by K. J. Dahlen
Reaper spoke, “We’ll get him, Thunder. We’ll get him.” He stood in front of me with unflinching eyes.
Tapping the screen, I speed dialled Bruno and held my cell to my ear as it rang. I still needed to get answers.
I paced toward the window while I waited for Bruno to pick up. “I’m going to follow them when they leave the prison.”
“Thunder, stay where you are. I’ve got men lined up to trap them. According to the boys, Jumper’s got backup. I won’t have my VP getting arrested or shot tonight,” Bruno ordered
“Got it,” I said. But I was following regardless. Taking a gun and shooting somebody who apparently had no weapon in the back was despicable. Shooting my best friend was out of the question. Jumper had a lot to answer for. That cocksucker was enough to make me lose control. Fuck, he already had.
“Are you hearing me, Thunder?” Bruno asked. Then growled in a deadly tone. “You don’t lay a hand on Jumper. Anyone goes against my order and they die.” He snarled and that was the end of the conversation.
The line cut off and I slid my phone back into my pocket.
“What did he say, boss?” asked Crow as the doors closed to the elevator headed for the ground floor. His steely grey eyes fixed on mine.
“Nothing. Don’t worry about it,” I replied. The bottom line was—Jumper was still alive. And I could no longer endure that.
Shrugging on my leather jacket, I ran a shaky hand over my face. “Let’s get moving,” I told them.
My hard steps echoed as I walked across the plywood floor of the bedroom, toward the door. I reached out and opened the door wide. I left the room behind Reaper, Crow and Spider. And the door closed with a bang.
Chapter Fifteen
Dino
“Left, left,” Crow shouted from his motorcycle as we rode through Main Street, trying to get a clear shot at the driver. “Everybody follow the truck!”
Instinctively, the four of us split into pairs and chased the semi-truck from both its left and right side. I hit the accelerator hard. Spider, Crow, and Reaper followed suit. We were gaining on them. Bruno had planned for one of our guys to snatch Jumper and Tori from Jumper’s bike at a desolate corner where there was a stop sign. But Jumper and Tori’s getaway vehicle was a delivery truck, not a motorcycle. Nothing was going as planned. As usual.
Wheels screeching, the sound high-pitched, the truck driver pulled a sharp U-turn and drove straight toward us, intending to send us flying.
“Dino move!” Reaper yelled.
The three other bikers beside me were forced to break away from our configuration, but I stayed put. Again, and again, I fired at the driver. The vehicle raced toward me, accelerating past fifty. It was too late before I realized the semi-truck’s windows had bulletproof glass. I felt so enraged, I hadn’t even realized I was stopped in the middle of the road until it was too late. All I can remember about that burst of courage ‒ and stupidity ‒ was the sound of frantic cries from my brothers for me to dive for my life, and a feeling of anger so viscous that my entire body shook.
The truck was fewer than fifteen feet away from me when I leaped from my bike to get clear. Launching my body through the air, I’d twisted to my side a split second before my back collided with the vehicle – crushing the hood of the truck. I rolled over the hood and was thrown to the ground. My body slammed into the concrete curb. I was hurt, but my will to get vengeance overcame that. I raised my head and spat out a tooth. I twisted my head to the side, and watched Jumper’s vehicle speed to freedom. Several shots fired in my direction, narrowly missing by body, as the vehicle sped away. I was lucky. But the night wasn’t over yet.
I managed to get to my feet as my fellow riders raced toward me. Engines roaring. Yelling and shouting. Nothing felt broken, at least.
“Are you insane, Thunder?” Crow yelled. “We don’t need a shooting war in our town,” he added.
I looked over at my Harley. It was totalled. Crushed to oblivion. Good thing I’d given Blaze back to Dagger.
“Come on, get on,” Crow told me.
I heaved one leg over the back of his bike and we sped away. We had criminals to kill. As much as I hated riding bitch, it was better than being stranded. I still had to face Bruno and after that, I might not be alive to care but at least I got a taste of the revenge burning my soul. It wasn’t enough but it was a taste of what the monster inside me demanded.
In the distance, I could hear sirens.
