The Bartender's Daughter

Chapter 26

JACK'S POV

I heard it. I heard the scream. Her scream, it could only be her scream. I looked up from our hiding spot in the vents at Emmit who had a pained look in his eyes.

"C'mon Jack, we're almost there."

I gave a numb nod and we kept going, making our way to George's office. George was known to make a grand entrance at his parties, say hello to his guests for the length of exactly one song, and then retreat back to his office for a few hours, and then come back out again to thank his guests for coming as they left. It was his office we were making our way to now through the ventilation system, to drop in front of his office door, take out the guards, and then take George out.

Sounded easy right?

The men guarding his office were the most elite military trained men in the world. Emmit and I's job was to take them out through the vents to avoid any hand-to-hand combat. Emmit and I were good, but we weren't that good.

"Alrightyou two, are you ready? You're one vent away from the doors." Anderson told usthrough the earpieces. Emmit and I exchanged a look and nodded, crawling forward slowly, displacingour weight over the entire surface in the unlikely event it collapsed.

When we reached the next vent I crawled over it slowly to the other side and slipped off my backpack. I drew out a small little tube and screwed the two pieces together and slipped in the little dart that was coated with a type of medicine that would put you to sleep for 12 hours straight, and there was no way to wake you up until then.

Emmit took out his own and we nodded to each other. I slipped my tube through the gaps in the vent and waited as the guard turned and I blew and the dart struck him in the neck and he went down. As the second guard turned to look up Emmit blew his own dart and the next thing we knew both guys were laying slumped on the ground, breathing heavily.

Emmit unscrewed the vent and he slipped threw and I climbed down after him. The hallway was empty, the room unguarded, and the security camera by the door was disabled thanks to a brilliant Anderson. We knew that inside George's office he had a gun safe which Anderson also hacked and changed the password.

We knew he also carried a small firearm himself. So when the three of us left Alli alone that one day and she went out and got her nails done, we were meeting up with a small team of men who were just as eager to take George down as we were. They were already hired as security in the building, so had easy access to what went on in there. George only left his gun alone in the bedroom when he went to take a shower, so the day of the ball they snuck in and filled it with empty cartridges. 

Everything seemed like it would go so smoothly, but I was still on edge. If it seemed to easy, to me that meant something bad would happen.

We checked the hallway quickly before sneaking over to the doorway. Standing up straight, I grasped the door nob and turned it, striding into the room.
   George was sitting behind his desk signing a bunch of papers with a fountain pen when he looked up to see me and his eyes widened. Nathanial was standing on the side of his desk next to a high backed chair typing on his phone, but as soon as he saw my face he grinned.

  "Well hello there Jack! Long time no see!" George said, standing up.
I pulled out my gun and held it out in front of me, aiming at his chest. Emmit drew his at the same time and held Nathanial's gaze.

  "Too long." I hissed, taking a step forward.

George shrugged and put his pen away. "I really must apologize for trying to kill you all these years. But I just can't have you ruining my life's work like that." He snapped his fingers and I didn't even blink. 

I rolled my eyes. "No you're not, you asshole. You revealed in the games we played. The cat-and-mouse, back and forth, never ending. It has to stop now."

I pulled back the safety and moved my finger to the trigger.

  "Oh I wouldn't do that if I was you!" Nathaniel help up his hand and slipped his phone back into his pocket and drew out a taser instead.

   I rolled my eyes. "You brought a taser to a gun fight?"

 He grinned. "No, I brought better." He turned to chair around and Alli was sitting there, bare feet tucked under her, head slumped against the side of the chair. Her hands were tied together with a zip tie and her hair was a mess. There was a piece of duct tape over her mouth, but what got me
was her eyes. They were a little dropey, but as soon as she saw me her eyes widened in terror.

   "What...? Alli?" i turned my gaze to Nathaniel who was playing with the taser. "How."

He shrugged. "You made her upset, and literally dropped her into my arms." He looked at her and she glared at him. "I knew who she was the whole time, she just didn't know who I was. Once I got her here, it was actually pretty simple."
  He pursed his lips and frowned. "Well, she actually put up a pretty good fight. Hence the precautions."

George shrugged at his sons explanation. "You brought all this upon yourself Jack. And there's no way to fix it." He drew out a gun and aimed at me, I aimed at him, Emmit aimed at Nathaniel who had the taser pressed to Alli's throat.

  "Wait! Wait." I held up my hands and put the safety back on the gun.

  "Jack what are you doing?" Emmit hissed, not taking his eyes off Nathaniel.

I looked at Alli for a split second and her eyes were narrowed at me. She knew what I was doing, and I could feel her anger at what I was about to do.

  "Just let her go okay? It is 100% my fault she got into this mess. I met her on the beach and Cali, started working with her, brought her to London with me... Made her run away from me and right to you..." I glared at Nathaniel who just blinked at my words.
  "She doesn't deserve any of this. Just let her go, and I will stay willingly."

I felt Emmit lower his gun and I heard Anderson screaming in my ear. George's eyes widened and he smiled.

  "I'm so glad we see it the same way." He reached under his desk and hit a button and the next thing I know two men have burst into the room and I'm forced to my knees. Emmit has fired a shot at Nathaniel who hit the floor, causing Alli to leap up and snap her zip ties and tear the duct tape away from her mouth. 

  "Run Jack! Run!" She screamed. She tackled Nathaniel back to the floor as he tried to stand up, and proceeded in knocking the taser out of his hand. Emmit fired at George who took a shot to the shoulder and fell behind his desk. The men started hauling me towards a hidden door in the room that led to nothing but a dark hallway.

  "Emmit do something!" Alli shouted as Nathaniel reached frantically for the taser. 

Emmit and I made eye contact and in a split second held an entire conversation. He understood what to do, and I understood what I was doing.

I just hope it worked out well for me in the end.