Gunner (Ride Series Second Generation Book 4)

by Megan O'Brien

  I made quick introductions before explaining to Ruston that the guys were in back.

  He nodded, his gaze scanning the room before they locked and held on something.

  I looked over my shoulder, seeing Grace frozen in place, her arms full of the snacks she’d been bringing us, eyes locked on Ruston.

  The tension was palpable as Wren and I shared a knowing look. I’d told Grace that Ruston was good-looking. Clearly, she wholeheartedly agreed.

  “Grace, this is Ruston King. Prez of the Royal Bloods,” I introduced, fighting a smile as she blinked a few times.

  Ruston crossed the room with purpose, stepping right into her space as she tipped her head up to look at him. His nostrils flared as he stared down at her, his eyes bright with intensity.

  “Holy shit,” Ava murmured as we all openly stared.

  “King.” Cole’s tone was both a greeting and a warning as he walked into the room, no doubt observing the tension between the other Prez and his daughter.

  Ruston’s gaze swung in his direction, and even I could tell it was a battle for him to stop looking at Grace. “Be right in,” he replied, his tone more guttural than I’d heard before.

  Cole stood, arms crossed across his chest, making it clear he’d wait.

  Ruston turned back to Grace and murmured something to her, unintelligible from across the room.

  Her cheeks bloomed an adorable shade of pink, and she nodded.

  Seeming satisfied with her response, Ruston turned on a heel and, along with Tank and Cason, followed Cole to the room they used for meetings.

  Grace remained in place for a few minutes, looking as though she was trying to pull herself together before she put one step in front of the other and headed back in our direction.

  “Okay?” I asked her quietly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as Wren and Liv took the snacks from her.

  “Yeah,” she replied, looking shell-shocked. “Did that look as intense as it felt?” she squeaked.

  “Let’s put it this way, I’m surprised your clothing didn’t incinerate from the look he was giving you,” Dallas replied.

  When Grace looked at her in confusion, I introduced the three women from the Royal Bloods.

  “I’ll get more drinks,” Ginnie volunteered, heading back to the kitchen as the rest of us made ourselves comfortable on the couches.

  “What did he say to you?” Wren wanted to know.

  “He made me promise I’d wait until they were done,” she replied, her eyes wide.

  I’d never seen Grace have a reaction like this to a man before. She’d always been beautiful and had always had her fair share of attention from the opposite sex, but for the most part, she’d been somewhat indifferent.

  It was clear that indifference had just been shot to hell.

  “Hopefully Cole doesn’t kill him,” Liv put in dryly.

  “Oh god,” Grace groaned, as if just now remembering that her father was one of the most alpha men on the planet.

  “Ruston can hold his own,” Ava put in confidently.

  “Shit, I hope so.” Layla grinned, winking at Grace.

  “Can we talk about something else now?” Grace demanded, her cheeks still flushed. “I’m not the one that just got engaged.” She looked at me beseechingly.

  And so, being the best friend I was, I directed the spotlight off my girl and launched into wedding planning.

  Chapter 22

  GUNNER

  When Cole returned to the room with Cason, Tank, and Ruston on his heels, it was clear there was some sort of tension between them.

  “Later.” Cole told Ruston, who nodded once before his gaze turned to the room, clocking the Knights surrounding the table.

  Introductions were made as the Bloods took a seat.

  “Appreciate what you’ve done to help,” Cole began, taking his seat across the table. “We don’t ask that you put yourselves in harm’s way, but from what Gunner has shared, seems you want to be part of this next phase,” he suggested.

  Ruston nodded. “I consider Gunner a fellow brother and would do what I could to help regardless, but this is personal. I want that motherfucker almost as bad as he does.” He tilted his head toward me.

  Cole nodded. “All right then.” He looked over at me. “Your move.”

  “Right. We have Castillo expecting Brent to deliver Emmie this evening. I’ve got his location, ten miles out of town. I can probably get us within half a mile via satellite, but after that, we’ll have to get boots on the ground,” I shared. “Once we’ve confirmed the exact target, we’ve got a dummy vehicle we can rig up. You’re good with explosives, right?” I asked, my eyes on Tank.

