Cindy was a wealth of information. She knew not only the place he was frequenting, the bars he liked, the drinks he got there, who he got them with, but she knew the kind of weapons he was bringing into the city, where he was hiding them, what he was keeping for himself.
“He’s got a mini arsenal in a house on Maple Road,” she said. “If we strip him of that then we might have ourselves a real shot at wounding him. It’s not necessarily cutting the head off the snake but we can at least cut the limbs off.”
“How many men is it going to take to have a real, viable attack on this place?” Chance asked.
“A lot. It’s not going to be without guard and there’s no way we’re sneaking in. It’s going to be a power move—a total siege—or nothing at all.”
For this they would need more than the men they had at their disposal. They were fifty or so strong in the town, larger than most other gangs in the area. But against something like this, Chance liked the idea of having overwhelming odds. He wanted no possibility of a small margin of victory or the real possibility of defeat. He wanted to completely overpower them.
This meant he’d need to call in some help.
“Moose, get in contact with our chapters in Northern Cali and in Nevada,” he said. “See if they have anyone they can spare for this. Tell them we’ve got a rogue brother that turned on his family.”
“Is this really going to be some kind of all-out war?” Hannah asked from where she was standing quietly in the corner of their apartment.
She had become such a staple here. It was so domestic and looked so perfect and like everything that Chance wanted out a scene in his own future. She was standing there in lazy sweatpants and one of his old tee shirts, sipping at a cup of decaf coffee and frowning. It could be just a rainy Sunday morning like any other, a lazy day together.
He got up and walked over, placing his hands on her hips and squeezing just enough so that she knew he was there. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy to get rid of Ben. We knew none of this was going to feel safe or comfortable. So we’re going to have to do some unsafe and uncomfortable things to get ourselves to a place where we can feel safe about the rest of our lives.”
He didn’t mention the baby because Moose and Cindy were still in the kitchen. He trusted Moose with his life, with Hannah’s life, with the life of his unborn child. But the less people who knew about the baby and could be tortured for the information if Ben caught them, the better. She looked at him with eyes so full of everything they were keeping to themselves. It would be so easy if they were alone in this kitchen, if he could just hold her and tell her he’d keep her and their child safe, if he could put her up on the table and make her forget with his body.
But this was their reality right now, and they had to work with what they had. They’d be safe and happy and content soon. For now, it was a battle to get there.
“I’ll head up to San Fran tonight,” Moose said. “Is it okay if Cindy stays with you guys—”
“Moose, it’s really not that necessary—”
“Of course it’s okay,” Chance said. “She’s family too and we protect our own.”
Cindy smiled gratefully at them and walked out to see Moose out.
“I hope you’re not offended that I’m actually grateful Cindy is staying over,” Hannah said.
“Why’s that?”
“Well, it just makes things feel a little less serious, you know? The less we feel alone then the more comfortable I feel,” she said. “I feel safe with you, I do, it’s just—”
“I get it,” he smiled. “Slumber parties and all that. Will I get to see a naked pillow fight?”
“If you play your cards right maybe I’ll paint your nails.”
She smiled cheekily and kissed him lightly on the lips just as Cindy came back in from saying goodbye to Moose. She seemed to have grown pale between the front door and the kitchen table and Hannah immediately set to work on making her some chamomile tea with honey, remembering how her mother used to practically force it on her as a girl when she was stressed out.
“He will be safe, Cindy,” Chance said. “If anything I’m pretty sure Moose is an even better rider than me, and he’s always been far smarter.”
Cindy gave a soft smile at their efforts to cheer her up and sighed. She looked at her hands, laced together on the table, and Chance understood her worry. If the roles were reversed, if he was going out and Hannah was the one saying goodbye, he didn’t know if he’d be able to handle the separate as well. Moose was a brave man and Chance didn’t take it lightly that he was leaving Cindy in their care. He trusted them. So he wasn’t going to ruin in it by letting anything happen while Moose was gone.
They spent the rest of the night sitting together and talking. They stayed up late into the night until Moose called them to let them know he made it safely to the club house up north for the night. They went their separate ways to bed and Chance didn’t let go of Hannah the entire night, holding her close and taking in the smell of her in case something in the morning came to take her away from him. He’d waited his entire life for someone like her and now she was here and he was never going to let her go.
