Catching up to the asshole was the easy part, it was deciding exactly how to stop him that was going to be difficult.

The road was closed for a good reason.

Fire roared around us violently, the towering trees on the sides of the highway engulfed by raging flames that danced around us. We followed close behind Sullivan’s truck. Me and Ryder in front and the rest of the Gods behind us.

Sullivan swerved from lane to lane, attempting to avoid the showers of sparks landing on the highway in front of him.

“What the hell should we do here, brother?” I asked Ryder.

“We gotta keep the kid safe. Just let him keep going. He’s gonna hit a road block at some point. If the fire doesn’t get him first.”

“If he hurts that baby,” I warned, my voice a low, angry growl. Rage filled my veins and once I got my hands on this asshole, nothing was going to stop me from pummeling him to an inch of his life.

“He’s gonna be alright, man, we just gotta stay calm. Right now, Sullivan’s freaked out. He thinks we’re going to attack him or try to run him off the road. If we just hold back, he won’t do anything rash either.”

“We can’t just let him escape, man!” I shouted, desperation washing over me.

“That’s not what I’m saying, Bones,” he said. “Just hang back and see what happens.”

It didn’t take long to see what was going to happen, because Sullivan leaned his head out the window, looking over his shoulder. I thought he was going to give us some sort of hand signal, but then I saw the gun in his hand.

A second later, the bullet was flying into my windshield, shattering it as Ryder and I ducked out of the way, swaying to the side of the road. I righted the truck, my anger rising.

“Motherfucker!” I shouted.

Neither of us had slowed down, in fact, he sped up even faster, whipping around the curves of the winding highway at increasingly unsafe speeds.

“He’s gonna fucking crash,” I said. My heart sank when I thought of Daisy’s face. There was no way in hell I could tell her that her baby had been in an accident. “Fuck, man…”

“Stay calm, stay calm,” Ryder said.

Sullivan’s truck fishtailed around another curve, my breath catching in my throat. He straightened his truck, then leaned out the window and shot towards us again. The bullet ricocheted off my hood with a blinding spark.

“He’s insane,” I shouted to Ryder.

“Sure fucking is,” he replied. We kept following, the flames around us growing higher as we drove on, slicing through orange walls of flame that devoured everything in their path, the road the only thing keeping the two fires from joining into one massive inferno.

“This is so fucked up,” I said.

“Watch out!” Ryder yelled, just as a huge tree toppled in front of us, landing with a huge, thundering roar onto the road in front of us. I slammed on the breaks, skidding to a stop inches away from it.

“Fuck!” I shouted, pounding on the steering wheel. “Fuck!”

I watched helplessly as Sullivan drove off, safely on the other side of the fallen tree, flames falling all around his truck, like some dystopian nightmare that I’d been thrust into, a scene I knew I’d never be able to erase from my memory.

And if I didn’t figure out some way to get that baby back, I’d never be able to live with myself.

I jumped out of the truck just as Riot, Slade and Wreck turned off their bikes. The scream that escaped from my soul was full of anguish I’d never felt in my life. I watched Sullivan disappear down the road and I wanted to shred everything around me into pieces.

“Goddammit!” I screamed.

“We’ll get him,” Ryder said, his voice laced with all the anger I felt inside of me. “I promise, man. I fucking promise.”

“You promise?” I asked, sobbing. “I fucking promised, brother. I promised! I promised Daisy, you heard me! I told her I’d get her boy and now he’s fucking gone!”

Ryder grabbed me, pulling me in for an embrace that was half headlock, half bear hug. I leaned into him, my knees feeling weak, my hands trembling with shock.

“And we will! You aren’t fucking alone, okay? You’ve got the power of Solid Ground behind you. We will find this motherfucker, we will get that baby back and this prick will pay, do you understand me? Don’t you doubt that for a minute!”

“I promised, man,” I said, all the bravado I’d felt disappearing with Sullivan’s truck. “I promised.”

“We’re gonna find the baby, man, don’t worry,” Riot said, patting me on the back.

“Hell yeah, that prick’s gonna regret ever crossing the Gods. I can’t wait to get my hands on him!” Slade said, his hands clenched in fists.

“He won’t hurt the baby,” Wreck said. “He wants him, it seems like. Why else would he go through all this trouble to find us and take him? We just gotta find him and we’ll find the baby. It can’t be that hard.”

I nodded, meeting their eyes one by one.

“I really need you guys right now,” I said, feeling my strength trickling back into my veins.

“We’re here,” Riot nodded.

“We’re family, brother,” Slade said.

“We got your six, man,” Ryder said. “Let’s get back to the motel and get a plan together, call in some favors.”

“Yeah, let’s do this,” I said, taking a deep breath. Ryder reached for my keys and smiled.

“I’ll drive,” he said, stealing a look at my trembling fingers.

“Probably a good idea,” I said. “I need to get my shit together. I can’t let Daisy see me like this.”

“You’re a good man, brother,” Ryder said, as he steered my truck back towards the woman I loved. I had to tell her I failed. “She’ll understand.”

“I hope to hell you’re right.”

“She’s a smart woman. I’m right.”

I nodded slowly, doing my best to get a grip on myself.

He was right. She was smart, but she was also stronger than anyone I’d ever known.

She’d weathered many storms before this one.

I just wasn’t sure anyone could weather something like this…