by Franca Storm
He looks away in shame. “I know, kid. I know. He got too twisted.”
I let go of him roughly and he shakes out his shirt.
I blow out a breath, tryin’ to get a hold of myself. Being in this place is fucking with my goddamn head. Jesus. “If my kid turns out to be a boy, what you gonna do there?”
“Nothing.”
“Look at me, Sin.” Gotta see his eyes when he says it.
“Only club in this family now is Thorns. And any of the rest is up to you and yours, Neil. I’m done with all that now.”
He ain’t lying. Him and Skinner had the same tell. Eye twitch thing.
“Why’d you look so happy when you thought ‘bout me having a boy then?”
“Thinking ‘bout the stuff I could teach him. Stuff I coulda taught you if things had been different. Never had my own kids, so gotta live vicariously, right?”
Jesus Christ. He’s actually changed. For real. A hell of a lot.
“Fuck,” I mutter, resting my head back against the wall. “Get outta here.”
“What?”
“Go. Your part of the job’s done.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“Look, Sin, just…just go, yeah? I got the rest.”
“I know, Neil.”
My gaze snaps to his. “Know what?”
“Dealer’s the one here. Not Roxana. You were gonna bury me here.”
“How—?”
“I been ‘round a long time. Seen a lot, just like you. Was Skinner’s right hand for a long time, too. Can’t get shit like that past me, kid.” He grins. “Good try, though.”
“Why’d you come along then?”
“To see if you’d do it.”
“What if I had?”
“You ain’t him, Neil. You ain’t Skinner. And you ain’t the guy you’re risking your life to save in there either. You ain’t twisted. I just wanted to make sure that was still true. Woulda been a fucking tragedy otherwise.”
“I don’t get—”
“You old man asked me to check—make sure being Prez wouldn’t twist you like it did to him.” He eyes me soberly. “He told me the second he went after you and your girl, he knew you’d come for him, take him out. Knew he didn’t have much time. Didn’t want it either. He was done a long time ago, Neil. Maybe that’s why he did some of the shit he did near the end—he didn’t care no more.”
“You making excuses for his shit?” I growl.
“Nah. Just saying. So, this is where we’re at. You ain’t gonna kill me. We both know it. So, you wanna do this thing and get outta this hell hole, or what?”
It takes me a good while to absorb everything he’s saying. But, finally, I nod. “Yeah.” I draw in a breath and peer ‘round the corner at the door again, gritting my teeth and forcing myself to focus on what’s gotta be done now, not what was done to me back then.
I pull my pick set outta my pocket and tell Sin, “Cover me.”
“You got it, kid.”
I take another look ‘round the corner. No guards there still. Good.
And then I move with Sin right at my back, holding his Beretta ready, covering me.
I skid to my knees at the door and get to work on the lock. It ain’t an easy lock to no layman. Luckily, I don’t qualify as one of those poor fucks. I got this in the bag. Piece of cake for a guy with my history.
Takes me maybe thirty seconds to pick the thing.
I shoot to my feet and tell Sin, “All right. We’re in.” I pull my Desert Eagle and flip the safety off.
I eye Sin and he nods. The two of us barely need words.
I kick open the door and me and Sin flatten our backs against the wall, either side of it.
Sure enough, as we figured, two ugly looking motherfuckers all roided-out, come running out, tryin’ to figure out what’s up.
Before I can even take a shot, Sin’s fired off two right through their fucking temples.
“Jesus.”
Is he tryin’ to stop me from making a kill here? Nah, I’m imagining shit. Get a grip. This damn place! Has my head all screwed up.
We wait for any other sounds. Footsteps. Guns being cocked. Radio transmissions.
Nothing.
I step through the door, holding my gun at the ready, just in case, as I scan the torture chamber.
Only thing in sight is Dealer.
He’s tied to a chair.
And there don’t seem to be a mark on him. I was wrong then? Kent didn’t touch him? I don’t get it.
His eyes are swollen and red raw, though.
“Roxana,” he croaks out.
