Outside the bedroom door, Ripper paused and glanced both ways up the hall, probably making sure we were out of earshot. He gripped my shoulders and swung me against the wall. “It fucking killed me to leave you alone back there.” His voice shook. “You all right?”
“I’m okay, but I didn’t get the keys. I had to get way cozier with Tuck than I ever wanted. I managed to reach into his back pocket. It was empty. I groped the creep for nothing.”
Ripper growled—he actually growled—an outraged, possessive snarl that both surprised me and warmed my heart. He dropped his forehead against mine. “The thought of that man with his hands on you.” He shuddered. “I didn’t touch Nyx. You know that, don’t you?”
I pulled back so I could meet his eyes. “You might be a scary hard-ass, Ripper Solis, but I know you. I know your heart. You’ve more than earned my trust. So yes, I know you didn’t touch Nyx.”
His fingertips gently grazed my cheek. “You’re my ride or die, Mackenzie Dunwitty.”
I swallowed, overcome with emotion. In the worst of times—when the survival of humanity hung in the balance—life brought me the greatest gift. This man. This love. Hope for the future. If I didn’t get a grip I was going to sink to the floor and bawl like a baby. Instead, I tapped his cut over the pocket that held my necklace. “Does that mean I can have my Property of Ripper necklace back?”
“Damn straight you can have it back.” Ripper pulled the necklace from his pocket and fastened it around my neck. “Don’t ever want to see it off your neck again. You’re mine and I want the world to know it.”
I couldn’t wipe the grin from my face.
“I’ll be right back,” Libby called from the end of the hall.
Ripper threaded his fingers through my hair and kissed me, molding his body against mine.
Don’t mind us. We’re busy making out.
Libby’s footsteps sounded her approach. “I’m glad to see you guys made up.” Ripper and I pulled apart and turned our heads toward her. “The baby is pressing on my bladder and I have to pee.” With a wave, she disappeared into the bedroom she shared with Boyd, three doors up the hall.
“C’mon.” Ripper pulled me into our bedroom and locked the door behind us.
Nyx was sitting cross-legged on the foot of the bed. She jumped up when we entered, ran over to us, and hugged me. “Damn girl, I owe you. You two saved my ass from those shitheads. I’m just sorry that things got ugly out there between you two.”
I returned the hug. “No worries. I wouldn’t wish Dwight and Darryl on my worst enemy. I’m glad we could help. It looked ugly, but Ripper and I were just playacting.”
Nyx touched my necklace. “So I see. Oh, and about the red smears all over his face...” She pulled a tube of lipstick from her pocket. “Secondhand. I swear to God I didn’t put my mouth on him.”
I touched her arm. “I trust my man. It’s all good.”
Nyx flopped back onto the bed. “God damn, what a day. Kidnapped by freaking Nazis. Fuuuck.” She groaned, sat back up, and shoved her hair out of her eyes. “Ripper told me what’s going on. Count me in.”
THIRTY-EIGHT
Ripper
I hooked one arm around Nyx’s waist and the other around Mac’s neck, then we strolled into the kitchen the following morning. Three pairs of eyes swung our way. Jerrilyn smirked. Tuck lifted his brows, and Darryl frowned, clearly still pissed that I’d swiped Nyx out from under his nose.
I gave an exaggerated yawn. Hey, what man wouldn’t be worn out after a night spent servicing two hot women? I grinned at Darryl, then slid my hand inside Mac’s tank top. My fingers dipped below the lace trim on her red bra and traced the curve of her breast.
“Morning, Darryl,” I said. “How’d you sleep?”
He snorted and stomped out of the room.
“Is coffee ready?” Nyx echoed my yawn. “After last night, we all could use a pick-me-up.”
Jerrilyn scowled. “We need to get one thing straight, missy. Everybody pulls their weight around here. You don’t get to sashay out of the bedroom and expect to be waited on hand and foot. You make the damned coffee.”
Nyx tilted her head. “I don’t get it. If everybody pulls their weight, how come one of you didn’t make coffee?” She frowned, her tone innocent and her voice more bewildered than defiant. “Why is it up to me?”
