Kade

“How the fuck did they find out we were here?” I said out loud and ran to the front of the house. Harlow was close behind me.

“You’re going to have to hide. Rosario!”

She came running back into the kitchen.

“Hawks?” She knew before I had to tell her.

“Sound like at least six bikes, maybe twice that.”

Rosario was E.Z.’s first love; she knew the sound of a gang rolling up just as well as I did. She also was my best shot at protecting Harlow.

“I’ve got a shotgun in the…”

“I know. You two get out of here.” We had maybe seconds to spare before the Hawks busted down the door. I didn’t want to wait for them to attack. But I wasn’t going to do a damn thing with Harlow and Rosario so exposed.

“Let’s go, Harlow.”

Rosario was going to take her out back to the barn. Hopefully, I could diffuse this shit or shoot my way out of it before any Hawks decided to lay a hand on Harlow or Rosario.

Harlow looked at me with fear and questions but there was no time to answer.

“Go, hurry,” I said urgently and Rosario grabbed her by the hand. They went out the back door. I heard the screen slam shut as I walked to the front of the house.

Rosario was right, there were ten Hawks. The tires of their bikes were stirring up the dust of the drive.

I was about to yell out, to bluff – anything to slow the momentum of this confrontation – but before I could, a popping noise rang out.

They were shooting first and asking questions later.

I dropped down to the tile floor and looked out the window. There wasn’t a chance in hell I could take all ten of these Hawks. I could only hope to slow them down.

I aimed and my own bullet hit one of the Hawks. It looked like it was only in the shoulder, but it stopped him. A couple were headed for the truck and the rest were shooting again at the house.

I hoped Rosario and Harlow were hidden well and stayed that way. I ventured my head up again to aim for a few more Hawks. A spray of bullets broke every window in the front of Rosario’s house.

I had no choice but to give up and hope I could lure them away from this house and Harlow and Rosario.

“I’m coming out, hold up!” I yelled out to the Hawks.

They stopped shooting for half a second.

“Kade, get your ass out here.”

I stood up and headed for the door. Broken glass crunched under my boots. I just hoped that Harlow stayed quiet and hidden.

I walked out onto the front lawn. The Hawks had arrayed their bikes in a line. A few were shooting from their bikes a few were now on foot walking toward me. I stood with my hands up.

“I’m out, I did what you said. You’ve got what you came for.”

“You aren’t what we fucking came for.”

Talon walked up and got in my face. I felt a right hook land on my jaw, and for a second thought, it might have been broken. I moved my lower teeth. Nope, not broken, but blood filled my throat.

If they were going to beat the shit out me, this was a good start.

“Open this up or we shoot this guy, for fun.” I looked behind Talon to see another Hawk had a gun to the head of someone who was clearly not a biker.

He looked more like a reject from a surfing convention, with flip-flops and a shell necklace. Who the fuck was this hippy?

“Sorry if you’re trying to get me to do shit cause of that guy you’ve fucked up. I don’t know who this asshole is.”

I realized too late that Harlow did know who it was.

“Stop!” I heard her yell as she came around the house toward the surfer hostage.

“Rudy. I’m so sorry!” she pleaded.

It was her boss, the guy who’d upset her on the phone, the guy who clearly didn’t have her interests at heart. But that didn’t matter. It was in Harlow’s DNA to step in front of danger, to take it so others didn’t. She did it for her animals, and now, for Rudy.

“He’s not involved. I can’t let him get hurt because of me,” she said, more to me than the Hawks. And as she said it, another Hawk came up and grabbed her. I saw her wince under his grip. Shit.

“You’re going to take us all for a little ride.” The thought of what he was saying made me sick. How the hell was I going to stop this mess?

“Hey, you guys you didn’t say anything about hurting her. I’ll take her out of here now.” I looked again and there was Rudy, free as a fucking bird.

“You’re getting paid to give us information. We’ll do what we want with her,” Talon said to Rudy. In that moment, it clicked together. Rudy, her boss, was playing both sides.

