No Ordinary Man - Chapter Six
Hey guys!
Sorry this took so long, I'm afraid life got in the way again 😔
Anyway, don't let me keep you waiting. Read on!
As Tommy drove to the meeting spot with both his sons in the car, he prepped himself for the confrontation surely heading their way.
At the moment, the plan was to lie in wait until the blackmailer appeared, then rush them and hold them down.
The next part of the plan was to move the blackmailer away to a quiet place where they could ask them why they were doing this- but of course, they would have to move quickly, especially if the blackmailer ended up being armed. The corner of Grant and DeWalt street wasn’t exactly an isolated area, so the sound of gunfire would surely alert somebody, whose next move would be to call the police.
As the thought of Kevyn crossed his mind, Tommy felt himself wince. Of course, he didn’t really know what his schoolmate-turned-detective intended with Natalie… but Tommy knew his wife certainly wouldn’t want him to hurt Kevyn in any way.
Best make sure we do this quietly, then, Tommy thought, as they arrived at their destination.
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In the end, it had been almost insultingly easy for Misty to jam the sedative in Jessica Roberts’ leg, then bring her to the basement in Misty’s house.
Of course, Jessica had screamed her head off at first once she woke up, but since then they had gotten to the point where Misty had been able to remove the tape from the nosey journalist’s face, while Misty watched While You Were Sleeping on the spare TV she had kept in her basement.
Of course, she was doing this to scare the journalist by being overly casual, but it really was one of Misty’s favourite movies. It had come out in the year before the plane went down, and Misty still remembered how enamoured she had been by Bill Pullman when she saw it in the movies.
She had been looking forward to seeing him again in Independence Day, but of course, that particular movie hadn’t come out until the week after they crashed in the wilderness-
“What do you want from me?” She heard Jessica ask.
Misty turned back around. “Well… I want you to tell me the truth.”
“Okay”, Roberts replied. “Your haircut is unflattering.”
“Hmm”, Misty murmured. She had been secretly hoping it would go this way. “If the easy way isn’t gonna work… is there something else I should try?”
She let the silence hang between them for a moment, before she carried on.
“The reason you’re here is simple- I’m protecting my friends. Tommy seems to think you’re not a threat, but, well… I have my doubts.”
She paused again, waiting for a reply, but Roberts didn’t give one.
“You see, I put all the pieces together, and all roads lead to you. You’ve been blackmailing us, and stalking us- and I know you killed Diego Ibarra.”
Misty was hoping her statement would generate a look of surprise on the journalist’s face, followed by the question ‘how did you know it was me?’”
Instead, Roberts merely laughed, much to her annoyance.
“Wow. This is insane. Blackmail? What are you even thinking? I did not kill any-”
“It doesn’t matter”, Misty interrupted. “We both know what you did.”
“No, you think it was me. If you really knew… I wouldn’t be here.”
Misty gazed at the reporter. “You seem surprisingly calm, by the way.”
“Not the first time I’ve been held hostage” Roberts replied, without missing a beat.
“Cool”, Misty replied, but their small talk was already boring her. “How did you know about the symbol?”
“What symbol? All I know… is Taissa Turner hired me to look into everyone who made it back from the wilderness because someone is blackmailing her. She was worried that someone was threatening to talk, and threaten her campaign.”
Misty tried to process this new shocking bit of information.
“Who’s blackmailing us, then, if it’s not you?”
“No, no, no”, Roberts replied, and Misty was surprised to see a tiny smirk appearing on her face.
“You see, that is what we call leverage in my line of work. Let me go, and I’ll tell you everything I know. We’re actually on the same side, Misty- we should be partners on this, and find out who’s blackmailing you together. Right?”
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To be clear, Jessica was perfectly aware that if Misty Quigley was willing to drug her and chain her up, she was probably willing to do a whole lot more to her besides.
Now feeling absurdly relieved that she had sent the message to Tommy Scott before approaching Quigley, Jessica kept the fake smile plastered on her face as the former Yellowjacket asked her next question.
Well, maybe not quite a Yellowjacket, but still…
“What happened to the last person who held you hostage?” Quigley asked.
In fact, the last time Jessica had been a hostage was in the summer of 2008, during a training exercise in her time as a medic.
