Chapter 36 Jay
JAY
I rose to my feet, still hidden by the hedge, and pocketed my phone, switching it for my knife.
Then I ran for the path.
A roar of alarm went up from my left, words that I didn’t understand, but they sounded like Russian. Did this mean we were dealing with the Volkovs?
Ryker had heard it too, visibly jerking back, before he carried on running. Fuck, I couldn’t let them find out it was him behind the mask, not with the Thorpes’ entanglement with the Volkovs. I had to get to them first.
I ran harder, my heart pounding as I reached the clearing, skidding across the grass to launch myself at the closest figure as they were swinging their leg over their bike.
Getting them in a chokehold, I yanked them backwards, sending us both crashing to the ground with a jarring impact that vibrated through my spine.
A roar came from the person I’d attacked, their body struggling against mine, and as I grappled with them, it instantly became clear that not only was this a man, but he was definitely cursing me in Russian.
He managed to tear out of my hold, staggering upright, but I swung my legs out, hooking my feet around his ankles and sending him back to the ground with a punched-out groan.
As I rolled, I took in the sight of Dan sending one of the bikes flying towards the churning river, where it was instantly swallowed up, swept away by the fast-moving currents.
I couldn’t see Ryker, but I could hear shouts and grunts behind me. There was no time to focus on anything else, though, because the guy I was grappling with was going for his belt—
He had a fucking gun.
I reacted on instinct, flicking out my knife and driving it straight into the closest part of him I could reach—his right forearm.
I held on as he thrashed against me, forgetting all about the gun as he fought to free the knife from his flesh.
The handle was growing slippery with his blood, but I gripped it as tightly as I could while I shouted at the top of my lungs.
“Get his gun!”
Ryker appeared in my vision, throwing himself across the man’s legs and going for the gun.
The next few minutes were a blur. Ryker managed to wrestle the gun from the guy, but as soon as he gripped it, he was tackled from behind.
He went down, the gun flying across the grass, and then there was a mad scramble as we all went for it.
Ryker staggered to his feet, booting the gun as hard as he could, sending it straight into the river where it was instantly swept away.
The guy who’d tackled him gave a roar of outrage, swinging his fists at Ry, who ducked and retaliated with a series of jabs.
The man I’d stabbed managed to mount one of the bikes and rode it straight at me. I had to dive out of the way, and he followed me, the bike skidding on the grass. Blood was still coming from his wound, but he didn’t seem to notice, fuelled by rage as he came at me again.
“Watch out!”
Ryker’s warning came too late. Someone slammed into me from behind, sending me to the wet ground, their body a heavy weight on top of mine. My mask slammed up against my face, wet grass filling the eye and mouth holes, and for a second, I couldn’t breathe.
The weight disappeared, and I rolled over, gasping for air, and pushed up onto my knees.
Ryker thundered past me, in hot pursuit of two of the three guys.
They were down to two bikes, thanks to Dan’s efforts, but two of them were sharing a bike, tearing through the churned-up mud while the third mounted his own bike.
Then I caught sight of the prone figure beneath the tree, face down, red pooling on the dirt beneath them. My blood went cold. “Dan!”
Ryker skidded to a stop, whirling around and running for the tree.
He dropped to his knees next to Dan’s still body, tearing the mask from his face and throwing it to the ground.
His usually impassive expression was replaced with sheer terror, and the chill in my veins turned to ice.
I had never seen that look on his face before.
“Get. Help. Car. First aid.” His voice cracked as he shouted instructions at me, and I nodded, launching myself to my feet.
Pumping my legs, I ran harder and faster than I’d ever run in my life, hitting the towpath and closing the distance between myself and the final biker.
Dan or Ryker must have done something to it, because it was stuttering along, the biker shouting curses at it as he revved it uselessly.
Images of my best friend’s body assaulted my brain as I tore after the bike. He needed to fucking pay for what he’d done. But he was too far away to catch—
The bike skidded onto the road, and the next second, the driver’s door of our hire car flew open.
There was a sickening crunch, followed by a screech of metal and tyres.
The bike went in one direction, and the rider went in another, somersaulting through the air before landing in a crumpled heap on the wet tarmac.
Nova was right there, diving out of the open door like something out of a fucking action movie, her knife glinting in the light that came from the SUV’s interior.
She didn’t even hesitate, slamming the knife straight into his arm.
I noted with grim satisfaction that it was the same guy I’d stabbed, and this time, it was his left arm.
“Where are the others?” Her hand shook as she tugged the knife from the man’s arm and wiped off the blade on the back of his jacket. “I can’t believe I just did that. How does my brother manage it so easily?”
“Need…first…aid…Dan,” I gasped out, ripping off my mask so I could breathe more easily. My lungs were burning from my sprint down the towpath, and I leaned down, pressing my palms to my aching thighs as I gulped in the fresh air until the burn receded. “Dan’s been injured.”
“Fuck,” she swore. “In the passenger footwell.”
“You—” A groan from the man cut off my words, and I drew my foot back, booting him in the side as hard as I could. “We need to secure him.”
