by Franca Storm
“Yeah. I can do this.”
“I know you can, little warrior.”
I smiled at his words, warmth coursing through me. It gave me the confidence that I needed to swallow down my fear and focus through my swirling, panicked thoughts.
“Was he carrying a piece on him?”
“Uh… no. I didn’t see anything, no giveaways either.”
“All right, check his glove compartment, sweetheart.”
Reaching over, I flipped it open and found a Beretta inside. “A handgun,” I reported.
“You’ve got a hostile coming up on your left side.”
I shot a glance at my side mirror. “Shit.”
“It’s not a big deal. It’s easy enough to sort.”
“Finn.”
“You’re not going to shoot anybody. Just roll down the window and make the gun visible for two seconds only, then pull it back inside and roll the window back up.”
“What? That’s not gonna—”
“Just trust me.”
I took a breath, then did as he said, rolling down the window, then shoving the gun out the window at the biker coming up on my side. To my utter astonishment, a second later, he slowed down and backed off.
“It worked.”
“Yeah, they’re not gonna shoot you. You’re their meal ticket. They can’t risk harming you until they get you to Knox. It’s also clear they thought it’d be a simple snatch and retreat op.” There was a slight chuckle in his voice as he said, “They underestimated what a fighter you are.”
“Wait. How do you know that?”
“I can see you on the border camera.”
Oh. “Figures.”
“All right, listen up. When you hit the first road, turn right and park. The turn has to be real quick, Ashley.”
“Okay,” I breathed, eyeing the road just a few yards up ahead.
The truck lurched, jostling me violently. I threw out my hand to stop my face from smashing into the window. I eyed the rearview mirror and saw one of the guys riding the bumper. He slammed into me again and then I watched his buddy come up on my right side. They were going to run me off the road!
“What’s going on?” Finn called anxiously down the line.
“I thought you were watching.”
“You’re out of range of the camera now.”
“Oh my God.” Panic was rising up, so close to taking me over.
Finn’s voice cut through it all, “Help is almost there. Keep calm, deep breaths. It’s almost over. You’ve got this.”
“Yeah,” I murmured. “I… I’ve got this.”
I knew what to do.
Gathering my courage, I braced myself, then slammed on the brakes. It forced the guy riding the bumper to fall back.
And then I gunned it for all the truck was worth, pushing it to its limits.
I reached my saving grace, made a hard right turn, screeching around the corner.
And that was when I saw a familiar bike zoom around the left corner, just narrowly managing to edge past me on the narrow road without clipping the side of the truck.
Talk about some skilled riding.
“Dad,” I breathed, as I hurriedly parked, then grabbed Kyle’s gun and hurried out of the truck, using it as cover as I looked on.
I could hear Finn’s breath of relief down the line. “Stay put. Swear to me.”
“I swear.”
“Good girl. Now, get back in the truck and keep your eyes off them. I don’t want you seeing that shit.”
He was too good. He must’ve heard me slam the door of the truck and maybe my hurried footsteps too.
I was about to follow his orders when an all-too-familiar rumble sounded, growing louder with every passing second.
To my horror, half a dozen bikes sped down the road I’d just left. They weren’t Iron Kings. I could make out the Rogues cuts. They were coming to back up their guys, leaving my dad outnumbered eight-to-one.
Suddenly, I saw my dad pull something from his pocket, some kind of remote it looked like. He pressed a button on it, then a traffic spike strip shot up on the road I’d only just left. It must’ve been something Finn had put in as a last-resort security measure. It was good. I hadn’t even noticed it being flush with the road, before my dad had activated it.
The incoming convoy slammed on their brakes, rubber burning, tires screeching, as they struggled to avoid the metal spikes. Some of them failed to stop in time or swerve away and their tires blew, the impact sending a couple of them flying off their bikes.
The next thing I knew, my dad was tearing down my way.
“Let’s go, baby girl,” he urged, holding out his hand as he idled beside me.
