Chapter Six
Logan
The acrid stench of burnt rubber assaulted my nostrils as I stepped out of the ambulance. Smoke billowed from the mangled wreckage, obscuring the road ahead. My gut twisted. Something wasn’t right.
I squinted, trying to see through the haze. Two cars, both empty, their hoods crumpled like accordions. No skid marks. No debris trail. This wasn’t a typical crash scene.
“Wait up,” I called out to Liam, holding up a hand. “Something’s off here.”
Liam, my partner for the day, paused mid-stride. “What do you mean?”
I shook my head, unease prickling my skin. “This setup… it’s too perfect. Too staged. Not to mention, do you see any bodies? I don’t.”
Before I could explain further, three figures emerged from the smoke like wraiths. Black masks concealed their faces, and the glint of metal in their hands turned my blood to ice.
“Ambush!” The word tore from my throat. “Back to the rig, now!”
My heart pounded against my ribs as I waved Liam back urgently. He scrambled, wide-eyed and tense. I positioned myself between him and the approaching threats.
“Easy now,” one of the masked men growled, his voice low and menacing. “No one needs to get hurt.”
Scenarios raced through my mind -- a robbery? A trap? But there was no time to dwell on motives. My priority was getting us to safety.
“We don’t want any trouble,” I said, my voice steady despite the adrenaline surging through my veins. “Let us go, and no one gets hurt.”
The men advanced, their postures aggressive. My eyes darted to the surrounding area, searching for an escape route. If we could just make it back to the ambulance…
“I don’t think so,” the leader said. “On your knees, hands behind your head.”
Like hell. I wouldn’t let them take us without a fight. I tensed, ready to spring into action.
But before I could make a move, the wail of sirens pierced the air. The masked men exchanged a glance, hesitating.
“Leave ‘em,” one hissed. “We gotta go!”
They melted back into the smoke as quickly as they appeared, leaving us shaken and confused in their wake.
“What the hell was that?” Liam asked, his face pale.
I swallowed hard, my mind reeling. This was no random attack. Someone had set us up. But who? And why?
As the police cars screeched to a halt nearby, I tried to steady my breathing. One thing was for sure -- this was far from over. And I wouldn’t rest until I got to the bottom of it.
A flicker of recognition sparked in my mind as I recalled something about one of the fleeing attackers. The build, the gait… it couldn’t be. But the more I thought about it, the more certain I became. It was Isaac Vermont, an ex-con with a history of violence and ties to the local drug trade. I’d watched his trial, and paid attention every time he was on the news. He had a distinct way of walking that had stuck in my mind.
What the hell was he doing there? And why would he be involved in an ambush on first responders? The questions swirled in my head as we made our way back to the ambulance, our steps hurried and cautious.
“Logan, what’s going on?” Liam asked. “Why would anyone want to attack us?”
I shook my head, my jaw clenched. “I don’t know, but I intend to find out.”
“Good thing I’d been talking to one of my cop friends when we got the call. I think when they didn’t hear anything over the radio, they thought something was up,” Liam said.
So that’s why the cops showed up. Good to know they had our backs. Except we’d just left the scene without making a statement. I’d clear things up with Justin later and hopefully he could smooth things over with the chief.
As we climbed into the ambulance, I tried to piece together the puzzle. Isaac’s involvement suggested this wasn’t a random attack. Someone must have orchestrated this, but who? And what did they want with us? The fact we’d been sent to a bogus scene meant whoever orchestrated this was after first responders. But the question remained: any first responders or the Swift Angels in particular?
I turned the key in the ignition, the engine roaring to life. We needed to get back to the station, and I needed to meet with my club. I didn’t think this was about paramedics in general. We typically didn’t piss people off, unless we weren’t able to save someone. If anything, it made more sense for them to target the Swift Angels. Some people looked down on bikers, no matter what path they walked in life.
As we pulled away from the scene, the uneasy feeling in my gut intensified.
“Did you recognize any of them?” Liam asked, his brow furrowed.
I hesitated, weighing the consequences of sharing my suspicions. “I think one of them was Isaac Vermont. You know, that ex-con who got out a few months back.”
“Isaac Vermont? Are you sure?”
“Pretty damn sure,” I replied grimly. “But what I can’t figure out is why he’d be coming after us.”
Silence filled the ambulance as we sped through the streets, both of us lost in our own thoughts. I gripped the steering wheel tighter, my mind racing with possibilities. If Isaac was involved, this was more than just a random attack. There was something bigger at play here, and we needed to find out what it was before it was too late.
As we pulled into the station, I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. We needed to be smart about this. We needed to watch our backs and stick together. Because one thing was for certain -- we had just landed in the middle of something dangerous, and there was no telling what was going to happen next.
As we parked the ambulance, I couldn’t shake the nagging suspicion that dispatch might have been involved in this mess. It was a thought I didn’t want to entertain, but the pieces started falling into place. The location of the accident, the timing of the ambush -- it all felt too coincidental. Not to mention, dispatch had reached out to us personally, and the call hadn’t gone out over the radio. At the time, I’d thought maybe something was wrong with the communication system. Now I wasn’t so sure.
At the end of my shift, I went straight to the Swift Angels clubhouse. I’d already messaged Justin to give him a heads-up, and he’d likely told the others what happened. When I walked in, the usually lively space was filled with a somber silence broken only by occasional murmurs of conversation. I scanned the room taking in the faces of my brothers, each one etched with concern and anger.
“We need to talk,” I said cutting through stillness. “Something wasn’t right about this whole situation.”
