima instructed, tossing her gun in the air for Jay to catch and throwing his for her to also catch. This action elicited another shot to be fired.

"Okay, now we know that there are at least two people out there with the direction of the bullets. By my calculation, one is nowhere near the restaurant and he's the one who shot at me and at the tossed gun. The other one is just right on the other side of me and can only get a good aim at you from his angle so on my count, shoot!" Jemima instructed in a whisper, causing Jay to close his eyes as he tried to absorb everything she was saying.

"Wait, wait, wait! How do you know all these things? What if you're wrong?" Jay queried, concern etched on the corners of his face as he stared at Jemima.

"Just do it! Three! Two! One! Shoot!" Jemima barked, rolling over to the middle as she took a shot in the proposed direction of the particular shooter not in the vicinity. Jay shot on Jemima's command as well and a loud grunt, emitted from a man.

"Come on guys!" Dimitri yelled, driving the car in front of the restaurant. Jay and Jemima rushed towards it, allowing Dimitri to zoom past it and race to the house.

"Where is Lilith?" Jay asked, looking over at Jay and Vanessa, his eyes widened with aggravation.

"Relax! I called her emergency backup driver and she's on her way to your mum's now," Dimitri answered, causing Jay to visibly relax.

Jemima buried her head in her palms, still reeling from the shock of everything that had just transpired.

"What the hell just happened?" Jemima whispered, not looking up.

"Did you get the CCTV footage from the vicinity?" Jay asked Dimitri, his gaze fixed outside the window as his jaws clenched.

"This was a failed assassination but by whom?" Vanessa pondered aloud, the mystery of the situation hanging heavily above all of them.

"What if all these are linked to that night in London?" Jemima queried, the car jerking to a halt as they arrived at Jay's house.

"London was over three years ago, Jem!" Jay pointed out as they all got down of the car. Dimitri quickly activated the security system, not wanting to take any chances.

"I have a flash of the CCTV footage from the restaurant, let's go check it out in the Emergency unit and see what we can find?" Dimitri suggested, the rest of the team agreeing as they followed him to the emergency unit.

“I’ll get us snacks,” Vanessa announced as she excused herself while Jay and Jemima slumped on the couch. Jemima exhaled deeply, visibly exhausted from the attack she had merely missed.

Her mind drifted off to Alan and she made a mental note to call him after this.

“This is it,” Dimitri called as he played the footage. It showed someone with a black mask going over to the camera and spreading something that they all presumed to be oil over the lens of the camera, blurring the vision of anyone watching it.

“This is fucking useless!” Jay cursed as he got up angrily and kicked the chair in a fit of rage, causing Jemima to slightly flinch at his outburst but not averting her attention from the footage she was watching.

“Pause, zoom in!” Jemima called out, going over to the table. The footage was paused on a car parked in the corner of the restaurant.

“Zoom in,” Jemima stated, squinting her eyes to get a proper look at the plate number of the car. Jay’s attention was drawn and he went closer to them and fixated his gaze on the screen, wondering what it was that Jemima was seeing.

“Right there!” Jemima stated, pointing her hand to a portion of the screen she wanted the rest of them to focus on.

“It’s all blurry Jem,” Dimitri pointed out, raking his fingers through his hair.

“Yes, I am aware of that Dimitri but look at that image on where the plate number is supposed to be. It’s a crescent-shaped image, not the usual plate number,” Jemima pointed out, causing Dimitri and Jay to share a knowing glance.

“Snacks is here for everyone!” Vanessa announced, making her way to the center table. Jemima rushed over to her side to help her out with the items she was carrying and placed them on the table for her.

Jemima grabbed a bottle of soda from what Vanessa brought and downed it in one go.

“This shit is fucked!” Jemima lamented, pacing across the room.

“What’s the update?” Vanessa asked, stuffing her mouth with potato chips as she looked at the trio, waiting for a response from either of them.

“There is a crescent-shaped image on the plate number of the car from the footage,” Jay declared, sighing heavily as he tucked his hands into his pockets before slouching ungracefully into the couch next to him.

“That’s a lead right?” Vanessa inquired, her eyes wide with elation as she stared at Dimitri before staring at the screen.

“Wow, that’s blurry, how can anyone see through that?” Vanessa directed her question to no one in particular, slurping on her juice box.

Just then, the alarms went off and the red siren in the emergency unit began to blare, causing Jemina to wince.

“It’s a call!” Dimitri noted, pointing at the screen of the monitor as he turned off the siren and reactivated the alarms.

“Who’s calling?” Vanessa asked, cringing from the after-effect the blares of the siren left on her.

“It’s Godfather,” Jay and Jemima declared through gritted teeth, causing the rest of the team to widen their eyes in shock as they stared at the screen.

Jay answered the call and a man clad in a black leather hoodie and black mask appeared on the screen. He was called the godfather who oversaw the affairs of the different mafia rings across the world. He knew how to find people and nothing could be hidden from him.

Godfather never called except he had a special mission for the said person.

“Jay!” Godfather’s voice boomeranged across the room, his tone vicious and hidden behind a voice a changer.
Jay nodded his head in acknowledgment. You never spoke to the Godfather unless spoken to.

“SK!” He called, addressing his two most-priced assets. Jemima fought the urge to not roll her eyes as she wondered why Godfather had to be so dramatic all the time.

“You both were the target of a failed assassination and were slow in catching the culprit. I was left to get again, find them for you,” Godfather’s voice boomed as Dimitri and Vanessa watched on in awe.

Jemima and Jay kept mute, waiting for his command.

“The people who tried to assassinate you are member of an upcoming mafia ring that I did not authorize and as such you both are required to eliminate them. Note that, the head of the mafia ring is Vance Wokowski. If you thought Dennis Saunders was sly, you thought wrong,” Godfather concluded, giving out his orders.

“Where is the setting of this mission?” Jemima boldly asked, causing the heads of the others to snap towards her. She shrugged nonchalantly as she glared at the screen. She could not see the godfather’s face but she assumed he was smirking.

“London.”