Havoc (Los Desperados MC)

by Kara Parker

  “I want you to stay with me and Los Desperados. It’s all I ever wanted. But I need to know I can trust you and depend on you. So here it is, Daniela. It’s up to you. If you say this isn’t a setup then we’ll stay here, and deal with whatever comes. But if you tell me it’s a setup then I’ll understand your hesitation and I’ll forgive you for not telling me. So?”

  Judgment day. I closed my eyes and thought. I had been faced with tough decisions before, but it had always been on a run. Take the exit or stay on the freeway, speed up to save time or go the limit and avoid any cop. But I never thought too hard about those decisions, they were life or death, but I just made them in the moment. So here was the moment, I kept my eyes closed told both my brain and my heart to shut up and listened to my gut.

  “Get your men and follow me,” I said turning away from him. I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t. It might make me a traitor or a rat, then so be it. The Bandits would never forgive me and this might be the end of them, but it wasn’t my problem anymore. I couldn’t kill Julian. I chose him.

  I once read somewhere a thing about traditions and rituals in a book. They were dangerous the author said. Rituals and traditions started as a way to define yourself, but if you weren’t careful they could become a trap. He said you couldn’t let rituals define you because then they controlled you. Loyalty oaths, blood oaths, promises, a bikers life was filled with rituals. But was only now, as I walked away from Julian that I finally understood it.

  Rituals were a form of control. Take this oath on your life; swear it with your blood. It gave a substance to your words, they weren’t empty anymore, and your literal life depended on you keeping your promises. That’s how it worked: swear this oath to me and if you break it, I’ll kill you. There’s a threat behind oaths that we never talk about.

  I didn’t want to be controlled; I wanted to be in control. I loved Julian and I felt at home in Los Desperados in a way I never did with The Bandits. I had made my oaths to The Bandits and they had meant something to me once, but I couldn’t let them control my life. It was unfair to me that I was held in chains by promises I made when I was a desperate and homeless eighteen year old. The Bandits had given me a chance, but I was the one who had to fight tooth and nail for it. I had done the work, I had passed all the tests, and I had proven myself.

  I wasn’t a desperate teenager anymore. I was a strong, confident, talented woman and I would go where I wanted and be with whomever I wanted and if The Bandits didn’t like it? Well, I was done being controlled by them.

  I heard Julian give out a loud signal and within seconds the twenty men from Los Desperados we had brought with us were back on their bikes and falling into formation. But Julian wasn’t the lead this time. I was.

  I needed to finish this. If we took this heist from The Bandits they would be out of money and they would need to get back to their real business. They wouldn’t be able to afford a war anymore. It was certainly one way to end things. I revved my engine twice and the rest of Los Desperados revved theirs once and I drove out into the street and made my way towards the exit to the freeway.

  Joey, Jeff, or Jamie had told me that the truck would break down roughly thirty miles into the trip. I knew where that was. I hadn’t been able to help myself and I had plotted it out on a map last night when I couldn’t sleep. I followed the road with my fingers, up and down hills and over bridges from it’s starting place to it’s final destination.

  The thing is, I’m really good at my job. The Bandits were lost without me. The truck was meant to break down one mile off the exit ramp. And that was where The Bandits would be waiting. But I was betting my life, Julian’s life, and the life of everyone behind me that The Bandits hadn’t bothered to look at a topographical map. In fact, before I brought one in, none of The Bandits even knew what that was. But I knew. It showed hills and valleys and waterways. Seems unimportant if you plan to stick to the road, but this is what separates good drivers from great drivers.

  The topographical map showed that the exit was on a pretty steep decline; the grade was about twelve percent. So even if the engine was set to shut down at thirty miles into the trip the driver would still have a decent amount of built up kinetic energy and they would be able to coast pretty far down the hill before the truck finally lost it’s momentum.

  To make a long story short, The Bandits were about four miles from where they should be.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  It took us awhile to get to the location where the truck would break down. But I led us the same way Julian had, patiently. We took the freeway and kids in the backseats of minivans pointed to us and I could see their little faces as they shouted, look, look to their parents in the car. We took our time and we obeyed the law and I forced myself to be calm.

  As we drove all of my indecision left me. I had a resolve made of iron and my decision was made in steal. I had made a choice. When I had first heard about The Bandits plan I had said nothing not because I agreed with it, but because I was afraid of the consequences of speaking up. I was afraid of the reaction of Los Desperados, and Julian.

  But he understood. He hadn’t threatened me or dragged the information out of me. He was honest with me; he had trusted me and I would repay that trust ten times over. All total it would come out to about ten million dollars worth of trust. My heart was pounding in my chest and I swore I could feel the blood as it coursed through my veins. I had finally made my decision, once and forever. There was no going back now. There was no confusion or doubt in my heart, those emotions had been banished, and there was only my resolve as strong as stainless steel.

