by Brook Wilder
Granted, the thing she wanted most in the world was to not be there anymore, but Damaris was her ticket. She just had to convince him, and then she could go. She was surprised when her pseudo guide introduced the man sitting on a throne like chair on a small raised dais as his leader. He wasn’t what she was expecting.
He was actually…small, at least in comparison to the other men. Slight of stature with plain features but it was his eyes that caught and held her gaze. Those eyes saw all the way through, stripped all her secrets bare, and judged her lacking. Elle shuddered, forcing her chin up even higher. She prayed that last part was just her imagination getting away with her.
“My, my. Aren’t you…succulent.”
“I’m not a pig.” Elle snorted, and then was so shocked that she’d spoken at all, let alone a sarcastic remark that she froze. Luckily, the man at her side spoke up in her stead.
“She’s from the Cruisers. She says she’s with Viper.”
“Well, a friend of Viper’s is a friend of mine.” Damaris said with a smile about as warm as a snake and Elle had to force herself to move forward as he gestured to a small table set off to the side. “Why don’t we sit here and talk.”
“Oh, okay.” Elle followed him reluctantly. She couldn’t put her finger on it but there was something about this man was off, and after nearly an hour of talking as near as she could tell, that impression remained the same.
She still couldn’t tell what was going on behind those eyes of his, but he did seem to be buying her act. She’d told him everything that she’d been supposed to, about Viper backing out of the deal, wanting another. Getting greedy.
As she’d told him she’d seen the anger flare hot and deadly in his eyes and she worried for the first time about being the messenger but he got control of his emotions almost unnaturally fast. She would have been gone as soon after telling him as she could but he’d kept her there, drawing out their conversation.
She’d accidentally let slip that she played piano, and music was a fascination of his. He’d questioned her for almost a half an hour on different composers, what she liked, what she didn’t like. It was unnerving, the way his unblinking eyes had tracked her movements. Finally, her nerves had reached their breaking point. She knew she had to get out of there, now.
“I really have to go. The crew is waiting for me.” Elle said quickly, rising to her feet.
“Wait,” Damaris said, freezing her with the command in his tone before she could take more than a step, “What’s your price.”
“Excuse me?” She shot back at him, baffled.
“It’s been a pleasure speaking with you,” He looked genuinely surprised by his own words, “I know you’re with Viper. I want to buy you from him. Name your price. Whatever you want, it’s yours.”
Elle just barely managed to choke out a scandalized laugh before anger set in, her temper and the adrenaline already spiking through her was a potent mix that had her stepping forward, hands planted on her hips as she faced the leader of the Nomads head on.
“Just listen here, bub. I am not for sale. I don’t have a price. Because I am not an object to be bought and sold like a…like a…toaster! Of all the gall! Of all the unmitigated–.” Elle bit off her words as she turned on her heel, “This conversation is over. I’m leaving.”
“Wait, please.” Damaris said as she walked away, “Can we meet again? You’re right, that was terribly uncouth of me. Let me make it up to you!”
Elle paused at his words, pausing for a moment of drama as she tossed back the words. “We’ll see.”
She almost giggled out loud. Was that really her? Did those words really just come out of her mouth? Elle almost didn’t believe it but her chest swelled with a sense of victory as she neared the door. No one stood in her way. No one else tried to stop her. She was almost free and clear. Mission accomplishe–.
She slowed as the front door of the warehouse began to open and that bubble of victory that had been growing inside her? It popped, deflating like a balloon until she felt completely drained because the last person she ever wanted to see had just walked through the door. Scorpion.
He froze mid step just as she did as they nearly collided with one another and then he stepped back. She had forgotten just how big he was, just how much he towered over her. How small and weak and pathetic he’d made her feel. As helpless as a baby kitten.
Elle held her breath as he stared at her with a blank look and a spark of hope ignited inside her. Maybe with the different clothes and makeup he wouldn’t recognize her. She prayed he wouldn’t recognize her but those hopes were dashed as his expression changed. Confusion was first, but then his eyes widened on her.
“Pretty lady?” He whispered almost reverently, “What…What are you doing here?”
Elle’s breath rushed out, and along with it went the only smidgen of hope she’d had left. Fear replaced. Cold, ruthless, immobilizing fear. She could hear Damaris in the background but it sounded far, far away as he demanded to know what Scorpion was talking about. And then Scorpion began to answer and her time was up.
Her instincts roared at her. If she didn’t get out of there right that minute, she would never leave that place. Not alive anyways. She had to leave. Now. But how? Scorpion’s massive body was blocking the only door in or out that she could see and at her back were fifty or so hardened bikers.