“Tie him up and put him in the boot, and we’ll drive down the towpath. It’ll be quicker than running.” Despite her clear nerves, Nova’s voice was calm and assured, and my breath caught in my throat as I stared at her. Fucking hell, I loved this woman.
“You’re amazing,” I murmured as she rummaged in the boot, reappearing with a set of cable ties. Reaching out, I grabbed her hand, rubbing my thumb across her knuckles. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”
She exhaled shakily. “I didn’t know what to do. I just hoped… Well, it worked, anyway. So now we need to make sure he can’t get away if he wakes up properly. Do you know how to do this part?”
I snorted. “Believe it or not, it’s my first time kidnapping someone.
” Pressing a quick kiss to her knuckles, I took the cable ties and secured the man’s arms and legs as best I could before hefting him into the boot.
He was a dead weight, but not actually dead—fortunately, because if Dan was seriously injured…
Let’s just say I now understood the appeal of torture.
I left his helmet on for now, not wanting to waste any more time.
We needed to get back to the ship graveyard.
Ignoring the warning signs, Nova drove us down the towpath towards the clearing while I sorted through the first aid supplies, gathering up all the equipment I thought we might need.
At the very least, Dan had an injury to the head.
I knew that shallow cuts on the head could bleed profusely, so I was hoping with everything I had that it was something that could be easily treated. That he wasn’t—
No. I wouldn’t allow myself to think of it.
When we reached the path that led to the clearing, Nova stopped the car, and we ran through the mud towards the tree.
We found Ryker sitting against the trunk, sheltered from the worst of the rain, propping Dan up against his chest while he held a wad of material to his head.
I recognised it as one of the spare bandanas he’d brought with him.
I dropped to the ground in front of them, scanning Dan’s face. His eyes were closed, his skin paler than I’d ever seen it, but he appeared to be breathing normally.
“Where are his injuries?” I asked Ryker as Nova wrapped her fingers around her brother’s hand, carefully lifting it away from Dan’s head. She peeled back the bloodstained material, examining the wound beneath with a furrowed brow.
“Just my head. Fucker smashed me with a rock, managed to knock me out for a minute. He made me bleed.”
The sound of Daniel’s voice, even though it was shaky, was the best thing I’d ever heard.
“You’re definitely gonna have a bruise there.
A big one. How you feeling, mate?” I said softly, ripping open a packet containing an antibacterial wipe.
Nova uncapped the water bottle she’d grabbed from the car, and Ryker clasped Dan’s jaw, tilting his head to the side so she could pour water over his wound, cleaning the dirt away before I applied the antibacterial solution.
“I’m alright. Pissed off that all this happened and we didn’t even get any answers.”
“We know they were speaking Russian, which means they’re probably connected to the Volkovs.” Ryker’s face was grim, and I knew he was thinking about the shitstorm we were about to unleash. “I wish we had something more solid to bring to my dad, though.”
“Something more solid, like…a person we could question?” I said, grinning as I placed a sterile dressing over the wound.
“The fuck?” Ryker’s head shot up, he and Dan both staring at me. “You managed to catch up with the bikes?”
“No, but we do happen to have one of them trussed up in the boot, and you can thank Nova for that.”
Nova ducked her head, shrugging. “I didn’t do much. I was just in the right place at the right time.”
Ryker’s brows lifted, his lips kicking up. “Nah, that wasn’t how it happened, was it?”
“It was. I saw the first bike coming, and I noticed there were two people on it. They rode right past the car. I knew something must’ve happened, and I was worried about you guys, so I got into the driver’s seat in case we needed to make a quick getaway or something.
Then I saw the other bike coming and Jay running after it, and I wanted to help.
” She passed the water bottle to Dan before handing him a packet of painkillers.
As he popped two of them from the pack, she continued.
“It’s a bit of a blur, honestly. All I did was push the door open when he got close, and it knocked him off his bike. ”
“You should’ve seen it.” My grin widened as I took in the impressed looks on both Ry’s and Dan’s faces.
Yeah, my girl was fucking incredible. “The door flew open, the bike went skidding across the road, and the guy somersaulted through the air and knocked himself out when he landed. Nova came out of the car like an action hero, stabbing him right in the arm with no hesitation.”
“Fuck, yeah, Supernova!” Dan held up his palm, and she rolled her eyes but high-fived him.
“It was the same guy I stabbed—the one you managed to wrestle the gun from, Ry,” I said. “I guess we should probably check he’s not bleeding out or anything if we want him to be in a fit state to be questioned.”
“The gun. Fucking hell, yeah. We’re lucky only one of them had one.
I don’t think they were expecting trouble.
” Ryker rubbed his hand over his mouth. “Okay. Nova, you drive. Dan, you’re in the front.
You’re on bed rest until Jay’s dad clears you to go back to uni.
Me and Jay will sort the fucker out in the back while we drive.
Stop at the first shop we come to and get Dan some ice for the swelling, but other than that, we go straight to the clinic.
Everyone, masks or bandanas back on so he doesn’t identify us.
We don’t want to reveal ourselves unless we have to. Not yet, at least. Got it?”
We all nodded in agreement.
We needed to get out of here, and hopefully this time, we’d get some concrete answers.