by Zoey Parker
I walked through the crowd as Duncan stepped up behind me to address everyone.
“We’re riding out behind Gunner,” he started. “He knows how to get to Coyote’s compound. Stay together, stay tight. Watch us in the front for any signals. And remember, Coyote is ruthless, and her people are as ruthless as she is.”
I hopped on my bike and fired her up. The roar of the engine was greeted with enthusiastic yells and cheers from the twenty or thirty men crowding the parking lot in front of our garage. Their bikes followed suit, and before I knew it, we were all riding in formation down the highway. I rode in front with the other four founders, and the rest of the MC rode behind us, filling our lane.
I didn’t know how late it was, but the road was mostly abandoned as we rode towards Coyote’s location. We passed a few cars here or there, but nothing of any particular interest until we were closing in on the mansion.
We came around a corner, and a car that was flying up to us on the opposite side of the road started flashing their lights and turned on their hazards. As we drove past, I couldn’t shake the feeling that they were trying to get our attention somehow. I signaled to the other guys to turn around and run back to check on the car.
It was difficult to manage that many riders at one time, so only Duncan and I left the line, leaving everyone else driving towards the mansion. As we approached the car, I noticed it didn’t have plates, and the windows were completely blacked out, leaving it impossible to see who was inside.
The door opened as we slowed to a crawl and walked our bikes the rest of the way up to the car. I pulled my helmet off as Sierra’s beautiful red hair peeked out of the driver side. She sort of slumped against the doorframe.
I parked my bike and left it running as I ran over to her. I had to throw my arms out to catch her because she was falling out of the car.
“Hey, hey, whoa. Sierra?” I sat her back in the driver seat.
“Gunner, thank God you’re here,” she said, out of breath.
“There’s blood on your face, Sierra. Are you okay?” I pushed her hair back to see where she’d been struck in the head by something.
“That bitch hit me with the fucking diamond,” she hissed.
I wanted to laugh at the venom in her voice, but I also wanted throttle her for stealing from me. I also wanted to take her in my arms and tell her everything was going to be okay. I didn’t know which to do, so I stuck to business.
“So Coyote has the diamond at her hideout?” I thought it was pretty obvious that Sierra was coming back from Coyote’s location, so there was my confirmation that we were, in fact, driving in the right direction.
“She does.” Sierra nodded. “But I think she might be on her way to stop me from getting away,” she said.
I looked up at that time to see headlights coming our way and spreading out across the road.
“That’s obviously them,” I told her. “Get back in the car and stay put,” I said absently as I watched my men spread out in front of the oncoming traffic to block it.
I glanced over at Duncan, who nodded and roared off on his bike to join the rest of the MC.
I leaned in the door and kissed Sierra’s tender lips. She kissed me eagerly, filling me with something I didn’t have words for at the time. It was like relief, but it was deeper. It made me want to put her on the bike and order my men to stand down, to let Coyote keep the damn Sun Stone.
I knew I couldn’t do that. Instead, I cupped the back of her head and held her mouth to mine as long as I could.
Gunshots ripped through the night from one of the cars blocking the road in front of my men. I jerked my head out and looked up to where my men were facing off with Coyote’s people. I could see the four men pulled up in front on their rides, but there were also several people standing in front of them in between the cars lined across the highway. That must have been Coyote and her closest advisors.
Sierra lay her head back in the seat and cut off the car.
I hoped my men had brought their weapons. Any time we all rode out like this, I required everyone to carry a piece. Most of our weapons were unregistered street pieces that couldn’t be traced back to anyone except by fingerprints, but gloves did a pretty good job of preventing that. I did require them to have permits, though. It wouldn’t hurt, and with the legal muscle we had, we had used carry permits to get our men out of some tight spots before. It paid, and quite well, to almost be legit.
Something told me that Coyote had brought a fair bit of fire power with her. She had no idea what she was up against, but if the person standing in the front had fired off an automatic weapon, it was almost guaranteed that the people behind her had more.
“That’s them,” Sierra said, almost as an afterthought. “She probably doesn’t have the diamond with her.”
“What kind of firepower do they have?” It wouldn’t hurt to ask someone who probably knew.
“I don’t know.” She turned her face towards me, and I could see in her tired green eyes that she really didn’t have any idea what to expect from Coyote.
“You work for her. You have to know what she’s got for protection,” I insisted.
“Not a clue.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I wasn’t involved in all of that. I just stole for her.”
“Damn.” I looked back up, and she grabbed my arm with one of her frail hands. I looked back down at her in the car.
“I’m really sorry, Gunner,” she said.
