Chapter 22 #3
We catch our breath for a few seconds as Sutton is being dragged along.
She’s trying to put up a fight, but it’s useless compared to the trained men.
Even though she’s in the direst situation, I can’t help but see how beautiful she is with her round stomach that houses our child.
Something makes my woman turn her head, and she looks over at the trees, right where we’re at.
It’s as if she can sense that I’d come for her.
“Watch that stray bullets don’t catch her in the crossfire,” Stone grits above a whisper.
The moment the words are out of his mouth, I’m up on my feet and coming out of the shadows and towards the group heading to the plane.
Sutton sees me right away, and I’ll never forget the smile on her face when she realizes that I came for her.
She’s struggling against the two large men that have a hold on her arms as they force her forward.
“Beckett!” she screams, and it’s enough distraction to have the two men loosen their grip on her, and she yanks her arms free from them, but a horrifying look crosses over her face. She clutches her stomach, and my heart drops.
Something is wrong.
“GET DOWN!” I boom as I start to fire my weapon at every cartel and cult member.
Sutton doesn’t hesitate as she drops to the ground. The men scatter for cover as their friends get hit. The return fire has us halting and crouching down behind whatever we can find. Sanchez and Walter are almost to the jet.
Peeking over brush, I watch as the leader of the Colombian Cartel commands his men.
“Get me the girl!” he yells.
Several of his men break off from the wall shielding him and start to go back to where Sutton is still on the ground out of sight.
Stone slides up beside me, “I’ll take left, you got right?”
“With pleasure,” I say.
We both rise up and aim our guns, shooting without hesitation as they are within feet of my woman. Hitting our mark, they both go down.
“We can’t get to them until the rest of backup gets here,” Stone voices as we duck and shoot towards the fleeing criminals. The jet has started as the engine roars loudly.
“Getting Sutton is enough for now,” I admit and start to crawl getting closer to where she dropped down.
Commotion by the aircraft draws our attention.
Sanchez runs up the steps as his men cover him.
Reaper and the others continue to return fire from a distance.
Walter tries to get up the stairs to the airplane but is tossed off by one of the bodyguards.
He falls to the ground and scrambles away as the jet’s wheels start to move forward.
They left him like a fucking sitting duck.
Our reinforcements show up beyond the trees in vans. The brothers get out of the vehicles and start firing at the plane, but it’s of no use. The aircraft is already too far out of range for our bullets to do any type of damage. We watch as it lifts off the ground on the makeshift runway.
“We’ll get that motherfucker back,” Stone promises as he stands and lifts me up from the ground.
Off in the distance, we watch Walter take off in a jog for the trees.
Our Nevada brothers who just showed up make their way over to pick him up.
I don’t waste another minute as I take off where I last saw Sutton go down.
I hear the rustle of grass behind me and know my brothers are covering the area to make sure no one is hiding out in the trees to ambush us.
“Sutton!” I yell out but don’t hear her return my call.
I pick up my pace and come over the brush and find her down on the ground. What I wasn’t expecting was to see her unmoving and the bottom half of her white dress stained in blood.
“God, no,” I say and drop down on my knees beside her. I’m not sure if I should even touch her for fear of making whatever is happening worse.
“Get the bus here now and make sure Melissa is in it. We’ve got a very pregnant Sutton unconscious with blood coming out of her lower half.” I hear Stone say to someone.
“Sutton, Angel, open your eyes for me,” I plead. “You’re safe now.” I gather her up in my arms and even though her stomach is big, she feels so light as I gently rock her. I look over to Stone. “What do I do? Do we move her?” I ask as I feel the liquid coat my hand.
“Darlin’, open your eyes,” Stone tries to coax but doesn’t get a response. He pulls his glove off and places two fingers under her jaw on the neck. “She’s got a pulse but fuck if I know why she’s bleedin’.”
I pull up the dress above her thighs and see her underwear soaked in crimson.
“Fuck,” I bite out. “We can’t wait—”
“Bus is here but we’ve got to bring her to them over the brush,” Stone interrupts.
I pull her closer to me and stand with her in my arms. I’ve got a death grip around her as Stone, Reaper, and Riot make a path for me to walk without having to dodge stumps and debris.
Up ahead I can see the ambulance with Melissa bouncing on her feet, waiting for us to get to her.
She’s gloved up and ready to receive my woman and baby.
“Is she dead?” I hear off to the side and turn my head in the direction but keep walking to my destination. “Serves her right, the whore!” the bitter voice speaks again.
My steps falter at the words and notice Walter being held by a few brothers.
Riot storms over to the cult leader and sacks the shit out of the man in the stomach.
Walter lurches forward, bending in half with a loud wail.
I watch as my best friend brings his knee up quick connecting with the sorry-excuse-of-a-man’s nose and face.
Blood bursts out of his nostrils as the corner of my lip curls up.
“What do we have?” Melissa runs over, not waiting for me to come to her.
“She grabbed her stomach before she took cover on the ground. Found her knocked out and bleeding,” I tell her everything I know.
Melissa starts touching Sutton everywhere, trying to examine while we walk the rest of the way to the medics. She’s poking her stomach and listening with her stethoscope. As we approach, she starts commanding the medics and telling them what she needs and what they need to do.
“Get an IV bag going,” she tells one of them then looks over at the other. “Cut her out of this.”
I place her on the gurney where Melissa instructs then I’m shoved out of the way as they load her up into the back.
“Meet us at the hospital,” she tells me then hops in the back yelling for the driver to rush.
I stand there for a hot minute watching as the ambulance speeds off in the field. All the adrenaline that was pumping through my body is starting to waver. Numbness is tingling through my bones, and I’m reduced into exhaustion.
“Why the fuck do I feel like I’m having déjà vu?” I mumble to myself as I stare down at my blood soaked hands.
“Take that piece of shit to the guesthouse,” Stone orders as he approaches and wraps an arm around my shoulder. “Go with Riot, and we’ll meet you there after we get this shithole farm taped off.
“Prez!” Hawk calls out as he rushes over to us from one of our white vans.
He pulls his tablet up to our faces and starts swiping photos.
“We’ve found pallets of cocaine bagged up in eight of the last ten bunkers that have been searched.
That Judy lady said that there are over forty shelters underground. ”
“My God,” Stone utters as we scroll through pictures of the massive pallets of drugs.
“Think our mafia friends want in on this?” I suggest. “After dividing it up amongst the other chapters. Shit, aren’t there like four of five more locations like this across the U.S.?”
“That’s what Raegan and I have found so far,” Hawk affirms.
Stone shakes his head then looks at me.
“I’ll take care of this; you go be with Sutton. Raegan and Ivy will be there shortly. I want to make sure everyone is covered.”
“Let me know if you need anything,” I tell him as my mind goes on autopilot.
“Just focus on your family, brother,” Stone pushes me to where Riot and Blade are standing. “Send me updates every thirty minutes.”
I follow Riot and Blade to the van as Reaper is loading up Sutton’s father in another van.
“You’ll never get away with this!” the cult leader yells. “No one will believe you.”
“Who said anything about telling people? People go missing or burn up in buildings all the time,” Brass says offhandedly. He starts laughing at his own joke, getting in the other vehicle and gives us a wink before slamming the door closed, muting the man’s screams.
Once in the van, Riot takes off heading towards the main road. All I can think about is what is waiting for me when we get to the hospital. Over the last few months, I’ve dreaded going there because there was little hope to be had when we thought Sutton was in the explosion and burned up.
Just when we have hope that she’s okay, we find ourselves back at a place I dread going. I just hope the outcome is better than the last one we had.