Wanted: An Outlaw Anthology

by Lane Hart

  I unlocked the door only because I didn’t want her drawing attention to me. “Keep it down, Fancy,” I mumbled.

  She swung the door open and hauled her ass up into the truck. “Where in the hell have you been?” she demanded. “Better yet, where in the hell is my best friend?”

  “People looking for her?” I asked.

  “Well, besides me, her damn job was wondering where the hell she was.”

  “Fuck. You tell them anything?” If the cops were looking for Kimber then that was going to cause a whole other set of problems for me to deal with.

  She glared at me and curled her lip. “I told them she was sick, and then I went into the damn bathroom and pretended to be her to call in sick. Now tell me where the hell Kimber is.”

  “She’s with the Rolling Devils.” There wasn’t any point in beating around the bush with Fancy. She would just nag the truth out of me eventually.

  “You’re a Rolling Devil so why are you here and she’s not?”

  I picked at the shirt I was wearing. “You see a cut on me, doll?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “No, which is odd because I have never seen you without one.”

  “I’m not a Devil anymore. Not since they beat the shit out of me, dumped me in a ditch, and took Kimber.”

  Fancy’s jaw dropped. “Say what?”

  “Yeah, shit got crazy real quick.”

  “So, what in the hell are you doing here? Why aren’t you going in there guns blazing getting her back?” she shrieked.

  I shook my head and rested my hands on the steering wheel. “Because if I do that, I’ll be dead and Kimber will be sold to the highest bidder.”

  “Sold? What in the hell do you mean by sold?”

  The phone call with Core after Kimber called me was very enlightening. The time I thought I had to get things in order was cut to two or three days. Waiting longer than that would put Kimber at even more risk. “I’m not gonna go into it with you, Fancy. Just know I’m gonna do everything I can to get Kimber back.”

  “Then why are you here? I know she’s not here since I’ve been covering for her for almost a week.”

  I nodded toward the apartment. “Need some things from the apartment but I didn’t want to be seen.” As far as Core told me, the Rolling Devils weren’t worried about me. Core said they looked for me for a couple of days, but when they couldn’t find me, they gave it up. Even more proof they were fucking idiots.

  “Well, what the hell are you waiting for? I’ll watch your back.” She opened the door to the truck and hopped down.

  “Fancy,” I called.

  She slammed her door shut, leaving me no choice but to get out too. “Fancy,” I called again. I walked around the front of the truck and blocked her path to walk back to the apartment. “You don’t need to have my back. I just wanted to make sure the cops weren’t sniffing around.”

  She rolled her eyes and tapped her high-heel clad toe.

  “But I do need your key.” My keys were back at the Rolling Devils clubhouse with my bike.

  “Are you kidding me? How were you going to get in if I hadn’t seen you?” she asked.

  “I have certain set of skills I acquired when I was in prison.”

  She reached into her purse and muttered, “Certain skills my ass.” She held out her keys. “I’ll wait here and keep an eye on the door.”

  I grabbed the keys and didn’t argue with her wanting to watch the door. It would keep her off my back while I grabbed what I needed.

  It was weird walking into the place Kimber and I had shared after the past week. We had only lived together for two months before shit hit the fan, but it felt a hell of a lot longer than that.

  The door opened with a twist of the key, and I kicked it closed behind me. There was a light stench of rotting garbage left in the can, but other than that, nothing looked different from the night we had left for the party.

  I moved into the bedroom and grabbed a duffel bag from the floor of the closet. I dumped a couple shirts and jeans inside then reached into the back of the closet. I rummaged around until I felt the small square and pulled it out.

  The box had six grand that I was going to use on a new bike. I had asked Core if he knew what had happened to my bike, and he said they sold it not even a day after dumping me in the ditch. It was just another reason to hate the Rolling Devils. I tucked everything into the duffle, then grabbed the nasty bag of garbage on the way out the door. It was a small thing to do, but Kimber would appreciate when she got back.

  “You really emptied the garbage?” Fancy called.

  I tossed the bag into the dumpster and walked back over to the truck. “It was stinking up the apartment.”

  “Kimber is such a lucky bitch,” she mumbled. “Tattoos and he empties the garbage.”

  “I gotta get going, Fancy. Just keep covering for Kimber ‘til she gets back.”

  “And how long is that going to be?” she demanded.

  “Few more days. Like I said, shit is going down, and I need to act before.”

  She hitched her purse over her shoulder and sighed. “Well, kick some ass and get her back, Gear.”

  “I don’t go by that anymore. Just call me Quinn.”

  “Right, right. Should have figured that out.” She waved her hand toward me. “Go do your thing and bring my best friend back, Quinn.” She took off in the opposite direction and disappeared toward the back of the building.

  At least Fancy didn’t freak out as much as I thought she would have. She seemed to have more faith in me than I did myself.

  I opened the door to the truck and tossed the duffel bag in. I looked up at the apartment again and sighed.

  In a few days, Kimber and I should be back here and back to normal.

  Or as normal as we could be after all the shit that was about to go down.

  I drove the half an hour to the new clubhouse and parked the truck.