  “The best,” Tank confirmed.

  With all three of them being former military, I imagined this wasn’t much different than one of their former missions.

  “We’ll get him and whoever else is with him to scatter, then pick them off,” I explained.

  “What’s his end game? Get Emmie and then what?” Max demanded.

  “I don’t think anyone has gotten as close as Gunner has.” Cason spoke up. “I don’t think he wants Emmie as collateral for money; I think he wants her in assurance he’ll stop.” He gestured toward me. “You’re getting too close for comfort.”

  “Could be,” I agreed. “Though part of me thinks he’s just a sick fuck and he gets some sort of twisted thrill out of knowing I’m always one step behind him.” I growled in agitation.

  “Not anymore,” Ruston replied.

  “Not anymore,” I confirmed with a sense of satisfaction that had been years in the making.

  “I’ll get started on the device,” Tank confirmed, shoving back from his seat.

  “I’ll scout the route with you,” Cason added, nodding toward me.

  “I’ll look over the artillery,” Ruston put in.

  And with that, we had a plan. Nightfall couldn’t come soon enough.

  “What’s with you and Cole?” I asked Ruston after the others had made their way back out to the main room. The two didn’t know each other well, so the clear tension between them was a surprise.

  “I saw Grace,” he replied as though that explained everything.

  “Okay, and?” I asked in confusion.

  “Gonna marry that girl,” he shocked me by stating.

  Before I could ask anything more, he clapped me on the back and strode away.

  “Well, shit.” I chuckled, shaking my head before I went in search of my girl.

  * * *

  The evening was unseasonably cold as Ruston, Cason, Max, and I rode out in two SUVs as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon with Tank following behind. We needed to keep our group small enough to fly under the radar but large enough to get the job done.

  I could see the worry in Emmie’s eyes when we left, but I’d assured her I’d be back in a few hours.

  Ruston drove while I rode shotgun in the lead SUV, tracking the pings from the cell tower to verify we were headed in the right direction.

  We rode twenty minutes out of town, the remote landscape of Hawthorne growing more barren as we neared what I quickly realized would be our destination.

  “We’re headed to the old oil refinery,” I stated confidently.

  “Well, that would be a damn good place to set up shop,” Ruston muttered.

  “Yep,” I agreed. “We should pull off. There’s an access road in a couple hundred feet,” I directed, eyeing the map intently. “Looks like we’ll have good cover,” I muttered, my eyes on the screen.

  He did as directed, turning right onto a roughly paved road that would be easy to miss if you weren’t looking for it. From the looks of it, it hadn’t been used regularly in years. Max’s SUV followed as we headed up a hill that overlooked the refinery.

  When we hit the crest, we pulled deep enough into undergrowth so thick it almost completely camouflaged both vehicles.

  Adrenaline coursed through my veins as Ruston cut the engine. It was surreal to have something I’d been chas
ing with singular focus for so many years be this close to over.

  “You wonder what you’ll do after?” Ruston asked, and I knew he was thinking the exact same thing.

  “Before Emmie, maybe,” I allowed. “For so long, it was as if I was stuck in time, living the same fucking nightmare. But now? I just want it done so I can get back to the life I was actually meant to be living instead of chasing this asshole around the globe. You?”

  I watched Ruston rub a hand over his face, his gaze straight ahead, but I doubted he was actually seeing what was in front of him. “Castillo tried to recruit me,” he shared quietly. “I declined and instead joined the SEALs. He didn’t like that very much.” He snorted in disgust. “Went after Ava in revenge. Put her in the hospital when I was too far away to do a damn thing about it.” He turned to me, his eyes glittering with fury. “I wasn’t as unlucky as you. He didn’t succeed in his mission, but she suffered, and I will fucking relish his end.”

