by J. C. Allen
I pulled the trigger.
The gun let out a muffled bang, and I could feel a thrumming vibration as the bullet was launched. While there was a definite push against my grip, I held steady and looked up, seeing the new hole that was through the paper target’s neck. It was strange how I had killed a man already, and yet here I was, learning the basics as if I’d never even seen a gun in my life.
I glanced over at Derek, who stared in amazement and then looked to his paper target, seeing that he got the forehead. I slid the ear muffs off when I was sure Derek wasn’t going to shoot again. I was surprised to find myself so invested in it, but I guess given the stakes, I shouldn’t have been.
“Did I do well?” I asked, saying the words like a child demanding praise from a parent.
“You did amazing! Especially for your first shot,” he said, grinning proudly.
“Yeah, yeah! Don’t stop now,” Matty ordered. “Ya got five shots left, use ‘em and then we’ll do this again with another gun.”
“Another gun?” I asked, biting my lip.
“Yeah, not every gun is the same, I’m gonna try and teach ya as many as I can,” Matty grinned.
“What are you doing, training me to be a Marine?” I said teasingly.
“Ya joke, but we got a few veterans on the squad here,” he said. “I can round ‘em up and they can teach ya if ya like.”
I couldn’t lie, this was so much more exciting than I had thought. Maybe since they were only paper targets, it didn’t matter nearly as much as it had when I shot Tyler. And maybe since the worst that could happen was that burned my hand, it felt like I was free to do whatever I wanted.
But… Derek was right in one way.
I did want to go on a date sooner rather than later if he felt sure of it.
But I also didn’t want to interrupt Matty’s training.
“I trust you, Matty,” I said with a smile. “You can keep training me.”
“Say no more, kiddo,” he said, disappearing for more guns.
I turned to Derek then, placing the pistol on the table.
“That was impressive,” he said. “We’d take my cousins here and it would look like they were trying to shoot everywhere but the target.”
“Thanks!” I said, unable to contain my excitement at my skill. “Hopefully won’t need to do this too much!”
“Not for much longer, if we can help it,” Derek said with a determined nod.
Before it went any longer, though, Matty returned with four different guns.
After learning the difference between automatic and semi-automatic, the different types of bullets, how to load a clip—“Not a ‘clip;’ it’s a ‘magazine!” Matty said—and so much more, I was definitely gunned-out for the day. I wasn’t sure how many rounds I had fired, but I was confident beyond any measure of doubt that it was far more than anything I had ever produced up to that point.
Even still, I definitely felt like I had a better understanding of guns and how to shoot. Who knew there were so many different techniques on just how to shoot and the proper way to aim? Either way, I was definitely happy when Matty had finished with his training for the day. I had satisfied the request of the bouncer of the club, and now, I got to satisfy the needs of the president.
Derek had promised me a date, after all.
“Alright, we’ll practice again in a day or so,” Matty said, glancing over at me. “Tara said she’d come to practice, too. Maybe ya two can have a girls’ day after or something.’”
“That’d be nice,” I said, stifling a laugh at the thought of Tara’s commentary while she shot.
It had been too long since Tara and I had really had any time to spend together. With how busy I’d been with helping Derek with the Saviors and spending time with him whenever I could, and Tara busy with the brothel, we both hadn’t been able to spend time together other than a few quick lunches or just talking on the phone. I missed her a lot and was glad I’d get to spend some time with her soon.
“You okay?” Derek asked, realizing just as he did, I had fallen into my own head.
“I am,” I said, smiling warmly at him. “Glad to be done with this training though.”
“Aw what? Don’t like spendin’ time with me?” Matty said, offering a pout that was super ridiculous on his face.
“You know that’s not true,” I said, wagging a finger at him.
“Good! Now, y’all get outta here and go on yer date,” Matty ordered, glancing over at Derek. “Gimme a call before you head out tonight, okay? Wanna make sure yer good.”
“I will,” Derek said, nodding. “Thanks again, Roost.”
3
Derek
Watching Eve hold her own on the target practice left me more than reassured that she would be fine out in the streets.
I had no intentions of putting her there. I had no intentions of letting anyone in my club put her out there—that seemed like pretty good grounds for laying down the law, Derek Knight style, with a few good introductions to my fists.
But at least if shit truly hit the fan—if this store got jacked, if my condo got broken into again, if somehow we got ambushed on our date—I knew she could defend herself.
“You’re a natural,” I said as we headed to my bike, smirking.
“Oh, please,” Eve said, her good natured side smiling through in full.
I was trying to be very cautious at first with my words, not wanting to sound too eager that she was excelling on the range. I didn’t want to make it sound like I saw her as a future Savage Saviors member—given all that she had come through, that seemed like a bad thing to implant in her mind.
But the more time that went by, the less I worried about it. It felt more and more like Eve was already handling that balance in her mind quite well, and if anything came out of it, it was just confidence, not self-doubt, not self-flagellation, not self-hatred. Just self-esteem and self-confidence.
“Derek!”
I was half a second from lifting my leg on my bike when Roost came running back out. I sighed, frustrated, but knew how much he wanted me to have a good time before I went out—this wasn’t something he was holding in.
