Under Fire (Winged Enemy MC Romance)

by Ruin, Olivia

  I looked back the way I had come. There was a sort of entrance into the grove where I had come through, but the brush on either side was fairly thick, especially towards the ground. It wasn’t great, but it was likely my only shot. Kat was closing the distance faster than I would have liked.

  It was hard to put myself into easy view and the path of potential gunfire but I made sure that Kat would be able to see my green runner’s shirt as I jogged towards the back of the clearing, and then hid behind a tree. I took off the shirt, leaving me in an off-white undershirt, and threw it up so that it caught in the branches in a spot of sunlight. Then I dropped to the ground and carefully worked my way back towards the side of the entrance, careful not to become visible to Kat’s line of sight.

  I tucked myself into the brush as deeply as I could and covered myself with as much grass and vegetation as I could pull over me. Luckily my shirt and pants blended in better than I would have thought, and from there I could see that the corner of the running shirt was easily visible.

  Less than a minute later I heard brush crunching under Kat’s feet as she charged towards the thicket. She must know that I don’t have a gun. She’s not being nearly as cautious as she should be.

  Confidence made Kat reckless. A blast from the gun buried itself into the wooden branch just in front of the decoy I had left in the tree. The woman stood not ten feet from me as she finally slowed down her pace and advanced further.

  Come on, just a little further. This was exactly the wrong place for Kat to slow down. If she looked around at all when she stepped through into the shaded area, she would see me lying there and have an easy shot. I needed her attention to be completely captured by the shirt I had left in the tree. I tried to still my racing heart and stopped breathing entirely. I couldn’t afford to make a sound, otherwise my life would be over.

  A boot appeared in my vision, two feet in front of my face. I couldn’t even look up to see where Kat was looking from here, which was a big oversight. I willed her not to look in my direction.

  The foot didn’t move.

  Oh, fuck. So this was how I died.

  SCRAMBLE

  The other foot came to join its mate.

  She’s just standing there.

  We were two feet apart, hunter and hunted, and it was only a matter of time until she looked down to her right and saw me lying there. I had covered myself with a little brush, but there was no way that I wouldn’t stick out like a peacock amongst hens if she looked right at me. It was a wonder she hadn’t seen me yet.

  A flash of green out of the corner of my eye. Kat took a few steps forward to put herself behind a tree, looking out around.

  My shirt had fallen loose from the branch I had tossed it on, and it caught and held Kat’s attention, saving me. For the moment. She could look back at any time.

  I rose to my knees as slowly as I could, as deathly quiet as possible. Kat was still just out of reach. My grip tightened on my branch like a baseball bat.

  With a deep breath that I drew slowly in through my nose, I held it and braced my core. I pushed off towards the woman I loathed and swung the bat at her wrists as hard as I could.

  There was a loud crack and gun went flying. Kat had started to turn at the sound of me exploding out towards her, and it was a good thing I had aimed further up her arms otherwise I would have missed entirely. As it was I just barely clipped the side of the barrel, but it was enough to toss it ten feet away into the heart of the dense brush.

  Her eyes widened in surprise and she ducked as my follow-up swing flew over top of her head, brushing her long hairs on the way by.

  The heavy branch took a lot of time to bring to bear after a missed swing. Too much time.

  Kat dove straight into me and my breath flew out of my body in a mighty whoof. We fell to the ground, entangled, and I let go of the wooden weapon in order to try and grapple with her.

  She had the benefit of superior position and two healthy hands. I had the benefit of hand to hand combat training. It made for a relatively even battle, as she managed to get in a few blows to my body while I kicked and punched up at her from my back.

  I need to get out from under her. If I could get her down and keep her there, maybe I could go and find the gun and regain control over the situation.

  I could tell that Kat had never fought another woman quite like this, and I used that to my advantage. I targeting her right side until she leaned a bit too far to the left defensively, and then once she was off balance I put everything I had into a big roll to fling her off of me.

  Each of us scrambled to our feet, breathing heavily. Shades of red crossed my vision, and it was tough to focus clearly past how much I hated this woman. She came in here and started killing and hurting my new friends, and me, and like hell was I going to let her finish the job.

  I kept watch of her chest so that I wouldn’t be tempted to put too much stock into what her eyes did. I saw when she faked to my right but her body was already turned towards the left, and I caught her across the face with as heavy of a blow as I could muster.

  Kat stumbled backwards and slipped, and I gave chase long enough to shove her as hard as I could. She went flying and I ran in the other direction, towards where I had hit her gun with the walking stick.

  Come on, where the hell are you? The brush was even deeper than I had thought. I had only seconds to search, and all too soon time was up.

  I turned only moments before the enraged woman reached me, sprinting at full speed. There wasn’t much I could do aside from leap out of the way, but I barely moved an inch before she made contact and we both went sprawling.

  I hit the ground hard, but at least she wasn’t on top of me. The slight movement I’d made had been enough that I slipped out of the grasp of her outstretched arms.

  We had landed on the other side of the thick brush and into a wider area, but I didn’t have time to look around. A hint of black caught my eye, and I saw the gun laying only five feet away. The only problem was that Kat had already seen it, and she was between me and it.

