by Wilder, L.
Eager to get things rolling, I looked over to him and asked, “Are we set to move as soon as Gus and the others get here?”
“Yeah, but Lewis called in the rest of his crew.” Riggs turned the laptop so we could see the screen. “I’m just checking the cameras Darcy hid, and it looks like they’re starting to roll in.”
We leaned forward, and in a matter of minutes, the number of men in the house had more than tripled; they were already positioned at each entrance and all the windows with one or more AR-15 style semi-automatic rifles prepared to fire. Fuck. Concerned, I turned to Murphy and said, “Those fuckers are everywhere. How the fuck are we supposed to get close enough to the house to even get to them?”
“We’ll figure something out.”
“I don’t see how. Looks like they’ve got the upper hand,” I grumbled. “They’re in that house, armed and hidden, and here we sit…the middle of broad fucking daylight and not so much as a bush for fucking cover.”
I’d barely gotten the words out of my mouth when Gus and the rest of the brothers pulled up next to us. I was surprised to see that Gus wasn’t in one of the SUVs with the others though. Instead, he was driving an old pickup truck that had been sitting at the garage for months. It wasn’t until he opened the door to get out that I noticed that the front seat was full of explosives with several more in the back. He came over to the driver’s side window and asked, “What’s the latest on the girls?”
“They’re both still locked up in that fucking garage,” Riggs answered. “Darcy’s trying to hold it together, but it’s hard to tell with Kenadee. I got a feeling it’s bad—really bad.”
“We need to get in there, now. Any idea what we’re dealing with on the inside?”
“They’re set up and waiting. They’ve barricaded themselves up in the house with every window and entrance covered.”
“Figured as much.” Gus motioned his hand towards the old truck. “I’ve got us covered.”
Riggs looked over into the truck, and as if he’d just read Gus’s mind, he nodded and said, “I like your way of thinking, Prez.”
“I thought you might.” Sounding hopeful, Gus asked him, “You think you can get these rigged up in time?”
“Shouldn’t take long.” Riggs handed Blaze his laptop as he said, “Keep an eye on things. Let me know if anything changes.”
Murphy and I followed as Riggs got out and headed over to the pickup truck. We helped him start wiring them together while the others started prepping to go to war with the Disciples. As soon as Riggs had the detonator set up, he went over to get his laptop from Blaze. Once he’d confirmed that everything was ready to go, he looked to Gus and said, “Looks like we’re all set.”
“Good. Now, we just have to decide on the best location for the hit.”
“I’d say the living room is the ideal spot,” Murphy answered. “There’s at least ten of them positioned there, and it can be accessed from the main road.”
“I agree.” Riggs also added, “And it’s far enough from the garage that we don’t have to worry about it being too close to the girls.”
“Okay. Now, we just have to decide who’s going to drive.”
Shadow was the first to step forward and say, “I’ll do it.”
“No, brother.” Blaze turned to Riggs as he asked, “Where do you want it?”
Riggs pulled up an image of the house, and as he pointed to the left corner, he told him, “I would say right here is your best option. That way you won’t have to worry about clearing the front porch steps, but there is the issue of the side windows.”
“They’ll start shooting the second they see me coming their way.”
“Exactly.”
“Don’t give a fuck,” Blaze snarled. “I’ll make it happen.”
“I know you will,” Gus replied before turning to the rest of us. “We’re going to have to move fast on this. We gotta get in and out before the cops have a chance to show. We don’t want anyone identifying us, so remove your cuts and keep your heads low.”
As soon as we were ready, Blaze got behind the wheel of the truck, and we all watched as he pulled out of the parking lot. The second he was on the main road, he slammed his foot on the accelerator, and with us following close behind, he sped towards Lewis’s place. Just as we’d expected, the minute Blaze got close, the Disciple’s started shooting, doing everything they could to stop him, but it simply wasn’t enough. Blaze just kept plowing towards them, and with the house situated on a corner lot, he was able to reach enough speed to cause some real damage to it. When he was just a few feet away, he opened the door and jumped out, hitting the ground just before the truck crashed through the side of the structure. Riggs immediately hit the detonator, and an explosion like none other erupted through the house. While the Disciples were scrambling to get away from the heat of the fire, we made our move, charging towards the building while shooting anyone who came stumbling out.
