Rescuing Mercy (Special Forces: Operation Alpha): A Dead Presidents MC Spinoff

by Stone, Harley

  It was my turn to pace. “But you couldn’t do it.” I don’t know who I was trying to reassure, him or me. “Regardless of all your other mistakes, you did the right thing in the end.”

  He snorted. “Yeah, well the WSB is coming for both of us now, so I don’t know if I would call it the right thing. I know you don’t want to go, but we have to get out of Seattle, Mercy.”

  My gaze shot to the school. The idea of leaving it and all the people inside was tearing me in two. “I can’t leave, Ben. This is my life. You know that.”

  “If these guys get a hold of you, you won’t have a life. You have an education; you can work anywhere. We’ll go east or south or wherever you want.”

  He didn’t get it. Ben had never understood my passion for Bold Beginnings. “This is my home. I’m not leaving.”

  “Mercy, this guy that they want me to kill… he’s a good guy. A cop who refused to take their buyout. I can’t kill him.”

  “Good. Don’t. Let’s just go in and talk to Landon and the Dead Presidents. I’m sure they’ll have a solution and we can—”

  The sound of two shots being fired interrupted me. One whizzed by my face and slammed into the brick building and the other pinged off the metal dumpster beside us. Ben jerked backward and hit the wall.

  I was still trying to piece together what had happened when his hands went to his chest. He pulled them away, and they were bloody.

  My brother had been shot.

  “No!” I shouted, reaching for him.

  He slid down the wall, landing on his ass.

  I’d been through the mandatory first-aid training, and knew to apply pressure to the wound, so I shrugged off my cardigan and wadded it up, pressing it to his chest.

  Ben winced. Eyes wide with wonder, he said, “They shot me.”

  “I know.”

  “Fuck. You have to get out of here, sis.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. Just hold still. Landon’s a combat medic. I’m sure he can help. We’ll get you taken care of. You’re gonna be okay.”

  * * *

  Landon

  “What happened,” I asked, as I reached Mercy. She’d taken her cardigan off and had it pressed against the chest of a man leaning against the wall of the school.

  “Ben’s been shot! Ohmigod, Landon. We have to do something. I don’t know how bad it is. I just saw the blood and panicked.”

  I glanced down at the sweater. “You did the right thing, babe. Keep applying pressure. I’m going to check for an exit wound. Okay?”

  Mercy nodded, and I grabbed Ben by the shoulders to lean him forward. No hole. No blood.

  “No exit wound. The bullet’s still inside him. We’re gonna have to get him to the hospital to get it removed.”

  Ben grabbed my wrist. “No. No hospital. The WSB will find out I’m there and will come finish the job. No hospitals.”

  “But Benny, you’ve got to get the bullet out. What if it damaged your lungs?” Mercy asked.

  “The WSB?” Havoc asked. He’d followed me out to find Mercy and was standing beside me, scanning the area. “The West Side Boyz did this?”

  I’d never been all that familiar with Seattle’s gangs, but everyone knew about the WSB. They were bad news, and if Mercy’s brother had somehow gotten wrapped up with them, they were both in danger. Hell, we probably all were.

  “Yes,” Ben replied.

  “We should move him,” Havoc’s head was on a swivel. “You got a gun on you?”

  Ben nodded and reached in his pocket to retrieve it.

  Mercy’s jaw dropped. “You have a gun?”

  “I told you, they sent me after a cop.”

  “Shit, shit, shit!”

  Mercy tried to stand, no doubt to appropriately freak out, but I grabbed her wrist and kept her crouched beside me. “They could still be close. Stay down.”

  “We shouldn’t be out in the open like this,” Havoc said, checking the gun’s magazine before flicking off the safety. “Get them inside. I’ll watch your six.”

  “Mercy, you go first. Run straight into the building.”

  She shook her head. “No. I’m not leaving him. I can help.”

  “Please, sis?” Ben asked. “It’s me they want. I’m the one who fucked up. You tried to warn me. None of this is on you.”

  Still, she hesitated.

  “The sooner you get your ass in the school, the sooner we can follow you,” I pointed out.