  I struggled to move; my arms and legs felt like they were moving through molasses. It seemed to take forever but was likely no more than a couple of seconds.

  Kat had a hold of the gun, and had turned it on me.

  Thoughts raced through my mind. I thought about my options, how I could try to lunge towards her, or push myself a foot to the side and if she pulled the trigger that instant then maybe she would miss.

  I thought about how I missed Jed, and wished he was here.

  Kat got to her feet slowly, backing away to put more space between us and not give me a chance to surprise her with a sudden movement.

  I did the same, rising to my feet with my arms up beside my chest. It was over.

  What a bitch. I can’t believe that she won. It seemed impossible. I had killed three Mexican mobsters in a shootout, drove in and rescued Jed in the failed drop, and somehow woken up in time to save myself when Kat had tried to kill me in my sleep, and yet it was all going to be for naught.

  She just stood there, staring at me.

  “What the fuck are you waiting for?” I asked. “Just shoot me and get it over with, like you tried to do the other night. Like you did to Nathan and Patty, and like you stabbed Tim. You won.” I spat the words out. I was beyond bitter.

  There was no reaction from Kat. Her eyes were looking right at me, but it was as though she didn’t see me.

  What the hell is her problem? Maybe she was mentally unbalanced. She almost had to be, in order to have done what she did. Maybe I still had a chance of getting out of this after all. I thought hard about what options I had and what would maximize my chances of walking away unharmed.

  “Kat, you don’t have to shoot me.” I switched from angry to soothing in a heartbeat. “I’m a federal officer. I can get concessions for you, make sure that you’re taken care of. Isn’t that better than going in without any inside help? You’ll get caught either way, but you will never leave
prison alive if you kill a fed.”

  No response.

  “Kat?”

  “Leslie, I’m not the murderer.”

  My mind went blank. How could she possibly expect me to believe that she isn’t the murderer?

  “You must be joking. Of course you are. Why did we just have that big whole chase and fight if you aren’t the killer?”

  Her eyes, which had seemed a little unfocused, locked back on me. Any hint of mental absence that I had sensed before was gone. Her stance even relaxed a little, and I wasn’t sure if I liked it.

  “Well, I thought that you were the murderer, obviously.” She said it like it was such a simple conclusion.

  “What?” I was at a loss for words. “Me? Why the hell would you think that? How could I possibly be the killer, I’m a federal agent!”

  She shrugged. “Think about it. I know what had happened before, with Frank making you have sex in front of all the men. That must have been humiliating. You had gotten what you needed from them, and then you wanted some revenge. It would explain why you haven’t reported anything to anybody, and there’s been no investigation. If it would lead right back to you, then of course you wouldn’t want anybody with actual forensic skills snooping around.”

  It made a certain amount of sense. If it wasn’t absolutely crazy.

  I almost forgot that she had a gun and my life in her hands. “Are you out of your fucking mind? I don’t even know why you’re bothering telling me this. I already know that you’re the killer, so why don’t you just admit to it and we can figure out where we’re going from here.”

  Her words and actions didn’t make any sense. They weren’t what a guilty person would be saying or doing.

  “Oh, don’t worry,” she said. “I don’t think you’re the killer anymore.”

  “And why’s that?”

  She just pointed behind me.

  I was loathe to turn around, but I didn’t have much choice. She could have ended me at any time, it’s not like me looking away is going to change who has the upper hand here.

  What I saw stunned me. It was me.

  At least, it had my name on it. The actual picture was a torn-up mess that looked as though it had been shot, stabbed, burned a little, and otherwise defiled in nameless ways.

  “What the hell?” There was a picture of Jed there, and Frank, Nathan, Patty, Tim, Kat, and a few of the other members of the motorcycle club. All of them were subjected to the same treatment, and the posters of Frank, Patty and Tim had big red crosses through them.

  “I just recognized where we are,” Kat said. “I haven’t been out here since I was a lot younger.”

  I looked back at her. The gun was no longer trained on me, but hung loosely by her side as she looked around the clearing. I considering making a move towards it, but I didn’t know what to think any more. Instead I took the opportunity to look around as well.

  There were copious numbers of beer cans on the ground, and a couple of camping chairs set up next to a fire pit. It looked like a hangout for a couple teenagers or young men, if not for the board that held a macabre display.

  “I came here a few times back when I dated Brad. It was only briefly, but I know that he loved it here. He used to hang out here with his brother all the time while they grew up. Still did up until he died, I bet.”

  “Brad?”

  “Yeah, he was a part of the club. Got killed in the ruckus a few weeks ago, so you might not have met him before that happened. It was a shame, he loved the guys and the lifestyle, and his little brother adored him.”

  I looked at the board with the mangled photos. There was a lot of pent-up rage there. Could losing a brother cause that much hate?

  “Who was his younger brother, could he be the killer?” I still wasn’t certain of Kat’s innocence, and it was entirely possible that she could have set this whole scene up, but the way that she spoke and looked around didn’t have the feel of someone trying to sell an act.