In a matter of minutes, it was clear that we’d taken control of the situation. The shooting slowed, and there was little activity happening inside the house. When the brothers started to span out, I veered to the left and made my way to the garage. I had to get to Darcy, see that she was okay before I lost my mind. As I rounded the corner, I came face to face with the devil himself—KeShawn Lewis. I had my Glock drawn, aimed right at his head, but he was equally prepared and had the barrel of his AR-15 directed right at me. “You guys think you got the best of me, but it’s gonna take more than some stunt like that to take me down!”
“It’s time to face the music, asshole. You’re never gonna get out of here alive. You’re done!”
“That’s what you think,” he scoffed. “I’m just gettin’ started!”
“Really? And what exactly do you think you’re gonna do? Most, if not all, of your crew is dead.” I looked him straight in the eye. “You gonna take on Fury by yourself?”
“Don’t gotta take you all on. Right now, I just gotta get through you”—he motioned his head towards the weapon he had pointed in my direction—“and from where I stand, it looks like I shouldn’t have any problem doing that.”
I was beginning to think he might be right, but then, out of the corner my eye, I noticed movement from behind the garage. Seconds later, Clay came into view. He gave me a slight nod, and I knew I had to keep KeShawn distracted. “You never should’ve taken the girl, and you sure as hell shouldn’t have hurt her.”
“How the fuck you know I hurt her?” His eyes narrowed for a moment, and then he grumbled. “Darcy…I knew that bitch was here because of you. I should’ve put a bullet in her head the second I found her snooping around my house.”
When Clay stepped up behind, I knew it was over. I waited as he raised his gun up to KeShawn’s head, then I said, “Like I told you before, you’ll never get out of here alive.”
Clay pressed the barrel of his gun against KeShawn’s head and said, “Drop it asshole!”
“You might as well pull the trigger ’cause that ain’t never gonna happen, you piece of shit sonofabitch.”
Lewis stood there glaring at me with an angry scowl marking his face, refusing to move. Clay started to squeeze his trigger when a shot was fired behind me. Lewis shifted in his step, wincing as he quickly lowered his AR and placed his free hand on his thigh. “Goddamn it!”
I looked over to see who’d taken the shot and spotted Blaze standing a few yards away with his gun still trained on KeShawn. He’d just started towards us with a fierce look in his eyes. As soon as he got over to us, he looked to Clay and asked, “What the fuck are you still doing here?”
“I know I was supposed to go back to the clubhouse, but I couldn’t leave. Not like that.” Clay looked down at Lewis as he snarled, “Not when this fucking asshole had taken Darcy.”
“When you’re given an order …”
Blaze’s voice trailed off as his attention was suddenly drawn to something behind me. His eyes suddenly widened, and all the blood drained from his face. Cur
ious to see what had him so rattled, I turned around and found Darcy trying to support Kenadee as they stumbled out of the garage. While Darcy seemed to be okay, Kenadee looked like she was barely hanging on. Relief washed over her face when she looked up and saw Blaze and me rushing towards them. As soon as he approached, Darcy passed Kenadee off to Blaze, and as he lowered her to the ground, he shouted, “Oh, God. What the hell did he do to you!”
“She wouldn’t let me take the knives out,” Darcy cried. “She said she’d bleed out and die if I did.”
“She’s right. You did the right thing leaving them,” I told her.
“I need you to hold on, Kenadee,” Blaze pleaded. “Do you hear me?”
I could still hear gunshots going off behind us as Darcy warned, “I don’t think she can hang on much longer. We’ve got to get her to the hospital.”
With his gun still trained on KeShawn, Clay turned to us and said, “My car is right around back.”