“I’ll make coffee,” Mac dashed toward the stove. She glanced back at Jerrilyn, smiling apologetically at the queen bee. “Nyx doesn’t understand how we do things. Libby and I will teach her.”
“See that you do,” Jerrilyn huffed.
Mac glanced at Nyx. “Nyx, do you take sugar in yours?”
“The sweeter the better,” Nyx said, winking.
If we had scripted it, this conversation couldn’t have gone better. Mac might have thrown a hissy fit at the party last night, but it was clear now to everybody that I’d curbed her little rebellion, and she was on board with a threesome. My good-natured, obedient old lady was back. I bit back a grin. Yeah. Let them believe that.
Mac, Nyx, and I took our coffee onto the porch, where the three of us squeezed onto the wooden swing. The boards creaked, and the chains suspending the swing from the joist protested. I planted both feet on the floorboards, preventing the swing from swaying. I set my empty cup on the porch and slung one arm around Mac’s shoulders and the other around Nyx. Mac snuggled against my chest and Nyx placed a hand on my thigh.
Boyd joined us on the porch. “That thing wasn’t meant for three people,” he observed, leaning against the railing.
I shrugged. “We’ll make it work.”
He studied me over the rim of his coffee cup. “So everything’s good?”
“Yeah. We reached an understanding.”
The screen door flew open, striking the siding. Dwight and Darryl clomped onto the porch, their heavy steps telegraphing their unhappiness. Darryl whispered something in his brother’s ear, then both men fixed me with a stink eye.
I ignored them.
“Libby is up and is making breakfast,” Dwight said.
“That’s your cue,” I said to my women. Mac jumped up, dropped a kiss on my cheek, and skipped past Dwight and Darryl.
Nyx slowly stood and stretched, arching her back like a cat. “Later, lover,” she said, smiling over her shoulder at me before disappearing into the house.
“You two score anything good in town?” Boyd asked. “Besides Nyx?”
Darryl glared at his cousin. “Not much. The grocery store and the pharmacy were picked clean. We checked out a bunch of houses. Found some canned food and booze, some clothes. One place had disposable diapers, jars of baby food, baby clothes. That stuff’s in the trunk.”
“No weapons or ammo?” Boyd asked.
“Nope.” Darryl shook his head.
Dwight turned to his brother and punched him on the upper arm. “Hey, remember? We were going to tell Boyd about the gunfire.”
“Gunfire?” Boyd straightened up and set his mug on the railing. “What gunfire?”
“About halfway back from town, we had the windows on the pickup rolled down and we heard a pop-pop-pop noise. We pulled over to listen and heard it again.”
“I thought at first that it was fireworks,” Darryl added. “But Dwight said it sounded more like somebody shooting a gun.”
“And it just occurred to you morons to mention that you heard gunfire nearby?” Boyd threw his hands in the air. “You didn’t think that it might be important that there are strangers with guns in the area?”
“We were thinking about Nyx,” Darryl mumbled, sounding like a twelve year old offering a piss-poor excuse for not doing his homework.
“Unbelievable,” Boyd said. “Do you at least remember where you pulled over?”
“Yeah. Just past the yellow farmhouse next to that big red barn with an American flag painted on the side.”
“Where’s that?” I asked Boyd.
“About ten miles from here, on the main road into town,” Boyd
answered.
Well, fuck. Mac had finally persuaded Hannah to learn how to handle a gun. The gunfire the brothers heard was probably Levi giving Hannah a shooting lesson. The farmhouse we requisitioned was seven miles from Valhalla, far enough away that Levi must’ve figured that nobody on the ranch would hear the shots. Just our luck that Dwight and Darryl happened to be driving by during the lesson.
“We should check it out,” I said. Better to state the obvious than to arouse Boyd’s suspicions by claiming the gunfire was no big deal. I turned to Dwight. “Could you tell which direction the sound was coming from?”
He shrugged. “Not really.”
Boyd shook his head, his mouth twisted in an unhappy line. “After breakfast, Ripper and I will search all the nearby houses. If anybody is squatting close by, we’ll flush ’em out.”
