by Sophia Gray
“They’re definitely not down here,” I told the guys.
“If they are, they can stay down here,” Liam said.
“I promise you, anyone in there isn’t going anywhere any time soon,” Mick added.
I chuckled at his comment and nodded to the side of the building. We quickly rounded the corner with our guns drawn. Liam took the stairs first, leaving us to cover his back on the way up. At the top of the stairs was a metal landing with a couple of chairs sitting along the brick wall past the door.
The door on the second floor was much sturdier and had a slot at eye level, allowing whoever was inside to look out before admitting anyone.
“Shall we knock?” I asked my partners.
“Be my guest,” Mick said.
We stepped aside and pressed ourselves against the wall, hoping to be out of range if anyone opened the slot. I banged on the door with the butt of my rifle and ducked back to the side. We waited. No one answered.
I was starting to get the feeling we’d been had. I could see by Liam’s face that he was thinking the same thing. Either we had bad information or someone had ratted us out to Skull and his men. I had a feeling I knew who that was, even though I would have been reluctant to admit it to the guys.
I knocked again.
When there wasn’t a response the second time, Liam stepped in front of the door and shot the lock with his revolver. What was left of it fell out of the door, and he slid it open.
“After you, sir,” Liam said, stepping aside and holding out his arm to invite me into the building.
We walked into a large, mostly empty office. It was dark, but enough light crept in around the corners of the boarded-up windows that we could see the desks and chairs all facing each other.
I stepped back and hit the light switch. Fluorescent office lights in the ceiling came on and let us see the room clearly. The walls had wood paneling along them. The desks were old, probably left over from the last legitimate owners of the building.
“Check the desks,” I told them.
There were three desks. Mick and Liam went to the ones on either side of the room. I went to the one along the far wall, facing the door. Behind it was a cork board with a single picture tacked to it. I pulled the picture down and looked at it.
“Guys, they knew we were coming,” I announced, holding up the picture of me for them to see.
“You’re kidding me,” Liam said, slamming one of the desk drawers closed.
“We both tried to tell you,” Mick said, standing upright.
“Let’s go through the desks anyway, but I can almost guarantee you we won’t find anything useful,” I said. I opened every drawer in the desk I assumed was Skull’s. I had no idea who the other two would have belonged to. I didn’t know anyone else in his organization other than Clara, and I was pretty sure she didn’t have a desk.
Liam kicked over his desk.
“Hey, brother, calm down. It’s just a desk,” Mick said.
“It’s not just a desk. It’s Mason,” Liam complained.
I knew what he meant, but I kept my mouth shut. There was nothing I could say to him at that point that wouldn’t make things worse. I turned my attention to a file cabinet and opened each drawer, knowing already that they were going to be empty.
“Nothing?” I asked the guys.
“Not a damn thing,” Mick said.
I crumbled the picture of me and dropped it on the floor.
“Looks like your girl sold us up the river,” Liam said, stepping in front of me. “You going to bring her in?”
“Not now, Liam.” Mick put a hand on his arm and tried to push him aside.
“Yes, now. I got my ass kicked for this chick because Mason thought he was getting an old lady out of the deal, but she just turns out to be Skull’s little snitch.” His breath was hot in my face.
“Do you want to get your ass kicked again, Liam?” I asked. “Because this time, you’re earning it on your own.” I pulled my gun off of my shoulder and set it on the desk.
Mick stepped between us and pushed both of us away.
“Nobody is getting their ass kicked here, guys. Both of you back the fuck up. We have a job to do here, and it looks like we’ve been had. I don’t think anyone will deny that. Right?” He looked back and forth between us, making sure we agreed with him.
“Okay, good,” Mick continued. “Now, the question is, where do we go from here?”
I ran a tired hand through my hair and sighed. I knew exactly what needed to be done, and I felt like such a jackass for not handling it sooner. I’d let that beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed thief steal something more valuable than my drugs this time around. She’d taken my integrity, and it was a good thing I was starting to catch on before she stole my heart with it. Of course, I couldn’t mention that last part to the guys. They never would have let me live that one down.
“From here, I need you, Liam, and everyone to go back to HQ. Get the basement ready, because I’m going back to my apartment to pick up our girl,” I said.
“Your apartment? She’s at your apartment?” Liam started again. “Jesus H. Christ, Mason, no wonder you can’t get it together, brother. How was it?”
“Fuck off, Liam,” I said, grabbing my gun and heading towards the door.
“No, really, was it worth selling out your MC?” he asked behind me.