Oh shit. Kent must’ve told him that she’s dead. I rush over to him and tell him, “She ain’t dead. She’s safe. It’s a fake out, Dealer.”
He throws his head back and draws in a breath. “Jesus Christ. Fuck. Thank fuck.”
“Sorry. Kent had to believe it.”
His gaze snaps back to mine and he says, “So, this ain’t a suicide mission then?”
“What? No.” I glance behind me at Sin who’s watching the door and we exchange a what-the fuck’s-he-getting-at look.
Dealer shakes his head. “You idiot.”
I don’t got time for his reprimanding bullshit right now, especially since I ain’t got no idea what the hell he’s getting at.
“Just shut it and let me focus on getting you outta this shithole,” I tell him as I walk ‘round to the back of the chair to free him from it.
As soon as I see the cuffs, my blood runs cold. “Fuck.”
He looks over his shoulder at me. “Yeah, Ax.”
They ain’t any old regular cuffs. Top of the line shit. Real hard to pick—except for a guy like me.
“He knows we’re here?” I ask Dealer, already knowing the answer, but hoping somehow that it ain’t the case.
“Yeah. I’m the damn bait. It’s why he didn’t touch me. Said he were saving it for you. Sick bastard. You shoulda just left me here, Ax. I’m old. Lived my life.”
“Just shut it and let me concentrate here,” I say, dropping to my knees and getting to work on the damn cuffs with my pick set.
“Fuck,” Sin mutters.
“Sin, long time,” Dealer says.
Sin nods. “Yeah.”
“You switched sides now? Saving my ass here?”
“Seems you and me don’t got much of a choice with my nephew and your daughter shacking up. Gonna be family soon.”
“What?” Dealer asks, looking over his shoulder at me. “You asked her to marry you then?”
“Yeah.”
“She say yes?”
“Fuck you. ‘Course she did.”
Both of ‘em fall silent then. And that’s when I realize I need ‘em to keep talkin’ here, keep distracting me. Cuz right away, my eyes stray to the workbench. I zone in on the shock baton there and my stomach lurches.
I try to stop it, but it won’t fucking listen. Another flash hits me:
He strides back to me with the shock baton in his hand, his eyes lit up with excitement.
“I wonder how much you can take of this before your heart gives out. Don’t worry, though, I’ll bring you back and I’ll keep bringing you back. Over and over until you beg me to let you fucking die.”
“You sadistic fuck!”
He steps up real close, the shock baton just inches from my bare chest. “I told you, Ax. I’m going to break you.”
“Ax!”
It’s Dealer hissing at me, jolting me back to the present.
I look down and realize I’ve dropped my picks. “Shit,” I mutter, snatching ‘em up and getting back to work. “Just keep talkin’, yeah? ‘Bout whatever.”
“Boy or girl?” Sin asks.
“What?”
“Your kid. You want a boy or girl?”
Just the thought of mine and Rox’s kid has me grinning. “Girl.”
Dealer laughs. Sin joins in.
“Assholes,” I mutter.
“Nah, just thinking you’re gonna have your
work cut out for you with a girl,” Sin says. “You’re Prez of a MC, yeah?”
I know what he’s getting at. “Boys know better than to touch the Prez’s daughter.”
Dealer scoffs. “Yeah? Do they, fucker? Didn’t seem that way when you went after mine.”
“That shit was different.”
“How?”
“You were dead, for one. No longer Prez.”
“Jesus,” Sin says, laughing at my screwed up reasoning there.
Dealer shakes his head. “Crazy-ass bastard, ain’t ya, Ax?”
“Just know what I want.”
“Yeah, I know,” he says, quietly. “Just wish you’d fucking stayed with her instead of coming down here and risking shit.”
I just ignore that, cuz we’re already here. What’s him wishing that weren’t the case gonna do? Fuck all; that’s what.
I finally succeed with the cuffs. “Got it,” I say, ripping ‘em off him.
He gets to his feet and rubs his wrists. Looking between us, he asks, “Any of you two got a gun to spare?”
