Quiet Explosion—Chapter 5/5

Chapter 5—The Showdown

It was too late to stop the all-out assault and the police just added to the already chaotic scene. Dan’s patience was about to pay off as Jill’s guard joined the rest of Bobby’s men, who were desperately trying to keep everyone at bay. Every bit of firepower was now needed, Bobby thought Jill was going nowhere amid the throng of gunfire.

Dan had already picked his spot after finding the weakest point of the floor panels. The crawl space was about three foot, so leaning on his back, he gave an almighty push with his legs and forced the floorboards loose. Jill nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the floorboards fly into the air, but was instantly overcome with tears of joy when she saw her Dad emerge through the hole that was left. Dan untied his distraught daughter and ushered her into the crawlspace, and there they both hid away after putting the floorboards back into place and waiting for the chaos to subside.

Bobby and his men had no chance, the shootout was fierce. His reinforcements were not going to come now the police were here, they would be arrested before they ever got near. Half of his people were dead and Steve’s men were now making their way into the building. There was only one thing Bobby could do. He ran as fast as he could and rushed into the room where Jill was being held captive, but all he found was an empty space. He stood still as a rock, comprehension left his mind and he was now at a total loss as to how she could have escaped. By the time Bobby came to his senses, the police had arrested Steve’s men. They came running into the room and were forcing Bobby to the ground, placing him in handcuffs.

Everybody was led outside and those that were left standing were herded into the police vans waiting to take them away. The others left in ambulances, wounded and broken or zipped tight into body bags. When Dan was sure it was safe, he pulled himself and Jill out from under the floorboards and made their way to find DI Fotheringham.

“Dan! Jill! I am so glad you are okay. We came as soon as we could.”

“Thanks Gordon, your help is much appreciated.”

“Not at all, it's my job. You must have had a good hiding place there. I thought we had cleared the place out.”

“I managed to work my way under the floorboards of the club house. We hid in a tiny crawl space.”

“It's a good job they didn’t find you then, I would hate to think what would have happened if they had found you there. You took a great risk and we had the situation well in hand, you know!”

"I know, but I couldn't bare the thought of Jill being held hostage. I had to do something."

"Well, next time, leave it to the professionals. You could have been hurt and that wouldn't have ended well if Jill was left without a father."

"Hopefully there won't be a next time. I am going to do my best to look after her from now on."

They both gave the other a look filled with mixed emotions—understanding, relief, and love as they flung their arms around each other.

Dan and Jill left the cricket club with a great sense of relief. With Bobby and Steve out of the picture, they had a chance to get their lives back in order. Dan hoped that he would get a chance to establish a proper father and daughter relationship, something they both had missed out on for many years. Life doesn’t often give you a break, but this opportunity was not going to be missed.