Elle swallowed against the sudden dryness of her mouth glancing quickly to her side. She did have speed to her advantage. If only she could surprise him. Before she’d even realized it, she was moving, shoving her entire body weight into an old barrel that stood by the door. Luckily, it toppled at the exact same time that Scorpion leapt for her and it caught him hard in the shins. He went down in a storm of curses and Elle took off.
As fast as she could, she ran.
Chapter 28
Elle could hear yelling and shouting behind her but she didn’t let it stop her as she bolted through the front door, passed a stunned Scorpion and booked it as if her life depended on it. Because she was pretty well sure that it did. She froze for a moment as she made it outside but her instincts kicked in again, veering her to the left and a copse of trees that she was pretty sure looked familiar. At least, she hoped they were the same ones she’d entered through. She prayed with all her heart that Honey was waiting just beyond, the motorcycle running and ready to go.
Because as she made it to the edge of the tree line, she could already hear the revving of motorcycle engines. Her heart leapt up into her throat as she realized what that meant. They were chasing after her. They wanted to find her, and catch her and bring her back to the man who’d offered to buy her. Somehow, that was even more abhorrent in her mind than the way Scorpion had threatened her. Either way, not good.
Elle didn’t look back. She never once looked behind her. She couldn’t. Partly because she was too afraid to see an entire biker gang charging after her, and what that would do to her already tattered morale, but because the tree line grew denser and steeper and more precarious with every frantic step.
It slowed her tremendously, trying to navigate the rocky ground but she knew a twisted ankle was the last the she needed just then. The only thought that went through her head was that she had to get the heck out of dodge, but the combination of panic, adrenaline and fear weren’t making that any easier for her either.
The path got so steep that Elle had to grab at tree trunks and low hanging branches just to keep herself going and she mentally reminded herself to thank Hot Wheels for giving her boots to wear instead of high heels. It had probably saved her life. Elle nearly snorted to herself. She was obviously losing it. Thinking about footwear at a time like this? Cah-razy.
Keep it together, Electra. You got this! For some reason the fake name she’d given as her own had stuck with her. If she remembered correctly Electra was a bad ass crime fighting superhero. She could be that, right? Sure, why not. She did just go head to head with the leader of a notorious biker gang after all.
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br /> She forced her focus back to the path in front of her for a moment and looked around with a gasp. Somewhere, in her panicked flight or fear induced delusion that she was actually a crime fighting super hero, she’d lost track of the way back to Honey. Elle was so turned around that she wasn’t even sure if she was still heading towards the road. Everywhere she looked she was surrounded by trees and an ever sloping ascent. Not good. So not good.
A sudden sound caught at her ear and still running on adrenaline fueled instincts, Elle ducked. Quickly, she crouched behind the nearest tree large enough to shield her body and it wasn’t long before the sound was drawing closer.
She held her breath, not even daring to breathe as the footsteps came closer and closer to where she was hiding and she fought the urge to squeeze her eyes shut tight. If someone was going to try and take her, or hurt her, she was damn well going to stare them straight in the eyes.
Two men, lower members of the biker totem pole by the look on their faces told her that most of the members had probably headed in another direction. Elle waited, still holding her breath as they gave a cursory search of the area before turning around and heading back down the slope.
After a long, tense moment when she feared she might actually pass out from lack of oxygen she was able to draw in a gasping breath and lean back against the tree for momentary support. She needed to find Honey. And fast. She didn’t think her nerves would survive another close encounter.
Elle stood on shaky legs, and began climbing once more. Constantly she doubted herself as she backtracked, hoping to spot any familiar landmark that might lead her to where Honey was and away from the men that she could still hear searching for her not that far off in the distance.
Her lungs were burning and fear had started to eat away at the false, adrenaline fueled courage when she heard another sound and froze. A moment later, it came again and if she hadn’t been so terrified that she could barely move she would have jumped for joy. It was the sound of cars driving by. She’d found the road!
It took her two minutes to clear the dense tree line and another two to run towards where Honey was pulled over on the shoulder. Elle waved her arms wildly as she ran towards him but by the seriously concerned look on his face, he was already aware of the men chasing close behind her.
“We have…to go.” She panted exhaustedly and Honey barely gave her time to get on and throw her arms around his waist before cranking the engine. They jerked forward and Elle couldn’t’ hold back the squeak of surprise as they went from zero to sixty in what she was pretty sure was a world record. That’s what it felt like anyway.
This time, Elle really did squeeze her eyes shut tight, partly from the wind whipping at her and partly because she desperately did not want to see just how fast the very hard pavement of the road was moving underneath them. It was a terrifying ride, made even more so when they rounded a bend in the highway and she could fee Honey’s yelled curse reverberate all the way through her.
“Fuck!” The word was lost almost instantly on the wind, taken and carried away, lost forever but he was slowing. She could feel that he was slowing and that scared her even more.
