by Rae B. Lake
Vida’s screaming dulled in my ears, as the roar of the real world came barreling back.
“Inkpop? Inkpop.” She cried.
“Angel. My Angel.” I reached up and slammed the little girl to my chest as a let my sorrow overtake me, my wails joining in with everyone else's.
Vida was dead, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Chapter 26
The rest of the ride to our brother club in New Orleans was dark and mournful. I rode in the van with Jazmine and Keeley.
The boys had managed to find a way down the cliff and retrieved Vida’s mangled body. She deserved to be buried with her family. They wrapped her up and put her in the back of the van. Angel and Loralie rode in the car with Cherry, Ryder, and LJ. Mikki rode in the back, whimpering and crying as she laid on her dead sister's chest. I didn’t think she would make it back from this. Fuck, I didn’t know if I would.
The rest of the way there, we stayed in close formation, not letting anyone out of sight. We arrived Wednesday evening; there was no party. No excitement. We brought Archer and the rest of our brothers there up to date, and then we found open rooms, and all went to bed. Tomorrow we would worry about who we needed to kill. Today we would all just cry.
***
Early Thursday morning, we got ready. It would be at least a ten-hour journey to Florida.
“Archer, you have enough firepower for us?” Wire asked as we loaded up our supplies.
“More than enough. We set up a little surveillance down at the docks. Yang is already down at the safe house with the weapons and the rest of the tactical gear we need. What is the actual plan? Are we killing them all, or we just looking for this woman?”
“The Giles family is our number one target. Both of them need to be gone.” Wire turned and looked at me, “Anyone else we need to worry about?”
My thoughts jumped to Roth. I should kill him, but he would be the one person I would show mercy to if it came down to it. “No, the rest will try to protect them, but once those two go down, they’ll all scatter. As for shooting, if you have to shoot them fine, if not fine. There will be no one there to keep their business afloat after they are gone.”
“How many in total?” Archer’s VP Jameson asked.
“I don’t have the exact numbers, but it will be twenty to thirty with the Giles family alone. I don’t know about the other side, but if we have to take them down too, then we do.”
“It’s not that simple. We need to have correct-” Jameson was trying to prove his point.
“I don’t give a flying fuck about the correct information or how many people are going to be there or even how many times they shake their dicks after they piss. All we need to know is they all need to be dead.” Wire growled at us.
Jameson stood back, he may not be completely aware of how Wire conducted business, but he knew when the hell he needed, just to nod and follow directions.
“Don’t you have your man there on recon?” I asked Archer.
“Yeah, he’ll be there before us.”
“Then, I guess that’s when we’ll know the exact number.”
Archer’s crew were incredibly loyal to him and the patch. They all made good brothers. Today though I didn’t want a precise plan, I wanted to run in like a savage and just kill them all.
We rode for hours, Archer and Jameson joining us while we left Ryder, the women, and children back at Archer’s compound. His legs were getting better, so they told me, but he still wasn’t a hundred percent. He’d fought tooth and nail against Wire, but in the end, he knew it was the right choice. He had no choice in the matter anyway. Wire was president, and his word was law.
We made it to the safe house late Thursday night. There were thirteen of us. Thirteen against what could turn out to be thirty or more. I knew what we were capable of. And I knew what they were capable of; I’d take this matchup any day.
Chapter 27
It was worse than we thought. Ruby and Harrington had about twenty guards with them, but the people they were delivering to were a different story. It seemed like they were running a small fucking country with the number of people they had with them.
“Wire, this shit is bombed, there is no way we’re getting through all these people. We need to do this another way,” Archer spoke into Wire's ear.
He looked over to where I was lying, trying to stay in cover. "Ink, I know I made a promise to take them out, but it's not going to happen here, not today."
Fuck that. There was no way I was going to let these fucks get away free. After they left here, there was no telling if I would ever be able to find them again. I couldn't risk it.
"No, you guys go ahead." I stood slowly, trying not to draw any attention to us. "I have to end this shit now. This isn't something I can just pick up another day. It's my only fucking shot. "
Wire stood next to me. "Bullshit, I'm not going to sit here and let you run into a suicide mission. That shit’s not going down."
"Wire, you don't fucking..."
Slow footsteps.
I swiveled and pointed my gun, but I didn’t see anything. Wire and Archer turned where I was pointing my gun.
“Brother?”
“Someone is out there. I can hear them walking.” I murmured.
“I should have known you’d be back, surprised to see the backup, though.”
I knew that voice. I’d spent the last four years listening to it.
Roth.
He stepped out of his hiding spot, and I walked over to him quickly, my gun still was drawn and aimed directly at his chest. “I should blow you the fuck away right where you stand,” I growled.
“Problem?” Archer asked, his gun drawn and aimed at Roth too.
“He was one of my guards.”
“Blow his fucking head off.” Wire said.
“Wait.” Roth put his hands up, “You should, but I can help you.”
I was intrigued, it could be a trap, but Roth had always done what he could to help when it mattered. That was when Angel was with me. I hoped it didn’t mean his help only extended to her. “How is that?” I asked, lowering my weapon a little.
