Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Fang
Waiting on Ghost to text us a location is like waiting for water to evaporate. I’m surprised I haven’t worn a hole in the floor from all the pacing. Not knowing Winter’s condition is slowly driving me mad.
“Brother,” Ramon places a hand on my shoulder, halting my steps. “Sit down and save that energy. You’re gonna need it.”
He’s right, I just can’t bring myself to be still. Hours have felt like eternity. The sun set a long time ago. It’s as dark as it’s going to get. When is this fool going to call, or text, with meetup details.
My flesh is crawling with the need to get to Winter. A fire is burning in my gut to murder. Murder is never a term we use. Murder reflects evil. Eliminating the enemy isn’t as sinister. It’s taking out the trash and cleaning up the world.
Tonight, I’m downright murderous.
A beep echoes in the silent room. All heads turn toward Sinner. He picks his cell phone up from the bar top. I inch forward, hands closing into fists at my sides. “Prez?” I ask, needing to know.
Sinner spins on the barstool, a look of disbelief on his face. As I reach his side, he hands me the phone. On the screen is a location. One I know well. One we all know well. The house across the street from our compound.
How did they get so close without us knowing. Buzzcut is great at keeping tabs on the comings and goings around here. He’s always on alert. Hell, we have security cameras all over the inside and outside of our gates.
If they’re this close, that means that Winter has been within arm’s reach this whole time. God, I could have swooped in and saved the day a hundred times over. Handing my uncle his cell, I march toward the front door.
“Fang, where the hell do you think you’re going?” Sinner shouts.
“Where the hell do you think?” I call out over my shoulder. If he thinks he’s going to stop me from rescuing my girl, he can think again. Nobody is going to stop me from getting her out of that hellhole.
Ramon falls into step with me. At first, I think he’s come to stop me, but he just slips his Glock from the holster on his hip. “Y’all comin’?” he asks the rest.
Neither of us glance back to see who all is coming with us.
Chairs scrapping across the floor and heavy footfalls echo behind us. Sinner says a few choice words then jogs out the door to catch up with us. The rest of the club members run out, armed to the teeth.
Loud music blasts into the night. As we pass through the gates, I see flashing lights through the windows of the house. This is a setup. We all know it. How can it not be. The minute we walk through those doors, we’ll be ambushed. I can feel it deep in my bones.
The streets are deserted, which isn’t that unusual around here, considering this is our land. Still, we look left and right before crossing. Ramon has a gun in each hand, both raised and aimed at the house in front of us.
The instant my boots touch grass, gunfire rings out from the upstairs windows. Everyone scatters. Some run for the bushes. Others duck and scramble for cover. Ramon lifts his aim and starts firing. “Move,” he screams at me.
Not wasting any time, I hightail it to the house. Leaping onto the porch, I press my back to the siding. I wait a moment then inch toward the window. I don’t want to lean over too soon because I have no idea who is on the other side waiting for my head to appear.
It’s a good thing I didn’t get in hurry to look. A shot rings out and glass shatters next to me. Ramon rushes forward, reloading clips. He drops, rolls, and emerges with guns up, firing shots into the window right next to me.
Despite the loud music, sounds of bodies dropping like deadweight meet my ears, bringing a smile to my face.
Sinner jumps onto the porch with a groan.
His old joints don’t take the impact like they used to.
Using his bodyweight, he kicks the door in, sidestepping out of the way in case there’s a Hollow Bones member waiting in the shadows.
Wolf appears from the left of the house. Sinner and I glance over. He holds up two fingers, indicating that there are two men in the living room, armed and ready.
Ramon drops down and arm crawls toward the door. With a kick of his foot, he slides forward, firing into the house. When there is no return fire, Ramon stands and rushes through the doorway.
I take off after him, Sinner and Wolf close on my heels. Wolf and Sinner split to cover the downstairs. Ramon takes the stairs two at a time and I follow. The others can be heard entering the front door, boots crunching glass as they move.
As we reach the top, the smell of stale cigarettes and piss assault my nose. Don’t get me wrong, our clubhouse never smells like fresh linen, but it doesn’t smell like rot and decay either. This is nasty. Even the carpets are stiff from years of grime.
Ramon moves slow and steady. Glancing down the hall, he lifts a hand, two fingers raised. Signaling two doors. Behind me, footsteps pad the carpeted stairs. Rage. Even though he is pissed at me over Dawg’s death, he’s here to cover our six.
Moving toward the first door, Ramon grips the knob, nodding for me to be ready.
Lifting my gun, I aim at the door, waiting for Ramon to twist the knob.
As soon as the wooden door swings open, I brace myself for gunfire.
When there is none, I march into the room.
Rage trails in behind me, searching under the bed. Ramon searches the closet.
“Clear,” Ramon says. Snatching the pillow off the bed, he takes the lead. The second door is on the opposite side of the hall. Ramon motions for Rage to open the door.
Moving to the other side of the door, Rage twists the knob and throws the door wide open. Ramon tosses the pillow into the room. Three shots rapid fire in the direction the pillow went. Motioning for Rage and me to stay put, he lifts both guns and steps into the doorway, firing.
