23 In a Wrong Place, At The Wrong Time (1/2)

She froze, unable to understand.

The thug stood up, shivering as he looked at Jim's back, and hobbled out of the house as fast as his limp body could carry him. She still couldn't make sense of it all.

A series of gruesome events flashed through her brain, almost splitting her head apart. And a bloody face waltzed before her eyes. Kas –

No.

Not again.

She could not let it happen all over again!

She recoiled at her memories, immediately focussing her attention to the situation at hand. The torch from Jimmy's mobile had died out, so she took out her own phone. She had earlier retrieved it from her apartment before coming down that pipeline. When she unlocked it, she was surprised to see Jimmy's face on her screen.

It must have been from earlier in the morning, when she had been reading about him. The same man that had been seated on her garbage bin then. He was lying on the floor now, bleeding.

She pushed the thought away, and quickly switched on the torch. Then, she ran towards him.

”Mr. Hunter!” she cried out, her voice almost choked.

Jimmy was crouching in a corner, shuddering from the attack. Blood flew down his left arm as he pressed the wound. His entire body felt numb, and he staggered when he tried to get up. Miya was immediately by his side.

And her face went pale with horror as she tried to help him stand. She hadn't been able to notice before, but the man had been crouching over Ben.

He had been shot while shielding her son!

Her eyes glinted with murder. Ben wrapped his arms around her waist, shivering hysterically now. Miya regained some of her cool, and almost collapsed in relief when she saw that the bullet had only hit Jim's hand. She forcefully pulled his uninjured arm over her shoulders and let him try and stand.

Jimmy's legs were shaking, and he was shocked. But then he saw the boy stuck to his mother. He was immediately concerned.

”Hey, kid,” he asked weakly, ”Are you alright?”

Miya's heart screamed murder. Manny, that evil son of a b*tch!

Ben nodded, then inquired, ”You?”

Jim smiled feebly and staggered again. Thankfully, Miya wrapped an arm around his waist and held him stable.

”We need to take you to the hospital,” she said.

Jim nodded in agreement.

”Get me my mobile, please, I'll –”

Before Jim could complete his statement, Ben rushed to his aid. He hurried over to another corner, picked up the slightly broken phone and quickly handed it over to his saviour. Jim looked at the boy amusedly.

Well, at least the kid wasn't glaring now.

Jim speed dialled Park, and when the call was received, he whispered tiredly, ”Emergency, Park. T-Track me.”

The next half hour was a blur of strange, quick events.

A limousine had, within no time, rushed to the shack where Jim lay. Several burly men had come tromping into the house and had picked Jimmy up. Someone had told her to follow. She was shoved into a luxurious car that sped through the night. Throughout, Miya was part of the incidents, but was only remotely aware of what was going on. Her eyes were fixed on Jimmy for most of the time. His face looked pale, and blood was still dripping down his arm.

Even though two huge men sat on either side of him, none seemed to be making the effort to stop the bleeding. Someone was sitting beside her too, but she didn't take any notice of him. Almost in irritation, she ripped off one of the sleeves of her shirt and leaned over to wrap the wound.

One of the men caught her arm.

Miya breathed, and gave him such a filthy look, the guy almost dropped her hand. However, he didn't. Miya would have hit his face in anger, but the person beside her spoke.

”Let her.”

She hurriedly wrapped the cloth around Jim's arm. The young master winced a little, and almost gave her a smile. But he seemed to be too out of his senses to say any further.