I thought he was getting paid by The Dark Saints for the use of the truck, but he was taking that money and taking money from the Hawks. It was how they kept finding us. If Harlow wasn’t checking in by phone, Rudy was checking her with the GPS tracker he had for her routes.

I felt like this answer had been right in front of me the whole time and I hadn’t seen it. He’d sold her out a dozen times over.

This slimeball was playing both sides for cash and putting Harlow in the middle of it.

“Rudy, you’re working with these men?”

I saw Harlow put it together in the same instant.

“Look, I needed the cash. You weren’t supposed to know.”

Rudy seemed to be trying to apologize. Harlow wasn’t buying it but then a bullet to the face from a short, stubby-looking Hawk abruptly ended Rudy’s argument.

Harlow screamed and Rudy’s body dropped to the dust.

“Not a single fucking use for him left,” Talon said and turned back to me.

“You shoot her or me, there is no turning back from war, you understand?” I had no other play. I could only hope they understood the shit storm they were causing.

“I fucking don’t want to hear it. Hawks are moving into Port Az and anywhere else we want. And this is your old lady? Cause that’s going to make things even more fun.”

I stood still. The guns were all on me, and they had Harlow. Any move I made could put her in the same place as Rudy.

“Put her in the truck,” Talon demanded to the man who had a tight hold on Harlow.

“We’re going to use her to get back over the border with our guns. You’re going to be in the position of explaining to Pilar and the cartel why you don’t have the shipment you promised. I’m pretty sure that will take care of you,” Talon smiled. He was right. If I didn’t deliver the guns as promised, I was in nearly as bad a spot as my current situation.

But the idea that they were keeping Harlow alive to get back into the U.S. was at least something. That was at least time.

They revved up their bikes. And I watched as they drove away.

I cursed myself that my bike was still in the back of Harlow’s truck. I had seconds to figure something out.

“Aunt Rosario!” I called out and she appeared from the barn, another shotgun in hand.

“I’m sorry Kade, I tried to stop her from running out and then I was afraid I couldn’t get clean shot at the one that had her.”

I hugged Aunt Rosario.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” I needed to move fast. I didn’t want the Hawks to get too far. I had to be there for Harlow.

“Go on, take my truck, keys are in it.”

I hugged her again.

“Thank you.”

I ran to her truck, an old Chevy that wasn’t going to be as fast as I needed, but at least it was a set of wheels. Harlow’s truck wasn’t a speed demon so I hoped I could catch up. There was only one route to the border that could handle Harlow’s truck.

I had no plan but I was going to fucking do anything I could think of to get Harlow back.

They had a two-minute head start on me. I had the truck floored, and I hoped because they were in a pack they would be slower than me. They also didn’t know I had the truck, so maybe, just maybe, they’d think they were home. That was all just bullshit I was telling myself. Talon was going to kill Harlow the minute they crossed. There was no doubt.

It didn’t take me long to catch up. There were four bikes in the back and probably another few in front. I revved up behind the two in back. I was going to run them off the road one at a time. My bumper made contact with the first bike and it was either veered off or got rolled over.

The rider veered and spilled off his bike; the buddy riding next to him did the same. That left two riding in the back. One of them turned around and flipped me off.

“Fuck you too, bastard.” This time I shot out the back tire of his hog. I passed him as he struggled to maintain control.

That left only one bike protecting the back of the truck. The rest had to be in front but I couldn’t see. By now there was no doubt that Talon and his sidekick driving the truck were aware that I was doing everything I could to fuck shit up.

Sudden brake lights and the squeal of tires nearly had me smashed up against the back of Harlow’s truck.

I slammed on my brakes and fishtailed but didn’t crash. They were going to finish this here, on the road. I put down my bike and got low. If they couldn’t see me, maybe I had a chance.

I had to get to Harlow. That as all I could think. I had to get to Harlow.

Bile backed up in my throat when the image of them touching her flashed in my head.

I had to get to Harlow.