There was no need for her would-be captor to know that, of course, so Jessica simply shrugged.
“They lived happily ever after”, she answered Quigley, but the other woman simply scoffed.
“This is fun”, Quigley said, before slapping Jessica across the face. Hard.
Ouch, she thought, as the tape went back over her mouth.
“But you’re wrong”, Quigley went on. “You only have leverage if I am not willing to make you talk… which, in this case, means that you have no leverage at all.”
As Jessica saw her begin to walk back up the stairs, she felt the cold hand of fear clench around her heart.
Is it the afternoon, yet? PLEASE let it be the afternoon.
Right now, the knowledge that Tommy Scott would come to her rescue soon was the only thing keeping Jessica from screaming through the tape.
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As Tommy and the boys arrived at the drop-off sight, they quickly took stock of the area.
There was a homeless man pushing a cart, but other than that…
“Nothing”, Liam said. “Are we sure this is the right place?”
“Yes. Stay in the car”, Tommy said, ignoring the boys’ protests as he quickly stepped out of the vehicle, walking across to the clothing donation bin while keeping his head on a swivel.
He hadn’t seen been anywhere near conflict for the better part of a decade now, not since he left the Agency behind, but he could feel the electricity in the air, and for the first time tonight, Tommy realised he was… what was he right now?
Excited. He felt excited at the thought of getting into a fight, after all this time away from the action. What on earth did that say about him?
It says something that I am NEVER telling Natalie, that for goddam sure, Tommy thought, as they drove away to wait for the bag to be picked up.
Of course, there was no actual money in the bag. The contents within the bag Tommy had just dropped off mostly consisted of old books, leftover towels, various packets of hydrolyte powder… and one tracking device, wrapped up in one of the towels.
It had been surprisingly easy to order off of Amazon, in the end, and what that said about the state of modern-day society, Tommy really didn’t want to consider…
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Of course, the man had been taken aback when he saw the Scott patriarch drop the bag in the donation bin.
It had been… a while since he last saw the man, but Tommy Scott didn’t really seem all that different from last time.
It was hard to see through his night-vision goggles, but the former SEAL still looked as fit and alert as he surely must have been when he was still on active duty.
Had he come alone? Had he not brought the boy, even as backup? It certainly looked like it. The man was no stranger to the arrogance of special operators, but he had expected Scott to be a little more cautious. After all, that was why the man had not come alone, but as he looked around at the three he had brought with him, he felt that maybe he had not needed them after all.
Then as the man took off his goggles, and began to head towards the donation bin, another thought crept through his brain, and he flattened himself against the ground.
It was, of course, entirely possible that Scott had made himself look vulnerable to draw him and his compatriots forward.
Maybe he should wait a little longer, just to be entirely sure that Scott wasn’t trying to trap him and his friends…
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“I don’t get it. The guy said show up at two am, right? It’s half past three now. What are they waiting for?” Jacob heard Liam ask.
He rolled his eyes. Had his brother really not learned anything, in the time he had spent as a Ranger?
“They’re probably doing reconnaissance around the place, making sure we’re not doing… well, exactly what we’re doing now”, Jacob answered, motioning towards his brother, and his dad.
Tommy Scott had not moved a muscle in the last hour, and Jacob wondered what was going through his mind.
“Maybe they’ll find us”, Liam spoke up. “I’m pretty sure we’d have it handled.”
It was hard to disagree with that assessment. All three of them were wearing Kevlar underneath their shirts, and carrying loaded Beretta pistols. Of course, Jacob would have preferred to bring his sniper rifle as well, but it would be far too conspicuous in a suburban area, even at 3 o’clock in the morning.
They were also carrying plastic zip ties for binding the blackmailer’s hands and feet, and knives as well, in case they had to get up close and personal for this.
Jacob really hoped they wouldn’t, for what it was worth. In all of human history, no weapon had ever served them better in close-range confrontations than a simple knife, but that didn’t mean Jacob was in a hurry to use his on another human being, even if they were blackmailing his family.
“Maybe we should talk about something to pass the time”, his dad spoke up.
“Like what?” Liam asked.
