Chapter 53
Reaper
I curse under my breath and shake my head as Lark’s voice comes over the line that she has movement.
Thor cocks his eyebrow at me and I shake my head again.
I had no idea she was going to do this, but I’m betting this is one of those split-second decisions that Mama C told me about.
Thor’s fucking livid, and while I know his anger is directed at the assholes attacking us, I have a feeling that there will be a conversation with Lark later as well.
“Alright. Let’s split up. Some of us stay here on the main floor. Barricade the doors and take your stations. The rest of us, head upstairs and take your vantage points,” Thor tells us.
I head up to the third floor and walk down to the hallway to the room I always use when I’m here.
The perks of being a President is that no one else has been allowed to use it, so I’ve always kept a few things stocked here as a just in case.
I should probably have Lark leave a few things here as well now that I think of it.
At the thought of her, I glance up, praying she stays safe.
I hate the fact that she’s in danger because of the position she’s in.
On the other hand, I’m proud as fuck of her.
Unlocking my door, I shut it and lock it behind me to keep someone from sneaking up on me. I quickly cross the room and lean against the wall as I carefully peek out the window. Mentally, I try and orient myself and realize the windows in this room face east.
The same direction Lark’s facing.
I attach my silencer and then pat myself down, triple checking the extra clips are still there.
I do another quick peek out the window and take a deep breath.
Reaching out, I unlock the window before yanking my hand back out of sight.
I hold my breath, waiting to see if they clocked the motion.
After a few moments of nothing, I inch the window open until I have enough of a clearance.
“Remember, do not be the first to shoot in this wave. I know they already struck first, but do not get trigger happy just yet. If this fiasco brings the cops here, which it probably will, we need to be able to prove we acted in defense.”
I take a deep breath at Thor’s words and with one last prayer that Lark stays safe, I shut myself down emotionally.
All of my brothers and sisters are trained and no one is a slouch in the accuracy department.
Even our Prospects are required to spend a lot of time at the gun range, though none of them were beginners when they came here.
I have to trust that none of them will take unnecessary risks.
The sound of breaking glass rings out and my muscles tense. Did someone throw something inside the clubhouse? Or is someone trying to break in. Then I hear more glass breaking.
“Smoke bomb was thrown through my window. Threw it back out.” Axe coughs and then it becomes muted like he’s covered his mic. “Finding another vantage point. Shutting the door to slow down the smoke spreading further. Is someone that’s secreted away have a com in?”
“Affirmative,” Levi replies. “If they throw more at us, we’ll let you know if we notice the smoke or anything else down here. We’re also watching the feeds. So far, nothings come over the scanner from the shots earlier.”
“Incoming,” Lark’s voice comes over the line. “Four tangos approaching the clubhouse with something in their hands. Do we engage?”
I curse as I look out the window, trying to see what they could be carrying. Fuck… “Looks like it could be Molotov cocktails or something similar.”
Curses ring out over the line.
“Thor?” Lark asks again, her voice urgent and with a hard edge to it.
“Snipers, take the shots.”
Squatting, I get into position but don’t fully step out in front of the window.
I watch the two tangos that I can see. A second later, I hear muffled shots and then the men are on the ground as they clutch at their shoulders.
I grunt in approval. They hit the arms that had been holding the bottles with rags sticking out of the top, which is most likely their dominant arms.
“Give us the women and children and you can live!” someone shouts from the distance.
Multiple growls come over the line, mingling with my own, and I grit my teeth. There’s no way any of us would hand over a woman or a child to one of those fuckers.
In response, I see puffs of snow billow up in the air in front of some of the tree trunks in the distance and I grin, knowing at least one of those came from Lark.
Gunshots ring out and I move in front of the window, aiming and firing off a few rounds as men pour out of the tree line and from around the houses. Ducking back, I wait a few moments, but when no one takes a shot at my window, I repeat the action.