Sin slides a Glock outta his left holster and hands it to him.
A look passes between ‘em, like they’re silently agreeing to put all their past shit behind ‘em.
“Thanks,” Dealer says, taking it from him and cocking it.
I lead the way outta the room, not wanting to stay another second inside the hellhole. I step over the two dead guys slumped on the ground outside the room. Dealer and Sin follow me out as I glance left, then right.
“Wanna go out the same way we came in?” Sin asks.
“The fact that we ain’t run into no one but those two fucks who were inside the room, has me worried.”
“Like I said; Kent figured you’d come, Ax. Betting he knows you’re here right now.”
We all eye the blinking red light of the security camera on the wall over the door to our right. “Then what’s the asshole waiting on?” I flip it the bird. “Don’t matter. We see his guys, we cut ‘em down.”
I see Dealer and Sin exchange a worried look.
“What?”
Sin shrugs. “Nothing.”
But I get it. “This is ‘bout you guys not wanting me to kill, ain’t it?”
“Look,” Dealer starts. “You ain’t like us. Shit bothers you. We got the kills. You just limit your shots to damage shots, not kills, yeah?”
I roll my eyes. Are we really having this talk right now in the middle of a goddamn jail break? I blow out a breath. “We’re all gonna do what we gotta do.”
Dealer starts to the left, to go back the way me and Sin came in.
“Stop!” I tell him as something catches my eye.
The light on the camera stops blinking and goes out. Then the EMERGENCY EXIT sign above the door leading right flashes red and clangs, unlocking.
“What the fuck?” Dealer gasps.
My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out to see a text from Smiter: We got you.
Shaking my head, I stuff it back in my jeans and tell the guys, “Club’s here.”
“What?” Sin says.
“Yeah. Fuckers ignored my direct order.”
“Must’ve found a loophole,” Sin suggests, knowing Prez orders can’t be ignored.
“Family,” Dealer says, smiling.
“Let’s go,” I say, striding to the door that Smiter clearly somehow just opened for us.
I slam my hands into it and push the heavy thing open. Dealer and Sin follow at my back.
We make it down the corridor—damn thing seems endless—and finally come out into some sort of open lounge area. There’s a bunch of couches, chairs, an entertainment unit.
“Guess this is where his guard dogs hang,” Sin comments.
“Something’s wrong with this picture. No resistance at all? Nah, this is a goddamn trap,” Dealer says, scanning the room anxiously.
“Fuck,” I mutter, realizing he’s right. “Come on,” I call, sprinting over to the far door that I’m hoping don’t lead to another corridor. I ain’t been this way through this place before. Only ever the way that me and Sin came in here. This area’s all new to me. Maybe Kent had it added on since the last time I was here. This part of the hellhole does look cleaner and newer than the rest of it.
I’m ‘bout to push open the door when Dealer suddenly lunges at me and drives me to the floor. I watch Sin drop down too, behind one of the couches with us. In the next second, a shot rings out.
Jesus Christ. That was close.
Dealer scrambles off me and I get up and peer over the cover of the couch to see Kent standing there with a dozen of his guard dogs flanking him.
I duck back down quick and whisper to the guys, “Thirteen, including Kent.”
“Shit,” Sin mutters.
“This place must bring back fond memories for you, Ax,” Kent calls out.
“Must be like a kick in the fucking junk for you, knowing you failed,” I fire back.
“I would have succeeded if your biker boys hadn’t interrupted my work.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” Sadistic fuck!
“It’s a shame I had my men kill Roxana. I would have enjoyed breaking her.”
Dealer snarls in fury. I’m right there with him, but that’s what Kent wants. He tries to lunge forward, but I grip his jacket and hold him back down and shake my head at him.
“She woulda broken you, motherfucker!” Dealer roars.
“Motherfucker? Isn’t that your M.O., Cal? Ax’s mother, for example?”
“You piece of shit!” Dealer bellows.
“He’s tryin’ to bait you. Chill,” I hiss at him.
“And Sin,” Kent goes on. “You here to attempt to finish what Skinner never could?”