  I nodded in silent comradery as we exited the vehicle, coming around the side to link up with Max and Cason.

  “Tank in place?” I asked quietly.

  As soon as I’d confirmed our location, I’d shared our coordinates with Tank, who’d been behind us in the truck rigged with explosives. We’d thought it only appropriate to use Emmie’s old truck, and she’d wholeheartedly agreed.

  Tank had by far the most dangerous job, driving with live explosives, leaving the truck close enough to do the damage we needed to, and escaping unscathed.

  I’d volunteered for the job more than once, but Tank wouldn’t hear of it.

  “Yeah,” Cason replied, his eyes on his laptop as he tracked the truck’s location. “Looks like he’s pulling up now.”

  We’d directed him to a turnout just before the refinery, which would hopefully get him close enough to do the damage we required but leave his arrival undetected.

  “Just confirmed he’s headed our way,” Cason added, relief evident in his tone.

  While we waited for Tank to arrive on foot, Ruston and I got the weapons locked and loaded.

  One minute Tank wasn’t there, and the next, his large body was beside Max’s SUV. For such a big man, he moved with serious stealth.

  “We goin' in?” he wanted to know.

  Ruston and I shared a look. “We’re goin' in,” I confirmed with a nod.

  “Tank, Case, take our flanks,” Ruston ordered, going into full prez mode and, if I had to guess, SEAL mode on top of it. He turned eyes to me. “We get close enough for Tank to detonate the device like we talked about. They scatter, we pick ’em off. They don’t scatter, we go in.” He turned to look behind him. “Case, you got the infrared ready?”

  Cason nodded. I hadn’t questioned how they had the military grade equipment and instead just appreciated that they did.

  We slid down the hillside, through brush and rock until we were just above the refinery.

  “Now,” Ruston ordered.

  Seconds later, a deafening boom sounded from below, followed by an explosion so large, the heat from the flame warmed my face even at our distance away.

  In less than the time it took to take another breath, men were running from the building.

  I scanned them, looking for my mark as Tank fired a shot, his target dropping prone on the dirt.

  I looked at him, and we shared a knowing nod. We’d agreed, only known close associates of Castillo would be targeted.

  After the initial handful of men dispersed from the refinery, Castillo not being one of them, we moved in closer.

  “The blast did some damage. The rest could be injured or just holed up. I’d put money on the latter,” Max said resolutely.

  “They’re waiting us out.” Cason snorted as though the idea amused him.

  “Bad fucking idea.” Tank grunted.

  “We go to plan B,” I stated, already working on my laptop. “I can access the electric utility grid control system and cut the power.”

  “Then we go in with night vision.” Ruston grinned, a zeal for the hunt clear in his eye.

  “Watch your bloodlust, King. We’re not sure how many are in there,” Cason warned.

  Ruston snorted. “Twenty-to-one and we’d still have better odds.”

  “All right, I’m in,” I announced. “We ready? Once I do this, we won’t have much time.”

  Cason distributed the goggles as we double-checked our weapons.

  “Check,” Tank confirmed, and the rest of us followed suit.

  I hit the button to cut the power, closing my laptop and watching as the building beneath us went black.

  It was go time.

  I slid down the rest of the hillside in near silence, my boots landing on the pavement with a quiet thud. We crept toward the entrance, fanning out. Tank and Max planned to enter through side windows I’d seen on the satellite images.

  Ruston, Cason, and I entered through the main entrance, quickly spreading out so as not to make ourselves easy targets.

  I clocked the now abandoned desks and boxes likely full of contraband set up throughout the room. This had obviously been a headquarters of sorts for some time. Despite the furniture, the cavernous building was relatively empty with few places to hide.

  The stack of crates in one corner was an obvious bet, the electrical equipment piled high toward the center of the building another. Ruston and I shared a nod, thinking the same thing.

  I took the crates in the corner, gun aimed, and ready to fire as Ruston took the center.

  Before I’d taken another step, the boom of gunfire exploded through the air.

