Torque

 

Torque had raced back to the clubhouse for reinforcements, and he knew as soon as he pulled up in front of the Hagens’ house that he had been right to do so. He’d found not just an old truck in front of Spencer’s house, but several bikes had been parked at the end of the street. Rat had not come alone, and he had brought more than his usual cronies. Still, the Bastards were outnumbered.

 

His fists tightened around his grips as he came to a stop. “Get out here, Rat!” he called above the noise of the engines. “Looks like this is the end of it!” There was no way the truck could get around them.

 

Rat turned off the vehicle and leaned his head out the window. “Sure. Why don’t you come on over here and discuss it with me? Maybe we can arrange a trade.” He grinned, his yellow teeth showing.

 

Torque let his right hand dangle near his belt, where his pistol was ready and waiting. “There’s nothing to discuss. Just hand her over.” He had been focused on the Dirty Bastards, but his eyes flicked involuntarily to Blue, sitting in the middle of the truck. She watched him through the windshield with wide eyes. Her mouth was a firm line, but her fear was obvious. Torque knew she had plenty to be afraid of. Rat was a dangerous man.

 

“Now, why would I do that? I have something you want, and it only seems fair that you give me something I want.” He rubbed a dirty finger under the ring of fresh flesh around his eye. It was uncomfortable to look at, even knowing that he had deserved the injury.

 

Acer spoke up. “And what, exactly, do you want?” He glanced at Torque and made a tiny motion with his hand, telling him to be patient. It was a delicate situation, and the president had been in similar ones before. Still, Torque didn’t think they should have to work out a deal with a deranged man bent on vengeance.

 

Rat opened the door of the truck and got out, dragging Blue by the elbow. She looked to be in one piece, and Torque couldn’t see any visible injuries on her. She walked reluctantly next to him, but she was otherwise fine.

 

Still, his heart clenched to see her in the clutches of such a man. Their eyes met, and Torque knew right then and there that this wouldn’t go down without a fight. He hadn’t known her for a long time, but he didn’t need to. There had never been another woman who had stood up to him the way she had or made him question himself so much. She needed him while making him feel needed. There was no other woman in the world who could even compare to her, and Torque didn’t even care if she wanted to live a biker lifestyle or not. He would quit everything and be an investment banker if she asked him to. He was going to have Blue back, and he would do anything it took to get her. He swallowed as he looked at her, taking in that signature blue hair that fell just above her shoulders, the curves of her slim body, the angle of her cheekbone. She was absolutely perfect.

 

She was also innocent in this, and Rat should have known that. Even if he was still carrying a grudge against her for the mistaken slash of ink on his arm, it wasn’t worth all this. Deep down, though, Torque knew what the Dirty Bastard wanted even before Acer had asked him.

 

“It’s really not that hard to imagine, is it?” Rat gestured gracefully with his free hand like a gentleman of the theatre. “I want Torque. He and this little twit started this whole thing, and I’m ready to put an end to it.” The biker grinned, showing his yellowed teeth. “I’ll let you have her, and you just let me have Torque. It’s a pretty good trade for you, since I can think of plenty of ways to entertain myself with her.” He pulled Blue closer, and he looked at her cleavage suggestively.

 

“What’s to stop us from just taking her back and leaving?” asked Torque, trying to ignore what Rat was insinuating. “It looks to me like you’re outnumbered.” He had seen the bikes parked further down the street, and he had counted the Bastards’ numbers at around ten. That was almost nothing compared to the thirty members of Satan Seed at Torque’s back. If Rat wanted to stand up to them, then he was a fool.

 

“Not for long,” Rat assured him.

 

Right on cue, the roar of motorcycle engines could be heard in the distance. The sound shot up Torque’s back and sent a pinprick of pain into his neck. He had been around bikes for a long time, and even before they were in sight he knew they were in trouble.

 

The first bikes came around the corner, riding in tandem, and then another rank came after them. There were more and more, piling into the cul-de-sac with their dark leather and shiny chrome. Even as they pulled to a stop, they revved their engines, creating a thunderous roar that bounced off the siding of the family dwellings around them and crashed against Torque’s ears.

 

He kept his focus on Blue, trying to decide how he was going to pull this off. He could shoot forward on his bike, grab her from Rat, and make an escape between the houses if there weren’t any backyard fences to stop him. But he knew the odds weren’t on his side. Rat could hurt her before Torque ever got to her, and he could easily shoot both of them as they took off. His chances of winding his way out of the residential neighborhood and onto the open highway before the Bastards caught up with him were too low. Worst of all, he would be leaving his men behind to finish a fight that he had started.

 

Still, he kept his gaze on her, trying to send her mental messages of strength. If Torque couldn’t protect her now, then she needed to protect herself. She was the key to all of this, and he couldn’t lose her. Blue’s hand drifted slowly up as Rat watched his backup fall in line, her fingertips resting just inside the pocket of her jeans.