In the morning, the sunrise brought more than just day. Moose arrived with a horde of bikers behind him. Several chapters of clubs had offered up riders on a volunteer basis, allowing anyone who wanted to show support for their brothers down south to head out and follow Moose back to the town. They pulled into the parking lot outside Chance and Hannah’s apartment and she couldn’t help but laugh to herself thinking about how angry Kat’s neighbors would be if they pulled up there.
“The cavalry is here,” Moose said, stepping inside.
He looked tired and incredibly worn. He had deep circles under his eyes that told of a whole day and night without sleep. His eyes were wide and bloodshot and his breath smelled of nothing but coffee and cigarettes. But Cindy rushed up to him anyway, throwing her arms around him and holding him tightly. She was whispering something in his ear and he was nodding and rubbing his hand up and down her back in a comforting manner. Hannah moved away to head back to Chance’s side where he seemed to be having a serious conversation with the president of the group there.
He turned to Hannah she came to his side. “We’re going to meet at the clubhouse, then we’re going to move out.”
Hannah nodded.
“We’ve got all the info we need, the address to the warehouse, all of it,” he said.
The next part was where she asked to go with him, insisted that she didn’t want to leave him to deal with this all alone. They were already having the conversation with their eyes as they looked at each other and silence seemed to fall down around them like a waterfall that created a bubble. They were alone in their world and both pleading with each other in a tug of war. Hannah didn’t want to be forced to be left behind.
“You’re carrying our kid,” he whispered into her ear. “That makes you the most important person in the world right now. You shouldn’t go with us.”
“I can’t protect you if I’m sitting here waiting around,” she said.
“And I can’t focus on getting this taken care of if I’m looking around every five seconds to make sure my worst nightmares don’t come true,” Chance said. “I have terrible dreams where I lose you and Ben does not make it easy. He’s not going to kill you. He’s going to take you away. He’s going to let his goons do whatever they want to you. And then he’s going to sell you off to the Black Death and when they find out you’re pregnant they’ll…”
“Shhh,” she said, gently, placing her fingers over his lips. “It’s okay.”
“I won’t let that happened and I can’t make sure it doesn’t happen if you’re right there the entire time,” he said. “Part of protecting each other and being in a partnership is knowing to trust each other from afar, understand we will do everything in our power to make it back to one another. You and Cindy wait here and I swear I’ll return to you.”
She couldn’t argue with that. She wasn’t sure if it was the way his eyes were so glassy and seemed to water or the way his voice quivered with the weight of what he was admitting. The words “I love you” were in every breath between the words he as saying. It was in his eyes, in the shake of his hands as they gripped tightly at her hips and arms.
“You can’t exactly go be Mr. Hero if you’re still holding onto me,” she laughed, a little sadly.
“I know. I just want to keep it in my memory, how warm you are.”
They continued to hold each other for a few minutes, keeping each other close and not paying any attention to the fact that they were surrounded by several people, many of which were probably making fun of them and cracking jokes.
Then Hannah watched Chance leave. Everyone shuffled out of the apartment and down to their bikes and he was the last one to go like a captain going down with his ship. He lingered in the doorway, looking at Hannah with such adoration that she almost wanted to tackle him and drag him back into the apartment and not let him go anywhere at all. But instead they nodded to each other and he walked away. He turned out the door and then he was gone and she was left to stare at the empty doorway. He left it open like a promise to come back and close it and she almost didn’t want to go and close it herself.
She was left there with Cindy and their own anxieties. Hannah knew that Cindy had it worse. She’d been worried over Moose for an entire night and now only seen him for a few seconds before he was gone again to do something far more dangerous. But she didn’t know. Maybe it would be better so have someone else help her bear this burden.
“It will be okay,” Hannah said, walking up to Cindy, placing a hand on her shoulder and gently shutting the door that Chance had left open, the sounds of motorcycles in the distance fading as they moved farther and farther away.
“I know,” Cindy said. “At least I hope I know.”
“Can I share something with you?” Hannah asked, sitting down on the couch and taking a breath.
“Always,” Cindy said, sitting down beside her. “Is everything okay?”
“It is,” she said. “Well, it won’t be if something goes wrong—it’s the reason I’m so worried about all this, not that I wouldn’t be worried anyway but there’s just—there’s something else—I’m pregnant.”