“It’s okay, Sierra.” And it was okay. It shouldn’t have been. I should have been mad, but I couldn’t be. I couldn’t even force the anger up.
My phone buzzed while I was standing there.
She looked at me as I pulled it out of my pocket, her eyes wide with terror.
It was Duncan, and he was talking as soon as I answered.
“Where are you?” he asked in a panicked voice.
“Right here with Sierra, why?”
“You need to come up here. Now,” he said. I looked up and saw him standing next to his bike in front of Coyote and the other members of her organization standing in front of the cars. It was time.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sierra
Gunner stood silently by the car, listening to whoever was on the other end of the line. He stuffed the phone in his pocket and turned back to me after a moment. I could see in his face that something was troubling him.
“What is it?” I asked.
“She wants me to bring you up there,” he said.
“Okay, and?” That didn’t seem like enough reason for him to look so dejected.
“She said if I don’t, she’s going to start shooting my men.” He looked back at the wall of bikers between us and Coyote’s people.
“Okay, take me up there,” I told him. I started sliding out of the car, but he put his arms up in my way.
“No. I’ve got it under control,” he insisted.
“Obviously not,” I argued. I pushed him aside and stood up out of the car.
“Get back in the car,” he pleaded.
“Are you trying to order me, Gunner? That’s cute.” I gave him a quick kiss on his lips. “No, I’m going to turn myself over to Coyote so she doesn’t try to kill your men”
I started to walk past him, but he grabbed my arm and held me back.
“She’s going to do that anyway,” he told me. “I can’t let her have you, Sierra.”
“And why not?” I asked. “If you let her take me, I can help you find the diamond.”
“It’s not about the diamond,” he said.
“It’s always been about the diamond, Gunner. You want it back from her, and if I could steal it from you, it should be a piece of cake to take it from her,” I reminded him.
He pulled me to him and put his arm around my waist.
“No, it’s not about the diamond, Sierra. I didn’t come up here and put my men at risk for a diamond.” He kissed me. Our lips worked together slowly, sensuously. His tongue probed my mouth.
>
I pushed him back and pulled away from his embrace.
“What are you telling me?” I asked.
“I mean I came here for you, Sierra,” he said. “You are worth more to me than that diamond. I can’t let you go, not even for it.” His eyes loomed over my face. I stared into them like I was staring into the night sky. He meant it. He wasn’t just talking.
“Then let me help you get the diamond back.” I patted his chest and started to walk away, walking towards the line of people standing between the bikes and cars.
“At least let me walk you up there.” His eyes sparkled with a plan as he caught up to me and stepped in front of me quickly.
“That’s the Gunner I know,” I said, smiling. “You’ve got a plan, don’t you?”
“Baby, I’ve always got a plan. How do think I made it this far?” He winked and twisted my arm behind my back.
“Okay, now it’s getting a little kinky,” I joked.
“You just keep thinking that,” he said. “But walk.” He pushed me up through the crowd of his men.
Every single one of them had a gun drawn and ready to go. It would have been interesting to watch these two organizations battle it out in the middle of the highway. They were both ruthless and fearless. One had even named themselves from how ruthless and depraved they were. The other had remained nameless for years.
“Oh good, you chose to comply,” Coyote said as we walked up.
“Where’s the diamond?” Gunner barked at her.
“That wasn’t the deal, now was it? The deal was that you would bring her to me, and I wouldn’t kill your men. Am I right?”
The automatic rifle in Coyote’s hands dwarfed her body. I assumed that was the rifle that had unleashed the gunshots we heard earlier. Though she stood in front of the headlights of the purring motorcycles behind me, she was still silhouetted against the headlights of her cars.
“Now, send over what’s mine, and I will let yours live,” she continued in a commanding tone.
Gunner had stepped up beside me, holding my hand behind my back. He interlaced his fingers with mine at that point and gave me a curious look as he considered what he was about to say to her.
“I can’t let you have her,” he said to Coyote. “She’s not yours anymore.”
“Fine. You want her? Have her.”
She raised her gun and shot at one of the guys standing to the side. I watched in horror as he crumbled to the ground. I watched in horror as no one did anything. That was unacceptable. These men behind me often called each other brothers. I had heard Gunner refer to them as his brothers on several occasions. But brothers didn’t stand by and watch while one of their own bled out due to a gunshot wound.
I pulled away from Gunner’s grip on my hand and ran toward the fallen biker. I heard Coyote laughing as I ran. I knelt down next to him on the ground and picked him up in my lap.
“What’s your name?” I asked him.
“Derek,” he said in a weak, raspy voice. He squeezed my hand when I grabbed it.
