Tank
The boys and I weren’t fucking around one bit. Oslo and a smaller squad of men who could shoot the straightest managed to fire a couple of clean shots at the men on the front lawn. They dropped like sacks of wet dough, and just like that we cut the numbers of Dakin’s crew by a fourth. This gave away our approach, but by the time they were able to get their shit together and cobble together a defensive effort, we were already tearing ass up to the house in our bikes like a squad of horse-mounted Huns.
The house grew larger and larger by the second, and I could see Dakin’s men forming up in the windows to take potshots at us. I breathed a small sigh of relief as the defense formed up and I realized that our gamble had paid off—Dakin’s numbers were low, and they didn’t appear to be expecting any kind of attack.
The crisp crack of rifle fire cut through the roar of our engines, but taking out moving targets like us would be hard enough for a squad of Army Rangers, let alone a liquored-up crew of roughneck bikers. Not a shot of theirs hit home, and the main thrust of the attack, a spear point with me at the tip, pulled onto the front yard of the house. Off to the sides, I spotted Oslo’s crew on one end, the squad led by Bowie on the other. They were lying in wait, the pincer attack to the offensive.
Dakin’s boys fired a couple of blind shots off at us from the windows; not a single one hit its mark. I watched as one of the boys hopped off his bike, pulled out his sidearm, took aim, and fired a pair of shots all in the same fluid motion—some real action movie shit. The pair of shots hit home, and one of Dakin’s thugs came tumbling out of the window, landing on the grass with a sick thud.
One down.
Dakin’s crew poured out of the front door and swarmed around the sides of the house, all roaring with rage as they joined the fight. It was too dark to get a good count, but I was sure that there had to be a couple of dozen—about an even fight.
Too bad they didn’t have a fraction of the discipline that my boys did. Not even their advantage in firepower could make up for that.
Soon, the fight was on in full force. Dakin’s men had no tactics of any kind, aside from trying to swarm us. Stupid move, since their biggest advantage was the distance they could get with their rifles. If they had any sense, they’d have had men posted on lookout
Oh well, I thought as I drove my fist into one of Dakin’s thugs, his boy crumpling underneath my blow, their loss is our gain.
We fought hard, the hand-to-hand combat sounding all around me. Dakin’s men were dropping, but more swarmed out of the front door. Not many, but enough to keep us on our toes. Once they joined the fight, I realized that it was time for Oslo and the rest to come to our aid. I shoved my hand into my pocket and send off the pre-written text to Oslo. Moments later, I heard the revving of engines from both sides of us. The headlights of the two groups closed in, wild whooping sounding out along with the roar of the engines. Dakin’s men were taken by total surprise, and Oslo and the rest piled off their bikes and rushed in on the two flanks. It looked like the plan was going to work.
But before I could get too carried away, a series of bangs sounded out from inside the house, explosions that shattered the windows of the house. The attention of all the men was seized for a moment. Looking in through the window, I saw the dancing form of fires that’d broken out. Dakin wasn’t in the fight, so I knew it had to be him.
Star … I thought, realizing that she had to be in there with him.
“Oslo!” I shouted out, getting his attention in the middle of the fight. “You take over out here! I’m going in!”
Oslo nodded in understanding before dropping his fist down on the head of one of Dakin’s men.
I ran through the front door, the heat from the flames already warming my skin. Smoke began to pool above me.
Dakin, you insane fuck. What did you do?
I rushed through the house, scanning the place for any sign of Star or Dakin.
“Star!” I shouted. “Where are you?”
“I’m he—”
Her cry was cut off, and my heart began to pound. I swore that if Dakin so much as laid a hand on her he was a fucking dead man.
I kicked open a shut door, which revealed a bedroom that looked to belong to a teenage girl.
Must be Star’s room, I thought.
I cut through the room and emerged in a study. Flames had begun to circle the room, and in the center of it all were Dakin and Star. Dakin’s forearm was crossed over Star’s neck as he held her close; a gun in his hand was pressed against her temple.
“Dakin, you crazy fuck!” I shouted. “Let her go now! This place is gonna burn to the ground around us!”
“So what if it does!” he shouted. “I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let you take what’s rightfully mine—the guns, the drugs, or the woman!”
Star struggled against Dakin, but his grip was just too strong. But if I didn’t do something, and fast, this little inferno that Dakin had started would snuff us all out.
Right at that moment, when I thought all was lost, Star calmed herself and made eye contact with me. I drew her attention to my hand, where I held up three fingers.
Then two.
Then one.
She knew just what I had in mind.
Right when my hand clenched into a fist, indicating “zero,” Star pulled her arm forward and then back, the hard tip of her crooked elbow driving hard into Dakin’s gut. His eyes went wide and the air rushed from his lungs as the blow connected. His muscles loosened up enough that Star was able to wriggle free of his grasp. And as this all went down I dropped into a crouch, pulling my buck knife out of my boot. I switched it open and with a flick of my wrist, whipped the knife at Dakin. The blade hit home, punching through the leather covering his upper shoulder and driving deep into his skin.
“Fuck!” he shouted out.
Star ran to my side, but before she made it halfway, she stopped as if thinking of something, and ran back.
“Star!” I shouted, the wood of the house cracking and smoking around us, the flames growing hotter by the second. “We don’t have time for this!”
Star squatted down and grabbed something off of the floor. I didn’t have a chance to see what it was before she tucked it under her shirt and ran to my side.
“You ain’t goin’ anywhere!” shouted Dakin, pulling the knife from his shoulder with a hard jerk. “I’ll fuckin’ kill you both!”
Dakin started into a dash, but before he could, the ceiling above him gave way with a deafening splintering crash, like a huge tree was being felled. The ceiling collapsed on him, the flaming debris pinning him in place.
He was done.
I grabbed Star by the wrist and led her out of the doomed home, the smoke stinging my eyes. Seconds later we crashed through the front door. Both of us collapsed on the front lawn in a fit of coughing.
“We gotta move!” shouted Oslo. “That house is going down!”
I turned, and sure enough, he was right. The house groaned and cracked as the fire ripped through it. My lungs burned like hell from the smoke, but we didn’t have time to sit around and recover. I grabbed Star and threw her over my shoulder, barking out to my men to grab any of Dakin’s crew who still lived and get them out of the area. They complied. Minutes later, just when we all got far enough away from the house, the thing gave way. With a massive cracking noise, it collapsed in on itself.
I set Star down, I saw that her eyes were wet with tears, the reflection of the house burning to the ground in each of her eyes.
“Houses can be rebuilt,” I said.
She nodded in understanding. Then she struggled to her feet, placing her head on my shoulder as we watch the house burn.
We were safe. That was all that mattered. Now it was time to get the hell out of here.