Chapter 80
CHAPTER EIGHTY
T hey made the three-minute ride to the diner in less than two. Moon told himself Nickel and Cash would protect Larissa until he could get there. Shade and Reaper weren’t far behind them. Saffron knew it would be her death warrant if anything happened to Larissa and Jace.
When he pulled into the parking lot attached to the diner, he felt Viper searching his face as they got off their bikes.
“You good?” Viper asked.
Moon nodded. Both men had worked together in dangerous situations before, so they moved in unison as they briskly strode toward the restaurant.
As they turned the corner toward the front of the diner, Moon saw Greer running out of the sheriff’s office, starting to cross the street at a run.
“Heard gunshots!” Greer shouted.
Immediately, Moon and Viper removed their weapons and hurried toward the door. He wanted to rush inside, but his training held him in check. He would be no good to his family if his brain was blown out as he went through the door.
“Greer,” Viper spoke once Greer made the sidewalk, “take the back.”
Greer took off without arguing, his own gun at the ready.
Taking opposite sides of the door, Moon and Viper opened it, keeping their bodies to the side.
“Cash?” Viper called out.
“It’s clear,” Shade called back.
Rushing in next to Viper, Moon’s eyes frantically searched for Larissa among the bloodbath that had taken place in the restaurant.
Nickel was covered in blood next to one of the tables by the door, and Shade was doing CPR on what was left of the bloody mess of his chest. Cash was lying on the floor with gunshot wounds on his side and shoulder, unconscious.
Seeing the tip of a woman’s shoe, Moon rushed forward to kick a table aside that had been knocked over. “Larissa!” He rushed around the table to get to her but instead found Saffron’s lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling.
A sound in the doorway had Moon reflexively turning, but it was Train and Puck walking in through the door.
“Where’s Larissa?” Moon shouted, heading toward the counter.
“She’s not here.” Shade scooted to the side so that Viper could take over Nickel’s CPR.
“Cash was able to get out a distress call. I came in the front, Reaper was going around the back on his bike. When I came in, Cash and Nickel had already been hit. Larissa and the baby were gone. Saffron was behind the table; she was going to fire another round at Cash.” Shade nodded to the table that had been overturned. “I don’t know what in the fuck tipped them off, but they must have started shooting before Cash and Nickel could pull out their weapons. Because he had his phone out, talking to Rider, he was able to hit the distress call.”
Greer came out from the kitchen door. “I saw Reaper take off after a black Camaro. Gundy Barber was driving. Charles Wells was holding the kid’s car seat up as a fucking shield, or I would have shot both of the motherfuckers.”
Moon rushed back to check on Cash. He pressed down on his side to stop the bleeding as Greer moved to stare down at Nickel, his hand going to Viper’s shoulder.
“He’s gone. Let him go.”
Viper looked up at Greer, pleading, “You could …”
The sound of the ambulance from outside could be heard as it grew nearer.
Greer’s face turned anguished. “Don’t ask.” His eyes went down to Nickel then Viper, who refused to stop giving him CPR. “It wouldn’t make no difference if I did. Where he’s gone, there’s no getting him back.” Greer stepped away to direct the paramedics to Cash, who had blood seeping from his side, and Nickel, who Viper still refused to stop working on. “There’s another one out back. They locked him in the freezer. He’s got a head wound.”
Greer’s hand went to his shoulder to key his mic. “I want an APB out on a black Camaro. It’s Gundy Barber’s. Reagan, get his plate number and send it out with an Amber Alert.”
Moon moved to the side so the paramedics could assist Cash, urgency filling him to get to his bike now that Cash was getting help.
“Where are you going?” Viper asked, rising from the floor.
“To find Larissa and Jace.” Taking out his phone, he wiped the blood off his hand and onto his jeans before pulling up the app he needed.
“Train, go to the hospital with Cash. Keep me posted,” Viper ordered when Train came rushing in, answering Cash’s distress call. “Call Rachel and tell her to go to the hospital. Then call Nickel’s family and tell them that I’ll call as soon as I can.”
Finding what he wanted, Moon bolted for the door. “I’ve got them.”
“How?” Viper clipped out, keeping pace with him.
“My fucking paranoia. I put an air tag on Jace’s car seat.”
Moon, Viper, and Shade bolted out of the restaurant and got on their motorcycles. The rest of the brothers, responding to the distress call, followed them at Viper’s signal.
Holding his phone out, Moon followed the signal as Viper put the club on lockdown and sent Rider to check on Widowmaker after he failed to check in.
When Gundy’s vehicle drove past the bridge to Jamestown, Moon swore to himself. Gundy wasn’t taking any chances that Stud would be able to head them off from reaching the interstate. The fucker was going to hide in the mountains, and with Charles’ help, they might succeed. Both were local boys, with Charles dividing his time between the restaurants he owned in Lexington and Treepoint. They moved in different social circles, so it was hard to imagine Charles being stupid enough to kidnap a child in broad daylight. He should have been smarter than his father, whose own crimes had been discovered, to the town’s dismay. Charles’ reputation had taken a hit, but as far as he knew, he had stayed on the straight and narrow.
Gundy, on the other hand, lived with his mother, and his redneck friends would hang out there, drinking until it was time to go home to bed. On his time off, he would go hunting on the weekends and would constantly come in Monday morning, bragging about going hunting, that he knew the mountains like the back of his hand, and what he had caught. Moon bet he wasn’t lying about what he had bagged—several of the workers had constantly asked to go with him, who were also from town. They wouldn’t ask if they didn’t know for a fact that Gundy knew the best hunting spots.
What had him even more worried was the mountain they were driving on was winding and dangerous. Lumber trucks constantly traveled the road, as well as coal trucks. Parts of the mountain had closed mine shafts which could be used to ditch the car, providing Charles and Gundy a hideout. They could walk out through some of the old trails, and Gundy would never be seen again. Charles could make it back to Lexington and buy enough witnesses to swear he had been there the whole time, unless they lucked out enough to get him on tape.
Moon heard Viper tell the less experienced riders to slow down and ride at their own pace.
Moon let himself take a brief glance to the side, and then wished he hadn’t. They weren’t halfway up the mountain, and he saw the tops of pine trees far below them. What made it worse and what had Viper concerned was there was no guard rails. The only way he would feel safe riding across this mountain was if he were wearing a fucking parachute strapped onto his motorcycle.
He checked his rearview mirror; flashes of blue and red drew his attention. Farther back, lower down the mountain, Greer’s patrol car was following behind The Last Riders.
Somehow, he felt better that Greer had come along instead of staying in town.
Tightening his hands on his handlebars, he had to fight the urge to increase his speed, imagining how terrified Larissa must be, and his son being at the mercy of two men who had nothing to lose.
As he neared a sharp curve, he didn’t adjust his speed, sure he could easily take the curve at the rate he was going.
Slow down! a voice in his head yelled at him.
He gestured to Viper then his speed gage, and Viper adjusted his speed as well.
When he rounded the curve, he only had a second to react at seeing Reaper’s motorcycle lying in the lane they were on.
Breaking with squealing tires, they saw burned tire marks on the road, leading into the dirt where Reaper was standing, looking down.
Getting off his motorcycle so fast the motorcycle fell onto the road, he ran to where Reaper was standing.
“No!” he screamed at what he saw.
Gundy’s Camaro was wedged between two thin pine trees.