“This better be real urgent,” I said. “And it better be detailed.”
“’Fraid it is,” he said. “Come into the office. Eve… probably ain’t gonna wanna see it, but—”
“I saw the photos from this morning, you think you can bother me with something new.”
“Spunky, and accurate,” Roost said, waving us in.
I hurried in, forgetting to hold Eve’s hand—which let her move quickly in front of me and seeing what laid out on Roost’s desk.
“What is this?” I said, not seeing any photos. “There’s no violence.”
“No, there ain’t, but look,” he said, pointing to the top. “Notice who this got sent to?”
Every single member of the Savage Saviors.
Except for me.
I looked through the rest of the email, which, good for Eve, was not a sign of what had been done.
But, perhaps ill-boding for us, it was a declaration of intention.
“To all Saviors,
Your time is coming to an end. The Black Falcons are rising out of the ashes and becoming more powerful than ever. You know your leader is weak. He does thing for a single whore that he claims to love, and yet he would not do the same if any of your loved ones were in danger. This is not the sign of a man, but an obsessed teenager in an adult’s body. If you stay with him, when the time comes, we will kill you. Join us, however, and you shall have infinite resources, endless amounts of women, and all of the drugs and pleasures your body can handle. You know where to find us.
-Falcon.”
I read the letter through a couple of times just to make sure I got it all. Then, I crumpled it and tossed it in the trash can.
“That’s hysterical,” I said, not having even smirked in the slightest. “Do the Saviors here really think the Falcon sent that letter himself? Do the
y really think that they—”
“Derek,” Roost said, clearing his throat and interrupting me. “Do the boys downstairs think this is legit? Well, if they did, they’da already left. So no, they ain’t. But ya know what they ain’t gonna like? A leader who ignores shit like this.”
I sighed. Delayed, again? At least it was only about 6 p.m. and not like three in the morning, when I’d have to leave Eve by herself.
“Make no mistake about it, Derek, this shit is like spam,” Roost continued. “Most fools will see it, laugh, and delete it. It ain’t nothin’ to them. But when their spam blocker ain’t workin’? Just cuz they ain’t fallin’ for it don’t mean they happy.”
“I know, I know,” I said, sighing. “I just hate how dumb this is. It’s so blatantly… it’s just bad! You know!”
“Right, so it should be easy to squash,” Eve said with a smile. “It’s OK, Derek. Think of it as a chance to get in front of the crowd.”
I folded my arms, nodding. Just because I had to do it didn’t mean I like it.
“Ya know, ya ain’t spoken to the boys since Greg’s funeral two weeks ago,” Roost said. “Not sayin’ that’s bad. I ain’t seen a reason for ya to speak, so if ya had, I’dda said you’d be micromanagin’. But guess what? We ‘bout to go to war. Use this not just to address this, but to rally the troops. Cuz it’s ‘bout to get uuuuuuuugly.”
“Alright, alright,” I said, moving to the door already. “You two can stand wherever. I’ll make it quick.”
I heard Roost say something to Eve about waiting by the entrance, in sight, so we could move on our date faster, but the only thing that was going to speed up the actual date was me delivering this speech as quickly as possible. It wasn’t something I was keen on, but, as Roost had pointed out, it might be a nice way to get everyone together.
Leadership isn’t always easy, Derek. You know this. Your father taught you.
Yeah, I know… I just wish it wasn’t that hard.
Don’t we all. Just do this.
I stood at the entrance, instructing Eagle to gather everyone around as I cleared my throat. Once I felt confident that everyone could hear me, I began.
“Question for all of you,” I said. “How many of you received an email from the Falcon today from an obviously fake email address?”
Everyone raised their hand immediately. That didn’t surprise me—even the ones that didn’t check their email often would have heard from the rest, leading them to have checked. So, that confirmed that.
“How many of you have received similar emails over the past three weeks, ever since our raid on their neighborhood?”
To my surprise, almost everyone also raised their hand as well. Shit. I suppose it wasn’t a surprise that the Black Falcons would be so bold as to recruit even in the aftermath of such a battle, but it did show me I’d underestimated their efforts. I hadn’t had three weeks of vacation so much as I had had three weeks of being oblivious.
I swore right then that the only thing that would stop me now, the only thing that would put my mind at ease, was the death of Falcon. Nothing more, nothing less. I didn’t care if I killed his second in command and then killed everyone except him. So long as the Falcon remained, the evil remained. And evil, like a virus, had a nasty, sick way of spreading even when it was thought dead.
“Let me say that I appreciate all of you remaining committed to the cause, then,” I said. “We obviously have had our defectors over the years, but as best as I can tell, we have not had any since Tyler left. In fact, we have even had a couple come back.”
Some “hell yeahs!” and “damn rights!” came out, leading to a short round of applause, but I quashed it quickly.
“Unfortunately, the nature of the Black Falcons means those returning to us didn’t have much information, but we take them back all the same. However, you all should be aware that in recent days, Roost has received photos of the Falcons killing their own. It’s their way of sending a message to us. And tonight, we suspect more messages will be sent.”