Justin nodded grimly. “You think it was a setup?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted running hand through hair. “But I’ve got bad feeling that dispatch might be involved somehow.”
Justin’s eyebrows rose. “That’s a heavy accusation. What proof do you have?”
I hesitated, knowing the weight of my words. “Think about it. They sent us to that location, and then we got ambushed out of nowhere? Not to mention, the call didn’t go out through the radio. It was a call to my personal phone. It’s too much of a coincidence.”
Justin ran a hand over his face. “If dispatch is involved, we can’t trust anyone outside this room.”
The gravity of the situation settled over us. Each of us relied on the dispatch center. If it was someone with a grudge against the club, it meant no one in this room would be spared once they made another move. As a paramedic, I hadn’t thought I’d be as likely to piss someone off enough they’d come for me. But the others were firefighters and cops. On any given day they had to deal with irate citizens. All it took was making the wrong person angry and your life could not only be a living hell, but your career could take a dive right off a cliff too.
“So what do we do next?” Jaxson asked.
“I think we need to start digging. Find out everything we can about the accident scene to determine who might be behind it. And we need to watch our backs every step of the way,” I said.
“Agreed,” Justin said.
Or what if this hadn’t been about the Swift Angels and only me? Did that mean it had more to do with my relationship with Akira? I pulled out my phone and dialed her number, pacing as I waited for her to answer.
“Logan, is everything okay?” she asked the second the line connected.
“Why do you think I’m not okay?”
She sighed. “Because with the way things have been going lately, it’s likely you ran into trouble somewhere. My dad’s club scared the shit out of me last night. Did yours pull that crap with you?”
“No. It’s nothing like that. I just wanted to hear your voice and make sure you were all right.”
She paused a moment. “I’m with my family. I’m fine.”
“All right. Stay safe.” Before I could hang up, I heard her murmur you too .
I tucked my phone back into my pocket and turned to face my club, or those of us not currently on duty. If this wasn’t about me and Akira, then I’d been right. But I didn’t have enough information to know for sure. It could still go either way, but if it was because of the Swift Angels, then I’d just added another target on me. Just what I needed.
“Not to sound too much like one of my favorite cartoons, but… we’ve got a mystery to solve.”
Diego snickered, and I couldn’t blame him. But we needed a bit of levity right now. There was too much shit on my plate, and it seemed like the universe just wanted to pile more on.
“For those of us not here right now, I’ll send out an update,” Justin said. “And you’ll all get it so you’ll be included in any responses. Just fair warning in case your phones are blowing up with messages later.”
The roar of an approaching motorcycle drew my attention. I stepped outside just as Dawson pulled up. He dismounted, his expression grim.
“Want to explain why the Reapers just gave me the nastiest look ever when I saw them in town?” he asked.
“Um. Because I’m dating Akira?”
He pointed to me. “Right. That. And what did I tell you about dating her?”
“Not to do it? Come on, Dawson. I’m not a fucking kid.”
“Then don’t act like one.”
“We already went over this. You read me the riot act, and I thought I made it clear then that I wouldn’t walk away from Akira. I’m sorry if it’s put you in a difficult spot, but I don’t see the issue. You’re part of our club and you haven’t been disowned by the Reapers. So why can’t Akira date me without getting shit about it?”
Dawson sighed. “Because it just doesn’t work that way. I can’t explain things I don’t fully understand myself. I chose a different path for a reason. But, Logan, you seem to think your actions only impact you. They don’t. I have a family there. My dad won’t even let me through the fucking gates! If I want to see my mom, I have to meet her in town. If she wants to see her grandkid, she has to come to my apartment. What the fuck?”
“We have bigger issues right now,” I said. “I think dispatch might have set me up today. Called in a false accident, and I was ambushed.”
He froze, his gaze leaving me and going over my shoulder. I glanced back and saw Justin behind me.
“He’s not lying. Come inside and help us figure this shit out. The Dixie Reapers are the least of our worries today. Much less you getting to see your mommy,” Justin said.
Dawson flipped him off but followed us inside. We gave him a brief recap of what happened. He agreed something seemed off about the call in general.
“We got calls the regular way all day,” he said. “Anyone else have an issue like Logan?”
“No,” Justin said. “He thought he saw Isaac Vermont at the scene. I can’t think of a reason why he’d work with dispatch, but there’s also no logical reason for the call to have gone out the way it did.”
“I think we’re just going in circles.” Diego leaned back in his chair. “First off, is there anyone we could reach out to in dispatch? Someone we know for sure we can trust?”
“Everyone but Scarlet?” Jaxon asked. “I mean seriously, does the woman ever fucking work? How the hell does she pay her bills? There’s no way she had that much damn time off.”
He made a good point. Was she getting her funds elsewhere? I recalled the way I always felt when she was around. Something definitely seemed off with her. But why the hell would she want to target me like this?
“Let’s sleep on it for tonight,” Justin said. “Like I said earlier, I’ll send a message out to the entire club. Make sure everyone stays vigilant both at work and when you’re off. Until we know for sure what’s going on, I don’t want to take any chances.”
Dawson nodded. “I agree. Which brings me to the point I’d been trying to make with Logan before. You don’t need to see Akira right now. What do you think would have happened if she’d been with you during an ambush? Sure, this time it was while you were at work. What if you’re attacked on your own time and you’re on a date with her?”
“I can protect Akira.”
He snorted. “For your sake, I hope so. Otherwise, if whoever set that trap doesn’t kill you, her dad will.”
After meeting Wraith, I knew he wasn’t wrong. That man would bury me in a heartbeat if it was to keep his daughter safe. And if I ever did anything to get Akira hurt, I’d let him.