by KJ Dahlen
Candyman took up the story, “Pride searched Lionel’s houses and compound. He had us watch the man for a year. We never saw the two of you anywhere near the man, so we knew Lionel hadn’t taken you, even though Joanie had said she was in trouble with him.”
Cosmo nodded. “And only now, do we know why. Lionel did not have you. Spider killed Joanie for his own reasons and just missed killing you. I imagine when Spider saw you were alive after all these years, he knew he had to kill you now, or be discovered for the bastard that he is. Now, he’ll concoct some story that will send his brother Lionel into a war with us that he won’t win.”
“Da, he will not win this war because we will fight as well,” Yuri told them. “The Shadows plan on coming after us as well in the hopes of taking over New Orleans and I cannot allow that to happen. We will put them down like the rats they are and for good this time.”
“What about Boo?” Fred wanted to know. “We all know Spider wants her dead and so probably does his brother Lionel.”
“That isn’t going to happen.” Kirill growled. “She isn’t without protection anymore. I will die for her but I will also kill for her too. They will have to go through me first.”
“Da, me as well,” Felix spoke up.
“As well as me.” Kosta growled.
Yuri nodded. “She will have Bratva protection.”
“You are all forgetting something here,” Candyman reminded them. “She’s the daughter of our president, so she’ll have MC protection too.”
Boo just looked from one man to the next, her confused gaze making a long span of the deck. Where all these men stood, declaring that they would protect her as if she belonged to them. Then she looked over at the man who claimed to be her father.
Pride was staring back at her from the dock with a longing in his eyes.
Boo now wanted to force them all off of her boat and leave the dock, as she felt overwhelmed by it all.
Suddenly, a rifle shot broke the silence and she screamed as she was thrown back on the deck. She hit the wood so hard, she couldn’t catch her breath as pain burst in her shoulder and she found herself lying on her back while staring at the ceiling of stars above them.
For a moment, she could hear anything and finally she began to breathe again. Then the chaos of what was going on around her came into focus and she heard footsteps running toward her. Hands lifted her and held her close. Someone started her boat and got it out of the dock area.
Fred steered the boat to the open water and when he was far enough away, he stopped the engine and lowered the anchor.
Pride was right beside her as was Kirill and Kosta.
“Where was she hit?” Pride wanted to know as he looked at his daughter.
“In the shoulder,” Kirill told him. “But I can’t get it to stop bleeding. He must have nicked an artery.”
Fred grunted and went inside to get Boo’s first aid kit. Living the way they did, they had to be prepared for any emergency. He slammed it down on the deck and unlocked it.
Kosta spotted something in the kit that would work and grabbed it up. Tearing the package open with his teeth, he pressed the gauze down on the wound. The gauze held a chemical compound that would slow the bleeding until it finally stopped.
“What the hell did you do?” Pride wanted to know.
“I slowed the bleeding,” Kosta explained. “That was what we needed before anything else.”
Then the men turned toward the shore as they all heard more of a gunfight taking place. The gunfight took all of ten minutes then the silence dragged out another twenty minutes before Yuri got a message on his phone. He looked up at Pride and nodded. “They got four shooters. It’s clear.”
Pride looked over at Fred and snarled, “Get us back to shore.”
Fred nodded then lifted the anchor and started the engine again.
Chapter Twelve
“We need to take her to our doctor,” Yuri stated when they got to shore. “I have called him and told him of her wound and he is on his way to the hotel.” While he offered this, he stared at Kirill.
“Wait just a dammed minute here!” Fred interjected. “She’s our family!”
Kirill knelt his large body down and scooped her up from the deck. “Fred, you need to know that she is my woman now. I will save her even if I have to go through your buckshot.” He carried her to the dock.
Fred sighed and shook his head.
Kosta came over. “You can come with us.”
Fred nodded and they all went down the dock.
“Wait a fucking minute!” Pride yelled out.
Yuri turned and looked at him. “Get on your cycles and come with. We are headed to Orleans.” He then turned and got into one of the SUVs that simply seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Fred rushed over and hopped in with the Russians.
Pride looked over at Cosmo and Candyman. “Let’s hurry to our bikes, so we don’t lose them.”
Candyman laughed. “I know where this hotel is, Boss.”
Cosmo nodded. “Yeah, anyone who has ever been in the Big Easy knows who this Yuri is.”
“Fine, whatever, let’s go!” Pride rushed up the hill to the bikes.
After a thirty minute ride, they all entered the parking levels at the 10 story hotel.
Men came out and lined up in front of the elevator, eyeing all the arrivals.
“Well fuck,” Candyman stated when he got off his ride. He looked over at Pride.
His president stared at all the large men. “Who the fuck is this guy, Yuri?”
Cosmo dismounted. “It’s not who he is. It is what he is.”
“Yeah, boss. Bratva. The Russian mob.” Candyman nodded.
Pride blinked. “And my daughter is with one of them?”
“Oh , shit,” Candyman muttered under his breath as they all rushed over to the parking elevator. “I was wondering when we would get to this part.”