  She searched my face for a second. “Be careful.” She gave me a quick peck on the lips before giving her brother a stern look. “You better be okay, because we are so not done with this conversation.”

  Ben paled.

  “I’m sure he’s aware, babe,” I said. “Go, Havoc will cover you.”

  She turned and ran for the front of the building.

  “Ben, keep pressure on that wound,” I said, gesturing at his chest. “I’m gonna help you up, then we’re gonna head inside. You got me?”

  “Did my sister really just kiss you?” he asked. “Or am I hallucinating?”

  “Probably should keep in touch with her better, then you’d know what the hell was going on in her life.” My words were harsh, but I was pissed. Ben had finally shown up, and he’d brought trouble to his sister’s school and endangered her life. Near as I could tell, she’d been in the vicinity when he’d been shot, which meant she could have easily been shot as well.

  Ben was on my shit list, and it was taking everything in me to be civil to him.

  “Fair enough,” he replied, leaning heavily on me as I helped him to his feet. “Fuck. Shit, that hurts.”

  “When we get inside, I’ll take a look at it.”

  While Havoc watched our backs, I helped Ben into the school.

  Adina took one look at us and picked up her phone.

  “No ambulance,” Mercy said, her face pinched in concern as she watched her brother.

  “Are you sure?” Adina asked.

  Mercy nodded. “Yes. At least not yet, but I reserve the right to change my mind. Hopefully nobody calls in the shooting.”

  “I think we’re the only ones who know how to call the cops in this neighborhood,” Adina replied.

  Mercy had me take Ben into her office. “I didn’t know what you’d need, so I brought you this,” she said, gesturing at a giant first aid kit sitting on top of her desk.

  “Smart thinking.” I helped Ben lay on the floor and grabbed a pair of rubber gloves out of the kit. “Are you sure you don’t want us to call an ambulance?” I asked.

  “I’ve been thinking about it, and it can’t be that bad, right? I mean, it hurts like hell, but I’m still conscious and I’m not dying or anything. Mercy said you’re a combat medic. You deal with gunshot wounds, right?” Ben took a breath and gritted his teeth.

  I nodded and kept watching him for clues as to the extent of the damage. “All the time. Does it hurt to breathe?”

  “Not to breathe. My chest hurts to move. It’s the pressure.”

  “But you’re not having any difficulty breathing?” I asked.

  “No. And this might be my chance to get away from the WSB. If they think I’m dead, I can get out of the city without putting Mercy at risk,” Ben replied. “Can you remove the bullet?”

  For taking a bullet to the chest, he was doing phenomenally well. “Did you get hit directly?”

  “I think it ricocheted off the dumpster,” Mercy replied.

  “It must not be too deep. Let’s check it out.” I slowly removed the blood-soaked sweater and looked over the damage. The wound was still leaking blood, but not gushing. Needing full access to his chest, I unzipped his jacket and pushed it aside before grabbing a pair of scissors from the first aid kit and cutting away his T-shirt. Watching his chest, I confirmed that there was an equal, bilateral rise and fall before wiping away the pooling blood again.

  Ben winced, hissing out a swear. Mercy knelt beside his head and offered him her hand to squeeze.

  Looking in the wound, I coul
d make out the black metal of the bullet. “Good news, I can see the back of the round,” I announced. “It’s not deep, but it’s still gonna suck to get it out of there. You sure you’re up for this, Ben?”

  He nodded. “Just do it.”

  Havoc was standing in the doorway watching us. He stepped fully inside the office and closed the door behind him. “Do you have anything for him to bite down on?” he asked Mercy. Apparently the big man knew a thing or two about bullet removal. Not surprising. “Maybe something leather.”

  “My purse strap.” Mercy pointed to the bag hanging behind her chair.

  Havoc passed it over and she positioned the widest part of the strap between Ben’s teeth.

  I grabbed a pair of tweezers from the medical kit and went to work, trying to get a good grip on the bullet.

  “Remind me to stick to Life and Clue and never play Operation against you,” Mercy said, watching me. She’d been handling the situation like a boss, only increasing my respect for her.