“Okay, let’s get her to his car.” Blaze looked down at Kenadee as he told her, “Hang on, baby. We’re getting you to the hospital.”
Kenadee shook her head as she said, “No. You can’t take me…Someone might connect the club to all this. You have to let Darcy take me. It’s the only way.”
“I’m not leaving you, Kenadee.”
“You don’t have a choice. Too many questions.”
“As much as I hate to say it, she’s right, brother. It’s best to let Clay take her.”
“Fuck.”
Kenadee placed the palm of her hand on Blaze’s cheek. “I’ll be okay. Right now, I need you to finish. I want it to be over.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Blaze motioned for Clay to come help with Kenadee, and once we had her up on her feet, he ordered, “Call me the second you get her to the hospital.”
Clay nodded, then he and Darcy rushed her to his car. Once they had Kenadee safely secured inside, they took off towards the hospital. As soon as they were gone, Blaze turned to me and said, “I’ve got him. You go check on the others and see if they need a hand.”
After seeing the state Kenadee was in, it was no surprise that Blaze wanted to deal with Lewis on his own. Understanding what it meant to him, I nodded. “I’ll be waiting for you around front.”
As I started to walk away, I could hear Blaze talking to Lewis, but I couldn’t make out exactly what he was saying. It didn’t matter. Lewis’s end was coming, and knowing Blaze the way I did, I knew it wouldn’t be pretty. I’d just rounded the corner when Murphy and several of the others came rushing towards me. I was giving them a quick rundown of what had transpired with Kenadee and Darcy when I heard a round of gunshots coming from the back of the house. I knew then it was over. The only remaining Disciple had met his end.
CHAPTER 18
Darcy
When I came out of the garage and saw that Caleb was there, I wanted to rush over and wrap my arms around him, but I couldn’t. I knew if I did, that tiny shred of strength I was clinging to would break, and I’d completely fall apart. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to keep it together until we got Kenadee the help she needed. I’d managed to keep my wits about me as Clay raced us over to the hospital. I was even able to get Kenadee inside and admitted without sounding like a deranged lunatic, but the minute the doctors carried her away on that gurney, the dam started to crack. I fought to hold back the tears, but it wasn’t easy, especially when Caleb came walking into the waiting room. The moment he started towards me with that intense look in his eyes, I couldn’t hold on any longer. The tears started to fall as he brought me into his arms. I felt so safe in his arms, and it wasn’t long before tension and fear started to fade, and I felt like I could breathe again. He was still holding me close to his chest as he whispered, “I’m right here. I’ve got you.”
“I was scared…KeShawn was so angry.” My voice trembled as I told him, “He wouldn’t listen to me.”
His voice was filled with anguish as he murmured, “I should’ve never let you go in there like that.”
“No one asked me to go. Not you or your brothers.” I stepped back and looked up at him. “I volunteered. I knew the risk I was taking.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s my job to keep you safe.”
“Your job?” I scoffed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He lifted his hand up to my face, gently running the pad of his thumb across my cheek. “Because you’re mine, Darcy, and it’s my job to protect what’s mine. I failed at that today, but I give you my word, I’ll never let it happen again.”
While his words meant everything to me, it was the way he said them with such emotion and intensity that made me realize I’d finally found him—the man I could truly trust with my heart. Unable to speak, I wrapped my arms around Caleb and pulled him close. I was still holding on to him when Blaze walked in with the rest of the brothers following close behind. As soon as they spotted us, Blaze rushed over and asked, “Has there been any word on Kenadee?”
“They took her up to surgery about twenty minutes ago.”
There was no missing the worry in his voice as he asked, “Did they say anything else…like how she was doing or how long the surgery would take?”
“I wish I knew more, but since I wasn’t family, they wouldn’t tell me anything.”
I’d barely gotten the words out of my mouth when a beautiful blonde nurse walked in. The minute she spotted Blaze, she rushed over to him and said, “I just heard that they took Kenadee up to surgery. What the hell happened?”
