CHAPTER THIRTY
Axe
“Alright, settle the fuck down!” Cal’s voice boomed. “Let’s get this goin’. We need to be on the road as soon as fuckin’ possible. This has been draggin’ out for far too long.”
Then he proceeded to go over the plan. Since we weren’t really sure what we were up against, what he’d come up with was pretty generic, but strong. Given what we had to work with, it was the best thing for the situation.
“Bobby, Crow, Seven, Mort, and Cringer will check the perimeter and take out anyone that is walkin’ the gate. Then they will check and clear out the trailer. Once we have the all clear. Fort Gray and South Carolina will take the back, while we take the front. And if west Tennessee gets there in time, they will go in with us. If there are rooms, we check them one by one. Each person has a buddy.”
He took a minute to look around the room.
“No one goes anywhere alone. No one gets a fuckin’ hot head and goes runnin’ off. We keep our cool and that’s how we will get out of this.”
Nods and murmurs of agreement filled the room.
“We go in as quiet as possible and take them by surprise. Right now, time ain’t on our side. We have a girl to save and the Devil to take out. Let’s all be safe and for fuck’s sake, don’t try to be a hero.”
That was it, we were ready to go. And I couldn’t have been more eager to get a move on it.
“See you on the other side,” Cal said, sounding like the strong leader that he was. Though I wasn’t sure how many of us would make it out. I couldn’t let myself be in denial. This was fucking war and there were bound to be casualties. Then again, maybe Lady Luck was sprinkling her good shit on us today. One could only hope.
Then the commotion came. But not from inside the room. No, there was something happening out in the damn clubhouse. All ears and eyes turned towards the door, trying to figure out what was going on. There was yelling, but we couldn’t quite make out the words. Most of us drew our guns, ready to throw down.
“What the hells going on out there?” Brass said as his posture grew rigid and his chest spread wide.
The Gray Fort’s president may have been a bit older but he kept himself fit. His hand hovered just over the spot where his gun was tucked away. I knew he wouldn’t draw until he had confirmation that he needed to. He had a kid and he knew how sometimes they could just come barging into places they weren’t supposed to simply because they wanted to cause trouble. So, he wouldn’t take the chance on pulling his gun on a kid, he would always hold back. Didn’t matter though, he was a damn quick shot and had eyes as sharp as fuck.
That was when the door flew open, and none other than Killer was standing there filling up the doorway, her feet just on the other side of the threshold as if she knew she wasn’t welcomed without an invite but wanted to make herself known.
Half of the room stood, their guns aimed at her. I sat back because…well, one, I knew it wouldn’t do any good to point a gun at her. And two, I knew she wasn’t a threat.
“I want in,” she said looking stoic as ever. She was not about to back down from a room full of scary men holding guns on her.
The words that came out of her mouth weren’t really that much of a shock to me. But to Tank, it was like she had slapped him across the face. Cal would have let her in, too, I could tell you that for a fact. But Tank wouldn’t stand for it.
“Fuck no!” Tank roared as he grabbed her wrist like he was afraid she’d slip away again.
At first, Tank used the excuse that he wouldn’t be able to concentrate with her there. He told her, in not such blatant words, that she was going to get him killed if she went. When that didn’t work, he turned that shit around and gave his version of puppy-dog-eyes as he pleaded like the saddest man ever. I laughed in my head because really, it was pathetic and cute all at the same time.
I knew he’d push back on her trying to wiggle her way into this war, but I had no idea how she would react to that. Though I was itching to go, I decided that he deserved to have this fucking moment with her, however the hell it ended.
I may have gotten a bit misty-eyed when she, in a subtle way, let Tank know that she’d been spending time with his son.
See, while I had no idea where Grass was or what kind of situation he was in, I got that Killer wasn’t one to just sit around and play go fucking fish for no reason. And since I already knew the big secret about Grass still being alive, I was fucking smart enough to pick up what she was putting down. Maybe Tank would get his mushy as fuck happy ending after all.
She gave into him in the end. But in the back of my mind, I wondered if she was really going to just sit around and do nothing. I would have put money on the fact that she wouldn’t. I bet Cal was smart enough to see the same thing as me. I was sure that was why he made it clear that we were heading out right then and that we were going to do the very thing she wanted to help with.
Luckily, Tank was too wrapped up in the fact that she was there to really catch on.
“Killer,” I said to her with a tip of my chin as I scooted out of the room to go past them.
My tone was friendly and almost had a joking edge to it. This time when I said the name that I’d given her it didn’t sound like I was being a fuckwad. Really, the name fit her perfectly and it held a little bit of honor in it from me. Especially since I knew she wasn’t just gunnin’ innocent people down. She was a downright badass bitch that had taken out people just like Savage. That was one thing Bocca had come through for us, he was able to dig up shit on her and her résumé was damn impressive.
Damn, her eyes were freaky as fuck! It was almost like they weren’t real. I must have voiced that first part out loud because the next thing I knew, she was looking at me with narrowed eyes and below the surface, I saw too many things going on. More than I could ever try to explain. And that shit drew me in for a hot minute. I had no doubt that while I was trying to figure out where that glint came from she was reading my every emotion, my every fucking thought. She was good at that shit.
I wasn’t sure where I really stood as far as how I felt about her. Yeah, she scared the fuck outta me, but the way she looked at my big buddy, had me thinking she was okay. Only time would tell, I guessed. That was, if she stuck around long enough. But something told me that this time she would be around for good.
I snapped myself out of whatever the fuck kinda weird hold I was in and walked off, letting Tank and Killer have their private moment and goodbye.
Then we were rolling out of the front gate.
It was time for war.
The Devil was going down.
And my woman was coming home alive.
My mind had made it clear to me that there was no other way this would go. So I chose strength over insecurity and doubt. I was going to fucking bring my bitch home and put Savage down.