“How is Angel?” He asked, putting his hands down slowly, the despair on his face was visible.
I lowered my gun all the way and signaled for Wire and Archer to do the same. “She’s okay. We made it out safe.”
“Good, good. I couldn’t let them get her. I should have done something…” He shook his head and looked away. He felt guilty, and he should.
“She’s good.”
He nodded and then looked back over at me. “Look, you are not going to be able to get to Ruby here. What you see down there are representatives from the French government. I promise you they’re not the enemies you want to have. Along with those you see, there are about thirty more in the surrounding area. All your men are already spotted, but they don’t know if you’re with us or are here to cause trouble. One gunshot, and it’s over for all of your people.” Roth said.
“Well, fuck!” Archer swore, taking a step back. “Wire, if he’s telling the truth, we gotta get out of here now. The last thing any fucking form of government wants is to be seen doing some shady shit. They’ll take us out just because we fucking know too much.”
“How’s that helping me? They need to die, Roth. I don’t fucking know where your loyalty is, but if this is just a ploy to get me to forget about them, then you can fuck off because that shit isn’t going to happen.” There was no way I was giving up, no matter what anyone said.
“No, she does, a lot of us need to die, but Ruby and Harrington are at the top of that list. You want to get to them you got to catch them with their pants down.”
“You have a plan or some shit? Because right now, what you’re giving us is shit.” Wire snarled.
“Stall brawls.” Roth looked up at me expectantly.
“You want me to fight them?”
“No, those stall brawls are open. Ruby and Harrington are just there to shmooze and show off. They a
ren’t worried about anyone coming in there to kill them, and the other folks they are entertaining are all trust fund, silver spoon babies. They would piss their pants if someone shoved a gun in their face.”
It was true. I never saw any real opposition besides Lou and Roth whenever I was at any the stall brawls.
Suddenly like a flash, it hit me. I wasn’t there, so who the fuck was fighting?
“There are more? Lou said there were more like me. Prisoners?”
Roth’s eyes went big for a second, then fell from my gaze. “You thought you two were the only ones? No, Ruby just liked to tote you around to add to your pain, but you were far from the only ones. This compound alone has five others. Each one of their other compounds has more.”
Fucking hell.
“Wire, we can’t leave them in there. We can’t.” My needs had changed from just killing Ruby and Harrington to now killing them and freeing as many of their prisoners as I could.
“Agreed,” he stepped up closer to Roth, “so tell us what we need to do.”
Roth explained everything in detail, how many guards there were, where all the trip wires were, and what the Giles were into as far as he knew. He knew Ruby and Harrington would break away from the crowd if they saw me. The plan was for him to say he found me trying to get in and captured me. They would want me to do a stall brawl as a present for their guests, and Archer and his boys should have no problem taking them out while they were still in cover. There would be some pushback, but the guards at this estate were only basically trained, most of them have never fired their weapons before. It should be a walk in the park for us.
***
We all went back to the estate but set up a campsite far enough away that no one would come looking for us. The next day was game time. Roth came for me a little after sunset; it was time for me to go back.
“All your guys are in their positions?” Roth asked Wire.
“Yeah, we straight.”
Roth nodded and tried to walk to me. Wire put an arm out and stopped him curling his fingers around the man's neck lightly.
“If you try to screw us, or if you turn on Ink, I promise you what you saw this Ruby woman doing would be child's play compared to what I will do to you. This shit better work, and you better not be fucking trying to play us. You get me, Roth?”
He nodded once, and Wire let go of him. He walked over to me, pulling a pair of handcuffs out his back pocket. My hand balled up immediately. I never wanted to be in handcuffs again.
“Look, they pop right open.” He put them on his wrists, and I heard them click. He pressed a button on the side of them, and they opened right up, letting his hands go free. “You ready?”
“Yeah, okay.” I shrugged my kutte off and handed it off to Clean.
“Don’t worry, brother, we got you,” Archer said as I took my shirt off and dropped it to the floor.
“You better, if I have to escape again, I don’t think we can be friends.” I joked as Roth put the dummy handcuffs on me.
“Get out of them.”
I hit the little button on the side, and just like it did for him, they released. That made me feel better a bit.
As we walked, Roth stepped behind me. “Nico, I want you to know I’m sorry for all this shit. I know its no penance, but it’s all I have.”
“No, it don’t mean shit. If you’re sorry you should have set all these people free, you could have killed Ruby and Harrington a million times over.”
He didn’t reply, just kept walking me to the large crowd gathered in the back yard of the house.
“Oh shit, Roth. I can’t believe you actually found him.” One of the guards said as we passed him. “Ruby is going to be so fucking happy.”
Roth pushed me hard, causing me to stumble forward. “Yup, the dumb fuck was trying to sneak in. I guess there’s no place like home.”
They shared a laugh as we made our way further in. Roth leaned in when there was no one around to see. “I have to stay in character, so should you.”
I rolled my eyes. That meant he was about to act like a complete dick, and I wasn’t supposed to hold it against him.