“Let’s move! Hurry!” I ordered my men and we picked up speed. I knew that Jumper would have the Bloods out in full force over Coronado. I made it my job to stop them before they stopped us from killing Jumper. Though the Bloods didn’t have a lot of brains, everyone on the streets knew they survived because they had some serious muscle behind them. Amoral, gangster muscle. Each and every one of them were armed killers who relished in the violence. Street level criminals with nothing to lose. People who did this work because they couldn’t do anything else. Even their club brothers meant nothing to them.
My phone rang and I held it to my ear. “What were you thinking?” Bruno bellowed. The man gave me an earful down the line, but I was doing this for Jax. I was VP of this club, and acting President. I knew what I was doing. We’d already taken two of the Bloods out who waited outside of the prison gates. So long as we could keep track of that truck, I knew the Bloods wouldn’t be far behind. Jumper’s not so merry men would soon all be laid out in front of our firing squad.
Unbeknownst to Jumper, I had guys waiting to snatch the Bloods in the shadows of every corner. We’d operated in Coronado for a decade; there wasn’t one dark corner of our territory that we didn’t know about. Those men would pay the price for Jumper’s mistake; the Bloods were now trespassing on our land. They were asking for it and it would be our pleasure to give it to them. They would all know that this city was ours and if they came here to cause trouble… well trouble they would find.
I planned to take out the Bloods from behind the path Jumper and Tori traveled, until Jumper had no backup left to call on. The Devils waited on every side street and back alley without detection. They pulled out of side streets and back alleys to snatch the men. I knew that as long as we could pull this off before the truck stopped at its destination, the Bloods would be in the tenth level of hell before Jumper noticed a thing.
And we did just that.
Sixty men were murdered that night in one hit. Those cocksuckers went down like flies. One right after the other. Everybody was killed. There were no survivors.
We pulled into a gas station and filled up our tanks. Privately, I’d started to think that my plan was working a little too well, when Reaper’s voice cut into my thoughts.
“What do you think the Italians from the Bloods crime family will have to say about this?” he asked, apprehension lacing his voice.
He should have known the answer.
“They’ll understand,” I told him. “Thugs are thugs. Business is business. The men we killed are throwaway people. Motorheads. Thugs. Bums. Hobos. If anything, they’ll thank us,” I told him, coldly. “We’re doing them a favor by taking out their old trash.” I shrugged. “It’ll be business as usual by tomorrow,” I added, as we mounted our rides.
I fully expected no retaliation from the Marchetti crime family. In the back of my mind, I was also convinced that even if I were wrong, Lucia Marchetti, the mob boss who funded the Bloods MC, and used them as a source of protection, wouldn’t dare come after Bruno and Marco. The two of them were untouchable.
“Where we headed, Thunder?” Reaper yelled over the roar of the Harley engines.
I paused for a few beats to think.
I was more than worried that Jumper would slip through my fingers when Bruno sent a text with orders for us to join him at La Nostra, one of Bruno’s private mob social clubs ran by a rough criminal who went by the name of Billy Black. I’d been there a several times before. Jumper and Tori would seek refuge until they dashed for freedom over the border of
Tijuana. I got the uneasy feeling Bruno had known this would happen all along. Perhaps, I’d made a big mistake by doubting him and disobeying his orders to stay put.
“La Nosta,” I called back to Reaper. We rolled out of the gas station, headed toward the east side of town.
Upon arrival, we parked up our bikes in a side street out of the way and walked in through the back entrance. Billy met us in the corridors of the back of the place. I peered through the circular glass in the doors that led to the main bar. Out front, there was a jukebox a few pool tables and some wobbly tables and chairs. Men sat around card tables, sipping drinks. There were a few youngsters by the bar who were trying to pick up girls. No one important. “Billy. Get them the hell outta here,” I told him.
The man nodded to his bouncers. He then led us down the corridor to a private room. A heavyset man wearing a black suit stood in the doorway. Guarding whoever was inside. He reached into his suit jacket.
Before he could pull out a gun, Bruno’s voice echoed through the open door. “Let them in, Vinnie.”
