Chapter 15.

Jesse had a jet-black sports car; he opened the door and I got in the front seat. Jesse got in the driver's seat and started the engine. He pulled out of the driveway and we got on the expressway. We sat in silence for quite a while. We pulled up to a stop sign when a silver jeep across the intersection ran the light and started speeding towards us. A man with black sunglasses, black hair, and a black trench coat was behind the wheel.

"Jesse… he's not stopping!!" I shouted. "Hold on," he said calmly. Jesse sped towards the silver car. "What are you…!!" I shouted at him. Jesse spun the wheel hard, making the car rotate 180 degrees. The silver car was right behind us, then I realized something. "Jesse, slam on your brakes" I shouted. "What? No!" he shouted back. "Just do it!" I yelled back. Suddenly, Jesse threw his arm across me, looked to see if I had my seatbelt on, then slammed on the brakes as hard as he could, stopping the car instantly. Jesse and I jerked forward.

Just then, we heard the shattering of glass, and an unconscious man was hurdled in our back seat. "Drive Jesse," I said. "Forget the pizza, call Andi" said Jesse. Jesse started driving back to the house and I dialed Andi. "What'd he do now?" said Andi. I put the phone on speaker, letting Jesse talk too. "Not me this time, my girl's a genius!" said Jesse. I sat beside Jesse with a childish grin plastered on my face. "What happened?" said Andi. "This guy started chasing us, Jenny made me hit the brakes, and the guy flew through the window into our car. I think we have a lead, Andi" said Jesse.

Suddenly, I heard a quiet coughing noise. I glanced in the mirror and saw the man starting to regain consciousness. I looked at Jesse, who was still excitedly talking to Andi. "Jesse, could you hold my phone for a minute" I said, shakily. "Yeah of course" Jesse said, grabbing my phone. I pulled back my arm and punched the man as hard as I could in the head, knocking him back out.

"Jenny what the hell?" shouted Jesse. "He was waking up!" I said. Through the phone I heard Andi laughing. "I love this girl". Jesse extended his fist out to give me a fist bump. "Good job J" he said. "Thanks I guess," I said back. "Oh Andi, tell Lacy to start cooking, we kind of had to leave before we had the chance to get our food" said Jesse. Before we knew it, we were back at the house.

"Go inside Jenny, Andi and I can take care of him," said Jesse. "Excuse me, I was the one who knocked him out, I'm coming too" I said confidently. "Fine," said Jesse. Andi walked out of the house, looking excited. "What do we have Jesse?" said Andi. Andi walked around to the back of the car and saw the broken back window. "Don't worry about that, Luka can fix that with his eyes shut" she said. Andi opened the back door and pulled the man out. "Facial lacerations, multiple contusions, Jenny, you even knocked some teeth out girl" said Andi, examining the man.

Jesse carried the man to the barn, Andi, and I behind him. "How did you do it?" asked Andi. "What do you mean?" I asked. "How did you know he would burst through the window?" said Andi. "It was pretty simple, I looked through the window, saw he didn't have his seatbelt on, and seeing how close he was he was guaranteed to go through both windows if Jesse hit his brakes" I explained. "That's pretty genius J," said Andi. "Good work".

Jesse secured the man over a table in the barn, while Andi shut the doors. "Look for any identification on this guy. Make sure there are no mics or cameras on him" said Jesse. "And get Conner out here for fingerprints". I dialed Conner's number and told him to come to the barn with his laptop and fingerprint kit. Within seconds, Conner was in the barn, struggling to keep all of his materials stable.

"You really did a number on this guy Jesse," said Conner. "Actually, this was all Jenny," said Jesse, turning to me. "I'm certainly impressed," said Conner, putting black ink on the man's fingertips. I noticed a small stream of blood going down the man's face. Andi was sitting on a barstool up by the man's face. She had a face mask on, a pair of surgical gloves, and a tray of medical tools next to her. "Jenny, come here" said Andi. Without looking up, Andi asked me "Can you please go over to my desk, grab a silver tray from the first drawer and bring it here?". "Sure, just a second" I said, walking towards her table. In a filing cabinet with five drawers, I reached to the top and opened it. Inside, there were empty metal trays. I grabbed one and took it to Andi. She was sitting there, pulling the shards of glass out of the man's face, and putting them in the empty tray. Next, she pulled a squeeze bottle out of a tray, and sprayed it on his face. Then, she took a needle and thread, and stitched up where the glass was embedded.

Just then, the man started to wake up. "Everyone back off," said Jesse. Everyone took a few steps back, giving the man space. "Who the hell are you?" said the man. "Getting defensive, Andi got closer to the man. "Better not talk that way to the girl with the scalpel," said Andi, pretending to slit the man's throat. "What is your name?" I asked him, walking closer. "Who wants to know?" he said angrily. I thought to myself about the talk I had with Claire the first time we were attacked, about how I couldn't survive here if I were weak. So, I took it upon myself to take charge of the situation. My new found confidence began to kick in, and I decided to lie. "Sir, my name is Jenny, and my father's been missing, and you look an awful lot like him" I lied to the man. I started to fake cry to see if he would talk. "Please sir, what is your name?" I said through tears.