Silence filled the air. Anyone who had thought of giving a rallying cry had gone silent with my last sentence.
“So far, they have killed their own as a way of warning us that we would be next. We can’t assume that this will go on for much longer, because as much as we’d like to believe the Falcons will cannibalize themselves, we all know that’s not going to happen. I’ve already spoken to a few of you who will be joining me on reconnaissance tonight to see what we can find, but to the rest of you… stay vigilant. Stay alert. We struck a strong, powerful blow to them three weeks ago, but we haven’t struck the killing blow.”
Until, hopefully, very soon.
“That blow is coming. But in doing so, there will be retaliation, both of the physical and the psychological kind. They will attempt to first break your mind, the better so that you join them and give them manpower and intel on us. Then, they will attempt to break your bodies—I don’t need to say anything more on that. But regardless, stay alert. Does everyone understand?”
They all nodded, giving everything from “yes, sir,” to “loud and clear” to “hell yeah.”
“Boys, we got them pinned and we got them desperate,” I said, allowing for a slight smile. “Tonight is the first step of our final operation. I have told you to be careful, and you should be, but know this—you can also be aggressive very soon. Plan your weaponry. Plan your attacks. And most of all, plan for the end of the Black Falcons!”
The crowd erupted into cheers, much as I had hoped they would upon my final line. I got exactly what I wanted, but there was something in the back of my mind, a little voice speaking to me, that warned me I had better not put too much faith into that moment. The voice that spoke left some chilling words.
Tyler was right there, clapping like the rest of them, only a short while ago.
And now he was dead, shot by my girlfriend, because without her, I would be dead.
I could take nothing for granted, but I also could not doubt the loyalty of my men. It was a tough dichotomy in which I had to trust but verify. It was easy for me to fall under stress, given the difficulty that this would place me under.
But with a date still set up for tonight, I couldn’t let that affect me. I smiled, raised my fist, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. I was good.
I walked away as the crowd still cheered, approaching Roost and Eve with a smile.
“I’d haveta say that did the trick,” Roost said, placing a too-strong pat on my shoulder. “But whateva ya two do tonight, don’t go to bed. We gotta act tonight. Things only gonna get uglier from here.”
“Understatement of the year, Roost,” I said. “But yeah. We’ll be good. We’ll be behaved.”
“And ya get yer ass back here by midnight,” Roost said.
4
Eve
With that, we were heading out from the shop. Even I felt a little inspired and rallied by Derek’s words. I still couldn’t say I enjoyed relishing violence, but the idea of going out there, kicking the crap out of the Black Falcons, and standing triumphantly over it all sure felt amazing.
I thought of saying something to Derek as he approached about how awesome his speech was, but I decided silence was the best option here. I had to assume that he had switched gears entirely from doing work to working on me, and I didn’t want to abruptly switch him over into a different mindset. So, instead, I just took his hand and gave an affirming squeeze as we got to his motorcycle.
I slid behind Derek on the bike, wrapping my arms around his waist as he hit the ignition. I wondered just what he had in mind for our date tonight. I smiled at the various prospects, committing my safety and my evening to him as I began to grow excited as Derek started for the highway.
Along with how excited I was at the drive, I was just as happy to be on the bike again for longer than just the ride from his apartment to the shop. The feeling of freedom still enthralled me every time we went for a drive. It was such an amazing feeling and I hoped
I’d never lose it—and so long as I was with the man I loved, I didn’t see that being an issue.
I squeezed Derek’s waist tighter, wondering if he’d be willing to teach me how to ride a motorcycle. While I hadn’t had a chance to use it lately, I did have my own driver’s license, and, truth be told, I was beginning to miss the freedom and independence of being able to transport myself when the demand arose. And since we were already on a roll learning about guns, why not add learning how to ride a bike?
Not that I minded riding with Derek at the handlebars, of course.
And anyways, that could wait for another day. Right now, I was much more enraptured with the idea of spending time with him on a real date.
“So, where are we headed today?” I called over the bike’s engine.
“You’ll just have to see,” he called back, reaching down with a free hand to squeeze the topmost hand that I had wrapped around his waist.
“No fair!” I said. “You always get to surprise me with the dates!”
“Next time I’ll let you do it, okay?”
Though I knew he couldn’t see it, I raised an eyebrow at that. The logistics of it seemed tricky since I didn’t have a car or bike… but for Derek, I would figure something out.
“You promise?”
I couldn’t see the resulting smile, but I heard it in his voice.
“I promise, Eve.”
Say no more, Derek.
Leaving it at that, I let myself get lost in the feeling of the bike beneath me. The steady vibration from the engine helped to relax my nerves, letting me get lost. I closed my eyes, leaning against Derek’s leather-covered back, loving the smell of him. I wished this feeling could never end. If anyone could ever invent a bike that never ran out of gas, I would spend what little money I had to support it, buy it, or just even rent it for a day.
I opened my eyes as Derek maneuvered the bike to the exit ramp. I looked around, wondering if I could figure out where he took me. Other than a gas station and a small diner, there didn’t seem to be much around—it definitely wasn’t an exit that he had taken me to before.