Jake
I ducked my head around the corner, still surprised that there was no one there. “Jake, you're looking good. Wait there until we're ready to bust,” the voice said over my radio.
I obediently dug my heels in to wait, thinking over the past few days.
We'd had another group meeting, the third one in five days, as Bryce had complained. Max had called this one, and I'd been tempted to just skip the whole affair, but I was already in enough hot water with Frank at the moment, so I had reluctantly showed up to it.
“I'm telling you,” Max said impatiently, scowling at Ryan, who had dared to ask him a question about the proposed mission. “I have it from a leading source in their organization that the Flames have a new meth lab. And with the outputs of that lab, their hoping they can continue to encroach upon our territory—and eventually take over the full drug trade in this city!”
I couldn't help snorting. “You have that on what authority?” I asked. “I mean, it's all well and good to–”
“Don't interrupt me,” Max growled, whirling to face me. “I swear to god, Ryce, if I didn't know better, I'd guess that you were plotting with them. After all, you always seem totally unconcerned with what the Holy Flames are up to, despite the fact that you are supposed to be our second-in-command. I shudder to think of what our club will become when, god forbid, my father is no longer able to lead us.”
There were a lot of narrowed eyebrows at that. Max should have known better than to say something like that, given that many of the members of the club were on my side, as evidenced by the recent votes on whether we could protect Halley and Cole and on whether or not I should receive punishment for my public beating up of Brian.
I felt my heart sink, wondering if those two votes had somehow played into what we were seeing right now.
But nobody else seemed to be thinking about that. Instead, when there was a vote, most people voted to bust the Flames' new lab. And I had no choice but to go along with it…
The headset buzzed annoyingly in my ear, and I wanted nothing more than to rip it out. There was a reason I didn't usually do missions like this — raids — where there were tons of people involved. I didn't like having to watch out for more people than myself, didn't like having to calculate what everyone else was doing. But I had no choice this time.
Anyway, Frank had agreed to be part of the raid, had staked his life on it, no doubt because Max was making his position as leader look very precarious and past-minded. I had to make sure that Frank, despite his ailing health, walked out of this okay.
The first bout of gunfire caught me by surprise. I hadn't heard anything on the radios for a while now—nothing except for breathing, that was. I jumped, managing to not knock anything over in the process, and sprang into action, drawing my gun and running towards the noise that I had heard.
I pistol-whipped the first guy that I came across, and then I ran into Max.
“You fucking bastard,” I snapped, lining up my gun so that it was pointed boldly at his head. “You led us into a trap!”
But for the first time, Max didn't seem so confident. In fact, his face was ashen. “I didn't know,” he told me over and over again, as though that confession might save him.
I rolled my eyes and dragged him towards where Frank was supposed to be waiting because if there was anyone I was going to fight for, it was going to be him. “Gather everyone,” I told Max. “Bring them here. We can fight best if we're in a group together, and–”
“You find everyone!” Max cried, pushing me in the same direction that he'd pushed me.
I pulled my arm free. “I'm trying to save your father,” I snapped. “I can't go running around looking for people. If you forget, I'm one of the best marksmen—”
Before I could finish that statement, there were bullets flying at us, driving Max and I in opposite directions. He was clear of things, in the hallway that he was in, and I tried to motion for him to go down and away from the fighting, to find everyone else and bring them back. But I could already tell from the stubborn set of his jaw that he wasn't about to do that.
I didn't have time to think about Max anymore, though. I could hear fighting from behind me, coming from the direction where Frank was, and I turned on my heel and ran, not thinking of anything else but keeping my adoptive father safe. I spun around a corner and saw Frank standing there, his gun out, firing shots at a succession of people.
He wasn't alone, fortunately; there were people there on either side of him, all with guns pointed towards the chaos. But even as I watched…
I cried out and spurted forwards as Frank was hit with a bullet to the stomach. But I wasn't the only person catching the man as he fell; instead, out of the blue, there was Max, cradling his father from the other side.
But even though I felt, vaguely, that I should be rejoicing at his joining me, I could tell that this was the end of the battle for Frank. We dragged him out, towards the exit of the clubhouse—I had to fire my gun quite a few times before we were through.
“What the hell is happening in there?” the clueless guard asked as Max and I walked out, unceremoniously supporting Frank.
I gave the man a look of disbelief but kept moving along with Max.
“You were shot!” Max cried in surprise as we finally caught up to the ring of authorities that was surrounding the place.
I looked down as saw that, sure enough, there was blood marking one of my legs. “It's no big deal,” I said nonchalantly, feigning my disinterest—even though now that I was aware of the thing, it was painful as fuck-all.
“Your father is in worse shape,” I growled, gesturing towards the ambulance. “Do you want to ride with him to the hospital or should I?”
There was a moment where Max was undecided—and I had a feeling he was weighing the fact that his showing up at the hospital was just a cause for more discomfort, for more disappointment on behalf of his father. I almost felt for the man...but not quite.
“Here, go on,” I said, pushing Max into the ambulance. “Call me from the hospital.”
Max looked a little shell-shocked, but he complied. Once he was out of reach, I finally heaved a sigh of relief.