"I don't have a daughter," said the man. "But my name is Earl". "Earl, where are you from?" I asked calmly, grabbing his hand. "I'm from Jersey," he said, calming down. Whispering, Andi said to Jesse "What is she doing?". "She's getting him to talk," said Jesse, smiling. "Earl, where do you work?" I asked him. "I'm a defense attorney," he said. "Come on Earl, you and I both know that's really not where you work" I said, noticing the same logo on his jacket that I saw on the SUV the day we were attacked. "Andi, would you come here please?" I said, motioning her to come over. "Trust me" I whispered. "Now Earl, this is Andi Marinos, have you ever heard of her?" I asked him. "No, I haven't," he said, looking nervous. "Shocker. Well, she is the most infamous female assassin in the world. I wouldn't get on her bad side" I said. "Conner, would you be a dear and get the rest of our people?". Conner left the room, running to the house to get everyone else. Once he got back, I continued to intimidate Earl, my plan was actually working.

"Alright Earl, this is Conner. He is a Bonafede computer geek. Actually, using your fingerprints, he was able to track your whereabouts during the last twenty-four hours" I said, and started to walk over to Elena and Lacy. "This is Elena, she is one of the best sharpshooters in the country, I definitely wouldn't want to be in her sights. This is Lacy, she is a chemical engineer, she could burn your eye sockets out just by blowing a little bit of powder in her pocket on you" I said, feeling even more confident. I started to walk over to Becca, Claire, Luka, and Jesse.

"This is Becca. She's our number one researcher. She was able to pinpoint your house, job, and your family's summer home in less than five minutes, so if I were you, I would start talking. Then there's Claire, she is able to get anything she wants from you" I said, not really knowing what else to say about her. "Oh and here are the big two. This is Luka, he was able to get your license plate, and track where your car had been. Finally, we have Jesse. The head honcho. You definitely don't want to mess with him. In any second, he will give us the word, and we will make sure that no one will be able to find you. So please, how about you tell us what we want to know" I said, getting in his face, and smiling at him.

"You're a psycho!" he yelled at me as he spat in my face. Just then Jesse shot Earl in the leg. Earl let out a painful groan. "He just said I needed to kill Marinos okay?" said Earl. "He hired me as a hitman". "Who is he?" I asked. "I don't know, he never told me his name. I swear all I know is, he offered me ten thousand dollars to kill him." said Earl. "Where did you get this jacket?" I asked him. "He gave me the keys to the car when we met and told me where it would be parked. The jacket was inside, and the heat in the car was broken, making the car cold so I put it on" said Earl.

"Okay Earl, here's what's going to happen. You're going to stay here until we get the information that we need." I said. "Damn Jesse, she's hot when she's bossy" I could hear Luka tell Jesse. "Shut up man" said Jesse, his face getting red. "I promise I don't know anything. If I did, I would tell you!" said Earl, panicking. "What did the man who gave you the keys look like?" I asked him. "His face was covered, but he had these crazy green eyes, and his hair was short and black" said Earl.

"Jesse, can I see you a minute?" I said, turning around. "Right this way" said Jesse, motioning me over. "Let me just say J, this thing you're doing, it's pretty hot… I mean genius! It's totally genius" said Jesse, stumbling on his words. "Thanks, I thought it would. Anyway, do you think the guy he is talking about is one of the twins?" I asked. "I think so, the green eyes and the hair are definitely a Santoro staple" said Jesse. "I'll be right back J, I have to run to the house".

I turned away from Jesse and walked back towards Earl. "Okay Earl, I have some more questions for you. When are you going to get your money for supposedly killing Jesse?" I said. "He said once I kill him to go to this address. It's in my back pocket" said Earl pointing to his side. "Andi grab it please" I said, turning to Andi. She grabbed the note and read it out loud.

To Whomever it may concern

In return for the bodies of Jesse and Andi Marinos, the recipient will receive ten-thousand dollars in cash following delivery. 10921 Kingston Avenue, Santa Monica CA.

"Nice, they're out for me too," said Andi, laughing. "That's a good one". "Alright Earl, you are of no use to me any longer" I said to him. "If you say a word about anything you saw or heard here, we will make sure you suffer. Do you understand?" I asked. "Yes" said Earl, trying to free himself. "Andi, if you would" I said. Andi grabbed her switchblade out of her pocket, opened it, and sliced the ropes.

Earl sprinted out of the barn. Faster than I have ever seen a man run. Just then, I heard a loud bang come from outside. The only person who wasn't still in the barn was Jesse. I knew Jesse was waiting outside. I stayed inside the barn just a little longer than everyone else.

Then I heard the barn door open. "Jenny are you still in here?" said Jesse. "Yeah, I'm over here" I said, walking towards him. "Are you… done?" I asked. "Yes Jenny, you don't have to worry about it." said Jesse, grabbing my shoulder. "Jenny, what you did was incredible. I don't think we would have gotten any information that quickly before. Honestly, we're closer to finding those bastards now than we ever were. We couldn't have done it without you". "It seriously was nothing, I just wanted to know what he had to say." I said.

I noticed Jesse had been staring at me for a while earlier, the way I was talking, moving, everything that I was doing, I realized Jesse had been watching my every move. Now, I noticed Jesse staring at my lips. "Jesse," I said. Before I could say anything else, Jesse's lips crashed into mine. Jesse was undeniably a fantastic kisser. For a minute, we were in our own, perfect world. It was us against the world. It was from that moment I knew; I was falling for Jesse Marinos.