  We fell to our bellies, crawling forward as it became immediately clear they were shooting blind.

  With my night vision aiding me, I cocked my gun and waited. When a hand with a gun appeared around the corner of one of the crates, I fired, hitting my mark.

  A cry of pain immediately rent the air.

  “Come out with your hands above your head!” I bellowed.

  After a few moments of weighted silence, a gun was slowly pushed out from behind the crates, followed by a show of hands, one with a few fingers blown completely off.

  A man stepped out slowly from his hiding place, his white tee covered in blood, dark eyes wild. “I want out. Silas, I want out!” he screamed hysterically.

  The blast of gunfire sounded a second before a bloom of red appeared on his shirt. He looked down as though shocked, clutching at his mortal wound.

  I looked around, trying to identify which of us had shot him. Ruston shook his head, followed by each of our guys.

  Then realization dawned. Castillo had shot his own. Not that I was surprised.

  “Don’t lie, Pierce, you’ll miss me when I’m gone,” he taunted from his hiding place behind the electrical equipment as his partner slumped lifelessly to the ground.

  Even in jest, his presumption enraged me. “You know who I miss, you piece of shit? My father,” I growled.

  “Oh, yes, well I could see that,” he replied lightly. “We just had different interests, he and I. The only thing I could understand was his desire for your mother. She was quite beautiful. It’s a shame about her face.”

  “Keep your cool, Gun,” Max ordered from behind me. “We’re so close. He’s done if you play this smart.”

  Knowing he was right, I took a deep breath through my nostrils, my chest expanding with the effort, and I nodded once.

  Two could play this game.

  “I could see how it’d fuck with you, him having a beautiful woman when the only ass you could ever get had to be paid for,” I retorted snidely. “You’re pathetic.”

  I could all but feel his effort to rein himself in as I watched Cason begin to advance from the side. With Castillo blind and distracted, he’d be able to move in close if I kept him talking. To my left, I watched Tank creep behind the crates where the dead man had been hiding. After a moment, he gave the all clear signal.

  It was down to Castillo.

  “And what about you?” Castillo fired b
ack. “Talk about pathetic; you’ve spent nearly your entire adult life on me.” He chortled.

  “That’s justice,” I replied, unbothered by his attempted insult. “And my basic duty as a human to wipe waste like you from the planet. You, on the other hand, have no excuse other than having such an empty life you needed the chase,” I sneered.

  “I don’t need shit from you,” he bit out, followed by a grunted, “Fuck,” as I watched Cason slide behind where he was hiding.

  A moment later, Cason was lifting him from his hiding place, the barrel of his gun pressed to the back of his head.

  I stood up, watching as the source of so many of my nightmares as a child, and my sworn enemy as an adult, came into view.

  He looked older, as I expected, with more weight around his middle, and his dark hair had turned almost completely gray. But his eyes, those lifeless, cold eyes hadn’t changed a bit.

  “Can’t even face me like a man?” he sneered. “Have to end this in the dark?”

  “I don’t waste a second worrying about what you think. You killed my father, a man you claimed was your friend, and set fire to his house with his wife and child inside. If that’s your definition of being a man—I don’t think you ever understood it’s meaning,” I growled as Cason shoved him within five feet of me. “I don’t care how you end, I only care that it’s done.”

  He lifted his chin in defiance just as a crack of gunfire came from the left. Without another second to lose, I fired on Castillo as Tank fired on the man we’d thought to be dead.

  In the weighted silence, we all braced for anything. Anything but the events that followed.

  Ruston dropped to his knees, his hand clutched to his chest as his face turned an alarming shade of gray. As I looked down at my friend in horror, nothing else mattered.

  Nothing but saving Ruston King.

  Chapter 23

  EMMIE

  I fought the urge to check my phone for the hundredth time as I sat with Grace, Dallas, Wren, Lanie, and Ava around the patio table outside the club that night. We’d passed the time where I’d thought Gunner and the guys would be back, and I was barely biting back the anxiety that was threatening to overwhelm me.