“You know what? It was. And if her answers satisfy me back at HQ, it’ll happen again. So don’t think I’m going to bring her back for anyone to lay a finger on her, got it?” I snapped, turning around and getting right back in Liam’s face.
“Yeah, brother, I got it. I read you loud and clear,” he said. “You’re a punk,” he added, laughing and walking around me.
I laughed, too. I couldn’t fight with him anymore. I had to laugh it off or else I’d knock his block off.
I stopped at the door and looked back in while the guys walked down the stairs outside. “Hey, is it possible we’re missing something?” I called out to them.
“Like what?” Mick asked, stopping on the stairs.
“I don’t know. I feel like there’s another room or something here,” I added. My eyes probed the back wall, looking for a door or panel in the wall that wasn’t quite in place. I didn’t see anything, but I couldn’t shake the feeling we’d missed something.
“That’s just disappointment you’re feeling,” Liam called up to me from the pavement. He looked up and shielded his eyes against the sun.
“I guess so,” I said with a sigh. I left the light on as I closed the door, not really admitting defeat, but coping with a setback.
“Come on, let’s go so you can get Clara and bring her back to HQ before she runs,” Mick said as I started down the stairs.
“Oh shit.” I stopped and looked at him, realizing why we’d been had.
“What is it?” Mick asked me.
“Remember what happened when we left her alone at HQ with Alec?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Mick said as the realization dawned on him, as well.
“What happened?” Liam asked. “I missed it.”
“Yeah. Look, she tried to escape, but someone besides Skull tried to pick her up. It wasn’t pretty, and I bet that’s what’s happening right now,” I said as I ran down the stairs.
“You really think her boss has it out for her?” Liam asked, running over to his bike.
“Yeah, I think so. She was caught, brother. She walked right into a trap when she came to HQ the first time. Bosses like Skull don’t take too kindly to stuff like that, so when she finally got in touch with him, he sent a few of his goons to get her. They didn’t look like they were a welcoming committee either,” I explained.
“Yeah, but we showed up just in time and killed two of them. We wounded the third, and no one really got a look at the driver,” Mick added.
“How much do you want to bet when she called Skull to let him know we were on the way, he sent some more goons to pick her up at the apar
tment?” I asked.
“You want us to follow?” Liam asked.
“Not yet,” I said. “Get everyone back to HQ. You two get the basement ready for her. I’ll call you if anything’s wrong.”
“All right, go,” Liam said. “You need to get there while there’s still a girl to pick up.”
The three of us gunned our engines at the same time and started pulling away from the building. Mick and Liam rode off in one direction, waving their arms to collect the guys who’d parked in neighboring properties to keep their eyes on the hideout.
I sat and listened to all the engines roaring, breathing life back into this dead portion of the city. It was a beautiful sound. I revved my engine and watched as motorcycles started pouring out onto the streets.
Then, I spotted someone who wasn’t with us on top of one of the other buildings.
Chapter 17
I didn’t have time to signal anyone, and no one else saw him. He had a gun, and I watched in shock and horror as he knelt down behind it to take aim at one of my guys. A shot rang out, and I saw one of our newest members take a nasty fall. A couple of guys riding near him were obviously shaken by the incident, as they lost control of their bikes, as well.
Then, shots rang out from another direction, from the parking garage some of our members had just pulled out of. I saw a couple more bikes go down as we were ambushed. The guys had no chance to get out of the way. We were just getting picked off left and right.
Then, shots rang out behind me, and I pulled the bike back underneath the awning, knowing anything they were shooting could have easily pierced the thin sheet metal over me. I pulled a bandana out of my back pocket and tied it around my mouth and nose. I ditched the bike and ran inside the building, listening to the hail of bullets raining down mercilessly outside.
I pulled out my phone and texted Alec back at HQ.
Ambushed! Under fire right now.
Send backup? he texted back.
No. Hunker down, I told him. I’ll text you when we’re safe.
A moment later, Mick rode up to the building and ducked inside with me. The air wasn’t as heavy and rank as it had been earlier when we first arrived.
“How many down?” I asked him.
“I don’t know. I saw five, maybe six go down before I circled around to come back for you,” he said.
“That was dumb. You should have gone back to HQ and waited for me. Alec knows I’m here.” I held up my phone.
“Liam was right behind me, but I think he went the other way around. We were trying to scope out how many shooters there were,” Mick continued.
Just then, Liam pulled up and coasted into the parking lot in front of the building. Just before he reached the awning, though, he sprang back from his bike and flipped over behind it, sending it crashing into our bikes while he lay limp and lifeless on the ground right in front of us.