“Like… what the hell happened to your hands, for one thing? Because if I didn’t know better… it looks like you got in a fight.”
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Liam cursed. He had tried to treat his bruised knuckles without anyone noticing, but he should have known his dad would be too sharp to miss them.
“What, Maggie didn’t tell you? Some assholes tried getting handsy with her and Callie Sadecki at the Halloween party, and Liam laid them out cold”, Jacob said, with what sounded like pride in his voice.
Their dad turned around his seat to look Liam in the eye.
“Is that true?”
“Uh… yeah, it is”, Liam said, trying not to squirm at the look in his dad’s eyes.
“I know it wasn’t ideal, but they… well, I know how this must make me sound, but they started it, okay? I just…”
“Finished it?” Tommy Scott answered for him.
“Yeah”, Liam mumbled, looking down.
“Good, then. I know we’re not supposed to endorse violence, but I’m pretty sure we all know is solves its share of problems-” his dad started to say, before Jacob directed their attention to the screen on Tommy Scott’s phone.
“Look, he’s moving”, Jacob said, as Liam heard their dad start the car.
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As the man pulled the bag out of the bin, he wondered if it really did contain the money they had asked for.
The money wasn’t why they were here, of course, but it wouldn’t exactly hurt their cause either.
Then as the bag was opened up, he was extremely confused by what it really did contain.
Books? Towels? What the hell is he playing at?
It made no sense. Tommy Scott was nowhere in sight. Was he waiting for them, somewhere? How on earth was he supposed to even catch them at this distance?
Then as one of the towels was unfurled, a small rectangular device fell onto the ground.
The man had a small inkling of what it was, and as said inkling was confirmed, he felt himself smile.
Not quite fifty grand, no, but this’ll do, as far as the REAL reason why we’re here.
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As Tommy drove in the direction of the now-moving bag, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he saw a truck pull in front of them.
What on earth was going on? Was the driver the blackmailer? He didn’t look like anyone Tommy knew, but as he parked the car, and stepped out of the vehicle, he suddenly got the feeling he was being watched, as he looked towards the building next to them, suddenly seeing the outline of a man crouching on the roof.
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As the sniper saw Thomas Scott look right into his eyes, he cursed before he spoke into his radio.
“He’s seen me. Taking the shot now.”
“No, don’t shoot! We need him-”
But the sniper had learned through bitter experience to never hesitate when a target had spotted him, so he tightened his finger on the trigger, a split second before he saw Scott duck.
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Tommy had never been religious, but from that day forward, he would never forget to thank the powers that be for muscle memory.
A split second before he heard the first shot crack off, his long years of training and battle experience kicked in, and Tommy ducked, feeling the bullet pass over his head before he heard it slam into the wall.
Sniper. It’s an ambush!
As Tommy sprinted towards the door of the building next to him, he saw Jacob run up next to him, as Liam made to follow.
Then as Tommy looked forward, he suddenly saw a man in a black balaclava rush into the nearby store… carrying the bag he had stored in the donation bin.
“Follow me!” Tommy said to Jacob, before he heard the second shot go off… right in the direction of where his youngest child was heading.
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As Liam ran to join his father and brother, he heard the crack, and flattened himself against the ground, before quickly scurrying back to the car, as the crack of another bullet whistled over his head.
As his own training kicked in, he quickly flicked the safety off of his Beretta, peering over the bonnet of the car as he fired several shots in the direction of the sniper.
There was silence for a moment, and Liam held his breath as he waited behind the car.
“Take the keys! Drive around the front of the building!” He heard his father roar, a split second before Liam heard the car keys clatter next to where he was kneeling.
Though the sniper would have likely left by now if Liam hadn’t hit him, the youngest Scott took no chances as he kept himself down, carefully climbing into the vehicle as he started it up.
This certainly isn’t how I expected this night to go, he thought, as he began to drive in the direction of the store’s front entrance.
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He knew things had gone to hell. He knew the smartest thing to do at this point was to cut his losses, then jump back in the car and leave.
But as Tommy Scott ran into the building, with a gun in his hand and blood pounding in his ears, he was more alive than he had felt in a long, long time.
He had missed this, far more than he knew.