Before I had a chance to grab his hand, a guy tore around the corner on foot. It was the same asshole who’d been leading the charge and rammed my bumper.
“Roy,” my dad seethed. “Your dumbass Prez has sent you on a suicide mission.”
Roy glared hard at him as he drew a blade from his ankle holster. “Got orders to keep you alive. Prez wants you to himself. He’s got some nasty shit planned for you.” He smirked. “But first we’re gonna have some fun with your daughter. Everybody gets a turn. We’ll be sending you a video of every moment of it.”
I shuddered at their despicable plan.
My dad was known for his cool, calm, collected state in dangerous, stressful situations. But I was his Achilles Heel. It meant all bets were off.
A vicious snarl tore from his throat. “You’re a dead man.”
Roy’s eyes flashed dangerously.
And then he came at us.
My dad shoved me back with a hand to my chest and I stumbled into the side of Kyle’s truck.
His move cost him big, his decision to protect me over himself leaving him no time to defend against the incoming attack.
Roy lunged, using my dad’s unstable position atop his bike to his advantage. He slammed into him, tackling him off the bike. As my dad hit the ground with a brutal thud, Roy rolled off him, then threw his full weight into my dad’s Harley. Because my dad had only been idling and hadn’t stabilized the bike with the kickstand, it toppled easily under Roy’s attack. I screamed as it came tumbling down on top of my dad, its five-hundred-pound weight pinning him beneath it. He choked, blood spewing from his mouth. I heard him wheezing as he fought to pull himself free.
Roy turned his attention to me, spinning his blade for creepy effect.
I fumbled in my anxious state, but managed to draw Kyle’s gun and cock it at him.
His eyes met mine. He smirked. “Damn, darling. You’re a feisty little thing. I like that in a woman. It’s gonna be all the more satisfying to break you.”
“Get away, or I’ll shoot!”
He didn’t seem the least bit fazed, though. “The only way you’re gonna stop me here, is to kill me.” He looked me up and down. “You ain’t ready for that.”
Dammit. He had me hesitating. I wasn’t prepared to take it there, no. I’d never… I wouldn’t… I couldn’t kill someone.
He snickered. “Now, put the safety back on, then toss it across the road. You don’t and I’ll change my mind and make this murder, not maim.”
I saw the Rogues starting down the road, a bunch of them having gotten past the spikes obstacle.
“Ash, get out of here,” my dad wheezed. “Now!” he yelled, the effort causing him to cough violently and choke up blood all over his t-shirt.
Oh my God. I was wasting time arguing with Roy. My dad was suffering every moment he continued to be stuck underneath his Harley.
I flipped the safety back on and tossed the gun into the bank beside the truck.
“Good decision,” Roy said.
He moved closer to my dad and adjusted his grip on his blade.
“No!” I screamed.
A rolling thunder sounded, startling Roy enough that he jerked back, his eyes darting around wildly.
I smiled to myself. Motorcycles! I knew it was Iron Kings this time, because t
he sound was coming from the west, the direct route down from the clubhouse where all the boys had been for the club barbecue.
Roy recovered all too quickly and he came at me.
A ferocious roar sounded from my dad. I heard a hefty bang. I couldn’t see past Roy’s body blocking my view, but it sounded like my dad had pushed the bike off himself. Holy crap. He was strong to begin with, but when he was emotionally charged, he was something else entirely, like a frigging super soldier.
Roy ignored it and closed in on me.
I drew my Taser.
“Cute,” he commented.
I tightened my grip, bracing myself.
He was barely a couple of feet out from me when a shot rang out.
His upper body jerked and he roared in pain, clamping his hand over his right shoulder. The blade he’d been wielding slipped from his hand, clattering to the ground. Cursing, he fought to make it the remainder of the way to me, but then he wavered on his feet, and collapsed to his knees, blinking rapidly. It looked like he was trying to fight past the shock of being shot, trying to summon that whole mind over matter thing.