  Ben grunted back a cry and bit down on the purse strap as I squeezed the round and plucked it from his chest. Mercy grabbed a plastic bag from the first aid kit and held it out to me. I dropped the bloody, misshapen metal into it and leaned forward until my ear hovered directly above Ben’s chest.

  “I can’t hear or feel any airflow. It would take an x-ray to know for sure, but I’m pretty sure the chest wall hasn’t been compromised.”

  “Well, that’s good,” Mercy replied. “Right?”

  I nodded. “I’m gonna need to flush out the wound and stitch it up. If he’s not getting x-ray’s, I’ll need to keep an eye on him.”

  “I’m not going back to Mercy’s. It’s too dangerous,” Ben replied, sounding resolved.

  I still wasn’t happy with him, but his unwillingness to put his sister in more danger made me think there might be hope for him yet. “Agreed. You’re definitely not going back to Mercy’s.”

  “We need to figure out a way to make these guys believe they got me. Last thing she needs is for them to see me walking into her place.”

  Mercy was frowning at both of us.

  “Ben, your lung could collapse if the chest wall’s been damaged. You understand that, right?” I asked, trying to make sure he comprehended the gravity of the situation. “I would feel better if you got an x-ray.”

  “Yeah, I get it. But I still think our best bet would be for me to play dead. The WSB employs people in the hospital. I need to find somewhere else to hole up until I can get out of here.”

  “You can come to the fire station,” Havoc announced, typing something into his phone. “I told Link what’s going on, and he says you’re welcome. Doc, you and Mercy can come, too. We have plenty of room.”

  “Doc, huh?” I asked. Nobody had called me that since I’d left Tennessee.

  Havoc shrugged. “Seems fitting. All the brothers have road names.”

  I’d been asking Havoc questions about the Dead Presidents, but I hadn’t once voiced interest in joining them. “You know I’m only home on leave, right?” I asked. “I go back at the end of the month.”

  Havoc nodded, his gaze bouncing between me and Mercy. “You’ll be back.”

  The certainty in his tone made me chuckle. I had no clue what the hell I planned to do, but clearly Havoc did. Neither confirming nor denying his claim, I grabbed the suture kit and sewed up the hole in Ben’s chest.

  Chapter 16

  Mercy

  By the time Landon finished doctoring up Ben, school was over. Nobody had called the cops about the shooting—which was both convenient and worrisome—and I was glad to have all the children and staff gone and out of the line of fire should the WSB decide to come back and finish off my brother. Or me.

  I still couldn’t believe Ben had joined a gang.

  Although I understood what had happened with his delivery job, I wished he would have come to me when the whole thing started. No, I wished he’d never met Billy.

  At least Ben hadn’t shot a cop.

  I shuddered at the thought of my sweet little brother becoming a cop killer. Ben had made a lot of mistakes, but he’d always been a good kid. Maybe, with the help of Landon and the Dead Presidents, he’d get the chance to grow into a good man.

  Regardless, there was no way I was letting him push me away ever again.

  Landon walked Beth home and returned with his father’s truck. Still chastising myself for letting my baby brother fall so far off the rails, I stood by the front door as Landon and Havoc wrapped Ben in a tarp and told him to play ‘Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board.’ Then they carried him out, like a corpse, and put him in the back of the truck. Seeing my brother in what constituted as a body bag, and knowing how close he’d come to actually dying, made tears sting the backs of my eyes.

  “You okay?” Landon asked, rejoining me on the curb. Shaking his head, he said, “Don’t answer that. Of course you’re not okay.”

  As I reached up to wipe my face, he grabbed my hands.

  “And don’t brush away those tears, Mercy. Cry your heart out. Put on a show. I don’t know if anyone from the WSB is watching us, but you want them to think your brother just died. Turn on the waterworks, babe. It’s okay. I got you.”

  I blinked at him.

  “Ben just died in your arms. Believe it. Sell it.”

  I wasn’t a crier. I mean, sure, sad movies did me in, but life rarely gave me a reason to turn on the waterworks. It wasn’t like crying would change anything, anyway. But imagining Ben dying broke something loose inside me. Tears started rolling down my face in earnest.

