Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
SNIPER
I’m already planning her punishment.
Chaos erupts and the room is full of smoke, screams, shattering glass, and orders being barked by my brothers as they work to get people out quickly. I don’t even hesitate, already moving, but so is Thea. We let our training take over, and just like we did when we were fighting wars or unknown enemies, we got to work.
The smoke is thick and the panic in the room is as suffocating as I work to get people out of the building. The smell of fire fills my nostrils, and I know shit is about to get bad really quick if we don’t get people out. I look around quickly, assessing if there are flames close by, and I realize they’re coming from the back of the building as well as the front.
Fuck. We’re going to be trapped in here if we don’t get out.
“Go!” I scream at people, pushing them forward when some of them stop, frozen in terror. “Get out. Now!” Maybe it’s the command in my tone, but they scramble forward. I look around for the Old Ladies, and I see they’re already heading out the door, their men with them and pushing them out to safety.
I keep moving people out as I make my way to the bar. Thankfully, both Sandy and Katie are not there, which means they’re out. I make my way through the thickening smoke toward the kitchen, needing to make sure my people are out as well. I can barely see, and I pull my shirt up over my nose and mouth to keep some of the smoke inhalation at bay.
When I hit the door, I feel the heat and know shit is about to be bad. No doubt the fire has hit the oil in the fryers and is now spreading faster and hotter. Fuck. I use my shoulder to open the door and scream for my men, even as it looks like hell on earth. The room is full of flames, and I lower myself down as far as I can to look around the room. I don’t see anyone, but I see a back door open, so I have to hope they got out. Instead of going out, I turn around and go back to check the bathrooms.
I get low to the floor again and head for the hallway, but my heart pounds when I realize that someone else is still inside and has someone over their shoulder. They stop for a hair-breath of a second when I realize it’s a coughing Thea carrying a man over her shoulder. His face is soaked in blood, and her face is covered in soot as she struggles to carry him out. I move to her fast, grabbing him and hoisting him over my shoulder. “Go!” I scream at her. “Go, Thea. Get out.”
She has to get out. The desperation inside me to get her out of harm’s way is overwhelming. She nods, her face grim and determined as she makes her way through the thick smoke toward what we hope is the front door. I look around again, trying to figure out if anyone is left, but I can’t see anything. My eyes burn, my lungs strain, and I know we’re going to be in trouble if we don’t get out soon.
I can barely make out Thea in front of me, and I weakly steady her when she starts to stumble. I give her another weak shove, and she keeps going. This isn’t the time for gentle.
It seems like an eternity before we finally make it to the door. The air, though still thick with smoke, is fresh enough that my lungs pull it in quickly, desperate for it. A fireman rushes forward to take the man over my shoulder, while Theo is there to scoop up his sister and carry her away. Viper and Bullet are there, shoulders under my arms as they half carry me away from the burning building toward the ambulances.
The next few minutes are a blur of people as I’m pushed to the back of an ambulance, an oxygen mask covering my face. A medic quickly assesses me, ignoring me when I growl at him to get away from me, that I’m fine. Viper and Bullet don’t leave my side either. “Shut up and breathe,” Bullet barks at me when I try to tell the medic to leave me alone again. “You stupid fucker, you’re lucky you’re not fucking dead.”
“Fuck…you…” I gasp out. “Where’s…Thea?” Panic starts to fill me that she’s hurt.
“She’s getting checked out,” Viper tells me calmly, putting a hand on my shoulder when I start to get up. I hiss at the pain and he immediately releases me, and then curses. “He’s burned,” he barks at the medic.
I want to scream at them to leave me the hell alone. I’ll be fine. It’s only superficial, nothing I haven’t dealt with before. A fact that is confirmed by the medic who puts some thick salve on it and covers it with a bandage. When I try to take the mask off, Bullet shoves his hand over it and forces it right back in place. “I told you to sit the fuck there and breathe,” he snarls at me. “I don’t need a second VP dying on me.”
I want to snarl at him that I’m far from dying, but I bite it back through sheer will. I’m too damn stubborn to die.
By the time the medic declares I have enough oxygen in me and I’m free to go, I’m already up and moving, tossing it off and glaring right back at Bullet and Viper when they glare at me. “Where is she?” I demand, my gaze moving and looking around at everyone.
The parking lot is full of people, cars coming and going, emergency services, and journalists. But none of them are important. No, I need to find her. I need to know she’s okay before I rip her a new one for not getting out. For putting herself in danger like that.
“Sniper!” I hear someone call, and I turn to see Rose near the other women, and I see her pointing. I follow her finger and see Thea, Theo, and Bowie at one of the ambulances. An EMT is taking off the oxygen mask and giving her a wet wipe to clean up her soot-covered face. I make my way toward her, relief filling me knowing she’s okay. And from the expression on her brother’s face, I’d say he feels the same.
Bowie nods at me and moves out of the way when I approach, going back toward where Frost and Hulk are protecting the women, their faces grim and hard. I ignore Theo, and I ignore the surprised look on Thea’s face as I reach her and pull her into me. I don’t give a damn what it looks like, what others might think about it. All I care about is that she’s alright.