“Hold it!” A shrill voice erupted in the air as we made our way into the crowd. “Well, ladies and gentlemen, it seems we have a returning fighter.” The crowd in front of me parted, and Ruby sexily sauntered toward me, her smile taking over her whole face, even the scar looking slightly less gnarly.
“I’m sorry.” Roth apologized again. When I turned to look at him, something in his eyes was off.
Ruby slid her arms up my chest and around my neck as she rocked into me. Her eyes alight with desire as she dug her hands into my hair and pulled hard. I cried out in pain, and she moaned in pleasure at the sound. “I missed you, Nico. Don’t you ever leave me again.” She rocked harder and pulled harder. Tears springing to my eyes, as chunks of hair and skin began to peel from my head. “Mmm, yes.” She groaned.
“My love, we have guests, you can play with him later,” Harrington said from behind her. “I can’t wait to watch.”
“You’re right. First, we must get Nico ready.” She walked away from me and addressed the crowd. “Our favorite inked up fighter has returned to the box. There will be an extra fight tonight! Get those bets in.”
“Roth, what about the others?” Harrington asked from where he was standing.
“There are a few up in the woods back there, and the rest are going to try and take our guards out from their posts. It’s better for them to all come in. They aren’t set up to take on all of us.”
My mouth dropped open, and I turned to him, “You piece of shit! You lying bastard! I hope you burn in fucking hell.” I kicked out and fought against him. The motherfucker sold us out. He just told Harrington our plan. I reached down and tried to undo my cuffs as I had before, but they were no longer releasing. I walked into a fucking trap; I couldn’t believe how fucking dumb I was.
“Oh, now, Nico, is that polite?”
I turned to see Vale standing next to the clear box. “You’ll have your turn to fight.”
He must have told them about us when he ran me off the road. It was a fucking trap. “I am going to rip your lungs out of your body. Just wait, Vale.”
Immediately all of the guards that were supposed to be outside and easy picking for Archer and his boys were inside and mixed in with the crowd. There would be no way of knowing who is who.
I wonder if they’d already taken out Wire? Did they kill my brothers already? I screamed in defeat. My drive for revenge had gotten me right back into the hands of my captors, and my family ripped away from me. I just wanted to hear one more fucking joke from Clean. Have Jazmine under me again. I’d miss Angel.
“First up tonight, we have Neptune and Siren. You all know Siren, and for all those who don’t, she’s been the ladies champion for years. Who knows, maybe Neptune will be the one to break her hundred and thirty-seven winning streak.”
What the fuck? She’s been in a hundred and thirty-seven stall brawls. That was fucking impossible.
I watched as the new opponent made her way to the clear box, her eyes darting in every direction as the tears began to fall down her face. She was new; there was still nail polish on her fingernails.
They brought the woman that they called siren out, and she has shackles around her waist, her wrists, and her feet. She had no shoes on, and she didn’t even look up. She was just there to kill and go back to her cell. I thought I’d had it bad, but it was nothing compared to what it looked like this woman had been through.
Before closing them both in the box, they took the waist and leg restraints off, but they left the wrist restraints on. They were giving the new girl a hell of an advantage. They were in there all of twenty-five seconds. Siren bent down and pulled Neptune's feet from under her, and the woman fell to the floor. I couldn’t hear her screaming, but I could see it on her face. Siren picked her leg straight up and let her heel come down straight on the woman’s chest. As the woman put her h
ands to her chest in reaction to the severe blow, Siren bent down and broke her neck. Neptune was dead, and Siren just sat down cross-legged and waited for the doors to be opened.
The guards took her out, and just like before, they shackled her waist and feet along with her wrists. She shuffled out as the crowd around her roared in excitement, clapping and throwing tickets at her.
“Nico, you ready boy?” Harrington yelled as the crowd got louder at the sound of my name.
I walked to the box they’d just pulled the dead girl from. I never wanted to be in this box again, but I had no choice.
“We have another recruit. Let me introduce Red!” Harrington bellowed, and a big behemoth of a man started walking out. He had to be at least seven feet tall. I’d never seen anyone so fucking tall. He ducked and got into the clear box, taking up more space than I would have liked.
Vale grabbed me roughly and stood in front of me to undo my cuffs.
The monster inside aching to rip him to shreds.
“I would stand back if I were you, asshole. I might have to bite your face off.”
“I hope not, brother.” He whispered as he took his time to undo my wrist restraints. He raised his eyes to mine, “It’s me, Ink. We’re here with you, brother.”
I looked in his face; it was another joke. It had to be. I looked over his shoulder at someone laughing and drinking. He caught my gaze and gave me a wink.
Jameson.
I scanned the rest of the crowd, realizing it was infested with Wings. All of them dressed to the nines drinking and chewing the fat with the rest of The Giles’ friends. I saw Mack, Devin, and Yang. If they were there, the rest of the boys must not be far.
Storm pressed a small syringe in my hand. “It’ll knock him out. Once you get inside, the rest of us should be in position; shit’s going to go fast.” He whispered and nodded his head slightly.
I could have fucking cried in relief.
I stepped into the box, hiding the syringe from view. “Work with me, and you won’t die,” I said to the big man.
He looked around and then at me confused, but his stance eased up.