  I knew where The Bandits had set up camp a mile off of the exit ramp, so I made sure we took the long way to ensure we avoided them. Four miles from where The Bandits had set their trap the boys and I started to spring our own. Working quickly we pushed our bikes back into the woods and surrounded them with leaves and branches until nothing was visible from the road. Over a stretch of a quarter mile I spread the men out on both sides of the road.

  There were eight men on either side of the road and two heading north and south in the street to act as lookouts in case the cops showed up. We were all armed to teeth and ready to go. I was crouched down on the right side of the road; most drivers in distress would pull over to the right. Julian was next to me. It was just the two of us crouched down behind a bush, the rest of the Los Desperados men hidden around the woods. We needed to stay separated in order to remain hidden, plus there was no way to know exactly where the truck would finally come to a stop.

  “Your men have to wait until he’s out of the truck,” I whispered to Julian. “Any earlier and he’ll just hunker down in there and radio for the police and then we’ll be shit out of luck.”

  “I know, Daniela,” Julian said, keeping his eyes on the rode. “I have done this before, you know.”

  I nodded, but, still, this was such a delicate operation and I had never worked with Los Desperados before. If this went perfectly we were all going to be really, really rich, but if it didn’t go perfectly, if even the smallest little thing went wrong, we were fucked. If a biker sneezed or stepped on a twig or moved in the slightest way it could tip off the driver and we would be screwed.

  “Do you really forgive me?” I whispered to Julian. “I mean, I know this isn’t really the time, but there’s an excellent chance we’re going to run into The Bandits out here and one of us might get hurt and we might not get the chance-”

  “I forgive you,” he whispered, looking at me his green eyes echoing the forest around us. “But do you forgive me? I kidnapped you, Daniela, I chained you to my radiator for God’s sake and you’re the one asking me for forgiveness?”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” I whispered. “You should be down on your hands and knees begging me forgiveness.”

  “Oh, one of us is going to be on our hands and knees, Daniela. But it won’t be me,” he said. He took my chin gently in his hand and leaned forward and kissed me gently.

 
; “Are you two fucking kidding me?” David hissed and Julian pulled apart from each other and turned back to face the road. “Unprofessional,” David continued. “Honestly, this is going in your annual report to HR.”

  I glanced at Julian and smiled as I saw him ruefully shake his head. Then, there were two clicks on the radio and Julian let out a loud whistle and suddenly the previous active forest became unearthly still. There was not a leather jacket or a gleaming motorcycle part to be found, just green foliage.

  About fifty feet from where I stood I watched as the truck began to slow down. It was a white truck with a bright red lettering from the bank and I swear just looking at it made me salivate. There was ten million dollars in gold bars in that truck and, soon, I would be driving it. A rush of power flooded to my head. Ten million dollars was a number that was too high for me to even understand how much it was. It was the haul of a lifetime and I was doing it with Julian.

  Behind the wheel I watched as the driver began to hit his steering wheel in frustration and search the dashboard for some source of the problem. I had calculated the weight of the truck and the incline of the rode perfectly; the car began to shudder and then came to a stop right in front of Julian and me. I can’t say if the universe would really send a sign to two thieves, but if the universe were going to send a sign it would definitely look like this.

  “The fuck man...” I heard the driver complain and then I watched as he tried to turn the engine over, but it just sputtered and stalled as smoke began to trickle out from under the hood.

  Open the door, open the door, it was a feverish mantra that repeated in my brain as I forced my body to remain perfectly still. I was on edge, my every nerve jangling, itching to move and do something, but I couldn’t. I remained perfectly still, not even blinking as I stared at the kid driving the van and waited. If he didn’t open the door, if he radioed in instead, we would be done for. You could only plan so far, after a point; you had to leave everything up to fate.

  “I don’t need this today,” the driver said as he jumped down and out of the truck. He didn’t look a day over twenty-one and his chin and cheeks were still riddled with acne. He had short choppily cut red hair and he had only taken half a step out of his truck before Julian was on him.

  “You want to die today, kid?” Julian whispered, he had the kid pushed up against the open driver’s side door.

  “No way man, no way. It’s the bank’s money, take whatever you want.”

  “Good,” Julian said, “don’t move.” He reached into his back pocket and wrapped a bandana around the kid’s eyes. Julian pulled the driver’s hands behind his back and slapped a pair of cuffs on him and then spun him around again. “You radio in for distress?” Julian asked.

  “It’s protocol....” The kid started. “But I forgot to. Oh man! I’m gonna get fired from this job. My dad is gonna kill me.”

  “You can get fired or you can get dead, it’s your choice.”

  “Fired, I choose fired,” the kid said quickly and Julian nodded and gave the all clear signal, taking the key cards and regular keys out of the driver’s pocket.

  “What’s the numeric code?” Julian asked.