  “Everything go okay?” Point was sitting on a bucket by the front door, smoking.

  “No cops or Devils in sight.” I grabbed the duffle bag and slung it over my shoulder. “Everyone inside?”

  He nodded and tossed his cigarette on the ground. “Yeah. They were trying to get one of the rooms cleaned up, but shit is kind of a lost cause ‘til we can tear some walls down and make the place how it will work for us.”

  The place needed a major overhaul. Dyno had said we would take it down to the studs and then build it to suit our needs. All I had seen were dollar signs when he had said it, but I knew it was going to have to be done. Hopefully, it would just cost us materials and nothing else. Having me and five guys in the club should be plenty of manpower to get it done. “All in due time, Point. Kimber first, and then we can figure all of that out.”

  He followed me through the door, and I headed in the direction of the guys’ voices. I walked past the area that had been the front reception to the back where it was a huge warehouse. Dyno and the rest of the guys were off to the side sitting on makeshift chairs waiting for me.

  “Looks like you managed to pull something together for our first official club meeting,” I remarked.

  Dyno kicked the bucket next to him. “Save the best bucket for the prez,” he laughed.

  I dropped my duffle bag behind the bucket and sat down. “Better than sitting on a bale of hay.” I looked at Zephyr who was actually sitting on a bale of hay. “Do I want to know where you got a bale of hay?”

  All the guys shook their heads. “Long story, prez,” Zephyr smirked.

  “Well, let’s get down to the shit.” I looked at each of the guys gathered in a circle with me. “I really don’t know what the fuck I’m doing when it comes to starting an MC, but I know what I want to get out of it. Each of you coming in on the ground level of this are going to help form and make this shit grow into a brotherhood.”

  Dyno tapped me on the shoulder. “We’re all here for you, brother.”

  I nodded. “Right.” I cleared my throat, happy to get over the sappy
shit I needed to say. “Kimber called me on Core’s phone. She fine, but ready to get the hell out of there. Thankfully, Core is the only one who she sees, and no one has touched her.”

  “Good,” Zephyr grunted.

  “That’s where the good news ends. Core said the Rolling Devils had their own meeting tonight, and a new business venture was announced.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Point muttered. “Something tells me they ain’t about to do anything legal.”

  “Last I checked, selling women wasn’t on the up and up.”

  “Mother fucking hell,” Dyno swore. “You gotta be fucking kidding me, man.”

  “They’re trying to sell Kimber?” Rhino asked.

  “Not trying, they did. Core said they made a deal for four women,” I explained.

  “They got other chicks other than Kimber?” Dyno asked.

  I shook my head. “As of right now, they only have Kimber. Though that doesn’t mean that is going to stay that way for long.”

  Sledge stretched his feet out on front of him. “They just gonna start grabbing chicks off the streets or something?”

  “Core said they had two club girls they were thinking of, but that still leaves them one short. He said the deal would probably go down in a few days so we have to move on the clubhouse before.”

  “My guy should have all the shit I asked him for by the end of the day tomorrow.” Sledge pulled a list out of his pocket and handed it to me. “He was able to get me everything circled. I was hoping he could get me more silencers, but we should be able to make do with the four he’s got.”

  There were three phases to the plan. The silencers were needed for us to take down anyone lingering outside. We didn’t want anything to tip off the guys inside the clubhouse that we were about to tear their shit up. “That enough explosives?” I knew I wanted to blow the fucking building to the sky, but I wasn’t sure exactly how to do that.

  “More than enough,” Sledge said. “By the time the smoke and rubble settles, the cops aren’t going to be able to put heads with asses.”

  I handed the list back to Sledge. “Let me know when it’ll be here so we can all be around to unload everything.”

  Sledge nodded.

  “So, two days from now, we put all of this bullshit behind us and bring Kimber home?” Dyno asked.

  None of these guys had ever met Kimber, but they were all going to put their lives on the line to rescue her.

  I nodded. “Rescuing Kimber and destroying the Rolling Devils are the first big moves the Kings of Vengeance are going to make.”

  A rumbled of mix of “hell yeahs” and hoots went up and the first meeting of the Kings of Vengeance came to a close.

  It was official. Hell was about to rain down on the Rolling Devils, and I was going to be the one pulling the trigger.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Kimber

  Roomies?

  The door burst open, and the light from the hallway blinded me.

  “Keep your ass in here,” someone shouted.

  Someone landed in a heap on the floor, and the door shut as fast as it opened.

  This must be one of the girls they planned to sell with me. They really didn’t waste time finding more victims.

  Last night, Core told me what they planned to do with me, and this morning, I got a new roomie. Too bad I couldn’t see her.

  The woman groaned in agony, and it sounded like she rolled over.

  I grabbed the flashlight Core had left with me three days ago from under the mattress and turned it on. I pointed it on the floor by her feet and saw she was barefoot.

  “Are you okay?” I asked softly.

  “No,” she gasped.

  The light slowly traveled up her legs and over her torso. Her legs were bare with lots of cuts and bruises on them, and her shirt was ripped with blood smeared on it. “Uh, is there anything I can do to help?”

