Brawn

 

“You’re still running the show,” Shift said after everyone had guns in their hands. A few of us also had lights on the barrels, and a few others wore night vision goggles. It was a pretty high-tech operation for a bunch of bikers. I didn’t know we had gear like that back at the clubhouse.

 

“Yeah, you’re still in charge,” Max said, stepping up on my other side, an automatic rifle slung over his shoulder.

 

“Well, I guess we do this thing,” I told them.

 

“You guess?” Shift asked. “That doesn’t sound too in-charge to me.”

 

“All right, then, let’s go.” I looked around at the other guys. “We’re going to take it on foot this time so they don’t hear us approaching. We’ll take them by surprise. Remember, we don’t know how many there are. Keep your lights off. We don’t need to draw extra attention. Anyone with night vision, keep it on. We’ll have to be the eyes for everyone else,” I said.

 

“Shank will stay with the truck and watch the bikes,” Shift said, nodding at Shank sitting in the driver seat. He nodded back, satisfied with his job, probably the only one of us who would have been content being left behind on a job like this.

 

The road was as deserted as the buildings on either side of it. We hurried across, back towards the warehouse where Lucas Kelly and his men were. I kept my goggles on, watching the windows of the building, but I didn’t see anything. As we moved around to the back, I held out my arm to slow everyone down. I scanned the building. Nothing.

 

Then, I looked down at the cars behind the building. Sure enough, the SUVs had several people in them. Kelly’s goons. I looked back at the guys and pointed at the SUVs. We started creeping up on them. A few guys stood back and took aim at the windows.

 

I approached with Shift and Max at my side. I was amazed they didn’t see us coming. It wasn’t exactly pitch black in the parking lot or anything, even without my night vision.

 

But then a gunshot rang out from inside the building. I looked back at Shift and Max, wide-eyed with panic. They looked up at the building.

 

“Cover me,” I whispered to them, and they turned back to the guys watching the SUVs, signaling them to cover the guys inside.

 

As I ran to the door, I could hear Shift and Max behind me. Before we entered, I looked back and saw the other guys surrounding the SUVs and pulling everyone out with their hands up. They looked like law enforcement, patting the guys down for other weapons and holding them at the cars.

 

“Tell them to wait,” I told Max. “Don’t take them out yet. We don’t want to alert Lucas to our presence until it’s too late for him to do anything. Tell them I’ll give the signal when I’m up there.”

 

Max ran off to the guys surrounding the cars, and Shift followed me in through the door. I put my night vision back on so I could see if anyone was waiting for us in the darkness. There was no one on the ground floor. We took the stairs up to the second floor, and I knew as soon as we came out of the stairwell that we were in the right place. There was the glow of floodlights spilling out across the building. I put my arm out to keep Shift behind me as we walked forward.

 

“Coming back with an update?” Kelly asked from the small wooden stool where he sat in front of Maria. They had her tied to a chair. Two more of his men stood by the floodlights shining down on her. Kelly had a gun in her face.

 

“Yeah, I’ve got an update for you,” I bellowed.

 

Kelly spun around on his stool and looked right at me. “Mickey?”

 

He squinted into the darkness beyond the glow of the floodlights, looking for me. I chuckled and stepped forward, Shift at my side. Kelly pointed his gun at me.

 

I cocked an eyebrow and pointed mine at him. He turned and pointed his at Maria again as his two men pulled theirs and aimed them at me.

 

“The rifle in my hand is fully automatic, Kelly. Before your boys could even think to shoot at me, I could have all three of you on the floor in pools of your own blood. Now, tell them to put their guns down,” I ordered him.

 

He nodded at his guys. “Only if he shoots me,” he said.

 

I looked at Shift. “Go give the signal,” I told him. He walked slowly into the darkness behind me, heading toward the windows.

 

“Where’s he going?” Kelly asked. “What’s he doing?” He took his gun away from Maria’s face and waved it around.

 

“That’s really not any of your business, is it?” I asked.

 

“Call him back here,” Kelly said, putting the gun under Maria’s chin. “Call him back, or I shoot your girlfriend.”

 

“If you were going to do that, you would have already,” I told him. “I’m sure he has time to do whatever he’s going to do before you pull the trigger on anybody.” The surge of confidence felt good. I was in charge, and there wasn’t anything anyone else could do about it.

 

Silence fell upon us then. For a brief moment, it was heavy, deafening. Time slowed to a crawl.

 

Then, Shift let off a few rounds, aiming out the window.

 

“What’s that crazy bastard doing? Who is he signaling?” Kelly asked, but before I could answer, gunfire erupted in the parking lot behind the building as our men assassinated the men who’d been in Kelly’s SUVs when we walked up. The horror of what our guys were doing outside dawned on him as he listened to the gunfire.

 

“All right, it’s done,” Shift said, walking back up a moment later. “Every single one of them, and not one of our guys.”

