Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

Chapter 332: Shoot-out

Jax drove fast until the car slid to a stop near the exit gate of an abandoned warehouse. The air smelled of dust and metal. The place was quiet and the gate looked old and lonely, like no one had touched it for years.

It was the kind of entrance no one would ever suspect led to a house like Jax’s.

Jax pushed his car door open and stepped out. His face was tight and angry as his boots hit the ground hard.

He reached behind his back, lifted his shirt a little, and tucked his gun into the waistband of his trousers. The cold metal pressed against his skin.

As Chad stepped out of the car, his phone rang loudly and the sharp sound broke the silence.

Chad pulled the phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen. "It’s... Venita," he said, looking at Jax.

Jax spun around and glared at him. "Don’t pick up," Jax growled.

"But it’s Ven—"

Jax went to him and snatched the phone out of his hand, then hit the answer button.

"Chad? What’s going on? Why are you not here with Jax yet?" Venita’s voice came through, impatient and worried.

Jax clenched his teeth. "If we survive the nonsense you all planned," he said in a calm, deadly voice, "I swear I will send you far away from me. Because I don’t know how I will ever look at you or Chad again after what you both did against the woman I love."

Venita sucked in a breath to speak. "Jax..."

But Jax didn’t let her say anything. He hung up and threw Chad’s phone at him roughly.

"Let’s go," he said, as he walked toward the big garage door at the side of the building. The door looked rusty, like the entrance to an abandoned warehouse. Chad followed behind him quietly, feeling remorseful for what he’d done but also betrayed that Jax had kept secrets from him.

As they got closer to the door, Jax took out his phone and called Mari.

She picked up the first ring. "Jax?"

"Baby," Jax whispered. "I need you to go to the garage. I’m coming inside through the garage door but I won’t be able to get in unless you open it for me."

"Okay. I’m on my way now," Mari said quickly. "Just a moment."

As they waited for her to get there, they suddenly heard the sound of an oncoming vehicle, and immediately Jax hung up the call just before several gunshots were fired in their direction.

Jax turned so fast the air around him seemed to snap as the sharp whizz of the bullets cut through the air.

As Jax reached for the gun tucked in his waistband, Chad shoved him hard to the side.

"JAX, MOVE!" Chad yelled, cursing himself for not taking his gun with him and for placing them in such a situation.

He hadn’t seen a need for it since the plan had been simply to get Jax away from the house to Venita’s, where they would delay him long enough for the Cartel gang to get Mari.

Now it was all messed up. It hadn’t occurred to him that the Cartel might also be watching him to make sure he stuck to the plan. He had no doubt that was how they found them.

A bullet cut through the space where Jax’s head had been a second earlier.

Jax hit the ground on one knee, already pulling out his gun. His jaw tightened and his eyes darkened like a storm as he shot back one clean shot that echoed loudly in the empty yard and another bullet flew at him from a different direction.

"Behind the car!" Chad shouted as he ducked low.

Jax didn’t duck. He fired again, his hand steady even while his heart beat fast with panic.

He prayed that Mari wouldn’t open the door. He knew it was soundproof so she’d likely not hear what was going on outside.

He had no idea how these men had discovered their location, but he suspected they’d been followed.

"Call Mari. Tell her not to open the door!" Jax growled at Chad as he shot at another attacker.

Before Chad could reach for his phone, another shot rang out, and Jax turned in time to see Chad jumping in to block the bullet with his body.

"CHAD!" Jax’s voice tore out of him like an animal in pain as he watched Chad jerk from the impact of the bullet and fall to the ground with a choked gasp.

Jax fired at the shooter with lightning speed, three sharp shots that hit their target one after another, and the man dropped instantly.

Jax moved fast. He grabbed Chad with one arm while firing with the other. His heart pounded like thunder as he prayed that the men Alex promised to send would arrive soon before he ran out of bullets.

Suddenly, a new sound filled the air. Deep engine growls and tires skidding as a black SUV slid into the yard, dust flying everywhere.

Jax looked up, hoping that they were there, his saviors, and not more men from the cartel.

The back doors opened before the car fully stopped in front of Jax, blocking him and Chad from the gunfire.

Five men stepped out wearing black tactical gear, and relief washed over Jax as he watched them open fire on the cartel members.

Gunshots exploded everywhere as the attackers shot back. The air filled with dust and smoke and echoing bangs.

Alex’s men advanced quickly, taking down every last one of them with silent, deadly precision.

Only when the gunfire stopped did the air finally quiet, but Jax barely noticed. He was too focused on Chad, who was losing blood.

The sound of metal scraping broke the silence, and Jax looked up when the garage door slowly opened.

"I’m sorry it took me so long. It was because I couldn’t find—"

Mari stopped abruptly when she didn’t see Jax standing by the door, and then she looked to the side and saw him kneeling in a little pool of blood.

Her breath caught, and her eyes widened when she saw Chad lying there, pale and shaking.

Then she screamed, "CHAD?!"

"Mari, go back inside! Close the door!" Jax shouted.

But she didn’t hear him as she ran forward. Suddenly, she froze when she saw the dead bodies scattered around them.

Before she could process everything, she noticed they were not alone and then she saw the men in tactical gear with their guns.

The moment stretched like slow, thick air.

Seeing how pale she was, and guessing that she seemed to think the men were the cartel members, Jax opened his mouth to calm her, but before he could speak, her eyes rolled back, and her body dropped.