“Why are you…why are you slowing down? No. No, we should definitely not be slowing down.”
“Just relax,” Honey tossed back over his shoulder. Easy for him to say. He didn’t have an entire gang on his tail. With that thought she moved to peak around him, his big body blocking most of the view of what was in front of them and she had to swallow a curse herself. Ahead of her she could see six bikers just pulling out of the unused access road that lead to the front of the Nomad’s warehouse. And they were obviously searching for something.
“Just play it cool.” Honey said as he slowed enough to make a U-turn. The reduced noise of the wind was the only reason that she could even hear his words, “We’re just out for a ride in the nice weather. Nothing else.”
“Honey, what do we do?” Elle asked, unable to keep the tremor out of her voice but as he turned the motorcycle back towards the direction they had come from, she prayed that the engine was loud enough to drown out her fear. She didn’t want Honey to know.
“Just hold on tight, okay?” His voice was hard as he spoke, rife with tension and something else that she couldn’t place. “Hold on tight to me and don’t ever let go.”
Elle thought for a moment that she heard a double meaning in his words, but then he was revving the engine and pushing the throttle and they took off like a fighter jet down a runway and she couldn’t think at all. At least, not of anything except trying to follow Honey’s directions. She clung to him, on the back of the bike as she was there was nothing but a too small stainless steel bar that kept her from sliding right off. But even still, she didn’t let go.
She held on for dear life, her arms wrapped around his waist, her chest completely fused against his back and her fingers digging into the leather of the front of his jacket. She had a strangle hold on him, or at least as much of him as she could grasp and then she made the fatal mistake of looking behind them.
“Oh no. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. Honey. Honey! They’re following us! They’re following after us! They didn’t buy that we were just out for a ride in the nice weather I think that suspicious U-turn tipped them off. Oh no. Honey! They are behind us!” Elle had to shout the words as loud as she could to be heard over the sound of the roaring engine and whistling wind, and even still most of her words were caught by the wind and dragged away to be lost forever, but she knew that he’d at least gotten the gist of her message because she could feel his whole body tense against hers.
“Close your eyes, Elle!” She thought she heard him shout right before he glanced back over his shoulder at her. “And whatever you do, don’t you fucking let go of me!” There was a desperation in his dark gaze, a desperation that had her doing what he’d asked before she’d even realized it. And so, a second later when he gunned the engine and whipped around the next curve, she didn’t see just how close they had come to the ground as he’d leaned to follow it or the biker’s that were gaining on them from behind.
Her whole world was black, and noise, and Honey. And she wished as hard as she ever wished for anything that they would make it out alive.
Chapter 29
It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes but for Elle, perched on the narrow back of the bike as it soared to lightning fast speeds, it felt like an eternity. Honey had driven them farther and farther from the main road, utilizing instead the twisting and turning switchback roads that canvased the mountainous area.
She was completely lost, her face was going numb from the cool wind constantly rushing past it, and she was pretty sure her fingers were permanently stuck in the claw like shape they had formed clutching Honey’s jacket. She hadn’t moved since the chase started, but after a harrowing hairpin turn her eyes had popped open wide and then they been stuck that way too, as if she were being constantly surprised. Needless to say, it wasn’t the most comfortable motorcycle chase she’d ever experienced.
Elle almost snorted out a laugh at the thought and then stopped herself. This is it. I’m finally losing it. The thoughts echoed through her head but it was like it was somebody else’s voice, somebody’s voice that she didn’t recognize anymore.
She glanced back, against her better judgement.
“Honey, we’ve only got three back there now. Where did the other three go? Honey?”
“Fuck.” She heard him curse and for once, she whole heartedly agreed, “They split off, trying to get ahead of us. Well, too bad for them, I know this area like the back of my hand.” Honey growled the words, almost too low for her to hear but in the next instant all she could think about was holding on and keeping her seat as he made a quick turn to the left, and then the right.
“Did we lose them?” He shouted the question and Elle felt a spark of hope as she looked behind her and didn’t see anything coming around the jagged cliffs, but a moment later they appeared.
“No
. They’re still behind us Honey. We need to do something or we’re going to be trapped.”
“I know that!” He shouted back, his voice hard with frustration, “Okay I’ve got something but you’re gonna have to trust me, okay?”
She nodded hastily, but then remembered that he couldn’t see her.
“I trust you.”
“Okay, then just hold on and don’t let go, whatever happens.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.” At this point, Elle was pretty sure it would take actual surgery to get her hands unclenched from the fabric of his leather jacket, and her arms were locked in place like a vice.
He kept going at full speed, still headed forward and Elle wondered for a moment what he was going to do. And then he really wondered as the three missing biker’s reappeared in front of them.