I looked out to see my dad staggering towards us, his gun in firing position. “Nobody hurts my daughter,” he growled. “Piece of shit.”
A convoy of Iron Kings motorcycles came flying down the road then, the opposite way, heading straight for the incoming Rogues.
The assholes panicked, turning tail as fast as they could make a three-point-turn on the narrow road. Iron Kings gave chase.
Just as relief began filling me that this awful nightmare was finally over, someone burst from the bushes. It was that maniac, Wolf, the Rogues notorious VP.
His eyes were absolutely crazed. He raised his gun at my dad and fired.
Terror gripped me.
“No!” I screamed.
The bullet went wide plunging into a tree trunk a foot from my dad.
Thank God. Wolf had missed.
The bushes rustled, someone running at a rapid pace tearing through them.
Before Wolf could recalibrate his aim to take another shot, a body slammed into his side brutally hard, ripping him off his feet.
I gasped when I realized who it was.
“Finn!” I cried, wincing as they both hit the road with a bone-jarring thud.
My dad wasn’t taking any chances and he reacted quickly, lunging at me and forcing me against the side of the truck, his big body covering mine like a shield.
I was able to see around him. I needed to know Finn was okay.
But the second my gaze landed on them, I wished that it hadn’t.
Brutality didn’t even cover it.
Growls, curses, and angry shouts came from Finn as he wailed on Wolf.
Fists, boots, and elbows assaulted him.
He pistol whipped him across the side of his face and blood spurted, oozing down from his right eye.
His body went limp and Wolf was clearly out of the fight, but Finn wasn’t done.
He snatched up the blade that Roy had dropped, smashing his boot into Wolf’s skull in the process, then drove it into Wolf’s arm. Wolf shrieked as he twisted it, then pulled it out with a rough jerk.
He fisted his hand in Wolf’s cut, holding his reeling body up. Then with his other gripping the blade, he sliced a deep gash down his torso, literally ripping him open.
Bile rose in my throat.
“Dad,” I rasped.
“Finn!” my dad yelled. “That’s enough!”
But Finn didn’t seem to hear him at all.
“Let go of me, Dad. He needs me.”
He hesitated for several moments, but a stomach-churning scream from Wolf had him relenting and standing back.
I cautiously approached Finn as my dad watched on high alert.
“Baby,” I called out.
Finn stilled, but only for a second.
I moved closer. “It’s over. I’m safe now.”
He jerked his knife wielding hand back, blood all over the blade.
And then he went to bring it down again.
I knew if he killed Wolf in cold blood like this, guilt would strangle him later on, once he’d calmed down and was thinking clearly.
So, I acted fast and pressed my hand to his back.
He stilled like before.
I ran my fingers up and down in a soft, soothing motion.
A disgruntled growl came from him. He didn’t want to let up, but my touch was affecting him and bringing him back to me.
I grasped his arm that held the knife and gave it a gentle squeeze as I told him softly, “I need you. This whole thing was a lot. I want to go home. Please. Take me away from here.”
Another growl sounded, but it lacked any real ferocity.
The next thing I knew, he was releasing Wolf and stepping back.
He opened his hand and the blade clattered to the ground.
He turned, a dark look passing between him and my dad. “Too close. Way too fucking close.”
27
~Wraith~
I WATCHED THE WATER.
My palms pressed against the shower wall, hunched over, I took in the bloodied water streaming down the shower drain.
Blood.
So much blood.
Too much blood.
Wolf’s blood.
Just a little of mine.
I peered down at my arms, the grazes I’d sustained when I’d tackled that son of a bitch away from Ashley and Scott. They’d stopped bleeding. I clenched my fists carefully, eyeing the damage there from the brutality of my bare-knuckled hits. The wounds were open but no longer bleeding either.
It was more than could be said for Wolf.