  “That would be…” she trailed off. “I mean, it’s possible. He’s a lot better now, but he used to have some pretty big anger management problems. Brad was the only one who ever managed to hold him in check. I was surprised that he had joined the gang when I came back, he had never liked the other men too much, and they teased him relentlessly as he tagged along behind Brad.”

  “Kat, who is the brother?” I had a sinking feeling I knew who it was. There were a couple of the younger members who had just been inducted, but there was only one who I saw still getting rough treatment from everyone else. Even just the other day, Tim’s final day on earth, he had been the subject of ridicule.

  “It’s Zach.” We looked at each other. It felt right, but at the same time it felt crazy. How could someone who had been raised in the town and around the gang for their entire life be able to wreck so much havoc on them?

  “I talked to Zach a lot over the past couple days, and I never even guessed…” It made me feel sick to my stomach. “I can’t believe that little bastard almost killed me in my sleep.”

  “Leslie, we need to warn the others. We need to… Oh shit! I just remembered!” Kat’s face went white as a ghost.

  “What, Kat? What is it?”

  “Jed went out on patrol with Zach! It was just going to be the two of them out past the city limits driving around. Oh my god, we need to warn him!”

  I patted my pockets instinctively. I hadn’t had the time or warning to grab my phone before I ran out of my apartment.

  Kat already had hers out and to her ear. “Come on, Jed, pick up.” She paced restlessly. “Voicemail.” She left a quick message for Jed. “Jed, it’s Kat. I was wrong, it’s Zach. You hear me? Zach’s the killer! You have to get him before he gets you!” She hung up.

  I grabbed her arm. “Let’s get out of here, we need to find them before it’s too late.”

  Kat nodded at my words and we both took off running.

  I cursed how far into the brush and away from the road we had come. It hadn’t seemed that much distance when I was running for my life, but now that every single second counted for getting to Jed in time to save him, it was too far, and too hard. My sides throbbed but I refused to give up.

  The running I had been doing around town helped to get me through, but I didn’t know how Kat managed it. She kept slightly ahead of me the whole way, and I found my mind idling wondering what her workout routine was and how far she could run. I realized that I knew nothing about her, so consumed with my jealousy and my righteous certainty that she was a ruthless murderer.

  Finally we got to the road. There was only one bike and I looked at Kat uncertainly.

  She swung a leg over and gestured at me impatiently. “Hop on.”

  “Do you know where they will be?”

  It felt silly, but I felt naked on the back of her bike. With Jed on Nightshade I always felt secure, safe, and ready to go anywhere, but with my arms around Kat’s waist and her smaller frame I felt like we might blow over at any moment.

  “I know they were doing loops around town, but I don’t know any more than that. Here’s my phone, keep calling him and tap me on the shoulder if you get an answer so that I can pull over and you can talk to him. Otherwise we just have to hope that we get lucky. It’s not that big of a town.”

  She was right. Our chances weren’t as terrible as they might have been. The problem was knowing just how far out of town Jed and Zach had gone.

  FRANTIC

  I held on for dear life as Kat drove far more aggressively than I had ever experienced on the back of Jed’s bike. To her credit, she handled the machine like a professional driver, never wavering and with consummate skill. If the circumstances hadn’t been so dire and I hadn’t been so concentrated on reaching Jed, I would have been impressed enough to consider asking her to teach me how to do it at some point in the future. We may still have been rivals for Jed’s affections, but at least we weren’t at each other throats any more.

  The afternoon sun baked into us as we
drove out. I let Kat worry about keeping an eye out as I hammered away at her phone, dialing Jed’s phone over and over.

  Come on Jed, pick up. Pick up, you son of a bitch. I hoped that the reason he wasn’t answering was because he was riding and couldn’t hear it, and not because he had suffered a fate similar to Patty or Nathan.

  Why the hell didn’t he take someone else out with them? He had made it a policy that there always had to be three members out together ever since I had made my observation at Tim’s house that the unfortunate victim must have known the killer. Then Jed went ahead and broke his own rule, and it may end up being the death of him.

  Kat’s phone chose that moment to run out of batteries.

  “Fuck!”

  The fact that it wasn’t my property was the only thing that saved it from getting smashed against the asphalt that rushed by underneath our feet.

  Instead I used my anger and energy to scan the horizon. It was open enough that we could see a fair distance in every direction.

  I thought I saw something out to the east, but before I could nudge Kat she already veered in that direction, taking the first cross road that led that way.

  My eyes hurt from squinting against the sun and the wind, but I still couldn’t make out the bumps off the side of the road. Metal flashed in the sunlight.

  The bike under my thighs strained to deliver the speed that Kat demanded from it as we put on a last burst of speed down the straightaway. There were no more obstacles between us and what increasingly looked like a pair of bikes standing at the side of the highway.

  Kat slowed down as we got close, and although we couldn’t look at each other I could tell we had the same thoughts in our minds. Jed and Zach weren’t anywhere to be seen, but these had to be their motorcycles. We had to be cautious; as much as we wanted to rescue Jed, rushing into a trap and getting ourselves killed wouldn’t help him any.