24. Rogue
ROGUE
It takes longer than it should have to get the plans laid out, and I only have a few hours to sleep before we ride out.
I glance at my watch. Two hours or less before Bolt and his crew from Tijuana meet us in the desert.
I climb up the stairs, tired and ready to curl up to my Angel.
The minute I see the empty bed and the open bathroom door my chest tightens.
“Angel?” It’s a quietly spoken word because the cold dread flooding my body tells me that she’s gone, but still I check the bathroom and closet anyway.
The holster hanging in my closet is gone and my gun is sure as shit not where it should be.
In my haste I almost miss the chair under the window at the end of the hall.
I pivot, closing the distance fast, leaning out the open window hoping to see Angel somewhere in the shadows, but she’s fucking gone.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together or know exactly where she’s going. I race downstairs. No matter how much I love her, and I fucking do whether I’ve told her or not, how much I’ve tried to help her, she’s been hurt far too much to trust anyone, even me.
“Angel’s gone, grab your weapons and let’s ride!
” The entire crew is glued to my hip as we high- tail it to our bikes, revving the motors of our powerful machines as we ride into the night.
I take the lead, my glider rumbling through the streets, in no position to slow down as I weave between spaces of cars in the city congestion until I make it to the offramp and head out of town, into Scorpion territory hoping that Bolt and his crew are making the journey without any hold up at the border.
We can’t worry about that now. There’s no fucking way I’m letting the fuckers hurt Angel or her sister.
The minute we get close to the cutoff in the desert that will lead us to the fuckers, I signal for the crew to pull over and regroup before pounding out a message to our lookout.
We’ve spent hours going over the plan and one of our crew who’s been here for the last twenty-four hours scouting replies to my text in less than a second. All Clear.
I scan the distance, unable to see our guy. We may not be able to see him from here, but that’s a good thing because it means neither have the Scorpions and we need every advantage we can get right now.
I blow out a breath, about to urge the glider and my crew forward, when the sound of a bike in the distance catches my attention. We hang behind the large cactus, staying quiet in the dark until I know exactly who it is.
Bolt pulls his bike to a stop. I walk my bike back out to the road just as he pulls out a cell phone while the crew he brought hang back behind their enforcer. I point to the area in the distance, beyond the old cactus and dirt-packed trail that disappears behind a red rock canyon.
I close the distance and give my old friend a one-armed embrace.
“Damn it’s good to see you man.” I gesture to the crew.
“You remember Hayze and the rest of the crew? The fuckers are holed up about four miles into the desert. We’re going to start seeing sentries about two miles in, and my men up top will wave you through before that.
If they see anything suspicious a gunshot in the sky will let you know they’re coming and to take cover. ”
Bolt and I let the crews introduce themselves and walk a distance. “Anything I should know about this woman we’re going in for?” he asks.
“The Scorpions have a deal with a buyer to sell her. She and her sister escaped, but they got her sister back. Now my Angel is in there trying to rescue her by herself.”
Bolt’s eyebrow raises. “Angel belongs to you?”
I nod at my old friend, sure he never thought he’d see the day when I was torn up by a woman. “She’s fucking mine.”
Bolt gives me a nod. “I know what it’s like when a woman gets under your skin. I never thought I would get turned around by a Beverly Hills’ princess.”
“We need to catch up over a couple cold beers when this is over. Right now, the plan is to get these fuckers holding her surrounded and for my men to come in from the back. You think you and your boys can fire up the engines and make a little noise, a huge-ass distraction?”
Bolt is a cage fighter with scars to prove it; he’s hardly scared of a little rumble with the Scorpions. “You got it. They come out that door and they’re going to walk into a mess they don’t want to tangle with.”
I give Bolt a pat on the back. “Damn it’s good to see you, man. Just like old times. When we get in place, I’ll have my sentry fire a shot. That’ll be the signal to let all hell break loose.”
The ride through the back way takes longer than I’d like without a packed trail.
The tumbleweeds and cactus are thick. Even putting your boot down while navigating through the brush is dangerous with the hotbed of rattler dens out here, but while it takes time, we make it through.
Navigating the landscape is treacherous as we get men into place, effectively surrounding the assholes who don’t have a clue about the rain of hell we’re about ready to unleash on the bastards who took my girl.