Vinnie opened the door.
The room was small and intimate. It was dark too, except for the dim glow of an ineffective veiling light. A pool table stood to the back of the room, in the middle, and was surrounded by leather armchairs. Bruno was settled into a leather lounge chair at the back of the room. Now, it was a waiting game until Jumper arrived.
Expelling a heavy, impatient breath from my lungs, I looked down at my cell phone for the time. Any minute now, Jumper would arrive. Any minute now, he would look his father in the eyes for the first time. Not long after that, Jumper would learn that his father would also be the very last person he’d ever see before he bit the bullet.
Billy informed us when he saw the truck that carried Jumper and Tori pull up at exactly 1 a.m.
Seeking refuge among drinkers, Jumper and Tori came in through the front doors. Two goons accompanied them.
I quietly moved out of the back room to get an early look at the pair.
Billy said to Jumper, “Hey, come on back here.”
Jumper looked at Tori and she gave him a nod. Jumper believed he was meeting the cartel.
“You’re guards stay here,” Tori snapped.
“Fine,” Jumper growled.
I hurried away from the door and down the hall just in time before Billy opened the double doors to lead Jumper and Tori to Bruno. I stood in position, covering Bruno with a .38 calibre pistol, in the shadows in the corner nearest the door.
“Gentleman, I believe I’ve delivered my end of the bargain,” Jumper said, as he stepped into the room and shoved Tori forward with one palm against the back of her neck.
Marco switched off the lights.
Knowing how fast Jumper could move, I ran to the door and locked it with the old dead bolt while Marco locked it with the key.
Jumper wouldn’t get away from us. Not this time.
Marco turned the lights back on,
Jumper turned and looked at the closed door, then was immediately restrained by Reaper and Spider who’d been stationed behind the door.
Finally, Bruno turned in his chair to face him like something out of a movie.
Jumper swore viscously. There was a sudden rigidity in his form when he realized he was eye to eye with his father. Face to face with his own blood which he had betrayed.
Watching events unfold through the sights of my gun, my finger twitched on the trigger. My entire body throbbed with the need to kill him.
“I’m going to enjoy and savor every moment of this,” Bruno said, his tone so menacing no one in the room moved. Nobody except Jumper who thrashed his body first, left then right, trying to break free of Reaper and Spider’s grasp.
Breaking free with one hand, Jumper grabbed hold of Tori and swung her around, “Bitch, you betrayed me!” he hissed. With a thin smile, he reached for his gun inside his jacket. Then he searched the other side of his jacket in frustration. For some odd reason, his gun was gone.
Without a second thought, he struck Tori across the mouth. She whimpered as her tiny body was thrown to the ground at least six feet away from him. “You double crossed me you fucking bitch. You’ve sealed your fate this time,” his voice harsh.
“Enough,” Bruno roared.
Crow and Spider took hold of Jumper’s left arm while Reaper kept hold of his right.
“Damn you all to hell and back,” Jumper shouted. “The Bloods will come for you,” he threatened.
Bruno immediately cut him off. “The Bloods no longer exist,” he said, flatly. “Why’d you do it?” he asked.
I knew what he really wanted to say, ‘why did you shoot your own blood brother,’ but he didn’t want anyone to know Jax was his son that didn’t already know. Nobody needed to know about that.
“Why’d I do what?” Jumper hissed as he struggled in Reaper and Spiders grasp.
“Don’t bullshit me now, Jumper. Was this a personal feud you have with me or Jax? Or were you just acting on orders from the Marchetti family who own your little motorcycle club?”
Bruno had told me in confidence that he’d strongly believed that the Marchetti family was deeply involved in the shooting of Jax, but he needed proof. Tangible evidence that he could use to justify getting his revenge. Bruno would never feel complete without it.
Jumper spat in Bruno’s direction.
“Come on. If it’s my attention you wanted when you shot my son, here I am,” Bruno paused but Jumper gave no response. “Oh, now you don’t wanna talk?” Bruno raised both hands and shrugged, “Okay,” he said, and in that one word, I knew he was close to losing it.