He’d barely been conscious when I’d watched Wrecker and Anarchy haul him into a transport along with the others we’d fucked up. They’d picked up an unconscious Kyle on the way too. They’d taken them off our territory to a known safehouse belonging to the Rogue Riders MC. We couldn’t have that kind of incriminating evidence against us left out in the open. Scott might’ve had the law in Ridgefield in his pocket, but what’d happened earlier would’ve really been pushing it.
The thing was, today was nothing compared to what was going to happen.
The club was furious.
It was beyond brazen and beyond insulting that the enemy had launched a kidnapping attempt on the club princess right from club territory. It was an act of insanity and that made the Rogues more dangerous than they were even already believed to be. They’d clearly become desperate to get the reaction that Scott had been denying them, to force a major confrontation with Iron Kings.
Unfortunately, they were going to get it.
Despite how level-headed Scott normally was, when it came to his daughter, it was a very different story. I hadn’t seen fury and pain, such powerful emotions, breach his cool, collected demeanor for years. The last time had been following the murder of his wife.
And, as for me, I’d nearly lost the woman I loved. All I’d been able to see was blood and death. I’d wanted to watch the life drain out of that motherfucker like nothing else. The only thing that’d stopped me from taking it there was Ashley, my anchor.
“Finn!”
I jolted, pulled abruptly from my thoughts, at the sound of a familiar voice calling to me from the open bathroom door.
“Jesse?” I called back.
“Yeah. You’ve been in there for over an hour. Are you about ready to wrap it up?”
What? Over an hour? “It takes a good long while to scrub bloodstains off skin,” I bit back, way too defensively.
There was a brief pause, no doubt from my unprecedented harshness.
Then the shower curtain was ripped aside and Jesse stood there, thrusting a towel at me.
“Let’s talk.”
Frowning at his urgency, I switched off the shower, then snatched up the towel, drying myself quickly. I grabbed my clean clothes that were folded on the sink base and hurriedly pulled them on, then followed him into the bedroom.
> “What’s wrong?” I asked, as I grabbed the bottle of whiskey I’d swiped from the downstairs bar on my way up here. I took a long swig then eyed him expectantly.
He shoved his hands into the pockets of his tactical pants, his hazel eyes scrutinizing me. “So, the girl’s your tether, huh?”
I froze with the bottle halfway to my lips, eyeing him in surprise. “She told you?”
“Spartan called it. You’ve never pulled back once you’ve decided to go in for the kill.”
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “She is.”
“I never thought I’d see the day. I didn’t think anyone could tame that part of you.”
“Her light is stronger than my darkness.”
“I’m glad.” He took a seat on the window ledge, his bulky form barely fitting in the narrow space. Nodding to himself, he said, “It changes everything. You can live a real life now, no more closing yourself off to people. You don’t need to worry or fear that part of you anymore.”
“I still need to keep a low profile the second I step beyond Ridgefield’s borders and the protection of the club.”
“Yeah, you do,” he said, more than a little pointedly.
It was blatantly obvious what he was getting at. “The Rogues need to be eliminated. They’re dangerous. You saw it up close and personal earlier.”
“There is more than one way to eliminate a threat.”
“Going the fatal route is the only way to be certain a threat is null and void. You know that as well as I do.”
“What I know is that this has become more and more personal to you the closer you’ve gotten to the lovely Miss Tate. This fatal approach isn’t the soundest strategy and if you weren’t personally involved, I’m certain you wouldn’t go this route to take care of this particular threat. No, all of this is borne from fear of losing what you care about dearly, not to mention, retribution.”
I took a long swig from my bottle, his sound observations hitting me right where I lived. He really had a knack for doing that.
But he wasn’t the only one who could read between the lines.
“You have something, don’t you? You came through with that research I asked you to do on them.” I shook my head at him in mock disappointment. “Finally.”
He rolled his eyes at me. “It took so long, because there was a lot to compile.” I watched him reach into the inside pocket of his tactical jacket and pull out a folded manilla envelope. “These guys have their fingers in a shitload of pies.”