As Jacob and he entered the building, Tommy motioned for Jacob to head off to the side, flanking their fleeing target so they could cut him off at the front door.
They were getting close, now. Almost within striking distance…
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In the days ahead, Jacob would look back on this moment and curse himself for not realising the trap he and his father had so willingly walked into.
As he ducked behind a rack of clothes so the blackmailer wouldn’t see him, the breath was driven out of Jacob’s lungs as a third attacker drove into him, knocking him clear off his feet, as Jacob swore out loud, in the moment before he twisted out of the attacker’s embrace and headbutted him directly in the nose, before he felt the weight of a massive fourth attacker close in behind him.
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As Tommy hared towards the blackmailer, he caught him less than a metre from the door, quickly immobilising him as he bundled him up with the zip-ties.
Then as Tommy hauled the struggling, smaller man to his feet, he wondered where Jacob could have got to- in the moment before he turned around, and saw what awaited him.
Tommy felt his blood turn to ice as he saw Jacob struggling in the arms of a much larger man, who had his arms in a chokehold position around Jacob’s throat.
“Let. Him. Go”, Tommy snarled, as he brought his pistol around, pointing it at the temple of the man he was holding with his other hand.
“Don’t think I won’t do it-”
“Oh, we know you are willing to do it”, he heard another voice sound out, as a man stepped out in front of Tommy.
He was dressed in black from head to toe, the same as his friends, but that wasn’t the weirdest thing about him.
The tone coming from the other man’s mouth sounded distinctively deep, and Tommy realised he must be wearing a voice modulator.
“We know who you are”, the man said in his modified voice. “More importantly, we know who you were, so… let’s not do anything we might regret.”
“I have done many things I regret. Killing the bastards blackmailing my family will not be one of them”, Tommy spat, as he felt his captive begin to struggle in his arms.
“Oh, that? It’s nothing personal… well, no, that’s actually incorrect. It’s extremely personal”, the other man said.
“Okay, then… why is it personal, anyway?” Tommy asked, trying to keep him talking.
A plan was starting to brew within his mind… and it all depended on Liam.
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As Liam drove around the front of the building, he saw that nobody had come out of it, yet.
Dad and Jacob must still be in there, he thought, as he hurried towards the door, holding his pistol out in front of him as he prepared to make his entry.
Taking a breath, he quickly pushed his way inside, holding his weapon inside of him as he saw his dad with his back to him.
“Liam, shoot them!” His dad yelled, ducking down as Liam saw Jacob held in the arms of another man, with a second standing next to them.
Liam didn’t hesitate- as he held his pistol out and fired in the direction of Jacob’s captor, watching the man stumble back in pain.
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As Jacob felt the blood splash on his face, he twisted and wriggled his way out of the larger man’s arms, making a direct beeline for the one who was clearly in charge, as Jacob saw him point his weapon in the direction of his father.
Whoever he was, he never saw Jacob coming, as the younger man collided with him, driving the both of them into the ground.
“I know who sent you. And I am never going back to her”, Jacob snarled, as he saw his opponent act with surprise.
“She only wants-”
But whatever it was that Charlotte Matthews wanted, Jacob would not find out that night, as his father suddenly appeared, grabbing onto his opponent and wrestling him to his feet.
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The one he had captured was beginning to struggle again, so Tommy threw him in Liam’s direction.
“Handle him!” he yelled at his son, before heading towards the other man, hauling him up by his collar.
“Who are you? Who sent you-”
But Tommy was interrupted by the biggest of the blackmailers suddenly crashing into him, blood dripping from where Liam had fired into his shoulder.
It was there that Tommy directed his attention, driving his thumb into the bleeding hole as the other man howled, but did not let it distract him as his fingers started to wrap themselves around Tommy’s throat.
As he felt the air begin to close off from his lungs, Tommy scrabbled for the knife he had holstered on his belt, hoping beyond hope that he would be able to reach it in time.
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When Liam had seen his dad throw the blackmailer in Liam’s direction, there was a moment where he was at a loss as to what he should do.
“Look, if you just stay still, we can-”
Then Liam heard the plastic ties fall to the ground behind the man’s feet, a split second before he thrust the knife he was holding directly at Liam’s throat.