Thea is stiff in my arms for a few seconds before she relaxes and rasps huskily, “I’m fine, Sniper.”
It’s the sound of her voice that has me coming back to my senses and makes my anger burn. Anger at the situation, anger at her for putting herself in danger, and anger at myself for being the reason. If I just let her walk away, she’d be fine. “What the fuck did you think you were doing?” I demand, pulling her back and away from me by the shoulders. I glare down at her, even as her eyes widen and then harden.
She wrenches herself away from my grip and says angrily, “I was doing what I was trained to do. I helped get people out and then went back to check the bathrooms to make sure that everyone was out. And lucky I did, because clearly the explosion was at the back side of the building and the bathroom showered all over him and he hit his head. He’d be dead now if I hadn’t checked.”
“You should have fucking gotten out,” I snap. “I would have gotten him out. You put yourself in danger.”
“Fuck you, Sniper,” she yells, though her voice isn’t as strong as it would be normally. “Instead of coming here and yelling at me, you should be fucking thanking me.”
“Thanking you?” I roar, my own voice still hoarse. “Thanking you for putting yourself in danger? For almost getting yourself killed because you shouldn’t have been lifting him. He was too fucking big, and if you had fallen under his weight, we might not have found you.”
“You never leave a man behind, and I wasn’t about to come to ask you or anyone else to take him when I was there. I’ve been trained on the proper way to get a man out that is triple my size and weight. I got him out, and I got him to the bar room. You took him and saved us a few extra minutes, so I’ll thank you for that. But I won’t let you diminish what I did. I won’t let you think my training is any less than yours because I’m not a man.” She turns her gaze to Theo. “I’m good. Go back to doing what you need to do.”
“Are you sure?” Theo asks, worry clear.
“Yes,” she tells him firmly.
He hesitates again, but then nods, pulls her into a hard hug, and then reluctantly turns and walks away toward Bullet. Thea looks back at me, but says nothing, then she looks at the EMT. “Am I free to go?”
“You talk to the cops?” the EMT asks as he’s already treating someone else for smoke inhalation.
“Yeah.”
“Then you’re good. Make sure to go easy on your throat for a couple days. You might lose your voice, but if you take it easy, you’ll be fine,” the EMT answers absently.
“Thanks.” Then she starts to walk away, but I stop her by gripping her wrist and spinning her back around. Her fist comes up, but I stop it easily, gripping it and then pulling her into me and walking her backward toward the women.
“You’re not leaving yet,” I tell her. “Stay put. Rose, make sure she stays,” I order as I gently push her toward Rose, who quickly wraps an arm around her waist, her face full of concern.
Then, without another word or look in her direction, I head toward where Bullet and Viper are talking to an officer. “And you don’t know what might have happened?” the officer asks doubtfully as he stares at them, pen and pad in hand. When he sees me, he doesn’t react much other than stiffening slightly.
“Officer, we were all here having a good night with our women,” Bullet tells him with far more patience than I could muster in this situation. Because all of us know exactly who is responsible for this, but it’s not something we can say aloud. Not until we’re in Church and know we’re not being watched or recorded. “And before you ask, we are a non-outlaw club, we run legitimate businesses, and clearly someone has it out for us. We don’t know who it is, and honestly, this bullshit is getting annoying.”
The officer doesn’t look convinced but he also knows he can’t refute it. We’ve worked with the cops in the past on charity things and even helped them out willingly with investigations. “Any chance that it could be connected to the shooting that happened here last week?”
“The detectives then believe it was someone going after someone specific inside,” Viper points out. “They shot purposely at one side of the building where some men were sitting in a booth. And if I’m not mistaken, that man was recently arrested for doing shady business deals, was he not?” It’s a simple, but loaded question.
That one little thing that came out of the investigation at the last shooting that we found out earlier today helped take any heat off us, even though we all know that it was happenstance. Still, it’s enough that we don’t look like the bad guys and the cops stopped trying to sniff around.
“I might have heard something about it,” the officer says noncommittally. “But I’ll have to check with the detective to be sure. So, what, you think they were coming back to finish the job?”
“Has it been determined if it was arson or something else?” I ask him tightly.
The officer’s eyes shutter. “And who are you?” he asks sharply.
“I’m the VP of the club, and I manage the bar,” I reply in a mirror tone of his own. “And I want to know who tried to blow up my building, Officer.”
He doesn’t reply for a moment, the tension high, but finally, he nods and looks back at Bullet. “From what we can see, two explosions happened, and the Fire Chief and Arson Investigator’s preliminary investigation is showing that one was at the back between the kitchen and where the bathrooms are, and then one in the front. Can’t tell you what was set off, but since there is no burning car around that might explain it, it’s their best assumption that it was set deliberately.”
The tension between us ratchets up. Vlad was trying to kill us all in one go, and he didn’t care who got hurt in the process. Including the women. It would have wiped us all out; which is exactly what Vlad wants.
“Please have their report and your own sent to me as soon as you can,” Bullet tells him. “We’ll need to send it to the insurance company.”