“Alright, Derek, you’re going to make it through this, okay?” I didn’t know what compelled me to help this complete stranger, but I couldn’t just ignore him. Maybe it was because no one else was doing anything. Maybe it was because Derek, as a member of The Immortal Devils, was an extension of Gunner, and Gunner had just dropped a bomb on me.
He had put himself into a unique position in my life. He was just supposed to be another fucking mark, and here he was trying to make himself more than that. And, dammit, I wanted him to be. Derek, bleeding out through his black t-shirt, offered the promise of a distraction from all of that.
“What the hell are you doing?” Gunner snapped behind me.
“I’m taking care of one of your men while everyone else stands around staring at Coyote like she’s some goddess,” I yelled back.
“Why, thank you, Sierra. I didn’t think anyone had noticed,” Coyote said. “You can learn a lot from her, Gunner,” she said, turning her attention back to him.
“Alright, what’s the game here, Coyote?” he asked. I watched him take a step towards her.
“What do you mean?” Her tone said she knew exactly what he meant, that she was just playing stupid to get him to say it.
“I mean, your top thief comes flying away from your mansion like a bat out of hell with a wound on the side of her head where you smacked her with the diamond, and now you’re standing here trying to get me to give her up. What gives, Coyote? You really don’t want her back, do you?”
“You’re right, Gunner,” she admitted. “I don’t want her back. Well, not to keep anyway.”
“Then what the fuck are you getting at?” His voice became forceful.
I turned so I could watch them better. He hadn’t even drawn his piece yet. He was still standing in front of her with bare hands while she held an automatic assault rifle in her hands, with her men standing around them, also holding automatic weapons. Yet, Gunner was approaching her without any way of defending himself.
“You still with me?” I asked Derek, looking down at the man in my arms.
“I am,” he groaned. “I’m trying to listen.”
“You should probably watch your language when you address me, Mr. Kaye,” Coyote said in a threatening tone. “Remember, I’ve already put down one of your men, and I’ve got more firepower on you right now than all of your men combined back there. So I think you should treat me with respect.”
“Coyote,” he sighed, exasperated, “it will be a cold day in hell before I treat you with respect.”
“That’s fine, Gunner. In the meantime, I’m going to start shooting your men myself.”
She nodded at one of her men and looked over at another member of the MC. A large bald man in a suit shouldered his rifle and walked over to grab the guy she pointed out.
“Get your hands off of me,” he said, backing away from Coyote’s goon.
“No, you’re coming with me,” the bald suit insisted.
“That’s enough, Coyote,” Gunner said.
“Do something, brother,” said one of the men standing next to Gunner.
“You know what? I’m going to do something for you,” said another. He took a step towards Coyote.
“Gentleman,” she said suddenly, “I’d like you to refrain from doing anything hasty.”
She waved one of her dainty hands over her head and signaled to a few of her men to surround the guys standing in front of her with Gunner. They all had their guns drawn.
“This must be embarrassing,” she said, and I could see the smug smile spreading across her face while she talked. “These men trust you with their lives, Gunner. Actually, I think that must be more embarrassing than what you’re facing right now, you know? They’re being forced to realize they put their trust in an incompetent fool who can’t even win against a little girl.”
“If you’re going to do something, Coyote, fucking do it,” Gunner snarled at her.
“I need to get up,” Derek said, pulling on my arm as he tried to climb up to my shoulder. “I need to help.”
“No,” I said, “you need to relax. Let everyone else handle this.” I wasn’t even trying to comfort him anymore. I was too enrapt in what was going on in front of me to pay him much attention.
“Alright, I’ll do something,” Coyote continued, gesturing to the man pulling one of Gunner’s men with him.
He walked the man up and pushed him down on his knees in front of her. Everyone’s attention was turned to the man kneeling before her, but I was watching Gunner. He had a hand behind his back, reaching under his vest.
“I’m going to execute each one of your men this way until you surrender your little girlfriend to me,” Coyote said.
“Please don’t,” the biker begged on his knees. I thought I would never hear one of Gunner’s men beg like that, not after what I’d heard about them.
The Immortal Devils were supposed to be the toughest of the tough, the baddest of the bad. They weren’t s
upposed to feel fear or regret, or anything else weak like that. His men composed nightmares with the way they tortured their victims. Yet, there was one of them, right in front of me, on his knees, reduced to a blubbering idiot. And no one looked like they were going to do anything.
Meanwhile, another one of the MC’s members was bleeding out on me in the middle of the road. I looked around us. I couldn’t believe we hadn’t been interrupted by traffic yet. Of course, if I had seen anything like the scene all around me, I would have turned around and left. I definitely wouldn’t have tried to pass through. No detour would have been too far out of the way to avoid driving through this confrontation.