  “87453,” the driver said with a dramatic sigh.

  Without needing the order David took the driver and led him back into the woods and left him there. He wasn’t too far from the road; he would be able to get back to civilization eventually.

  But now it was my turn. The door was still open and I quickly jumped into the front seat and adjusted the seat and the mirrors to match my height. The truck was nice, very nice. My old rig had been stained and ripped and always smelled like cigarettes even though I didn’t smoke. But the interior of this truck was spotless grey leather and even the steering wheel felt brand new. It was a shame we would have to dump it somewhere, but trucks like these had a million different GPS trackers in them and were too easy to track down.

  I nodded to Julian and he gave the signal to ride and seemingly out of nowhere a dozen bikes emerged from the forest, including my own which was driven back by a junior member on his first real heist. I turned the keys and felt the truck rumble to life beneath me. Julian took his position in front of me and he started off and I followed, slipping the truck easily into first and then second and third as we made our way to the extraction point.

  It had almost been too easy and I had to fight back the feeling of unease that creeped up my spine as I drove in silence down the road. Los Desperados surrounded me on all sides; they felt like my honor guards, and I their queen. But still something was wrong. Was this was all too easy?

  Then I heard the signal from Rick who Julian had put in charge of guarding the rear. He gave four short hits on his horn and I knew what it meant. The Bandits had figured out what had happened and they were coming for us; they were coming for me.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  “Bring it on,” I said to myself as I heard the signal. In front of me Julian gave a quick nod and revved his engine, speeding up. I shifted the truck into fourth gear to match Julian’s pace taking a deep breath to quell my rising fear.

  I glanced in the rear-view mirror and then did a double take. The Bandits were here, all right, and they were pouring over the hill behind us. My jaw dropped as they just kept coming; there must have been fifty men on the ride. They were racing towards us and I could see David only a few feet in front of them, and they were gaining. We were outnumbered two to one. In front of me Julian was riding on the outside of the road so he could see The Bandits coming in his rearview mirror. He remained patient as soldier after soldier appeared on the horizon.

  Finally, when the last bike was over the hill Julian fell back. He rode alongside me for one moment and our eyes met over the speeding highway beneath us. It was only for a second, just the smallest of glances, but I was grateful for it. In front of me David took the lead and I focused on matching his pace and staying behind him. Behind me Julian and the other bikers were getting into formation.

  David went faster and faster and I switched to fifth to keep up with him. The truck had to get to the extraction point; that was the only thing that mattered. The plan was to fight and distract The Bandits in order to give the truck time to get ahead of them. From there, the goods were removed from the truck and it was left there, an empty shell. The Bandits would have no idea where either the goods or I were. It was a good plan, but it was also one The Bandits would be expecting.

  In the rearview mirror I could see four bikes peel off and turn back, heading into the enemy in order to buy me some time. It was like watching an accident in slow motion. The bikes were converging on each other and then the shooting started as the silent forest around us did it’s best to swallow the noise of the bullets.

  A second wave of Los Desperados made their way back and then a third, creating lines in the sand that The Bandits would need to cross to get to me. But they were badly outnumbered and for every Bandit they managed to unseat there was another ready to take his brother’s place.

  The Bandits were shooting, too, but their guns weren’t as good as ours and most of their shots went wild. The truck gave off three loud bangs and as bullets hit the exterior. I wasn’t worried; this truck was designed to withstand a nuclear blast. A couple of bullets were nothing more than fleabites.

  It wasn’t working. Despite the efforts of Los Desperados the larger gang of Bandits was slowly, inch-by-inch gaining on us. Let them, I thought, if I can get a couple on either side I could knock them right off the road. As if reading my mind Julian moved to my right flank and in my mirror three and then four Bandits sidled up along the truck. One of the men reached out fruitlessly for the edge of the truck, trying to get a hold of it. I waited. It was just like in the forest, patience was key. I waited until all four were bunched together and I swerved to the left and I heard men scream as they went flying off their bikes and into the forest.

  “Whoo-hooo!” I couldn't help but scream as I revved the engine and sped up to catch up with David wh
o kept his pace no matter what.

  Julian moved back into position on my left and gave me a thumbs up and I knew he was wearing a huge smile underneath his helmet. But we couldn’t celebrate yet, far from it. A gang of about ten Bandits had made their way through the fray and was gaining on me. There were only three Los Desperados bikers close enough to keep them off me.

  Julian stopped suddenly, right in the middle of the road, and lifted his shotgun into the air. I gasped and watched as he fired two rounds hitting two men right in the chest and sending them flying. He reloaded and shot two more times, but they were ready for him and he only found one of his targets. That left seven Bandits on my tail.

  Get going! I thought as my eyes flicked back and forth from my rearview mirror to the road in front of me. As if Julian could hear me, he revved his engine and then peeled off down the road going from zero to sixty in seconds.