41) Shots Fired

Edward

When we arrived at London, Vasili and I stopped by his apartment so he could get more clothes. For someone who was so fashion forward he did not have as much as I thought he would. I had been to his apartment countless times, but it was the first time I had fully been in his closet to help him back. He had mostly designer pieces, but liked to keep it to a minimum. He said he often gave away items he never wore much therefore his closet was never fully packed because he use to travel so much. Even though he barely travelled now he still had that mindset. 

We did not take long, but since we had left the farmhouse so late the sun had just set when we were done. Before we drove to my penthouse we decided to stop by a restaurant to grab some dinner since both us did not feel like cooking. Yet as we drove back I could not help, but notice two identical black BMWs follow us. I decided to take a longer route home to see if they would still follow, but I just could not shake them off. I could not race through London to get rid of them since the traffic was so heavy this Friday. 

Vasili barely seemed to notice as he texted away on his phone. I did not want to alarm him just as yet till we got back to the penthouse. What surprised me as we drove up to my garage the cars were consistent behind us. It shocked me since I had heavily armed the building with so much security that for every floor you wanted to get to one needed a key card. Whoever these people were they would have needed someone to hack their way in and that immediately told me whoever these people were they were not normal. 

"Vasili," I called his attention away from his phone and handed him mine, "I want you to call John and Marco then tell them someone is following us okay."

His face scrunched up in confusion, "what do you mean there's someone following us?"

"There are two black cars behind us and I definitely know they don't belong here. Call Marco and John," I instructed him as I parked between the two cars I knew were bulletproof in my garage. They were large enough to hide me as I quickly climbed out the car and grabbed two bulletproof vests. "Don't take this off and don't get out of the car till I come back to you okay."

"Edward are you mad? You can't go out there. Look what happened in Greece. Plus what are you going to do give them a speech about following you," he whisper yelled as I put the vest on him. During his complaining he barely noticed me pull out two hand guns and attach two silencers to them. His eyes enlarged when he looked down to my hands, "my god! You have guns."

"Call John and Marco, Vasili. Don't leave the car okay," I pulled him by the back of his neck and kissed his forehead before leaving the car. I saw him dial John with trembling hands as I left the car. It had been a while since I had last done this and I was thankful I was barely rusty or this would have been a disaster. My anxiety was at a surprising low as I moved between cars as the two cars parked blocking the entrance. 

I hid behind a car and waited for them to get out their car. After a few minutes two men stepped out the first car and two out of the second. I could not really see their faces. Only their black matching sneakers and black trousers. "Kill the boy. Get the billionaire," one spoke with a thick Russian accent. 

My heart fell to my stomach as I heard the others respond. Vasili was the only thing that occupied my mind as I felt my heart thunder in my chest. Without second thought I aimed my gun at one of the men's legs and pulled the trigger. A loud scream pierced the air as he fell to the floor crying loudly. 

"He's here!" Another man spoke with a more Italian accent. Quickly things escalated as shots filled the air. My training kicked in and I felt almost robotic. It felt like a blur as I jumped between cars as they fired at me. One by one I fired bullets aiming for their legs and shot them down. Whoever had sent them had done a terrible job or maybe I was just that good. Did I toot my horn? Yes. Most definitely yes. After I was confident it was safe enough to expose myself I ran towards them with my gun lowered slightly. They were all groaning on the floor and holding their legs as they rolled around screaming. 

I kicked away their guns and focused on their face. Two looked Mediterranean whilst the other two looked Russian. I focused on who I thought gave the orders and roughly kicked his leg. "Who sent you!" I yelled stepping on his chest so he could not get up. 

"I will never say you piece of shit," he spat out. He was definitely the one who gave the orders from his accent. 

"That was the wrong answer," I snarled and kicked his leg. "Who sent you!" 

He decided not to respond as he desperately screamed. I felt myself grow more and more agitated with his incompetence, but my moment was cut short as I heard the number of cars drive up. The first two were police vehicles, next an ambulance whilst the next three were Johns security cars. 

"Mr. Coleman," the police officers and paramedics greeted as they went to the injured men laying on the floor. Soon John and Marco plus a few more security members climbed out the car. 

Marco immediately rushed to me, "Are you okay?" 

"Yes. Felt good to get back in the game," I chuckled as I handed John the guns. 

"You haven't lost your touch," he chuckled referring to the men laying on the ground who were being assessed by the paramedics, "what did they want?"

"They followed me from Vasilis apartment till here. One of them gave the orders to kill Vasili and take me," I hesitantly responded. I knew Marco would simply say I told you so. 

Yet he surprised me as he pressed his lips together and frowned. "Where's Vasili?"

My ears perked up at the question and instead of answering I ran to the car. No bullet holes had even reached close to him so I was happy. As soon as I opened the passenger side door he jumped out the car like a jumping Jack and hugged me. "You're alive," he cried. His cheeks were slightly wet and my heart clenched. I could imagine the fear running through him as he heard the loud gunshots coming from the foreign men. 

"It's okay. It's okay," I held him tightly and ran my hand down his head in efforts to calm him. "Are you okay? Nothing hurt you."

"No. Just my fragile heart!" He sobbed once again and buried his face in my chest. Seeing Vasili like this was different. I had seen him cry before, but he seemed panicked. He probably was never exposed to violence to this degree and was in shock. After a few minutes he finally calmed down and I helped him take of his bulletproof vest off then threw it into his car. I would have to get some made for him. 

He wrapped his arms around me as soon as I was done. Behind us we heard someone clear their throat and we both turned around to find Marco standing there with John. John looked at us with a questioning glance and I wondered how long had he been there. He knew Vasili and I were close, but I had never hinted to him that we were together. Marco and Vasili looked at each other with hard faces and I wondered was there something going on between them that I did not know about. I knew there was obvious tension between the two, but the way Marco looked at him, I knew he knew something. 

I had known Marco long enough to know that something was not right about this situation. He only distrusted someone if he had a good reason and now I had no idea what to do or how to respond to the situation. "Should we go inside? To talk?" John asked looking just as lost as me. 

"Yes I have to tell Edward about somethings," even though Marco was talking to me he looked at Vasili. Vasili tensed next to me and I could see the red spread up his neck. What the hell was going on? More police officers and detectives showed up to the sight to investigate the situation further. I had gotten checked out by the paramedics and was cleared. It was a miracle I had not had an anxiety attack through the whole ordeal. The stress levels I was felt were overwhelming.