22. Dax
DAX
Eagle! My brain shouted at me as I regained consciousness.
Before I could even see clearly, I was already moving, knowing I needed to get to him and stop the bleeding.
Whoever the bastard was who came up behind me, shot him right in front of me after he was already bleeding out from the hit to his side.
How could I have been so stupid? Of course, it wouldn’t be this easy to get a hit on the Mad Dogs.
They’ve been dealing drugs for the Tesoro Cartel for years without getting caught, and we just happened to catch them in a slipup?
God, all this romance was making me soft and stupid—this is why I never thought letting someone in was a good idea.
Now all I could think about was getting back to Eagle and the others.
I lost track of everyone once all the bombs started to go off.
It was exactly what I imagined being in battle would be like with the enemy setting off landmines all around you.
The second I was sitting up, I regretted that choice.
Nausea churned in my gut as my brain felt like it was about to explode in pain.
My vision cleared in time for me to realize I was falling out of the cot I’d been placed on, and my arms were tied behind my back so nothing stopped me from greeting the concrete floor with my face.
Just when I didn’t think my head could hurt anymore, I discovered I was very wrong about that.
“Motherfucking son of a cunt-sucking bitch,” I snarled, trying to roll to my side as my vision started to go dark again.
Someone in the room chuckled, making me freeze, listening to my surroundings. Clearly, I wasn’t alone in this room as I heard heavy footsteps approach.
“You’ve got quite the mouth on you, it seems,” a deep voice commented.
Not feeling the need to respond to his observations, I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my vision so I could see what the hell was going on.
Slowly, everything came back into focus, and I was greeted with one of the ugliest faces and wished I didn’t work so hard to see better.
“God, that’s one ugly mug you’ve got going on.
Who decided to curb-stomp you? Or were you just born that way? ”
The man in front of me scowled. Since the lower left side of his face was scarred from burns, it didn’t move the same way, making him look like he was permanently sneering at you, and the scowl made it worse.
I also noticed his left eye was discolored, and I bet money on the fact he was blind in that eye.
Someone had done a number on this asshole, but my gut told me he deserved it.
“Not the brightest bitch of the litter, are you?” he snapped, grabbing me by the throat.
“We just demolished your whole crew along with the leaders of the Phantom Saints. You’ve got nobody coming for you.
It might be wise for you to keep your mouth shut since the only reason you’re still alive is because Mastiff wants to talk to you first.”
“See, you’re confusing me, Freddy Kruger,” I quipped. “If I keep my mouth shut, I won’t be able to talk to Mastiff, and since that’s what’s keeping me alive, I think I’ll keep talking. Seems to be working out well for me right now.”
“What the fuck did you just call me?” the angry biker asked, spit hitting my face in his fit of rage.
“Freddy Kruger, you know the horror movies about the guy who kills people in their dreams with the fucked-up face? I feel like you should know this. You would be a perfect person for the role,” I rambled, watching the man in front of me practically turn purple with rage.
“Are you trying to make me kill you?” Freddy demanded as he tightened his hold on my throat.
“Bane!” another voice lashed out like a whip making Freddy flinch. “Get your hands off her, now.”
Freddy, I mean, Bane tossed me away, getting to his feet and giving me the evil eye.
I had the feeling this wasn’t going to be the last I’d see of him, and I looked forward to repaying him for calling me a bitch.
Standing behind Bane was a huge bald man with a beard that would make Vikings jealous as it reached down to his belly button in one neat braid.
He reminded me of those guys you see in the gym who are so muscled out they can’t really put their arms down at their sides and lost their neck in the process.
I let out a whistle as I looked up from my seat on the ground. “You’re a big fucker, which means you have to be Mastiff. It only makes sense.”
The man raised a brow at this but nodded his head, or at least I think he did, hard to tell with no neck. “Yes, I’m Mastiff, the president of the Mad Dogs. I’ve waited a long time to meet you, Dax.”
“Oh right, what did those two assholes say before I killed them, something about my cunt of a sister-in-law selling me off to you?” I mused as I folded my legs criss-cross to get more comfortable since it looked like I wasn’t going anywhere fast. “Seems I missed the memo on that one on account of my twin getting killed and all.”
Mastiff grinned at me. “You’re everything I hoped you would be.”
When he didn’t elaborate on that, I decided to take in my surroundings and start working on my plan to kill all these fuckers.
If dear old Freddy didn’t lie and they did kill everyone, which I didn’t believe, then I was the only person who could get me out of this situation.
The room was small, more long than narrow, with only the rusted cot and metal chair that Mastiff was settling himself on.
My first thought was whether it would even be able to hold his massive bulk, but after a slight groan, it held, making me have some respect for whoever made the metal chair.
There was a window, but it had bars over it, and the door to the room was steel with a narrow window in it that seemed too thick for me to break.
It felt like a jail but yet not, at the same time.
This place for sure was abandoned with how dirty it was, the grime seeming too thick for a place they use often.
“I have a deal to make with you, Dax… or should I call you Two Tricks?” Mastiff asked as if proving he knew my secret was something impressive.
I just shrugged which made my fucked-up shoulder burn, but it was just a reminder of the fact they tried to kill me once already.
No matter what they said to me here and now, there was no way I’d believe them since they were under Marco’s thumb and did his bidding.
“Whatever gets your rocks off is fine with me. Although, you might just want to save yourself the effort since I have zero intention of making a deal with you. I feel like it’s bad juju to do business with someone when they’ve already tried to kill you. ”
“That hit was done without my knowledge,” Mastiff countered.
