Chapter Four
Twenty Miles West of Denver
Scarlet
I cling to Reaper as he speeds up on the open road. His club brothers do the same, following the car with our precious cargo.
The wind on my face and the power of the bike is exhilarating, and I press my cheek to Reaper’s leather and watch the rolling scrubland and tall trees whizz by. In the distance the mountains rise, snow-capped, into the milky morning light.
I’m crazy to not be terrified out of my wits. I know that. But as I’ve already told Reaper, I’m not afraid of monsters. I also don’t believe he is one. He’s shown up with his buddies, after all, to save a young woman he doesn’t even know.
Suddenly two bikes pull out of a junction and are roaring alongside us. They are also Harleys but these have snarling dogs on their exhausts and their cuts have bigger patches.
“What the fuck?” I hear Reaper say. He swerves to avoid them and then gears up, pushing us on even faster. We almost reach the four-by-four when I hear a gunshot.
“Shit.” Reaper glances behind himself.
I gasp and hold him tighter. The biker to my right, one of Reaper’s buddies, has pulled a weapon and is shooting behind himself. Fast, loud, deafening bursts of sound.
“Goddamn Hyenas,” Reaper shouts. “How’d they find us?”
“Must have followed us from the hospital.” His buddy shoots again. There is a skid and a scream and then a clatter of metal.
Confusion and speed combine.
I glance behind myself and see one of the Hyena bikers rolling into a ditch in a spectacular display of flying metal. Before it has come to a halt it bursts into flames. A boom blasts into the sky as it explodes.
“Oh my God!” I shout.
“One down.” Reaper indicates the four-by-four to go quicker and it pulls away, someone’s boot heavy on the gas.
“I’ll get this one,” the biker to Reaper’s right shouts.
“Let’s both have the honor.” Reaper pulls a gun and then riding the bike one-handed twists and points it past me, over my shoulder. “Keep still, honey.”
I close my eyes and grimace as he fires off three rounds. My ear will ring for days, the shot is so loud. His club brother is also shooting but suddenly yelps then curses.
“Fuck!” Reaper shouts. “You okay, Tank?”
“He’s been hit,” I gasp. I am gripped by fear. I’ve never been shot at before. Any second now it could be all over. For any one of us.
“Son of a fucking bitch.” Reaper resumes shooting over my left shoulder, a long stream of shots that have me jumping in my skin and gripping him so tight my fingers ache.
And then there is another explosion and a great rush of heat. The bike that was close behind us is going up in a fireball of heat.
“Burn in hell!” Reaper shouts.
I open my eyes in time to see a streak of burning rubber hitting a tree and then bouncing back onto the tarmac. There is no sign of the rider.
“Hey, Tank, you okay, man?” Reaper yells, pulling his bike closer to the one on his left.
“Fucking bastard got me.” Tank grips his right upper arm and blood seeps between his fingers. “But luckily he’s a shit shot.”
“Doc here will sort you out.”
I gulp. I’m getting in deeper by the second. A kidnapped patient. A shoot-out at speed. And now a GSW to patch up.
“Are they dead?” I shout into Reaper’s ear. “Those guys.”
“Yeah, well and truly. Good fucking riddance.”
We leave the carnage behind as though two mangled bikes and two dead bodies is nothing more than an empty pack of Cheetos. I’m shaking now and adrenaline is causing my heart to skip beats. But we’ve caught up with Consuela and our speed isn’t quite as breakneck.
“Is it much farther?” I ask after a few minutes. Despite the current heat wave and my denim jacket, the morning is cool and I’m shivering. A degree of shock is shaking my nerves.
“Two minutes, almost there.”
His tone is softer and I wonder if he can feel me trembling against him.
Our little motorcade slows and we take a right onto a dirt track. It is lined with tall pine trees and Reaper dodges potholes so deep I’d likely have bounced off the Harley had he hit them.
Eventually, in the distance, a log cabin comes into view.
The morning sun gives it a golden glow and slices off the windows.
It has two floors and a pretty front porch with stone steps.
The land around it is unkempt. No flowers, just tall grass, a pile of logs, and a decrepit outbuilding with a sheet of metal for a roof.
The four-by-four pulls up and kills its engine. The three bikes do the same and I get off Reaper’s, relieved to change position. But as soon as I stand, I realize my knees are weak. The fright of the shoot-out is still having an effect on me.
“Steady there.” Reaper is at my side with his hand around my waist. “You okay?”
“Yes, I’m just not used to being shot at before breakfast.”
