“You sure your head’s in this?” Bear asked. It was the third time. I leaned sideways against my Harley, flicking the ashes of my cigarette away.

“My head’s in this,” I answered yet again. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t.”

Bear cracked his knuckles. Shep stood beside him. We gathered in the empty gravel parking lot off 181. The abandoned spark plug factory loomed ahead of us, half its windows broken out. It gave the place an even more sinister look, like a hundred pairs of dark eyes staring at us.

“I don’t like this.” Axle came out from behind the building with Kade and Chase at his side. They’d run recon before Shep, Bear, and I rolled up. The factory was neutral turf just outside of Port Azrael. Bear and A.J. Moss picked it. They should be rolling up any minute with Fitzie in tow. Then we could end this. Maddox had been itching to come along and take care of Fitizie himself. It was personal for him. That’s exactly why Bear made him stay behind.

“It’ll be quick,” Bear said. “Trust me, Moss doesn’t want to spend any more time on this than we do. He trusts us even less.”

He didn’t get to finish his speech before two Hawks rode up. Behind them, a dark gray van pulled up. My fingers played on the handle of my Nine. Axle moved in front of Bear, putting his body between him and whoever was about to slide out of that van.

Two of the Hawks’ probies sat behind the wheel. I recognized the two on their Harleys as Butch and Milo, the Hawks’ enforcers. When the van door opened and A.J. Moss came out, my spine stiffened. This wasn’t good. Not fucking good at all. He was alone, for one. The grim look on his ugly mug didn’t help either.

“What the fuck A.J.,” Bear said. He growled like his spirit animal. Axle unsnapped his holster and took a ready stance.

A.J. made a downward gesture with his hands. It did nothing to settle Axle.

“Where the fuck is Fitzie?” Shep said, peering into the back of the van.

“We ran into a little trouble,” A.J. said.

“What kind of trouble?” Bear asked.

Moss let out a sigh. “Forgive me if I don’t want to go into details, Bear. But Fitzie’s in the wind as of about two hours ago.”

“Fuck me,” Bear said. “You get him here, Moss!”

“I got an idea where he’s headed, but I need a little time to pull it together. You need to trust me, Bear.”

Shep’s face turned purple. When he made a move toward Moss, Bear held him back.

“Look, I don’t need this complication any more than you do,” Moss said. “Why do you think I came all the way out here myself? It’s a show of faith. I’m sure your crew wanted you to stay behind as much as I did. But we’re here. And I’m taking care of the Fitzie problem.”

Bear’s phone rang. He shot a look at Axle. Axle went even more rigid and kept an eye on A.J. Moss. Bear turned away and walked back toward his bike.

“Where is she?” he shouted. His tone was frantic. My heart dropped. “Goddammit! You stay with her. You hear me? You don’t leave her fucking side. I’m on my way.”

Bear clicked off the call and doubled over. When he finally rose, his face was gray. He took a faltering step forward, then lunged at Moss. Axle held him back. Butch and Milo closed ranks around Moss.

“You wanna tell me what the fuck is going on?” Moss shouted.

I went to Bear. When he locked eyes with me, the air went out of my lungs.

“Fitzie showed up at the hospital where Wendy is.” Bear choked out his words. “Moose is dead.”

“Moose?” I said; my brain felt encased in syrup. He was telling me something with his eyes, his posture, his words. But I couldn’t let my mind go there.

“Moose was supposed to take Quinn to the airport,” I said. Quinn. My God. Quinn! But she was on a plane headed for France. She wouldn’t be at the hospital. Why the fuck was Moose at the hospital?

“Mama!” Shep shouted. “She was on her way to visit Wendy. Pops, is she okay? What the fuck is happening?”

“Your little Fitzie problem!” Bear whirled back, straining against Axle to get to Moss.

“Bear, I don’t know what the hell’s going on. I swear to God,” Moss said.

“He killed one of my prospects,” Bear said. “He pistol-whipped my wife.” Bear turned to me. “An orderly saw Fitzie leaving. He had Quinn with him.”

The ground seemed to open up beneath me. Quinn. Goddammit. Quinn. She was at the hospital with Mama Bear. She must have wanted to check in on Wendy before she left. Now it was my turn to double over.