Liam barely had time to admire his opponent’s ingenuity at hiding a knife in his sleeve as he ducked out of the way, before he hit his opponent on the wrist, making him drop his weapon.
As the man cried out in pain, Liam hesitated for a split second- which was more than enough time for what appeared to be the smallest of the blackmailers to punch him square in the nose.
As Liam stumbled back, clutching at his nose, he suddenly felt insulted- and most of all, angry.
How dare these people come to his home? How dare they threaten his family?
The other man threw another punch at him, which Liam barely even registered as it bounced off his chest.
His opponent might be small and fast, but there was a reason why so many sports had different weight classes. And this guy was definitely not in his class, as Liam Jonathan Scott roared into battle, the blood pounding in his ears.
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As the man went back to fighting Jacob Scott, he suddenly saw his opportunity.
The others were preoccupied- which meant here was his chance.
As he quickly absorbed the blows Jacob was throwing at him, he charged at the younger man, wrapping him in a chokehold and dragging him towards the back exit, ignoring the kicks and punches Jacob was throwing his way, which were rapidly growing feebler as he cut off Jacob’s supply of air. They were mere flea bites compared to what he had suffered before, anyway, so he pushed through the pain as he kept moving towards the door.
The man driving the truck outside must have heard the gunfire, so the police were surely on their way by now.
There couldn’t be much time left, but if their sniper had had the sense to bring the van around the back exit-
Then he heard a howl, a horrible crack which sounded like a branch breaking, and the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching him.
Big footsteps, from what he could hear.
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Tommy drove the knife into his opponent’s leg over and over again, feeling the blood pour out, but the bigger man’s grip did not relent, as Tommy’s vision grew darker.
In a last-ditch attempt, he dug the blade into the man’s leg once more, and began to move it around, as he heard the horrible squelch of the man’s flesh against the metal.
The man threw his head back as he howled in pain, and through his dissipating vision, Tommy saw his opening, as he thrust the palm of his free hand forward, smashing it into the base of the man’s chin.
As he heard the crack which told him the man’s neck had broken, Tommy finally managed to throw him off of himself, his vision clearing just in time to see Liam charging past him.
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As Liam punched the man square in the jaw, knocking him into a coat rack, he looked over just in time to see his dad break the biggest blackmailer’s neck, while their leader dragged Jacob away.
Liam rushed towards the two of them, watching as the man pushed his brother away before Liam was on him.
It was a flurry of arms and legs after that, as Liam and the other man tussled on the ground, before his father came to help.
“Stop! Stop, Liam, stop!”
“What?! Why?!” Liam bellowed at him, before he heard the noise.
Police sirens. SHIT!
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It was all a blur after that, to be honest, as Jacob stumbled into the car, their dad driving them away before they quickly pulled into a kerb, ducking down no more than a few seconds before they heard a police car pass them by.
There was a brief moment where they stayed down, catching their breath, before they all slowly rose up again, one by one, as they made sure there were no cops nearby before their dad started to drive them home.
“I think we’ll be okay. We didn’t leave any of our DNA on the floor, so… hopefully they won’t trace this back to us”, Jacob heard his dad say, though he could see Tommy’s Scott’s face was ashen.
The attackers had left their DNA on the floor, though, Jacob remembered.
Let’s hope they’re not caught by the police, he thought, as Liam, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, began digging through the bag full of various junk they had brought with them.
Jacob’s brother had made sure to grab the bag before they left, and as Liam dug through it, Jacob saw him pull the tracker out, much to his relief.
“I will tell your mother about this, okay? It’s probably best if it comes from me”, their dad said. Jacob nodded in agreement, before he heard his brother speak.
“Probably for the best. That way, she’ll only be killing one of us”, Liam said.
The comment was so unexpected, so unlike his brother, there was a shocked silence in the car as Jacob and Tommy Scott stared at the youngest member of their family.
Then Jacob started to grin, as his dad quickly followed suit, and before long, the silence was replaced with hysterical, side-splitting laughter, the kind that only came someone’s way after a near-death experience.
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In the blackmailer’s van, meanwhile, laughing was the last thing any of them felt like doing as they quickly drove away, back towards the compound.
