Chapter 41 #2
“Yeah?” Niro replies.
“It’s an old truck,” she says. “Likely still a key ignition. Fancy helping me steal the keys to the truck? Just to make that hold-up a little more permanent.”
“Go,” I say, “but wait for the lights to go out after the boat arrives.”
I watch the two of them move. Halo was right—Cat is effective. She and Niro tag team well, covering each other’s backs as they progress in the shadows toward the truck.
The waiting becomes painful as muscles begin to stiffen and ache. Boredom sets in. It’s a wonder we haven’t been seen. But the guards’ eyes are on the moonlit horizon as much as ours are, and when a light comes into view on the water, everyone fights the urge to move.
In the distance, there’s a faint hum that I know is a chainsaw. The guys from South Carolina are taking down some trees to block the road when we pass through. We know a barricade won’t stop them indefinitely, but it will help.
Boxes are unloaded swiftly. Some of them are big ones.
And I’m really fucking curious about how much weaponry we’re about to inherit.
In a move we weren’t expecting, the men on the dock make a start to transfer them into the warehouse instead of the truck.
We’re relying on Mallow and his crew to judge when to kill the power, and I hope they’re paying as close attention as we are.
“This is a game changing haul,” North whispers.
“We should run it like a lucky dip,” Sunny says. “Put numbers on the boxes and draw out of a baseball cap.”
I shake my head. “We’re not drawing lots.”
Ridge smacks Sunny around the back of the head. “Next, you’ll be suggesting a race into church and you get to be the position you reach first, for the day.”
Sunny’s eyes go wide. “We should do that at least once. I’m running to yours so I can fuck with all your maps.”
“Does the one who gets Prez’s seat get Maren?” Havoc asks.
I turn to punch him, secret hiding place be damned, but the guy is grinning his mouth off when I turn.
“Fuck you,” I whisper.
Then, all hell breaks loose as the power goes off, like we planned.
Gunfire cracks through the night.
It’s deafening as we move.
North is already moving as Ridge lays down suppressing fire. Controlled bursts that keep Alvarez’s men down and diving for cover.
Havoc, Sunny, and I push towards the main warehouse, clearing a path towards the truck and inventory with a brutal efficiency.
Jackal and Shade watch our backs.
A gun appears in my peripheral vision, but before I can handle it, a bullet hits the side of the man’s head and blows out the other side.
Cat lowers her gun and salutes in my direction, while Niro has his knee on the truck driver’s back, zip-tying his hands together. And then, I shit you not, he bounces to his feet and kisses his wife.
I shake my head as Havoc kicks the warehouse door open, and there are even more crates in here than came off the boat.
Inside, Alvarez’s men are harder to defeat. They’ve already taken up defensive positions on the mezzanine, and we enter like sitting ducks. Havoc kicks back as he’s shot in the shoulder.
I dive behind the nearest crate, knowing it won’t protect me that much.
“Fuck my life,” Havoc groans, crawling to hide with me.
“You good?” I ask as my heart thuds heavily in my chest from exertion.
He pulls his hand off his shoulder and it’s covered in blood. “Could have done without another battle scar.”
When the bullets stop, for a moment, I peer above the crate and spot two men. Then, I shoot. Bullet one misses, but bullet two hits home, and one of the men topples from the balcony.
The second man ducks back, shouting something I can’t make out over the ringing in my ears.
“Left side,” Havoc grits out beside me. He’s pushing up onto one knee like he didn’t take a hit, and while I hope that adrenaline continues to pump through him until we’re on our bikes, I grab his cut and tug him back down behind the crate.
“Sit your ass down, for a second,” I shout.
“It’s just a graze,” he says, shoving my hand off.
I raise an eyebrow, knowing he’s lying.
“Fine,” he says. “Went straight through. I’m good.”
Blood darkens his sleeve, but it’s not pouring out, which tells me it’s not arterial or life-threatening.
Sunny and Ridge race over and drop in behind the crates next to us.
“Hey, Prez,” Ridge shouts. “Just thinking about the time we were caught in gunfire, and Vandal sang ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ so loud everyone heard it.”
I laugh at that. Seems right that we think about him here, even in the midst of all this. He’s having another surgery tomorrow. A major one. To save his eye and orbital bone and patch up some shit that leads to his brain. “Sounds appropriate.”