“Yeah,” Sin fires back. “I’m here to blow your fucking brains all over the walls.”
The crazy guy jumps up and fires off three shots. I hear two screams and then the zing of the third bullet ricocheting off something.
He ducks back down behind the couch with us real quick and says, “Two outta three.”
“Shit. We gotta pull a retreat here,” Dealer says.
“Retreat?” I spit with disgust.
Dealer fists his hand in my t-shirt and jerks me into him. “This ain’t like any other time you been in a situation like this. You got stuff to lose now and my daughter needs the father of her kid alive! So, you’re just gonna have to swallow your goddamn pride here!”
I rip his hand off me and tell him, “Ain’t ‘bout pride.”
“It’s ‘bout closure,” Sin cuts in. “After what Kent did to him.”
“Well that day ain’t gonna be today,” Dealer says.
“You better believe it is! Rox and me are never gonna be safe with that fuck still alive! Don’t you get that?”
The startled look of realization on his face tells me he does.
“Kill them. Except Ax,” Kent calls out to his guys. “He and I will finish what we started last time he was here.”
“Finish what?” a familiar voice rings out suddenly.
Jesus fuck.
All three of us rise up to peer over the couch.
My heart fucking stops beating for a good few seconds, as pure terror grips me, at seeing her standing there.
Rox.
Kent looks white as a sheet as he watches her walk into the room.
“What the fuck is she doing?” Dealer hisses at me. “She ain’t even armed. Her gun’s holstered. She lost her mind?”
“Your apparent death was just a ruse,” Kent realizes. “You should’ve kept it that way, Roxana. What you’re doing here is a big mistake.”
“We need to talk, Malcolm.”
“About what? Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something here? Don’t worry. You’ll get your turn. In fact, you can watch as I break your boyfriend and then I’ll take my time with you.”
She holds up her left hand. “Fiancé,” she corrects him.
“Jesus Christ, is she tryin’ to piss him off,
” Dealer whispers to me.
Kent glares at her. “You bitch.”
“Bitch?” she questions. “So, it does bother you then?”
“What?” he snaps.
“Me marrying another man?” She slides her hand down to her belly. “Me having another man’s child? A biker’s child?”
Something in him snaps then and he strides over to her, basically snarling at her. He grabs her arm.
And she grins.
What. The. Fuck?
She uses his hold to pull him into her and the next thing I see is the flash of a gun being drawn so fucking fast and then shoved into his gut. He screams as she fires and his whole body shudders.
Instantly, his boys spin and aim their weapons her way.
And that’s when all hell breaks loose.
In a flash of movement, I see Runner dart inside, wrap his arms ‘round Rox and pull her outta the room. Shit. Thank fuck. I can breathe again. Fucking hell.
Grit and Smiter barrel in then, armed with automatics. They tear into the remaining ten guys.
Me, Dealer and Sin leap over the couch to back ‘em up, but the whole thing’s over in a matter of seconds before any of us can even fire off a shot.
With ‘em all down on the ground, the room falls silent. I stare at Grit and Smiter. As they catch my eye, they look shit-scared.
Grit clears his throat. “Uh...Rox—”
I hold up my hand. “Save it.”
Runner comes back in, still trapping Rox in his hold.
“Runner! That was not part of the plan!” she cries, tryin’ to fight her way free.
“Babe,” I growl.
Her gaze snaps to mine and she instantly stops struggling. A huge grin spreads over her face. Runner releases her and she comes running over to me.
“Don’t you ever fucking do that again,” we both say at the same time.
She pulls away and startles the hell outta me as her fist comes at the left side of my face.
“Fuck,” I grunt. “That was vicious. Damn.”
“We do things together! No more lone-wolf sacrifice crap! Do you understand me?” she yells.
“Rox, no. I—”
“Look around, you idiot!” she screams. She shoves her hands into my chest. “This is what we accomplish together. Separately? That has one of us buried in the ground! Do you hear me, Neil?”
All the boys are staring in open-mouthed shock at me getting my ass handed to me here.