  Landon draped an arm over my shoulders and I lost it. Every ounce of composure I’d fought for when bullets were flying and Landon was plucking a round from my brother’s chest… it all dissolved, leaving me in a puddle. Bawling, I leaned on Landon. He gave up the pretense of me walking, picked me up, and carried me to his truck. He slid me into the passenger’s seat before getting behind the wheel and starting it up.

  My brother’s tarp-covered body rode in the back of my temporary boyfriend’s truck as a motorcycle convoy escorted us to the renovated fire station that served as the Dead Presidents MC headquarters.

  My life felt a tad out of control, but I kept reminding myself that today could have been a lot worse. We could be taking Ben to the morgue, rather than a clubhouse.

  Landon parked in the side lot and rounded the truck to open the door for me. I’d somewhat managed to compose myself, but my eyes felt like they’d been rubbed with sandpaper and my heart wasn’t doing much better. After making sure I could stand on my own two feet, Landon joined Havoc and Wasp as they retrieved Ben from the back of the truck and carried him inside.

  I followed the strange procession through the front door and into a giant common area made up of multiple furniture groupings situated around television sets, pool tables, and dart boards. As soon as the door closed behind me, the trio set down their package and unwrapped Ben.

  Something inside of me had been terrified that his chest exploded or his lungs collapsed or he’d suffocated, or any number of bad scenarios had befallen him, but my brother, the asshole, was smiling as he shook free of the tarp.

  His gaze met mine. “I’m fine, sis. We’re all gonna be fine,” he said.

  “But you could have died,” I reminded him.

  He wrapped me in a side hug, wincing as the movement tugged on his wound. His arms were strong and wiry, and I marveled at the fact that this was the same baby brother I used to balance on my lap and read stories to. When I wasn’t looking, he’d grown up. Then he’d joined a gang, and now we were faking his death.

  And I was having a hard time coping with it all.

  “Come on, Link and Blade are waiting,” Havoc said. He led us past the entrance to a large kitchen with a bar set up, down a brightly-lit hallway, and into an office decorated in all black and white, the focal point of which being a giant MIA flag hanging on the wall above a high-backed chair. The rest of the walls held dozens of framed
news articles about homeless veterans or veterans who’d committed suicide.

  Link stood from behind his desk and greeted us. As did Emily, Blade, and a curvy woman with brown hair, brown eyes, and high cheekbones, who were all seated on a sofa opposite Link’s desk. Introductions were made, and the woman was introduced as Wendy, Blade’s wife. Havoc brought in folding chairs and everyone sat.

  “Havoc says you need to get out of the city, Ben,” Link said, getting right down to business. “Have you thought about where you’ll go yet?”

  “Actually, I’ve been pushing around the idea of joining the service.”

  “You have?” I asked, shocked. Ben had never talked about going into the military before.

  “Yeah. Why not?” Ben asked. “It would get me out of here and give me some options. Education. Training.”

  Link nodded. “Havoc said you’re running from the WSB. We might be able to help. Why don’t you tell us what happened?”

  Ben broke into his tale from the beginning, talking about how his friend had betrayed him by setting him up with the job. He spoke about the package that had ripped and opened his eyes as to what he was really delivering, and how he’d responded by freaking out at Billy.

  “My mom’s a junkie,” Ben explained. “I don’t want anything to do with that shit, I swear. After I told Billy where he could shove his dope, the asshole snitched to his boss, Ace.” Ben’s gaze cut to me and his expression soured. “They had pictures of you, sis. In front of the school, walking home with Beth, on the stairs to your apartment. They said if I didn’t do my job, they’d kill you, and these guys don’t screw around.”

  Landon tensed beside me. I squeezed his knee to reassure him that I was fine, and he grabbed my hand, bringing it up to his lips to kiss my knuckles.

  “I wanted to tell you, Mercy,” Ben continued. “But they knew I wanted out, so they were watching me. After Ace showed me the pictures of you, I tried to play it off like you and I weren’t close, but he didn’t buy it. I stopped talking to you and coming by, not because I wanted to, but every minute I spent with you put you in more danger.”