“Damn right we will.” I kept my eyes focused on Boyd, resisting the impulse to scan the hilltops surrounding the house for any sign of Kyle or Levi. They were taking turns watching the ranch, in case everything suddenly went to hell and they needed to step in. “How many houses where somebody could hole up between here and town?”
“No more than five or six.”
“All right. Gonna grab a couple of extra magazines for my Colt, just in case things go south.” I stood and ambled across the porch like a man who had all the time in the world. At the door, I glanced over my shoulder toward Boyd. “You wanna ask Tuck to come along?”
Kept a straight face while I waited for his answer. If Tuck joined us, if three men checked every property, it might speed up the search and give my friends less time to cover their tracks. Even if we stuck together, it’d be harder to steer the search away from Kyle and the kids.
“No. I’d rather leave Tuck here to keep an eye on the place.”
I was the only one who liked that answer. Darryl rolled his eyes at his brother and pulled a face. That had to sting, knowing that the top dog didn’t want to leave you in charge.
I headed toward the bedroom. The two-way radio was wrapped in a pair of jeans in my bag on the floor of the closet. I hadn’t spoken to Kyle in two days—hadn’t told him about the planned assault on the armory—but I had no choice but to break radio silence. I tucked both an extra magazine and the radio into the inner pocket of my cut, then walked through the kitchen on my way toward the back door.
“Gonna take a piss before breakfast,” I told Mac, who was buttering a mountain of toast. I walked across the yard, past the chicken coop and tractor shed, out of sight of the house. Kyle or Levi had better be within range. I pulled the radio from my pocket, pressed the call button and waited for a response.
THIRTY-NINE
Kyle
Holy hell, what was going on?
Sprawled on my stomach, field glasses in hand, I blinked and leaned forward, as if getting two inches closer would force what I was seeing to make sense.
Ripper and Kenzie had walked onto the porch, coffee cups in hand. Nothing odd about that. Nothing at all. What made me gape in amazement was the redheaded woman plastered against Ripper’s side. The three of them squeezed onto the porch swing, with the biker between the women.
Boyd Wilcox, the number one Nazi, joined them on the porch.
The redhead curved her body into Ripper’s, running her fingers up and down his thigh, bringing her hand to rest mere inches from his junk.
I turned the binoculars on Kenzie. When we were dating, Kenzie would’ve pitched a fit if I’d blatantly checked out another woman. If another woman groped me—whew—she would’ve gone ballistic. Why the hell was Kenzie calmly sipping coffee while this stranger felt up her man? No, she wasn’t just serenely sitting there. Kenzie smiled at Ripper. She set her coffee cup down on the porch, then turned to him and stroked his chest. Wait. I stretched my neck to get an even closer look. Was she playing with his nipple piercing through his shirt?
Clearly, I’d entered an alternate universe.
Dwight and Darryl wandered onto the porch and offered the threesome baleful looks. They spoke. I couldn’t make out the words, but whatever they said made Kenzie and the redhead hop up and head back into the house. After a couple of minutes, Ripper followed the women inside. He reemerged a few minutes later, walking from the back door toward the barns.
My two-way radio squawked.
“Kyle?” Ripper said in a low, urgent voice.
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Dwight and Darryl heard gunfire near where you’re staying. After breakfast, Boyd wants us to check out all the houses between Valhalla and town. You all need to clear out before we get to you.”
“Shit,” I hissed. Any questions I had about the mysterious redhead could wait. I mentally calculated how long it would take me to hoof it back to the house. If I went at a dead run, at least an hour. I could radio Levi and give them a heads-up, but they’d need my help to quickly pack up all our stuff and hide any evidence of our presence. “Delay him as much as you can. I’m outta here.”
I stuffed the binoculars and radio into my backpack and crawled backwards from the hilltop. Once I was certain that I was out of sight, I began to jog toward our hideaway. I crested a hill, slipped the pack from my shoulder, and pushed the call button on the radio. Levi didn’t pick up.
“Come on. Come on.” I clenched my jaw and scrubbed my hand over my face. Where were Levi and Hannah? They were supposed to keep the radio with them at all times. Shaking my head with frustration, I shoved the radio back into the pack. I ran down one hill and up the next, scanning the ground for badger holes and other tripping hazards. Ten minutes later, I paused and punched the call button.