The officer nods, though I have a feeling we won’t be seeing those reports for a bit. Especially not if he’s dirty, and something is telling me he’s not, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be bought, or that he might try and use it for his own gain professionally. I make a mental note to have Cryos look into him immediately. I memorize the name on his badge and his badge number, and when he walks away, I shoot both to Cryos and tell him to get to work immediately.
He sends back a confirmation and a note to tell me he’s trying to figure out who set off the explosions, but nothing yet. This has Vlad written all over it, and I’m fucking done. Tonight, we’re lucky that whoever he sent wasn’t good at what they do, because otherwise we’d be dealing with a hell of a lot of bodies, including the women. And from the looks on their men’s faces, it’s clear they’re thinking the same thing.
Viper has made his way back to Eden and pulled her tight into him, and King and Torque haven’t moved far from their women either, their faces masks of fury. I’ve never been so glad that Quinn and Syn are not here, or this shit would could have been fatal to them and their babies.
My gaze moves to a fuming Thea, who is glaring daggers at me, and when our gazes connect, I can all but feel the rage coming from her. She’s trying hard not to lose her shit in front of Rose, but it’s hard. But unlucky for her, she’s not going anywhere but back to the clubhouse with us when we’re done. Something we can fight about later.
It takes another hour before the cops leave, and the fire crews get the blaze out. I send the staff home after I’m sure they’re alright, with a promise they will get paid for the night and for any loss of tips. I don’t care if I have to pay them myself to make it happen, but they deserve it after this shit. But from the shaken looks of Katie and Amanda, I might be on the hunt for new staff too. Blair looks to be in shock, but I have a feeling she’s going to do whatever Amanda does. It’s something to worry about later.
When finally, the parking lot is empty but for the women and our club, we all move together. “We’re going back to the clubhouse. Now,” Bullet barks as he grabs Rose’s hand and pulls her toward his bike. Eden, Sage, and Izzy follow their men, but that leaves Thea and Sadie standing there.
“You’re with me,” I tell Thea tightly.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she snaps back. “I’m not a part of your club, and I’m going home.”
“Thea, shut the fuck up and get on the fucking bike,” I yell at her, fed up. Her eyes widen, but then immediately narrow. “Someone tried to kill us, and until this shit is figured out, you’re coming to the clubhouse, just like Sadie. So stop being a pain in the ass and get on the back of my bike.”
“Dude, you’re going to give yourself a heart attack if you don’t calm down,” Sadie admonishes. “And she’s right, we aren’t a part of this, so if we want to leave, we’re leaving.”
“Sadie, get your ass on the back of Bowie’s bike,” Eden yells.
“You’re not the boss of me, bitch!” Sadie yells back.
“Jesus Christ, we don’t have time for this,” Bullet snaps. “Thea, you’re an employee of the security business, and consider yourself on duty right now, and you’re to report to the Devil’s Soldiers Clubhouse. Sadie, get your ass on a bike or in Thea’s car. We don’t have time to waste. Now.”
When Bullet speaks, people listen. A seething Thea heads for her car. Sadie looks unsure of which one she wants to go to, but decides to follow Thea to her car. I head to my bike, and within minutes we’re pulling out. My normal place is up with Bullet, but this time, I pull out behind Thea and Sadie, with Theo and Carson on either side of me, and Bowie and Frost in front.
We reach the clubhouse without much of a problem, and when we pull up, I park behind Thea to make sure she doesn’t get any ideas. Then again, she’d probably run me over just to make a point. Thea shoves out of her car, looks around and then stalks over toward Viper, who is helping Eden off his bike. “I quit,” she barks at him, making his face shift to shock. Then she turns on her heel and heads back for her car. “Get your bike out from behind me or I’m going to run it over,” she warns me.
I simply climb off my bike and start toward her. She throws open her car door, but I move fast, pulling her back and away from her car, and countering most of her moves smoothly, until I’m trapping her against the car. “Stop it,” I snap harshly in her ear. “That’s enough, Thea.” Maybe it’s the steel in my voice, but she instantly stills, even as I feel her entire body shaking. “I get you’re pissed, and we’ll deal with it later, but for right now, you are going into that clubhouse where we know you’re safe, and you are going to do your job. Because you’re not quitting, no matter how pissed you are. Your job is going to be to guard the women, because we don’t know if these assholes will come back for them or not. Do you understand?”
She doesn’t answer for a moment, but then finally gives a stiff nod. I release her, easing back. She pushes away from the car, turns, and moves to go past me, but before I can predict, or counter, she brings her fist up and sucker punches me right in the nose. “Manhandle me again, and next time, I’ll put you on your ass,” she hisses when I curse, cupping my now bleeding nose. Then she moves away and heads for the front step, where Bullet, Viper, and now Shadow, are waiting. Viper turns away, grinning like an idiot, Bullet looks exasperated, and Shadow looks resigned. I swipe at the blood, grateful it’s not broken, and also pissed that she managed to punch me in the first place.
She’ll pay for that, and I’m already planning her punishment. I just hope she’s ready, because everything she thought she knew about me is going to change, and this time, she’s not going to try and run away. She’s going to face it.