“Oh fuck this,” Mick growled, bringing his rifle around. “There are two to the left, one on top of the building next door, and the other across the street from him. There are at least three to the right, two in the parking deck and one on top of the building across from it,” he added as he stepped outside.
It took me a minute to realize what he was telling me. I was still staring down at Liam’s fallen body. I couldn’t believe how quickly it had happened. One second, he was on his way back in to see us, to join up with us and regroup before making a move to get us out of this mess. And in that same second, he was on his back, his body bent at an unnatural angle. The next moment, his bike was being carried by momentum alone into our bikes parked under the awning.
Then, Mick was on his way outside to stand over him with his gun drawn, trying to take out the shooters, knowing damn well they would have taken him out just as easily as they had Liam. And I was just standing there, dumbfounded, staring at the body on the ground and the man standing over him playing hero. There was no telling how many other guys were down on the pavement outside.
Mick started shooting. The rat-a-tat-tat-tat of his gun snapped me out of my trance and brought me back into the moment, forcing me to realize my right-hand man was standing his stupid ass out in the open firing back at these assholes who were trying to kill us. I couldn’t let him do that alone.
I joined Mick outside, both of us standing over our fallen brother as if protecting him from further injury or insult. We stood back to back and fired on the men shooting back at us. I got the shooter on top of the building across from the parking deck and turned my gun on the two men shooting at us from the garage. I got one of them and the other ducked back into the darkness.
Mick stopped shooting behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder to see him turning around.
“Got both of them,” he said with a proud smile.
“Yeah, I got two of them on the other side, but one of the guys in the parking garage looks like he left.”
About that time, we heard the screech of car tires from the far side of the parking deck.
“Well, at least he’ll be able to tell Skull what happened here,” I said.
“Yeah, tell him that we took four of his men out, and that there are still at least two of us left,” Mick said.
We walked around the side of the building and saw the street littered with bikes and bodies. We had come down here at least twenty deep, and it looked like almost all of our members were present and accounted for on the road.
I turned and looked at our motorcycles, mangled underneath Liam’s bike. I shook my head and pushed my gun back over my shoulder.
The gunfire had apparently alerted law enforcement. We could hear distant sirens.
Truck. Now, I texted Alec.
Okay. Bobby and Hunter made it back, he replied.
Don’t send them. Send someone else, I told him.
It’s on the way.
A few minutes later, a black F350 pulled up in front of the abandoned hideout. Our driver, Patrick, climbed out and opened the tailgate, pulling down two ramps he installed to roll motorcycles up into the bed of truck quickly and easily. Mick and I pushed our bikes up into the bed, leaving Liam’s motorcycle on the concrete near him.
“All right, let’s hurry,” I told him as we closed up the back and climbed into the truck. From the sound of the sirens, we were going to be leaving right in time to miss the cops.
“So what’s the plan?” Mick asked as we pulled away.
“It’s still the same. When we get back to HQ, I’m grabbing my old standby, and I’m riding over to my apartment to get Clara,” I told him.
“What then?”
“I don’t know yet. I might just kill her right there,” I told him flatly. The thing that got me was I wasn’t really joking. I’d meant it as a joke, but it sounded right, given how I felt. She had effectively taken Liam from me twice with her little games. I didn’t know if I wanted to bring her in or just take her out.
“Don’t we need her to find Skull?” he asked.
“Hell no. She’s the one who alerted him anyway. I mean, there’s still the possibility that he’s already got her, you know? I don’t know what I’m going to do.” I shook my head and shut my mouth. I didn’t want Mick to know how emotionally invested I was in this girl.
I looked out the passenger side window of the truck and watched all the dilapidated buildings of the old industrial side of town pass by as we headed to HQ. Patrick pulled into the bay, and Alec shut the door behind us.
“Thanks, Patrick,” I said as we climbed out of the truck.
“No problem, boss. Want me to have someone look at these bikes for you?” he asked.
“Not yet. Let’s play it safe for a little while. The law’s going to come around to ask some questions about all of our dead members. We’re probably going to have to lay low for a few days until it all blows over,” I said.
“Want me to talk to them when they come by?” Mick asked.
“Wait, where are you going?” Alec asked me.
“I’ve got to go get Clara. I want yo
u and Mick to get the basement ready, but let’s keep this place locked down. Nobody in or out for at least the next twenty-four hours. Got it? That means everyone who’s here now stays,” I explained to them.
“Yes, sir,” Alec said, saluting me.
“This isn’t the military, kid.” Mick patted him on the back and started to walk off.
“Hey, where’s Liam?” Alec asked.
I looked down, unable to meet his eyes.