Bruno pulled out his gun from beneath his coat and there was a sickening metallic sound as he cocked it.
Keeping my arms outstretched, gun aimed at Jumper’s head, I snapped my head around as heavy footsteps approached Jumper from behind. In one slick, unyielding motion, Marco swept a hand over Jumper’s head, taking hold of his hair and hauling him out of my two brother’s arms and across the room toward Bruno. I watched Bruno rise from his chair as Marco slammed Jumper’s head down onto pool table beside Bruno’s chair and held him there.
Bruno reached deep inside his jacket, and pulled out a hammer. Then, took Jumper’s only good hand and forced it palm down on the pool table with one hand, and swung the hammer down on it with the other.
BOOM! He broke the man’s knuckles.
Jumper screamed and screamed.
Now that Jumper had a little encouragement, Bruno repeated his question, “You don’t want to talk to me?”
Keeping watch of the room, my eyes flicked to Tori. Bringing her hand up, Viper covered her mouth in shock. Like the rest of us, she didn’t say a word. She knew as well of the rest of us that Bruno had to teach Jumper a lesson. And he wasn’t a man to be argued with.
Bruno calmly sat back down and took a sip of whiskey from a glass on the drink’s table beside his chair.
Reaper and Spider took hold of Jumper again.
The air in the room was thick, solemn.
Jumper stared into his father’s eyes with a humanity that caused me pause. It wasn’t in his nature. It was too late for forgiveness; you break the rules of this life and you’ve bought yourself a ticket for a one way track to hell.
Bruno picked up his gun from the table.
“Please, De Luca,” Jumper begged, “My mother, just let me say goodbye to my mother. That’s all I ask,” he pleaded his callous voice now a pathetic whimper.
Bruno stared at Jumper with fierce concentration. Like it or not, Jumper was part of Bruno’s DNA. His chromosomes.
I knew he’d wanted to ask Jumper a lot of questions, but Jumper wasn’t worth it. I wondered how he felt to finally see the face to go with Jumper’s voice.
Bruno took aim, and stared at Jumper through the sights of his gun.
My eyes darted back and forth between Bruno and Jumper as the sudden realization flooded Jumper’s eyes.
POW.
A bullet to Jumper�
��s stomach tore him to the ground like a wild animal.
“Do you have a fuckin death wish?” Bruno rasped, his voice strangled with the words. He glared at Tori, his tanned face had begun to turn so red with a rage, so volcanic I imagined that every blood vessel in his skin was exploding.
“Oh, shut it,” Tori sneered.
Bruno stood up and aimed the barrel of the gun at Tori’s head.
Tori got to her feet, holding Jumper’s gun and looked down at Jumper. She gave a sinister cackle. She’d shot him in the stomach. The exit wound sprayed the wall behind him with a crimson red. “My son, my bullet,” she said. Tori smiled slowly and the evil in her soul burned in her eyes. She was referring to Jax.
She really did want revenge for Jax! I was stunned to realize this. She’d harboured hate for Jumper all along.
I caught Spider and Reaper sliding a glance at each other in confusion.
In the next instant, Jumper groaned. He was still alive, still conscious—eyes wide open.
Then Bruno let out a humourless laugh.
Jumper’s body shook and contorted on the ground – alive and angry. His head rolled to the side and his eyes met Tori’s flashing with pure evil. I watched as Jumper fought the pain and his inevitable fate with stubborn resolve. Arms and legs twitching, his body convulsed so much, I could almost hear his ribs cracking under the pressure. Words riveted on his lips as though he were whispering a curse upon Bruno and his family, but the pain was too incredible for any words to take shape.
Bruno let out a short laugh. “You always were a lousy shot,” he scoffed at Tori, who stood beside us.
Sliding my eyes toward Tori, I remember thinking how damn lucky the bitch was. Had her shot been fatal, Tori would have been dead before Bruno headed home for the night. At the very least.
In a quick, cutting movement, Bruno took aim again, and pulled the trigger on a gun I hadn’t seen before. The glock’s semi-automatic action kicking in, spitting spent shells into the air. Five bullets hit Jumper’s head.