As I shoot, I catch sight of a few of their men falling out of the trees and I wonder how Lark and the others even spotted them since they’re dressed to blend in with the trees. Unfortunately for them, they stand out like a sore thumb now that they’re lying in the snow.
Movement has me turning and I fire as someone dressed almost entirely in white steps out from behind the condos. Red blooms on his arm and I duck when he returns fire. Glass rains down on me and I step back, trying to keep most of it from falling on me.
Screams fill the air as we rain bullets down on our attackers. Blood dots the fresh snow all over the yard. As I take care of those in my range, I can’t help keeping an eye on the tree line that has even more blood around it than the yard.
Seeing something shift, I immediately take aim and fire. Blood blooms and I frown at what I see before my eyes widen at the realization of what they’d done.
“Not sure how long those fuckers have been camped out, but I just got one that was lying in the snow with blankets covering them.”
“I see it,” Lark says.
“Да (yes), I see,” Sasha replies before saying something in Russian and then Lex’s voice comes over the line, also in Russian.
Fuck, maybe I should look into learning the language so I can understand what they’re saying. I know a few words and phrases, but not enough to keep up.
“Да (yes), понял (got it),” he replies.
That much I have caught on to and understand.
Seconds later, more muffled shots ring out and six more red spots instantly appear. Sirens wail in the distance and I curse.
“You already heard it, but it just came over the scanner. Someone’s called this in,” Levi says in frustration and curses.
I groan in frustration as well. That means we can’t interrogate anyone ourselves.
We’ll have to hand over anyone that doesn’t escape to the cops.
Well, unless it’s Captain Morgan, Officer Morgan or Officer Hughes.
They’re Patch’s uncle, cousin, and friend.
They’ve helped us out before, but we can’t bank on that.
As the sirens draw closer, the gunshots slow down.
“This isn’t over yet, you scum! I will get what’s been promised to me!”
I frown, trying to place the voice, but can’t.
“It’s X,” Mae’s trembling voice comes over the line. “I’m sure of it. It’s him. He’s here. And if he’s here, then he’s getting desperate.”
When the gunfire dies down, I step back from the window and stride over to the closet, storing my extra ammo in the gun case and then taking off my vest. In the process, a few more glass shards fall on the floor.
I rake a hand through my hair, but I don’t feel anything in it.
Taking off my cut and shirt, I shake them out, and run a hand over my chest and back, feeling for blood.
A little comes away at my neck, but not enough to be concerned about.
Thankfully, I don’t feel any glass stuck in the wound, but I’ll have to have Patch check it out later to be sure.
As I lower my arm, I know for sure that I’ll need to have Patch check out the rest of the scratches on my arm to make sure there are no glass shards in them.
Tossing my shirt on the bed, I take a new one from the closet and slip it on before putting my cut back on.
Leaving my room, I lock it back up and head to the back staircase, needing to put eyes on Lark.
I get there right as they come down and my gaze roams over her, looking for injuries.
My shoulders sag in relief. She frowns and closes the distance before reaching up and stroking my cheek.
“You’re hurt.”
I look at the blood on her thumb when she pulls back her hand and frown. “I didn’t even look in the mirror. Someone shot the window in my room and glass fell on me.”
“Well, it doesn’t seem bad, so that’s good. Same for your arms. Did the glass get you anywhere else?”
I turn and point to my neck. A moment later, I feel her finger run over it.
“Again, not deep, but they’re still bleeding. Not a lot, but enough to notice.”
The sirens cut off and it’s then that I realize they must be at the gate.
Lark curses. “I’ve got to get my gear off and we need to get down there.”
I stand outside the storage room since it isn’t very big, waiting for her.
When she’s done, she goes to step past me, but I wrap my arm around her waist, turning her into me and I crash my lips down on hers.
My hands tighten on her waist and my fingers itch to caress her everywhere to make sure she really is okay, but we don’t have time.