Shep acted quickly. He moved away from us and got in A.J. Moss’s face. Moss held a hand up, keeping his guys from taking Shep down. I was at his side, my fingers playing on my holster.

“I told you,” Moss said. “I have an idea where Fitzie’s headed. There’s a chick he’s been banging. Lacey. She’s got a place out on Millburn Road. If anybody’s helping him, it’ll be her. She ain’t too bright, let’s just say. He must have caught wind of our deal and decided to try and negotiate a better one. I swear on my fucking patch I had nothing to do with this.”

“Yeah? How’s that? How the fuck did he catch wind of this?” I asked. Shep held me back. I could see his own fury bubbling. Bear was falling apart. Pistol-whipped. Mama was hurt. Moose was dead. Quinn was gone.

“I’ll take you there,” Moss said. “I want to see this through just as much as you do.”

“Go!” Bear said. Chase and Kade were at his side. “Shep, you come with me. Axle, Dom, you go get that son of a bitch.”

I don’t remember leaving. I don’t remember climbing on the back of my damn bike. I know Kade and Axle were at my side but couldn’t go fast enough.

Mama Bear. She could be dying. Quinn. Oh God. I couldn’t let my mind even go there. Fitzie was fucking desperate. He had to believe he had nothing to lose. To lay hands on Mama ... he knew he’d never be able to walk back from that.

When the van carrying A.J. Moss made the turn down Millburn Road, my vision clouded. There was nothing back here but a rundown trailer park. There was no way we could come in stealthy. Axle was one step ahead. He pulled to the side of the road near a drainage ditch. I wanted to keep going. Only the thunder of my engine beneath my legs matched my fury. But instinct made me turn. I pulled alongside Axle and cut my engine. Kade was right behind me.

The van parked at an angle and Moss stepped out. “Quarter of a mile down that way,” he said. “She’s in an Airstream. One of those fucking goose statues out front draped in an American flag. I have no clue what Fitzie’s driving. We took his ride away.”

“You should have slit his fucking throat when you had the chance.”

Moss met my eyes. His were hard, spaced too close together, giving him a rat-like appearance. He was even older than Bear. For years, I’d been made to call him Uncle A.J. when my mother took me around the Hawks’ clubhouse. That hadn’t been very often, thank God. Moss, I think, had known Rip Lyons wasn’t my daddy from the very beginning. I’d heard through the grapevine that old bastard had finally croaked about five years ago. But A.J. Moss? He knew. He fucking had to know Rip took all that shit out on me. If Bear ever found out one of his crew was laying a hand on a little kid … I shook those thoughts out of my head, but Moss saw it in my eyes. If things went south today and A.J. Moss made a wrong move, I wanted it to be me who put a bullet in his fucking brain.

“Fan out,” Moss said. “She’s about a quarter of a mile up that way. We’ll come in from the east, you go west.”

“Fat fucking chance, asshole,” Axle said. “I want you where I can see you. You’re with me.”

Butch moved to protest but Moss stopped him. “Fine,” he said. “Butch, you stay with Jimmy.”

Jimmy. Nobody had fucking called me that since I was about five years old. My mother always called me James. Then she didn’t call me at all. From the time I was fourteen on, I was Domino. Jimmy didn’t exist. Maybe he never had.

“You call me anything but Domino, ever again, Axle won’t be the one you gotta worry about,” I said, squaring off with Moss. He narrowed his beady little eyes, but let it drop. He and Axle fanned out, leaving me with Butch.

I ran. I had no other choice. If Quinn were at the end of this path, I needed to get to her no matter what. She had to be okay. Fitzie would lose whatever bargaining chip he had if he killed her. She was alive when she left the hospital. He’d want her to stay that way. Unless … God, I couldn’t think it. Quinn wasn’t of this world. What if she’d tried to run, tried to fight? Hurting Josie Bullock was the dumbest thing Fitzie could have ever done. And here I was hoping he’d thought straight when it came to Quinn?

Shattering glass drew my attention. Butch dropped low. We were in sight of the silver Airstream. Just like A.J. said, she had a stupid goose out front with an American flag flapping around its neck.

I drew down. A shadow moved across the yard.

“Fitzie!” Butch shouted.