The right side of his mouth curls into a half smile. “You’ve lived to tell the tale.”
“Do you think those guys were at the hospital about to get her and you arrived a few minutes ahead of them?” I ask.
Before Reaper can answer, a tall biker with flecks of gray in his hair appears at my side. “I’d say so, she was a gnat’s fart away from being silenced. You gave us good intel.” He sets his dark eyes on me. “We appreciate it.”
“The Hyenas are gonna be mad as shit now we’ve taken out two of their bros.” The guy with the bullet wound in his arm snarls and then spits on the ground. “We should be prepared for that.”
“They won’t find us at this place.” Mr Gray In His Hair looks at Reaper. “You stay here with the doc, she’s your problem, and Tank and Ghost can watch the perimeter.”
“Excuse me.” I frown and place my hands on my hips. “I am not a problem, Mr. ... Mr...”
He raises his eyebrows at me. “Jock, president of the Denver Chapter of the Sons of Sin.”
“Well, President Jock, Sons of Sin, I’ll have you know that I should still be on shift and there’ll be questions for me to answer when I go back.
And if it wasn’t for me, that girl would be dead, and your club buddy here,” I jerk my thumb at Reaper, “would have bled out the other night too and...” I pause and sigh as if they are all exasperating.
“Now, out of the goodness of my heart. I’ll stitch up this Tank Man and make sure he doesn’t get an infection in the wound. ”
“His name is just Tank.” Jock’s eyebrows are right up in his forehead. He looks at Reaper. “She always like this?”
“I reckon so.” Reaper shrugs and slips his hand around my waist again. “Come on, you’ve got work to do.”
He steers me toward the cabin. It has a sign on the wall that reads, BISON VIEW.
The door is open and as I step in, I hear deep voices upstairs and then a female voice.
“I should check on her.” I glance at Tank. “Keep pressure on that and find a first aid kit, preferably one with some sutures in it. I’ll get to it soon.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He nods and goes into a kitchen area.
The place is sparsely furnished with one long sofa, an old android TV, a table and two chairs, and a bookcase full of dusty novels and boardgames.
I climb the stairs and when I reach the top I turn left. This room is bursting bright with the morning sun and has a large bed in the center. Consuela is sitting on it.
Her face lights up when she sees me. “Doctor Mesa.”
I smile and go to her. The very fact she is alive is nothing short of a miracle, first the massive overdose and now an attempt on her life.
“How are you feeling?” I glance at the sparse medical equipment in the room. The IV looks useful.
“Exhausted but glad to be out of the hospital.” She shudders. “I think they were there, in the corridor, waiting to get me.”
I take her hand. “Thank goodness they didn’t.”
“Did you...” She looks up at the two bikers standing with their hands on their hips at the end of the bed. AK47 is there again. He must have been in the car with her. “Did you organize this, Doctor Mesa?”
“I just passed the information on to someone I knew.” I nod at the guys. “That will be all, thanks, she needs to rest.”
AK47 grunts and then they both turn and leave the room.
“Have you had any more fits?” I ask.
“No, they said I was doing really well.” She shivers. “I’m just so cold all the time, and hungry. And then I go into a deep sleep and have awful nightmares, wake up sweating so much it’s like I’m in a tub.”
“The opioids are still working their way out of you. It will pass but you need plenty of rest and fluids. Sleep really is the best medicine in this instance.”
“Are you staying with me?” She squeezes my hand.
“Yes, and so are a few of these guys. To watch over you.”
“But ... I mean, they won’t forever.”
“You don’t need to think past the next few days for now. And you’re safe here, you’ll be able to rest properly.”
“But I do have to think of the future.” She looks at the window.
The pale-yellow curtains have small white flowers on them.
“I have an aunt in Phoenix. Mama and she fell out years ago, so there is no real trace to her from my family back home. Perhaps I could go there. We never had a quarrel with each other. I’m sure she’ll help me. ”
“That sounds like a good plan.” I smile and plump her pillow. “And we can work out the details together. But for now, sleep, you’ve had quite the start to the day.”
“Haven’t we all?” She rests back and instantly her eyelids look heavy.
She has deep bluish circles beneath her eyes and her lips are cracked.
For a moment I wonder at how young and fragile she is and how anyone could possibly use her for their own revolting gains and put her at such risk in the process.
Men with the devil in them, that is the only explanation.
****
Reaper
The cabin is still as evening falls, with the only sounds a cardinal singing outside and low female voices coming from upstairs. They’ve been talking for a while and for some reason I’ve found the low murmur calming.