She pulls back and the little minx giggles at my groan of protest before she gives me another quick peck on the lips.
“Later, Hercules. We need to get downstairs.”
I grumble but know she’s right. We head downstairs with the others and notice that Miracle seems deep in thought. I slow my steps to match hers.
“Hey, are you okay?”
She blinks, and it takes a moment before she registers my words. She gives me a tight, small smile. “Yeah, I will be. I don’t regret what we did, but it will take a bit to process everything.”
Lark falls back and then steps around so that she is at Miracle’s other side.
She takes her hand and squeezes it. “Later, I’ll show you something that might help.
Reaper showed it to me and it really helped me process everything that’s going on with the stalker, the accident, and even a bit with the fires. ”
Some tension visibly bleeds out of Miracle before she nods. “I’d like that.”
When we get to the main room, I’m relieved to see Captain Sam Morgan and Officer Brady Morgan, Patch’s uncle and cousin as well as Officer Dixon Hughes. I met them all when helping with everything that went down with Mary’s asshole of an ex-husband as well as some of her family members.
There’s a fourth cop that I don’t recognize. His badge reads Officer Reilly. I eye him warily, not liking the vibe he’s giving off. He’s got his thumbs hooked into his utility belt and is giving us smug looks like we’re the ones in the wrong in this situation.
Sam tilts his head at us, and I give him a chin lift.
He looks around the room and frowns as he takes in the decorations for Mae’s party.
When he spots Mae, his frown deepens when he notices the bandages around her upper arm.
Timber has his arm wrapped around her waist and she’s leaning against him.
Mama Astrid stands on the other side of Mae and they’re both holding hands.
“Just so you are aware, Officers Daniels and Richards are here as well because of the reports of heavy gunfire coming from this area. They’re taking a look around outside.
Care to fill us in?” he asks Thor who dips his head.
“Sure, but first, you might want to call in a few more teams. We were attacked by at least fifteen people that we could see—”
Lark steps forward. “Sorry to interrupt, Thor, but that went up to twenty-one when it was noticed some people were camouflaging themselves in the snow. There could have been more camouflaged, but we found six. There also could have been more hidden in the woods that we weren’t able to spot.”
He gives her a chin lift. “At least twenty-one people. We tried not to kill anyone, but I don’t know if we did. There could be men in the woods that are wounded and are trying to get away.”
Sam turns to Brady who turns around but then pauses.
“What directions were they mainly coming from?”
Thor looks over at Lark in question, which is odd since they told us earlier. Then again, things could have shifted some once the shooting started up again.
“There were at least five spotted from the north and the rest were from the east. Six of them were camouflaged in the snow about halfway from the trees that are at the edge of the backyard and then back to the tree line. We didn’t see anyone approaching from the west or south,” she replies.
Brady steps away and quietly talks into his radio before returning to his spot a moment later. “They’ll take a look and they are calling in Officers Bryant and Marshall. If need be, they’ll call in the ambulances.”
Smoke clears his throat. “This weekend we have Mae’s baby shower going on.
The ladies were down here doing the baby shower games and us guys were up in the loft watching football.
We came downstairs when we heard gunshots and the sound of breaking glass.
” He points over to the window that was busted first. “Bullet grazed Mae’s arm, who was standing where you see the blood on the floor.
It embedded in the middle of the table the ladies were sitting at. ”
My gaze darts to the table he’s pointing at, and I grit my teeth in anger. How I missed that earlier, I don’t know. Any of them could have been hurt or killed.
“How do you know it’s not retaliation for something the club has done?” Officer Reilly sneers as he looks down his nose at Smoke.
You could have heard a fucking pin drop as everyone turns toward him, even Sam, Brady, and Dixon.
I mean, he’s not wrong in that we have stopped a lot of shit that’s tied to Oasis, but that’s not what he’s insinuating.
Without even looking at my brothers and sisters, I know we’re all pissed as fuck at what his unspoken words are.