“I can’t get into that right now, Robyn.”
“Of course, you can’t,” she complained. “Can you at least tell me how she’s doing?”
“I would if I knew.”
“Well, damn. You’d think they’d come tell her husband what the hell was going on,” she said and huffed. “Give me a minute, and I’ll go see what I can find out.”
“Thanks, Robyn.”
When she turned to walk away, Caleb leaned over to me and said, “Robyn is one of Kenadee’s best friends. They work together, and even lived together before Kenadee and Blaze hooked up.”
“Hopefully, she’ll be able to find out something.”
“Oh, she will. Robyn always finds a way to get what she wants.”
Turns out that Caleb was right. It wasn’t long before Robyn returned to the waiting room, and from the look on her face, I was worried that she didn’t have good news to share. When she started towards us, Blaze stood up and asked, “Did you find out anything?”
“Yeah, I was able to talk to one of the nurses in the operating room with Kenadee.” She wrung her hands, twisting them nervously as she spoke. “Dr. Foust is the surgeon working on her, and that’s really good because he’s the very best.”
“Okay, what else?”
“The knife in her abdomen nicked her spleen, but the damage was minimal. Right now, it looks like she’s holding her own. Stats are good, and they’ve got her blood count back up.”
Even though I didn’t know Robyn, I could tell that something was worrying her, and I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. Blaze clearly picked up on it too. He took a step towards her as he asked, “Why do I get the feeling there’s something you aren’t telling me?”
“The important thing to remember is that she’s going to pull through this.”
“Dammit, Robyn! Just tell me what’s going on!”
“She’s pregnant, Blaze. Looks to be about ten or eleven weeks along,” Robyn finally admitted.
“Pregnant? She never told me anything about being pregnant.”
“I don’t think she knew. If she did, she would’ve told me, and she sure as hell would’ve told you.” Robyn placed her hand on Blaze’s shoulder. “There’s a good chance the baby will be okay.”
“When will we know for sure?”
“It’s hard to tell. It’ll take some time to see if the anesthesia has any adverse effects.” Trying to be optimistic, she continued, “Right now, we need to focus on t
he fact that Kenadee is doing okay. We have to make sure she pulls through this, and then we’ll worry about the other, okay?”
“How much longer before she gets out of surgery?”
“It shouldn’t be much longer. I’m going to head upstairs, so I can be there when they take her into recovery.” She gave him a quick hug before she turned to leave. “I’ll call you the minute I know something.”
“Thanks, Robyn.”
Once she left the room, we went over and sat down with Blaze, waiting silently to hear something back from Robyn. The adrenaline that was pumping through my body was starting to fade, making me suddenly feel like I’d been hit by a truck. Noting my fatigue, Caleb slipped his arm around my shoulder, and I rested my head on his chest, quietly watching as Blaze got up and started pacing around the waiting room. It was impossible not to feel sorry for him as he returned to his seat and dropped his head into the palms of his hands. The man was really struggling, but his spirits seemed to lighten when his parents walked in with his son, Kevin. As expected, they had a million questions, and Blaze tried to answer them the best he could. A troubled expression marked Kevin’s face as he listened to his father describe Kenadee’s condition, but he kept his concerns to himself as he sat down next to Blaze, quietly trying to give his father the support he needed. While it had to be difficult for Blaze to sit there not knowing what was going on with Kenadee, it was clear that having his son close was helping him a great deal.
It had been over an hour since Robyn had left to go upstairs, and there still hadn’t been any word from her. We were all getting anxious to hear something and were relieved when Blaze’s burner started to ring. We watched as he answered the call, each studying his reaction to see if it was good news or bad, and we all felt a sigh of relief when a smile spread across his face. “That’s great. I’ll be here waiting.”
As soon as he hung up the phone, he turned to us and said, “She’s out of surgery. The doctor said it went well.”
“That’s great news, brother,” Gus told him. “When will you be able to go up and see her?”