“This one is too full,” Yuri stated from the elevator car as Kirill held Boo in his arms. Fred stood next to him and Kirill’s two brothers on either side.
It closed on their faces.
Pride yelled, “Fuck!”
The very large men standing on either side of the elevators slowly looked over at him.
Candyman shook his head. “Boss, these men’s fists are larger than our damned heads,” he whispered in a hushed tone. “Can you keep it to a slow boil?”
Pride huffed. “I don’t give a shit if they have King Kong here. That is my daughter they got with them and she was bleeding out.”
Cosmo and Candyman both were nervous as hell and kept quiet as the elevator doors opened again.
Another large man stood there in the elevator car. “I am Sasha, head of security here. Do you have any weapons on you?”
“Well, of course we do,” Cosmo replied and handed him his gun. “That piece is special, so don’t lose it.”
Candyman handed him two guns and a knife.
Pride let out a breath and pulled out a .44 magnum.
Sasha raised a brow at him. “You carry a very large gun,” he commented as he handed the weapons to the men standing at the elevator.
Candyman snickered. “Haven’t you seen Dirty Harry?”
Sasha frowned and looked over at him.
Cosmo shook his head. “No Candy... Just don’t—”
Candyman cut him off by raising his hand up and said in a scratchy low voice, “The most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?”
Pride and Cosmo sucked in deep breaths, as they looked ready to get their asses kicked.
Sasha stared at him then he grinned. “Da, I have seen all the Dirty Harry’s.” He waved them into the elevator.
Cosmo snorted with relief. “You are so fucking lucky Candyman. So lucky.”
Candyman stepped into the lift and smirked. “Sweet, sugary luck. Yes...”
Pride let out a long exhale. “Aft
er this is over, we are going to have to ration your fucking chocolate.”
The doors closed.
Kirill had laid Boo down on the bed in one of the rooms and he had forced himself to step back as the doctor took over.
The doctor had Raven helping him as she expertly hooked up the IV, then handed the doctor the line.
Kirill took a deep breath and let it out as they put into Boo’s arm.
Sasha came in and looked over at where she laid, then up at Kirill. “The large blond biker man wants in.”
“Let him come. Just him though,” Kirill told him.
A minute later, Nash Pride came in looking concerned.
Kirill raised his fingers to his lips.
Pride stared at the bed where his daughter lay as they worked on her.
The doctor cleaned her wound and Raven set up a tray next to him.
“We will need to get the bullet out,” the doctor said as he pushed a syringe into the IV line. “This should kick in so that she does not feel it.”
Both Pride and Kirill each seemed to take in a deep breath.
Boo looked deathly pale and she hadn’t moved at all, this whole time.
The doctor set up to dig the bullet out.
When he pierced her skin with the scalpel, Boo rose up and screamed, “No Lionel. Don’t hurt me anymore!”
Raven helped the doctor to lay her back down.
Delirious, Boo passed out again.
Pride and Kirill both looked enraged.
Kirill looked over at Pride and whispered, “Her back is covered in scars, and now I know why.”
Pride’s eyes were red streaked with utter rage. “That fucker will die today,” he muttered.
The doctor looked up at the two men. “She has a good pulse and pressure. The bleeding has stopped and...” He dropped a piece of metal into the tin tray and it made a loud CLINK. “...the bullet is out. So the both of you need to leave for a bit, while we finish up on her care.”
Both men opened their mouths to argue.
Raven stepped over in front of them, crossing her arms over her chest. “You heard him.”
Kirill let out a huge sigh and turned to leave.
Pride hesitated.
Grabbing Pride’s large arm, Kirill tugged. “We are leaving.”
Raven glared at Pride. “Now...”
He tucked his head back in surprise and allowed Kirill to drag him out.
When they were in the hall, Pride looked over at Kirill. “Who in blazes was that woman?”
“Yuri’s wife,” Kirill replied.
Pride slowly nodded. “Oh, so you didn’t want to piss him off. I get it.”
Kirill let out a snort. “The hell with that. You do not want to piss HER off.”
Sasha stood there by the door and nodded. “It would be...unwise.”
Pride blinked his eyes at the men.
“Yuri wants you both in the security room,” Sasha added. “Follow me.”
They all went down the hall then out to the main room. Then across the very large room, they entered another hallway.
Finally, they arrived and entered a room with 12 full monitors on video feed and computers. There were desks and chairs all over the large room and most were manned by huge men who were each staring at a computer monitor as if their lives depended on it.
Pride took a slow preview of the room and the equipment. “What the fuck is this, the war room?”
Kirill chuckled from beside him. “I suppose it could be called that.”
“Da, it is today.” Yuri stood from the monitor table. “As we are going to war, very soon.”
Pride and Krill went over to where he stood.
Yuri sighed. “None of the four shooters were this Spider, they were men from the Shadows of Hell. But they broke easily enough and we now have all the information we need to take them down.”
Pride growled. “Me and my men will go and take them down. I want Lionel.”
Yuri placed his hands behind his back. “Mr. Pride, we already have teams around their compound. There is no reason to risk your men.”