My face scrunched up in confusion at that. “So you’re telling me a group of your people went rogue and decided to kill me all on their own? Yeah, I don’t think so, seeing how there was way too much planning involved in that whole thing.”
“It seems Marco wanted to test out just how big of a challenge you would be to take out, and seeing that you survived all the hits against you…”
“Are you telling me this is all my fault because I wasn’t easy enough to kill? That’s just fucked up, man,” I said, shaking my head.
Mastiff’s jaw clenched in frustration that I kept interrupting him and purposefully missing the point. “No, it just means you made yourself the focus of his attention when you were just an irritation before. I’ve been trying to get him to let me keep you like I was promised.”
This had me snorting and trying to keep from laughing. “I’m sorry you just sound like a spoiled child who isn’t getting the newest and shiniest toy in the window.”
That comment finally did the trick of cracking this bullshit facade he was giving me.
He shot up from his chair faster than I’d have thought a man his size could, knocking it to the floor, and stalking toward me.
Grabbing me by the throat, he slammed me against the tiled wall snarling in my face, teeth bared.
“You think this is all one big joke, that I won’t kill you and send your head to Marco? ”
His grip on me was so tight I couldn’t answer, and when I tried, only a little squeak came out. I didn’t fight him, though. I had him right here I wanted him—pissed off and not paying attention.
“I’m the only thing keeping you alive right now, you little cunt, so I’d try and show a little more respect to the person who holds your life in their hands,” Mastiff snarled, his face so close his nose almost touched mine.
The burning feeling in my lungs as they cried out for air told me I had a limited time to do what was needed.
I let my eyes flutter closed and sagged a little like I was starting to pass out.
He let up on his hold just a touch, giving me the room I needed to take a breath and lunge forward, slamming my head into his as I wrapped my legs around his waist. The only flaw in this plan was my legs were almost too short to make it around to lock my ankles together as he jerked back from the blow.
Using my hands, I shoved off the wall, trying to keep my torso upright as I latched my teeth onto his nose and bit down as hard as I could.
Blood flooded my mouth as my teeth dug into his flesh, taking a chunk with me as he slammed a fist into my side where I’d been shot, knocking the breath out of my lungs as I landed in a heap on the floor once again.
“Fucking whore tried to bite my nose off!” Mastiff bellowed.
Grinning, I spit out what looked like the tip of his nose, blood and spit rolling down my chin. “I was just doing you a favor. It was a little big for your face… this suits you much better.”
Blind rage descended on Mastiff’s face as he charged at me, but I rolled out of the way and ended up on my stomach.
I’d figured out my hands were bound by zip ties which was the best-case scenario as I caught it on a rusted bit of the bed frame that was jutting out and yanked my hands down and apart, snapping the ridged plastic.
Now that my hands were free, I scrambled to my feet and snagged the small, folded boot knife they missed.
It wasn’t the best for fights like this since it was only a three-inch blade, but beggars can’t be choosers.
The noise must have drawn attention because Freddy was back with four others right behind him, all with guns drawn and trained on me.
Well fuck… how was I going to get out of this fucking mess?
I didn’t have much time to think as Mastiff charged, hitting me like a linebacker trying to take out the quarterback holding the ball.
He launched us across the tiny room, slamming me into the wall as he started throwing fists.
One caught me in the hip, making me scream, but since he’d ducked and was pinning me with his shoulder, it gave me the perfect opening to his back.
Never in my life have I moved my arm as fast as I did, stabbing my knife into him as many times as I could before he got in another blow, knowing if he did, it would break something for sure.
Mastiff roared in pain, pulling away from me, but I didn’t stop stabbing him, catching him in the face, adding to the scars he already had there. “What are you waiting for? Shoot her!”
Letting my legs collapse, I dropped so I was blocked by Mastiff’s giant frame and stabbed up into his stomach.
Blood sprayed everywhere, making my hand slip on the knife until it got stuck as I slammed it into his ribs.
Instead of trying to get it out of him, I lunged forward, knocking him on his back as I grabbed his gun on his hip.
Riding him down to the ground, I shot in the direction of the door where Bane and the others had been standing.
My body worked faster than my brain as I tried to keep up with what was happening.
That’s when I realized the room was silent other than the sounds of Mastiff choking on his own blood as he looked up at me from the ground.
My whole body was shaking with the adrenaline coursing through my veins as I stood, groaning at the pain from my hip where he struck me.
Gritting my teeth, I raised the gun and aimed it right at Mastiff’s head.
“This is for Eagle, you bastard, and for calling me names,” I bit out as I pulled the trigger, nailing him right between the eyes.
Staggering to the door, I found three out of the four dead and bleeding out but no sign of Bane.
Kneeling, I grabbed their guns, checking the ammo before stuffing one down the front of my pants and the other into the back.
Kicking out the clip from Mastiff’s gun, I found one bullet left, so I removed it and tossed it to the side, adding the bullet to the third gun.
Let’s hope these were enough to kill them all or at least be able to steal another one off a dead body.
Giving a swift kick to one of the dead bodies, making myself feel better, I peered down the hall staying hidden in the doorway.
That’s when I saw the faded lettering on the wall telling me they’d brought me to an abandoned loony bin.
I let out a huff of laughter at how ironic this situation is because, if anyone saw me right now covered in blood, this is exactly where they would send me.
Just call me the modern-day Carrie. Now it was time for me to hunt down the rest of the bastards who brought me here.
Luckily, it seems I managed to shoot one, and he was kind enough to leave me a trail of blood to follow.