As soon as bullets stop flying, I rush into the room fully expecting to find Winter tied to a chair in the corner.
Instead, I’m met with an elbow to the face when the closet door swings open and a young kid comes out screaming his battle cry.
He doesn’t look a day over eighteen. I’m not sure if he’s one of them or an innocent.
Using the butt of my gun, I clock him upside the head.
He falls to the floor then glares up at me.
Grabbing a handful of hair, I lift him to his feet.
At first the kid looks like he’s about to punch me, but the sight of Ramon aiming both guns at him, and Rage standing with arms crossed and a gun in hand, has him thinking twice. “Where is Winter?”
He laughs. “I ain’t telling you shit, Devil.”
That right there is all the proof I need that this punk is a Hollow Bones. “Wrong answer.” I punch him in the nose hard enough that bones crack. “Try again.”
The kid spits blood and smirks. This won’t do. In one swift motion, I holster my gun, grip his wrist with one hand and his elbow with the other. Pressure on the elbow as I twist the wrist back wipes the smirk right off his face. I keep adding pressure until I hear the pop of bones.
A scream rips from him as his arm breaks. “Okay, okay.”
I cease adding pressure but don’t release him. “Where is Winter?”
“Base…basement.” Now that we know where my girl is, I release my hold on him. The second his body falls to the ground, Ramon presses the trigger, putting a bullet right between the kid’s eyes.
A splatter of blood hits my cheek. Do I care? Not in the slightest. That punk deserved what he got, and I will proudly wear the remnants. The beast inside me thrives off it. As if the kid’s death is tied to the blaring music, the thumping ceases and all is quiet.
The crunch of the sticky carpet can be heard with each step I take.
Knowing that Winter is just two floors below me has my feet moving faster than they have ever moved.
As the club’s enforcer, Ramon is always a step ahead and ready for trouble.
He jogs down the stairs, jumping the last four steps with a groan.
Sinner skids to a stop when he sees us descending. “Where is she?”
“Basement,” I say.
Rage jumps over the banister midway down. “Ground floor all clear?”
“Yes.” Wolf enters the room, reloading a new clip into his weapon.
“We gotta find the basement door.” Those doors are generally toward the back of the house, usually around the kitchen.
I’m already moving in that direction when Ramon shouts, “Over here.”
When we enter the kitchen, Ramon is standing next to an open door. Zeke and Haze are walking up the basement stairs. Zeke meets my gaze, “No one’s down there.”
My heart hammers in my chest. Where else would she be? That kid said she was down here. “Any signs that she was here?” I refuse to believe that kid lied, and we killed him before getting the truth out of him.
Zeke nods. “Other than a shackle attached to the wall, a vial and syringe, and some blood smears, I found this.” He hands me a bracelet.
My heart immediately skips a beat. This is Winter’s bracelet.
I remember her telling me about her mother giving it to her before cancer took her from this world.
“It’s hers.” Clutching the thin gold bracelet to my chest, I step over bodies, needing fresh air.
Every nerve in my body is stretched tight.
The night air is calling my name. Exiting through the back door, I nearly crumble to the ground.
How could this happen? Winter can’t be the third person in my life I lose to this life.
No, not the third person. Dawg’s life was taken.
Winter would be the fourth. I swear, if they have killed her, I will set fire and burn the whole world.
Buzzing in my back pocket has me scrambling to fetch my cell phone. It’s a text from an unknown number.
Unknown:
Now that I’ve got your attention. How about we play a little game?
Game?
Bring her to me, and she better be unharmed.
I know Ghost, he enjoys watching people suffer.
The man I once thought of as an uncle, is now my biggest enemy.
Not just because of Winter, but my father, Vile, and Dawg as well.
As soon as I find out where that bastard is, I am going to strangle him slowly, then light his ass on fire.
When I’m done with him, he’ll be nothing but ashes.
Unknown:
No promises there.
I can hear voices inside. Sinner is having a meeting with the club members. That’s not important right now. What is important, is finding Winter and ending the Hollow Bones for good.
Where’s Winter?
Unknown:
Closer than you think.
What the hell? Not this again.
Stop toying with me. Where is she?
Unknown:
Now, now. That’s not the attitude of a good player.
I swear to all that is holy, if Ghost doesn’t stop with the bullshit, I’m going to rip out my hair. Knowing he won’t stop until I decide to play along, I give in.
What game are we playing?
Unknown:
We are playing a little game of rescue the cat.
Fine. What are the clues?
Unknown:
Start from home?
Start from home? Is he referring to my childhood home? What home?
Define home.
Unknown:
It’s staring you in the face.
Sinner is in the middle of some speech, every ear listening intently when I come crashing through the door. Wolf and Ramon are the first to shift their attention. Ramon’s eyes widen when he sees the state I’m in. “What is it?”
I toss him the phone. “She’s at the clubhouse.”
“Shit.” Sinner lifts a hand, motion for us to follow. “Let’s move.”