“And how do I know your men will succeed?” Pride crossed his arms over his chest.
“Because they are trained to kill without even being seen,” a voice answered.
Pride and Kirill turned to see a tall, wide shouldered man come into the room. He had short jet black hair and a hard planed face. His eyes were the color of blue ice.
“My team does this type of thing, nearly every week. This is their job.”
Pride stared at him then looked over at Kirill.
Krill gave him a firm nod.
“You see Mr. Pride,” Yuri began. “Viktor’s men are an extension of the Bratva. Our legion in arms you might call them. Since this group Shadows threatens our place in New Orleans, we can utilize all our resources. Which are vast and deadly, I might add.”
“But we have a beef with them too,” Pride argued. “They killed my woman and harmed my daughter.”
“Well, we can allow you in, however...” Yuri stepped closer to him. “If you will agree to stand down, we shall try to bring you the twin brothers, alive.”
Pride’s eyes widened. “You can do that?”
“Da, we can try,” the blue eyed man Viktor replied.
Pride gave a nod, though he was clearly disappointed to not be allowed into the fray.
Chapter Thirteen
The Bratva got their men into place.
The rest of the Kings of Wrath showed up at the hotel.
Yuri allowed Rage and Teacher to come up into the hotel security room to join Pride, Candyman and Cosmo.
Teacher their IT man stared and stared at the entire room. He looked like a kid who just arrived at the Willy Wonka factory.
The men watched as Yuri and Viktor set up plans for the takedown.
Viktor had calls going back and forth, as he instructed the men to take the twin brothers alive, he gave them their images and left it up to Matvey and Adrik to track those two in particular down, while Grisha would blow the doors up at the back and at the front.
Ivan and Andrey would lead the rest of the Enforcers in to put out all resistance.
The entire group watched the two monitors that showed the front and the back of the warehouse, the Shadows used as their compound.
When darkness fell, it all looked quiet.
Pride kept pacing. “When is it gonna go down?” he asked impatiently.
Krill raised his brows as he replied, “These men do things in Bratva time.”
Pride stopped his pacing and stared at him in confusion.
“What the hell does that mean?” Candyman asked.
Yuri turned to answer this, “It means, careful, quick, and deadly. Once is starts, it will take less than 10 minutes and the enemy will be vanquished. This is Bratva timing.”
“And what if it takes longer than that?” Pride asked.
Viktor turned to glance at him. “It never has before.”
Candyman batted his eyes. “Ever?”
Viktor nodded. “We cannot have ourselves caught by your local lawmen. Or the feds will be called. My men are in within 5, then out in five.”
Rage whistled. “Bad ass. Like the Navy Seals.”
Viktor narrowed his blues at him.
Rage placed his hands up realizing the Russian did not care for the comparison. “Sorry, sorry.”
Viktor then turned his head and nodded as he spoke into his mic on his headset, “Grisha go BOOM.”
Then suddenly on the darkened monitors, the place lit up like the fourth of July as lights flared while the doors at the back and front blew simultaneously.
Yuri looked over at Viktor and grinned. “He does love the Boom.”
Next, gunshots could be heard.
Then the Shadow’s men swarmed out of the warehouse like roaches when the lights go on. Scattering to all sides of the lot, they found huge men dressed from head to toe in black, stopping them from leaving the property. They tried their bes
t to get away and they never even tried to fight.
Viktor listened on his cell to updates. “It seems only a few fought back, they died and the rest pulled up their petticoats and ran on their dainty little feet.”
Candyman rolled his eyes. “Fucking chicken shits.”
“What bunch of fuckin’ pussies,” Pride muttered.
“Although,” Viktor continued. “There are two men shooting at my men just now...” He paused and listened. “Ahh yes, the two you wish to capture alive. Of course.” He showed a perfect dazzling smile as he went on, “They are desperately fighting to the death. But never fear, my men shall play with them until they simply run out of bullets.”
Pride and his men stared at the man with the cold face and his glacial blue gaze as the smile transformed him into a real human being, even a handsome one.
“Why is he smiling?” Pride side whispered to Kirill.
Kirill chuckled. “He loves the fight and is always happy to have one. Like a party, you know?”
Cosmo and Candyman looked at each other and blinked.
“Yeah, I get it.” Rage nodded as he spoke. “A good ass kicking gets the blood going all right.”
Pride shook his head at his MC Enforcer.
After 2 more minutes, the monitor showed two large men hauling out the Rinc twins.
All the prisoners were already gone as well as any sign of the Enforcer Nomads.
Matvey and Andrey tossed the two twin brothers into the last vehicle left. Then took off.
Viktor looked down at his watch. “Nine minutes and 2 seconds. Bylad, they were slow!”
Yuri tilted his head back and let out a rare laugh.
Pride and his men all shook their heads.
After a few minutes, Pride and Kirill went back to Boo’s room.
Fred sat next to her bed and he looked like he would not be moved as he glared at the doctor.
The doctor placed his fingers to his lips and whispered to both men at the door, “She is sleeping now. She will most likely be out for the rest of today.”