Chapter 1
Colt
“Go! Go! Go!”
Bullets flew and people raced about. Diego’s men fell to their knees, taken out by Duke’s bullets. That was his signature move; two well-placed bullets to the knees. It took out their capacity to move and left them for the cops to find. Or worse, for their enemies to find them. Fatal shots were dealt as men pulled themselves across the road. Brewer and Grave from the Dead Souls helped one another out of harm’s way as bullets raced by their heads.
“We’re down, guys! We’re down!” Brewer exclaimed. I leveled my scope on the edge of the ledge to see if I could see what was going on.
Grave groaned in my earpiece as blood poured from the wound on the inside of his thigh. Knox’s hands wrapped around a bloodied knife and pulled it from his side. Diesel rushed over to the man, wrapping his arm around his shoulders and hoisting him up as blood dripped down his waist.
“We gotta get out of here!” Diesel exclaimed as Knox wavered at his side.
“Scatter! We have to get out of here!” Dean roared.
“…” Colt are you…”and my ear piece started to go haywire.
“Guys?” I yelled into my earpiece. But all that came back through was dead silence. I could no longer hear what anyone was saying. I looked out over the edge and tried to see what was going on.
Sirens sounded in the distance, growing closer as I watched Diego slip through our fingers. I took aim, but I couldn’t get a good shot on him. I growled as I watched him duck for cover. If I could just get the perfect shot, then all of this would be finished.
“Someone take out his ride so he can’t get away!” I yelled into my earpiece. But all I was met with was static.
I tried to move my position slightly to see if I could get a better shot before he made a break for his SUV. But no matter where I move, the fucker was still completely hidden by the dumpster.
“Can anyone fucking hear me?!” I yelled again into the ear piece.
I was met again with radio silence as I watched Diego slip behind the dumpster and into a car right in front of me.
“Fucking hell!” I yelled.
The sirens grew closer as Diego turned and looked out at the guys in the parking lot. He yelled at his men, and then I watched as more of his goons poured out from the building into the parking lot.
All of my guys were surrounded. I had to do something.
I grunted as I took off, running from the roof bakery across the road. Tires squealed as I busted through the back door of the bakery. I launched myself over bushes as bikes struck up and raced off. I held my gun in front of me, clearing corners as I made my way to the parking lot.
I silenced my breaths, despite my lung’s burning desire to gasp for air.
I saw the flashing lights appeared as I approached. I silenced my footfalls, knowing it would be damn good and hard to get out of this situation now. The last of the motorcycles squealed away as the clubs split up. Dodging the police and getting themselves away. I busted open the door that led to the roof. I kept to the shadows, my eyes scanning the edges of the parking lot for any signs of life.
And then, I heard a groan.
Maverick.
I ran after the sound before a bullet flew by my head. I ducked beside a protrusion, pressing my back against the wall. I saw Maverick was on the ground. He was bloodied at the head, knocked out by the butt of someone’s gun with his gun kicked away from him. My nostrils flared with anger at the sight.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” the man taunted.
He really shouldn’t have done that.
I slipped around the protrusion and raised my head, tilting my gun around the corner.
And when I fired at the moving shadow, it went down with a wail of pain.
“Come on, Maverick. We gotta get you out of here,” I said.
I hoisted him onto my shoulder as more and more police appeared at the scene. I had no fucking clue how I was going to get him out of this situation, but I knew I had to try. I stumbled down the stairs with him as he leaned his head against me. He needed a hospital. A doctor. Someone to take a look at him and make sure he didn’t have a concussion.
We made our way out the back door and I started running with us as. As fast as we could go, leaving our bikes behind. We couldn’t get to them. It was no use. No point in trying because it wasn’t like either of us could drive anyway. My chest was on fire and my hands ached. Maverick was two ticks away from puking on both of us. My lungs burned as I gasped for air, hauling him away from the scene and into our drop spot.
The back of a pet store that had a roof I could sit him under.
“You stay here. I’m calling one of the guys to come get you. I’ll warn Thor, let him know to meet you at the lodge. Okay?” I asked.
Maverick groaned, but I wasn’t sure if he understood me.
“You, stay. Someone will come get you. Thor, lodge. Got it?” I asked.
And I watched his head nod before he winced in pain.
I replayed that scenario in my mind over and over. I covered him with dirty blankets in the hopes that no one would see him. But there were police officers fanning out, searching the areas. I knew they’d find Maverick in a heartbeat if I didn’t do something drastic.
So, I sprinted out in front of all of them and ran in the opposite direction.
I didn’t want to get arrested. But I didn’t want them to find Maverick getting found by the cops. He needed medical attention and. And they wouldn’t give that to him in jail. No one gave a shit about people like us in jail. That much I knew for certain. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, but the exhaustion of the night caught up with me. The cops closed in and they tackled me to the ground and arrested me. I was thrown into the back of a car and hauled downtown.
And now, I was using my one phone call to call the only fucking man I trusted at this point.
“This is Duke.”
“Hey, hey. It’s Colt.”
“What the fuck happened last night? We couldn’t find you after you left for the roof. Then when we fell back, I thought you were already on you way here. Sierra and Eden are fine. All is well on this front,” he said.
“That’s good. I wanted to—.”
“Though I think I’ll need to do another grocery run soon. I could call Thor and have him come back here to watch them. But, I figured you might want the opportunity to be around them for a little while. Want to be over here in—.”
“Duke,” I said.
“Well, you could really come over whenever you wanted. I cooked way too much for breakfast. You hungry?” he asked.
“Duke!”
“What, Colt? Damn.”
“I need your help.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line as I looked around the interrogation room where I sat.
“What’s going on, Colt? Are you, all right?” Duke asked.
“No, Duke. I’m not. No one’s all right when they’re in jail.”
“You’re where?”
“I’m in jail. And I could really use your help,” I said.
“Okay. Don’t panic. I take it this is your one phone call?”
“Yep,” I said curtly.
“Good. I’m glad you called me. I’m going to call Dean, figure out what the hell we can do about this.”
“Let’s take what Dean says with a grain of salt for now,” I grumbled.
“What was that?” he asked.
“Look, at the sake of being honest, Dean isn’t making the best decisions right now. He’s being pretty erratic. Just, weigh the opinions of everyone else before doing something. Okay?”
“We’re going to put a pin in that conversation and talk about it later. When we get you out. Because I’m sure as hell glad I’m not the only one who feels that way. But still, I’m calling Dean. I’m also going to call Diesel. The Dead Souls have a great fucking legal team. I’m sure I can do some bartering and get you some help. At the very least, get recommendations of who we could go with to help get you out of there,” he said.
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Are you really okay?”
“I really am. Did Thor get to Maverick?” I asked.
“What?”
“Never mind. Make sure to check up on Maverick once you get off this phone with me. I want to make sure he’s okay.”
“Was he not okay when we scattered?”
“No, Duke. He was less than okay,” I said.
“Where are they taking you right now? Do you know?” he asked.
“One minute,” the guard grunted at me.
“Look, I don’t have a lot of time left. They’re putting me in a holding cell for now. They’ve been grilling me for hours. I’ll need bail money to get my ass out of here so we can come up with a plan,” I said.
“Oh, I’ve got more bail money than you’ll ever need. I’ve got you on that front. I’ll call Dean, Diesel, and then check up on Maverick. You sit tight. I’ll have you out of there soon enough,” he said.
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
“Time’s up!” the guard exclaimed.
And then, the phone call shut off with the push of a button on his end of the room.
I really wanted to put my fist through that man’s smug face.