“You dumb son of a bitch!” I didn’t let him get another word out. I elbowed him in the face hard enough to knock his stupid ass out. Whatever advantage we had coming in undetected, Butch had just blown. To the east of me, Axle popped out of the trees, looking just as pissed as I felt. Moss was right behind him, his lips pursed into a tight grimace. He saw Butch on the ground and just shrugged.

The first shot broke the window on the Airstream. The bullet whizzed by Moss’s head. Axle threw him to the ground. Though a small, sick part of me wished it had found its mark, I knew Axle was right to get Moss out of harm’s way.

“Ain’t nowhere to run, kid,” Axle called out. Now that he knew we were here, there was no point in staying quiet.

A scream came from deep inside the trailer. My blood curdled, but it wasn’t Quinn.

“Shut the fuck up, Lacey!” Fitzie called out. I heard a scuffle and a thump. He’d done something to her.

When the front door of the trailer burst open, I dove to my left. Axle and I stood shoulder to shoulder, guns drawn. I pulled up when Quinn stumbled out. Her blonde hair hung in strings. Sweat poured down her face and her red-rimmed eyes locked with mine.

My heart soared and broke all at once. She was alive. She was whole as far as I could see. But she was terrified and it was all because of me. Fitzie came out behind her, his gun pressed against her back.

“This is over, Fitz,” Moss said. He was still on his knees, struggling to stand. Axle had thrown him down hard. “You’re surrounded. Nowhere left to run.”

“No fucking way,” Fitzie said. He was on something. His eyes darted left and right, unfocused. It made him even more dangerous. Quinn mouthed “I’m sorry” to me.

“Let her go,” I said, training my weapon right at his head. He kept Quinn in front of him. From this angle, I couldn’t get a shot off without putting her at risk. Moss was right though. In the middle of nowhere, Fitz was out of options. There was a beat-up Chevy parked beside the trailer. Maybe he could get to it. But he couldn’t go anywhere without the Hawks and the Saints up his ass for the rest of his life.

In that moment, I knew how dangerous Fitzie was. Cornered. Scared. Altered. He’d proven how crazy he was by what he’d done to Mama Bear. He had just one play left. Go out in a blaze of glory taking as many people with him as he could.

“Fitz?” a female voice cried from inside. “Fitz, you said you wouldn’t leave me here. You can’t!”

“Shut the fuck up, Lacey,” he called back. He pushed Quinn forward. She stumbled but stayed on her feet. She was ten yards away from me. Could she move fast enough if I signaled to her? No. It was too risky. The only way she could drop to the ground was with a bullet in her back.

“I went to a lot of trouble to bring these boys out here,” Moss said. He was back on his feet and walking toward Fitzie.

“Stay put, you mother fucker!” Fitzie yelled, his eyes wild.

“Don’t move, A.J.,” I said. “Do what he says.”

But Moss kept on walking. Smiling with confidence, he had his hands up. The fucker had more balls than brains and he didn’t think Fitzie was dumb enough to shoot him. I absolutely knew better.

Quinn. In a split second, it would be over. Her eyes met mine and she seemed to know her fate. This was bigger than both of us. Too many variables. I couldn’t control it. Couldn’t keep her safe. A single tear fell from her eyes and she gave me a tiny nod.

No. God. No.

She turned to the side and faked to the right. I steadied my weapon and aimed at Fitzie’s head. Too close. Quinn was too close. Fitzie sensed movement and pushed Quinn forward, raising his gun. He had it trained on her head.

The first shot cracked, taking me off guard. My shot. A second. A third came from my left and another from behind me. Quinn screamed and dropped to the ground, rolling away.

Fitzie stood even straighter and taller. He took one awkward step back, his face melting into a strange smile. Then a blossom of red formed on his forehead and a thick, single line of blood poured from a hole just above his left eye. He dropped to the ground face forward.

“Quinn!”

For the rest of my life, I’d run those last few yards to get to her. She lay on the ground. Gunfire had come from everywhere. It was Moss’s shot that took Fitzie out. But it had been far too close.

Finally, I got to her. Quinn reached for me, tears streaming down her cheeks as I gathered her into my arms and kissed her.

“You’re all right,” I said. “You’re all right. I’ve got you.”

Sobbing, she collapsed against me and the world fell away.