As their leader cradled his compatriot’s head on the backseat, he found himself in a daze as he wondered how on earth things could have come to this.
Each member of their four-man team had been chosen for his extensive combat experience. He, of course, had come from the special operations community.
The man whose head he was currently cradling had done three tours of Afghanistan as the leader of a machine-gun squad with the Marines.
Their sniper had come from the Marines as well, and while the smallest member of their squad had been a simply infantry soldier with the Army, he had spent enough time in combat to garner the respect of anyone who had fought in the Global War on Terror.
The infantry soldier was the one currently driving the car, despite the broken jaw the team’s leader suspected he had suffered, courtesy of the youngest Scott.
Unfortunately, said soldier was the only one still in a position to drive, because their sniper was out of it as well.
When Liam Scott had returned fire at him, he had hit the sniper right in his arm, and judging by the way he was unable to move his fingers, it was extremely likely that the bullet had broken his humerus.
Fortunately, the sniper’s training had kicked in, and he had quickly wrapped a tourniquet around his arm, before using the hand he had left to pick up his weapon, leave the building he had been standing on, and drive the car one-handed towards the back exit, opening the van’s door just in time for them to throw their wounded colleague in the back seat.
The sniper was currently sitting across from them, as he glared at his leader.
“What the hell even was that, man? You said the dad was a SEAL- why the hell didn’t you tell us the boys were trained as well?”
“I didn’t know”, the team leader replied. It was true, but… he should have realised the sons of Tommy Scott, of all people, would have military experience as well.
It was getting hard for him to breathe, and he wondered if Liam Scott hadn’t cracked his ribs during their brief tussle.
It certainly felt that way, he thought, as he winced at the pain that was growing in his chest.
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As Tommy and the boys arrived home, they quickly and quietly snuck into their beds, as Tommy fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
He woke to find a pair of soft, warm lips against his, as he smiled against Natalie’s mouth, while she leaned into him.
“Are you alright?” She whispered. “How did things go last night? Did you catch the guy?”
“No, he… he brought friends. And they… well, I might as well tell you now… They shot at us.”
He saw Natalie’s eyes widen.
“I’m… I’m sorry, they what?!”
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Things were tense at breakfast that morning, as Natalie found herself in a state of shock at the realisation of how close half her family had come to dying the previous night.
As she looked at the boys, Jacob finally spoke up.
“Um, just so you know… last night, when I was tussling with that guy in charge, I said… well, I wasn’t sure if Charlotte sent them, so I said I wasn’t going back to her, and he said… well, he only started to say she only wanted something, before… before Dad got there.”
As the silence fell in the wake of Jacob’s statement, Natalie bowed her head as she felt the tears behind her eyes.
“I mean… it makes sense. The sniper shot at Dad. He shot at Liam, too, when he tried to follow us. But not me. He could have, when I ran to follow Dad… but he didn’t-”
“Okay. That’s enough”, Natalie heard Tommy silence their son, as she felt her husband’s hand clasp around hers underneath the table.
Natalie squeezed his hand in thanks. At least they knew, now. At least it had been confirmed.
Natalie did not take comfort in that. But she did take comfort in the fact that whatever came their way… the Scotts would be united against them.
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Tommy had closed his shop again for the day, but as he finished his lunch at home, he suddenly remembered Jessica’s message.
Quickly pulling his phone out of his pocket, he saw that Jessica had not messaged him to say that she was okay.
Tommy called her phone, just in case, but it went straight to voicemail.
He let out a sigh, as he felt the weight of a brand-new problem upon his shoulders.
Misty fucking Quigley… what on earth have you done, now? Tommy wondered, as he began to walk outside, towards his car.
Well, well, well! How did we like that!
Liam has to be the MVP of this episode, it's honestly no contest. Wounding all four members of the blackmailing team- come on! Are you kidding me?!
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this! Next chapter coming soon! 😊 ❤️
P.S. Who would you guys get to play the Scott children? I personally am leaning towards Molly Gordon as Katie, as I absolutely loved her in the Sheep Detectives (that movie will rip your heart out over and over again, by the way 😢) and Jacob Elordi as Liam (because, you know... he's massive, just like our boy).
Anyone you can think of, let me know! ❤️ 💙 💚