 

Rat laughed, his left hand clutching at his big belly. His men laughed with him, but less heartily. “I guess our numbers look a little better now, don’t they? You didn’t really think I would be stupid enough to show up here and take a hostage if I didn’t think I could keep her, did you? Now, are we ready to talk?”

 

Torque’s finger itched, longing to wrap around the trigger of his pistol and take Rat out once and for all. But he knew, just as everyone else here did, that the first shot would be the start of something terrible.

 

“We’ll give you one last chance to settle this without spilling any blood,” Acer called out. “Just let go of her and let her walk over here. Then you can leave with your hide still covering your ass.” Several of the members of Satan Seed laughed at the joke, but Rat shook his head.

 

“You’re not hearing me, old man. I’ll give you the girl, but you’ve got to give me Torque. He did this to my eye, and I’m going to pay him back for it. I haven’t quite decided how I want to do it yet. I could shove a beer bottle into his face, but that’s already been done. Maybe I’ll slowly cut his eyes out, one by one, with a dull knife. Or I could cut off his balls and make him eat them.”

 

“I didn’t know you were in such a hurry to touch my nuts,” Torque retorted. “No offense, but I’m not really into that shit.”

 

A few snickers issued from behind him. Torque was glad they appreciated the humor, but he knew it wouldn’t do anything to hold off the inevitable.

 

“Flatter yourself if you want to, Torque, but you’ll die before this is all over.” He yanked on Blue’s arm, bringing her in front of him. She cringed away, but he pulled her close. “Now, are we ready to trade or what?”

 

Acer, sensing the anger building up in Torque, put his hand out to him to hold him off. “No. No trade.”

 

“All right. You wanted war, and now you’ll get one.”

 

“Wait!” Blue’s words caused the entire assembly to pause as her voice rang out. “Not here!” She looked at Torque with such desperation in her eyes that he wanted to run to her, to hold her in his arms, to tell her that it would all be okay. But her gaze flicked to one of the houses and back to him.

 

He understood. “She’s right,” he muttered to Acer, low enough that Rat couldn’t hear. “There are too many innocent people here. They’re probably all hiding in their houses, but you and I both know that bullets travel through walls. I don’t want to know what everyone will think of us for shooting up a neighborhood.”

 

The president’s hands clenched and unclenched at his side, the King and Queen of Hearts shifting as they contemplated the situation. “I agree with you, but what else are we going to do? How do we know the Dirty Bastards won’t try something tricky if we move this shindig elsewhere? How do we know they won’t hurt Blue?”

 

“Trust me, I’ve been plenty worried about that myself.” Torque’s guts twisted inside his body. Changing their battleground would mean the Bastards would have more time to plan. They could have a better assessment of Satan Seed, and perhaps even gain an advantage if they got to the new destination first. Most of all, it meant Blue would have to ride over there with Rat. He would never hand her over unless he had to. Torque hated the idea of leaving his woman in Rat’s custody for even a second longer, but he didn’t see another way out of this.

 

“We’re just going to have to do it. What about that empty lot on Industrial Road?”

 

Acer scrubbed at his chin. “It’s not a bad idea. Nobody should be there, and I don’t think the city will have any complaints about collateral damage on the nasty old buildings nearby. You think he’ll actually go for it?”

 

Torque glared at Rat. “I don’t see that he has much choice. His men have surrounded us here, but that means they’ll catch their own members in the crossfire if they start shooting. They’d be idiots not to take a chance at reconfiguring themselves.”

 

The president nodded. “Sounds good to me.” He hollered out the suggestion to Rat.

 

The other man conferred with Flame and Stubble, who nodded their agreement. “All right,” Rat called back, “but only because I want more room to maneuver. And don’t try anything funny, or the girl gets it.”

 

“I wish we had the rest of our men,” Acer mumbled just before he started up his bike.

 

Torque had to agree. There would have been more had some of the patrols not already been sent out, but as it was, they had to take what was available to them. The Bastards now outnumbered them, but it would just have to be good enough. Unless some of the other members happened to see them as they drove through town, they had all the reinforcements they were going to get.

 

The bikers from both clubs were eager to get out onto the road first. Both the Dirty Bastards and Satan Seed understood the importance of having first pick at their stance on the empty lot. As a result, the town was flooded with bikers going in numerous directions. Bastards rode right next to Seeds in a vie for the quickest route around traffic and lights. They bumped up onto the sidewalks to get around each other and took shortcuts through alleys and parking lots.

 

As much as Torque wanted to join them, he knew there was a different path he would have to take. He let the rest of his men go, waving off even Acer, as he waited for the black truck to find its way out of the cul-de-sac. Not nearly as maneuverable as the motorcycles and apparently not without exhaust issues, it chugged through the city behind a vast pack of bikes.

 

Torque kept his watch on Blue through the rear windshield. She looked so tiny and frail next to the big bikers on either side of her, but she carried her shoulders back and her head straight. Yes, that was one of the many things he liked about her. Even in a crisis, she didn’t let it bring her down. She would fight to the end, and so would he.

 

But his hopes about the battle dropped as they approached the empty lot and he realized that the Bastards had gotten there first.