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What is he doing here and why is he watching us so intently?
He sees me watching him, and a cruel smile parts his lips seconds before he raises a gun and a pop pierces the morning air. Glass shatters somewhere as shouts and screams come from all those in the street.
Jess and I both duck behind her car, and as she scans the area, my eyes drift over the puddle beneath her car. At first, I don’t see it, but as the little red light flickers intermittently, I realise just what I’m looking at.
“We need to get the fuck out of here now! Run, Jess. Fucking run!” I shove at her to get her moving. Finally, she bolts, and not a minute too soon.
BOOM!
The ground goes out from beneath me as the force of the blast knocks me off my feet, throwing me several feet away. Metal and glass cut and scrape against my skin as debris rains down on me, and I cover my head with my hands.
Dust plumes in the air, making it impossible to see, and I call out to Jess.
“R-Rick.” Comes a stuttered groan somewhere to the left of me at the same time my mobile starts to ring. Everything sounds far away, like when you go on a plane and your ears pop. It’s not the first time I’ve experienced a car bomb, but I sure as hell thought I was done with them when I left the army. Ignoring the phone, I crawl towards where I think Jess is, calling out to her as I go.
As the dust begins to settle, sirens blare in the distance, and I can finally see Jess.
She’s on her side with her back to the building next door, and I pray to fucking God that she wasn’t thrown against it with the full force of the blast. I’ve seen the damage caused from tertiary injuries in the field, and it’s not good. Not good at all.
Scrambling over to her, I see her breaths are laboured, and she has a wound to her temple too.
“Shit, Jess,” I curse, reaching out to brush her hair from her face. Her eyes open at my touch, and she tries to push herself up. “Hey, hey, stay still. Help is on the way. I’m here, just hold on.”
Her eyes close on a wheezy groan, and I take hold of her hand, running my thumb over her knuckles in reassurance.
I dig my phone from my pocket and see the missed calls from Seb, Ryder and my dad. Once the paramedics arrive, I step back to allow them to work and call my dad back. When I get no answer, I call Seb.
“Rick, where the fuck you been, man? There’s been an accident.”
“Max?”
“He’s okay, but your mum… She’s not doing so well, man.” I hear the worry in his voice, and I hate to have to add to it.
“What kind of accident, Seb?” I already know what he’s going say before the words even leave his mouth.
“Some sort of explosion at the house, apparently.”
“Are you there?”
“What do you think? But you need to be too, Rick.”
“I will. But it might take a while.” I hear the paramedic working on Jess mention a possible pneumothorax.
“Where are you? What’s with all the sirens, Rick?”
“Someone just took pot-shots at us and blew Jess’ car up.” I hear him curse down the line. “I need you to stay with them. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“You know I will. You think they’re connected?”
“Maybe. Call Ryder, get him and Cam there too. We need to talk when I get there.” I end the call and climb into the ambulance with Jess.
It’s been justover twenty-four hours since someone blew up Jess’ car and the explosion at my parents’ house, and I haven’t left Jess’ side.
I called my dad and spoke to Max, and they’re both fine physically as they were out when the explosion happened. My mum is in a stable condition in the ICU. She has some burns to her legs and arms and suffered a head injury as a result of being thrown by the blast. The doctors are confident that she’ll make a full recovery but are keeping her sedated to give her body time to heal. Thankfully, she wasn’t in the house but had gone out to the garden to hang her washing, and I’ve never been more grateful for my mum’s refusal to use a tumble dryer.
The door opens, and Scott walks in and hands me a coffee as he takes a seat next to me.
“Any news on Jake?” I ask him, before taking a sip of the bitter hospital slop that barely passes for coffee. In the ambulance, Jess kept saying the name Jake as she slipped in and out of consciousness. Unsure of what she was talking about, I called Scott and asked him to go to the scene and see if he could find this Jake guy.