Cindy’s first reaction was a grin that nearly split her face in two. She leaned forward immediately hugged Hannah, holding her close and whispering her congratulations softly. When she pulled away, her face was a little more serious. She pushed some hair behind Hannah’s ear and smiling in comfort.
“It will all be okay,” she said. “I promise.”
***
Chance pushed all thoughts of Hannah from his mind as best he could. It was not exactly the easiest thing in the world to do. He could smell her shampoo with just one thought, he could still feel her warm skin beneath his fingertips. Perhaps he should not have lingered in her presence for so long. But he’d rather have it there to think about, to know and to feel, if he found himself bleeding on the floor and feeling the cold grip of the darkness coming for him to take him away from Hannah forever. He could at least hold onto her when she wasn’t there to comfort him.
He focused, instead, on the vibration of the bike beneath him, the throttle as he pulled ahead. Moose was just behind him and the other chapter leaders were neck and neck with him. Behind them the bikes followed, roaring to their backs like a tidal wave coming for Ben. There wouldn’t be trickery this time. There wouldn’t be sneaking or trying to gain the upper hand. They had the man power and they had the numbers, they were going to come at him full force. They were going to crush him. Espionage was over. He was going to rip Ben limb from limb for threatening his sister, for threatening Hannah, for trying to take his entire future away from him.
They got to the warehouse. The patrol was there and jumped into action the second the group pulled into the parking lot. Chance killed the engine on his bike and jumped off quickly, pulling out the crowbar he brought with him and stepping out to face down one of the men heading towards him, pulling a knife out of his belt. Chance landed the blow first, sending the swing of the crowbar straight into his stomach with as much force as he could possibly muster. The man doubled over and let out a pained groan as he dropped to the ground and gasped for breath.
Chance kept moving forward, Moose behind him. They met up with Link just out the front of the warehouse. He’d been bloodied in the forehead by something but was viciously wiping it from his eyes telling them to keep moving. He might have more cause than anyone for his anger. He’d watched his daughter be threatened by a man who had promised to love and protect her. Chance might have to battle Link for the chance to take out Ben himself. They’d cross that bridge when they got to it, however. They’d need the catch the maniac first.
So they moved into the warehouse. Now that they were inside, a certain amount of stealth was required to make it work. They were the only group members that had gotten inside, everyone else would be keeping the patrol and any other guards occupied. But they needed to maintain that cover. They kept the flashlight on low, half covered as they moved through the halls.
“What do you think we’re looking for?” Link said.
“Cindy said it was an office over top to the one workshop,” Moose hissed back. “She said it wasn’t the main office, he used it in case someone did come in to rob the place.”
Ben was a slippery snake. They wouldn’t have many shots at this. They needed to get it right and get it right now. They moved through the halls, simply keeping an eye out for anything that matched the description. Cindy hadn’t been sure exactly where in the warehouse it was located and had no way of knowing how they would enter, any directions would be useful.
“Should we split up?” Moose asked.
“We’ve discussed that before,” Chance said. “It’s never a good idea. We’re not in a rush. The guys will keep any back up out there occupied. We just need to move steady through this place and find what we’re looking for. The longer it takes the less likely we are of making a mistake and getting ourselves caught.”
Moose didn’t look like he completely agreed but he always didn’t seem keen on his own idea anyway. He wasn’t the fighter, Chance had always been the one to take on their biggest fights when they happened, Moose was the leg man, the getaway car.
So they moved on until Link yanked hard on both their arms, stopping them in their tracks. They turned to see a workshop that could fit the description. An office was sitting over top of the main floor, the light still on, the door ajar.
They didn’t say a word, running off together and into the workshop, jumping over boxes and chairs, headed for the steps that lead to the office. They scrambled up the stairs and into the office where they found it empty. The light was on, the door ajar, the chair pushed back as if it had recently been sat in but no other signs of a human being were visible in the room. They looked around quickly, tearing through papers and drawers, looking for clues like some teenage Scooby Gang. But Chance was getting desperate in his frustration. He needed to find something, he needed to find anything. He needed to get some kind of upper hand on Ben, he needed to get himself some kind of revenge for what he did.
But there was nothing to be had, the office had been cleaned out, the evidence gone, taken off into the night. Then Chance turned to look at the security monitors, and there was his second chance in the form of Ben taking off across the halls of the warehouse, running at a sprinting pace to get away.
Chance didn’t even wait, launching himself out of the office and down the stairs several at a time, heading after him.