As I speak, I notice that Shade has found a way up to the corner of the mezzanine above us, and he nods that he’s got us covered.
“Havoc. You good to move, now you’ve taken a breath?” I ask.
He winces but readies himself. “Always.”
Gunfire starts again, and wood splinters above us. I lean out and fire twice, hoping to give us time by forcing the men above us back. “Go,” I shout and Havoc runs.
Bullets hit the concrete beside our feet, sending chips of it into the air, and then, it stops as the second man drops from the balcony.
We hit the stairs, Sunny providing some additional coverage, but as soon as we get to the top, another of Alvarez’s men swings towards us.
“I’ve had enough of this shit,” Havoc says, before raising his gun and taking the man out at point blank range.
From our corner of the mezzanine, I can see Halo and North got themselves stuck in position taking heavy fire.
I can’t see the shooter, but I get Shade’s attention and gesture to where the gunfire is coming from.
He adjusts the scope on his rifle, and in one shot, the random firing on the two men stops.
Ridge raises his hand in thanks to Shade.
I tune out the cries of the injured. I can’t worry about that until this place is secured. Reaper has a large knife in his hand and slices the throat of the man who caught Lock reloading his SIG before he can fire.
But it strikes me that Reaper’s kill might be the last of the night.
“Clear,” I shout from above.
“Clear,” Sunny shouts from below.
Shade salutes from the mezzanine. “Clear.”
Some sporadic firing continues outside, but inside the building, it’s quiet, as the smoke in the air settles.
“Let’s empty this place,” I hear Halo shout, as we hurry down the stairs.
Jackal heads over to the door and peers out. “Looks like we’re all clear, Prez.”
We move quick. Half the team ensuring the injured are tied up. We leave the dead. Thankfully, none of the dead are ours.
The other half of the men move out the weapons. Mallow limps by me, carrying a crate, blood staining his jeans from a bullet wound on his leg. And Niro is fighting two men who’ve decided to try to move, while Cat…cheers him on from the side.
I shake my head and leave them to it, because those two are weirdly effective.
“Who’s in charge?” I ask one of the survivors that’s being dragged in by Saint.
He points to one of the men lined up against the wall, hands tied behind his back.
I march over to the guy. “You got Alvarez’s number?”
The guy is bleeding from a huge gash on his forehead. “Fuck you.”
Given I’m so not in the mood tonight, I pull my gun out and put it to his temple. “It’s no skin off my nose whether you end tonight in here with the living or out there with the dead. Your call.”
“My phone,” he shouts. “My fucking phone, alright. It’s in the back pocket of my jeans.”
I roll him over and grab it. It takes a moment of logistics to open it using his face ID and find Alvarez’s number, but I grin once it’s ringing.
“Eduardo, what the fuck is going on down there?”
“What’s going on down here is me showing you what happens when you walk into my town, hurt one of my brothers, and try to threaten my club. You caught me off guard, once. I caught you off guard, tonight. Now, we’re fucking even.”
“We’re even when I say we’re even,” Alvarez says. There’s controlled rage in his tone, and I smile.
“You wanna walk that path, we’ll walk it.
But remember this. I’m the longest serving president of one of the oldest and largest motorcycle clubs in this country.
We’ve outlasted every organization like yours.
There is no force you can bring that we can’t defeat.
You hurt us, we will hurt you harder. You kill us, more will follow to kill everyone you hold dear. I consider us even. You should too.”
I toss the phone back to the man Alvarez referred to as Eduardo.
“Everything okay?” North says, putting his hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah. Let’s secure everyone still breathing. Let’s get everything out of here.”
Between all of us, we get the weapons out of the warehouse, and I can’t believe the size of the haul. There are going to be some happy clubs if we can safely get everyone out of state without being targeted by the cops.
Havoc jogs up beside me.
“You fall over on the ride back, I’m leaving you,” I say.
He claps my shoulder. “I’ll shoot out your back wheel, if you do.”
When everything is loaded up, engines roar, the sound rising into something thunderous. We peel out in a tight formation, the vans tucked in the middle.
There’s no immediate pursuit, but it’s only when the swamp opens up around us that I let myself breathe.