The day promised to be a scorcher. Sweat trickled down my face as I waited for them to answer. I kicked a rock and sent it skittering over the dry earth, impatience eating a hole in my stomach.
“Dammit,” I snarled, slinging the pack over my shoulder. I ran for another ten minutes before trying the call again. No response from the teenagers. I sucked down half a bottle of water before taking off again. When I climbed over a barbed wire fence—only two miles from the house—I tried another call. Again, nothing.
Shit. Almost an hour had passed since I spoke to Ripper. He said that they were heading out after breakfast. I’d asked him to delay the search as much as possible. Still, Boyd was the man in charge, and if he took it into his head to grab something to eat and to take off immediately, there wasn’t much Ripper could do to stop him.
Of course, no matter how things played out, Ripper wouldn’t allow Boyd to hurt the teenagers. But if Ripper had to kill Boyd, we’d have to strike the remaining members of the brigade immediately. Tuck, Jerrilyn, Dwight, and Darryl carried weapons. Sahdev was likely chained in a back room—a sitting duck—and Bear and Kenzie could be anywhere. Too many unknowns spelled danger for our friends. Better to clear our hideaway out before Ripper and Boyd arrived.
Sweat stung my eyes as I picked up the pace. I scrambled down the final hill and ran toward the house. Rounding an outbuilding, I spied Hannah and Levi in the backyard. Hannah held one of Grandpa Kurt’s compound bows. Levi was helping her adjust her grip on the bow handle. I guess once she decided to learn how to shoot a handgun she was willing to master other weapons, too. Commendable, but why hadn’t they carried the radio into the yard?
I sprinted toward them.
“What’s wrong?” Levi asked, frowning.
I leaned my hands against my knees while I caught my breath, then forced myself to stand up straight. “The brigade is coming. We need to pack everything up.”
“How do you know?” Hannah’s face paled and she clutched at Levi’s arm.
“Ripper radioed me,” I said. “There isn’t time to explain. They’re on their way. We need to clear out now.”
“You tried to call?”
“Yeah.”
Levi patted the front pocket of his jeans. “I must’ve left the radio on the nightstand. Sorry, dude.”
From his stricken expression, it was clear that Levi knew he’d made
a mistake. Instead of piling on, I swallowed back my irritation. “Let’s get packed up and out of here.”
I backed the jeep up to the kitchen door. We ran back and forth between the house and the vehicle, throwing all of our gear into the back. Once we’d packed up all of our belongings, Levi and I walked through the house, checking for evidence of our presence.
Hannah and Hector stood watch in the yard, looking and listening for any sign of approaching vehicles.
There’s a world of difference between a house that’s been standing empty for months and one recently vacated. Cooking smells lingered in the air. The fine layer of dust that had covered everything when we arrived had been wiped clean. We’d picked up the piles of crap that the previous tenants had scattered during their hasty departure. I opened the window over the kitchen sink and in the bathroom. With any luck, circulating air would banish the food smells.
“Dump some clothes on the floor,” I ordered Levi. “Make it look as messy as it did when we got here.”
“On it,” Levi said. He rushed through the house, tossing the family’s clothes on the floor and opening kitchen cupboards, spilling spice bottles on the counters.
Hannah dashed inside. “I saw dust on the horizon. Someone might be coming.”
So much for making our escape before the brigade arrived. Time for Plan B. “Where’s the sedan?”
“Behind the barn,” Levi said.
“Park the jeep next to the car. I’ll grab tarps from the barn. We’ll cover the vehicles, then run.”
I sprinted toward the barn while Levi moved the jeep. We hastily threw tarps over the jeep and sedan, grabbed weapons, and retreated to the cluster of trees on the top of the hill behind the house.
Hannah knelt and wrapped her arms around Hector’s neck.
From our vantage point above the house, I spied a silver pickup crawling up the gravel drive. I glanced at the teenagers. “Bet he’s trying to sneak up on us, so he can catch us unawares.”
“How did they know we’re here?” Hannah asked.
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