  She had obviously been beaten. Badly.

  “Just let me die,” she moaned.

  “Nope, not on my shift, honey.” I crawled to the corner and stood the flashlight up on its end. The light shown up onto the ceiling and managed to give the room a soft glow. I moved over to the woman and brushed her hair out of her face.

  “Please,” she gasped.

  Her face was also beaten badly, and her hair was matted to the side of her head. “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “Petra, she moaned.

  “I’m Kimber, Petra. I think maybe we should try to get you on the mattress.” It was only a couple of feet away, but I didn’t think she would be able to get to it. “Let’s get you to sit up for a second.” I got my hands under her and lift her up. I draped her arm over my shoulders and managed to get her on the mattress with a scoot, then lift, then scoot again. I laid her down and shifted onto the edge of the mattress.

  The glass of water Core had brought me earlier was almost full, and I grabbed it. “Why don’t we try to see if you can get some water in you.” I pressed the rim of the glass to her lips, and she managed to take a few sips before she sputtered and started coughing.

  She laid her head back down and closed her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  I set the glass down and tried to figure out what to do. I had gotten used to being by myself for the past six days that it was a bit odd having someone else in my space for longer than a few minutes like Core.

  “Uh, are you…Do you…” I cleared my throat and decided to just go for it. “Do you know why you’re in here?”

  She shook her head. “I was just walking by, and these guys jumped me. I walked by here so many times before, but they never paid attention to me. I was just trying to get to work.”

  Good lord. These assholes were so desperate to get more girls to sell that they were just grabbing women off the street. “You’ll be okay, Petra. We’ll get you out of here.”

  I looked her over and decided that while she was in a lot of pain, and looked pretty bad off, more of her wounds were just superficial. I grabbed the small blanket and tossed it over her. “You look like you put up a pretty good fight.”

  She shivered and pulled the blanket to her chin which pulled it off her bare feet. The blanket had covered me even when I was burrowed under it, but Petra was so tall that there wasn’t a way to fully cover herself.

  “I took a few self-defense classes, but they still got me,” she whispered.

  “Shh,” I cooed. Petra was so terrified that she was shivering uncontrollably and had the edge of the blanket clenched in fingers. “Just try to sleep, Petra.”

  She shook her head slightly. “Is that even possible?”

  It was. Sleeping was what I did about half of the time, and the other half of the time, I thought about Quinn and getting the hell out of here. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I don’t know who that guy was that pushed you in here, but I know the guy who brings us food isn’t anyone to be afraid of.”

  She sighed and relaxed into the mattress. “You promise to stay awake while I sleep?” she asked.

  Petra was probably only a year or two younger than me, but she seemed younger than that. There was an air of innocence about her that was holding on by a thin thread. The Rolling Devils had just destroyed that.

  She grabbed my hand and held on tight. Her breathing evened out, and she slowly fell asleep.

  I not only had to worry about getting myself out of here, now I had to get Petra out of here, too.

  Hopefully before the Rolling Devils grabbed more women, Quinn would be here and this would all end.

  The thought of Quinn coming to save me was the only thing keeping me alive.

  Now, I had to keep Petra alive, too.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Quinn

  Six ARs and a party...

  “Do I wanna know how much all of this cost you?”

  Sledge handed me the last AR and smirked. “Guy owed me a favor.”

  I looked at the AR and then at the other five that were on the table. “Just one favor?”
/>
  “It was a big favor.”

  Everything was coming together. The guns, ammo, and explosives Sledge had said he could get, actually showed up and it had been exactly what we needed to give the guys a burst of confidence. They had all been saying they would do anything to get Kimber, but like me, they had doubted just how we were going to accomplish that.

  “Prez. Your phone is ringing,” Rhino called. He tossed my phone, and I caught it midair.

  I swiped left when I saw it was Core calling. “Talk to me.”

  “Quinn?”

  “What’s going on, Core?”

  Core talked quietly. “They plan on grabbing the last two girls tomorrow night. They couldn’t find them, but they know every time there is a party, they show up.”

  Christ. These assholes weren’t wasting anytime. “All right. We’ll move in tomorrow.”

  “You wanna clue me on just what that means?”

  I watched Dyno and Sledge as they loaded two guns. “Means I’m taking Kimber.”

  He sighed. “Figured that, man. I meant is there something I should be doing here?”

  I was still on the fence about Core. He had been in contact with me and taking care of Kimber, but the fact he was part of the Rolling Devils still irritated the fuck out of me.

  “Look, Quinn. As soon as you get Kimber, I’m out of here. Figured out a bit ago that the Rolling Devils aren’t the club they say they are. I was just looking for an out that wasn’t going to get me killed.”

  “Getting your ass kicked by Major every week would have eventually killed you,” I pointed out.

  “Had to do something to pass the time,” he laughed.

  I had to wonder if maybe Core had a screw loose if he thought an ass-kicking was the way to pass time. “I’ll text you when we plan on hitting. Keep your phone with you.”

  “That Core?” Dyno asked.

  I ended the call and slid the phone into my pocket. “Yeah. He was asking what the plan was.”