 

“Kelly, it’s over,” I said. “Put the gun down before we have to take out the guys up here, as well.”

 

He cocked the hammer back and shook his head.

 

I sighed and nodded. Shift pulled the trigger and dropped both of the men standing in suits behind Maria. Kelly watched them fall and turned to look back at us, taking the gun away from her again.

 

I stepped forward. “Drop the gun,” I told him.

 

“Hey, man, that’s a lot of gunfire,” Shift warned me. “We should probably get out of here.”

 

“Get the guys back across the street,” I told him without looking away from Kelly. “I’ll finish up here.”

 

“You sure? I mean, I don’t want to leave you here with this guy. Just go ahead and take him out so we can go,” my brother argued.

 

“No, I got it. You go.”

 

“Listen to your little brother. Get out of here. This is between us. One of us will meet you downstairs in a few minutes,” Kelly said to Shift.

 

“Actually, there will be two of us. You will be up here waiting for the police to show up. I’m sure they’re already on their way,” I said as I continued advancing on him.

 

“I’ll fucking do it, I swear,” Kelly threatened.

 

Shift hurried off back downstairs.

 

“You really shouldn’t have told him to leave you up here alone with me,” Kelly warned. “Now I’m going to kill your girl right in front of you.”

 

“Bullshit,” I said, still walking towards him. I stood right in front of him now, and he still hadn’t tried pulling that trigger. I knew what I was doing was bold, possibly even stupid, but I also knew there was no chance he was going to kill his daughter.

 

“What are you doing?” he asked frantically as I lowered my gun and grabbed his wrist.

 

“I’m going to disarm you,” I told him as I pulled his arm away from Maria.

 

“Like hell you are,” he argued.

 

The revolver when off. The sound rang out in the room. Maria winced and closed her eyes, crying out at the noise. I pulled Kelly off the stool, bringing him to his feet as we fought.

 

Finally, I let go of him and grabbed my gun. I took the butt of the automatic rifle across his face a couple of good times until he fell to the ground. He was out like a light. I reached down and checked his pulse. I’d just knocked him out.

 

“Is he?” Maria asked.

 

“He’s fine. He’ll have a headache when he wakes up.” I put my gun back across my shoulder with the strap attached to it and pulled out a knife to cut her free. I could hear sirens off in the distance.

 

“We need to go,” she said. “The cops will be here soon.”

 

“And there will be plenty of questions, I’m sure,” I said.

 

“That’s why we don’t need to hang around.” Once she was free she stood up and stepped away from the chair.

 

“Help me tie him up real quick,” I said.

 

“Let’s go. Just leave him,” she said.

 

“He could still leave before they get here,” I told her. I grabbed him and carried him over to the chair, where I quickly tied his arms and legs.

 

She grabbed my hand as soon as I finished. “Let’s go,” she urged, pulling me back.

 

We hurried downstairs and back into the parking lot. I took the lead and pulled her with me once we were outside, running her across the street. The sirens were getting closer as we crossed the deserted street and ran behind the other building, where Max waited for me next to my bike.

 

“Everyone else already rode off, brother,” he said. “It’s better that way. Now, come on,” he said, gunning his engine.

 

I hopped on my bike and pulled Maria on behind me. She wrapped her arms around me and pressed herself against me. I held my gun across my lap, the strap still around my shoulders.

 

“Hold on,” I told her as I fired up the engine and we pulled off.

 

As we drove back towards the clubhouse, I thought about how the next few hours were going to go. Law enforcement was going to find him tied to the chair in the warehouse under the floodlights, his face beaten and possibly bloody. They would arrest him, take him down to the station for questioning. In the meantime, a detective was probably going to end up at the house, where they’d find the paperwork Max said was on the coffee table.

 

Once Kelly was connected to Carlisle legally, there’d be no reason to suspect anyone else of what happened at the warehouse. They’d shut the case and lock his ass up. His operation would go down, and then they’d go after Carlisle and anyone else connected to Maria’s father. It was all going to unfold nicely, as long as no one said anything when they showed up at HQ asking questions.

 

No matter how things went, the arms around my waist reminded me that I had the only thing that truly mattered in the whole situation. She was safe, and we were on our way back to the clubhouse where I could take care of her.

 

I also had the respect of the MC for being right and leading them into a pretty sweet setup with Lucas Kelly. Once again, we were the good guys, setting up a member of the mob. I had led the charge against him, and I was probably going to be recommended to become a senior member of the MC for it. Max hadn’t left my side the whole time, and I knew he had my back. Shift hadn’t said anything, but he seemed impressed, as well.

 

The guys cheered as we pulled into the parking lot at HQ. They all stood outside the bay door, shouting and clapping. I pumped a fist into the air as I pulled my Harley up in line with the others. Maria even patted my back as we parked.