Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
NOTCH
We revved our engines and sped as quickly as we could to the warehouse, Stone and Asher in front, and the rest of us lined up behind them.
Two crews, coming for blood to end this shit once and for all.
I kept my eyes on the house as the lights began turning on and off, most certainly a signal for them to rally.
I licked my lips, trying to get a layout of the warehouse as we moved.
Two stories, longer than it was thick. Minimal windows, which would make it harder to find Maya.
We crested the hill and came around the corner, and I saw the warehouse surrounded on three sides with brush and trees.
I looked up at Stone and saw him already diverting us off straight into the woods on either side of the warehouse, Asher and his crew to the left, Stone and us to the right.
But as we turned off to follow our leaders, a movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention.
“I think one of the windows is busted,” Bronx said into the intercoms in our ears.
“Looks like the screen’s hanging out too,” Texas said.
“I clocked it. You think it’s a trap?” Stone asked.
“No,” I said plainly.
It was Maya.
Somehow, she had gotten out.
All of the lights in the house went dark, and the movement in the woods grew.
As we sped for cover, our bikes jumping off the ground with every rock and divot we hit, I saw the whites of someone’s eyes.
A figure ran around in the shadows stumbling along as the outline of the person’s form slowly came into view.
Holy shit. It was Maya.
“Look out!” Stone exclaimed.
Before we could get to the edge of the shadowed brush, gunshots rang out into the night.
My bike careened into a small sand dune, slinging me over the handlebars.
I fell onto my back and my mouth filled with sand.
Bullets whizzed by as a cry echoed around in the darkness.
Maya. I heard her. She yelled my name as bullets splintered the trees around us.
“You okay!?” Texas asked.
He reached for my shirt and pulled me up to my feet.
“That’s Maya. We have to find her,” I said.
“Let’s kill these bastards first,” he growled.
But that wasn’t where my focus was.
Every time wood splintered, Maya cried out.
My eyes focused as I ran on my feet, making my way into the woods.
I heard men yelling, gurgling on their own blood, and falling to the ground.
Asher and his men rattled off in my ear.
Something about their body count and how we were going to be quickly swarmed.
Someone said something about ten men coming in our direction.
Stone roared for me to get my ass into gear.
And I was.
Getting my ass into gear as I chased after her.
“Maya!” I exclaimed.
“Notch!?”
“Maya! Keep yelling! I’m com—”
“Ah!” she shrieked.
The sound sent shivers up my spine. Automatic rifles peppered the woods, embedding themselves into the trees with their rounds that practically exploded.
I covered my head as I searched for Maya.
I ducked behind every tree and rock, trying to find her as her screams echoed off all corners of the woods.
Fucking hell, it felt like they never ended.
I pulled the gun from my side and turned around, shooting anyone who came within ten feet of me.
“Maya! Where are you!?” I roared.
“Notch. Help,” she whimpered.
She had to be close. There was no way in hell she wasn’t.
“Fucking woods,” I growled.
I ducked behind a tree and popped out every time I had to shoot.
If those men got past Stone and the rest of them, they sure as hell weren’t getting past me.
I knew where their guns were pointed. They were aiming for Maya.
And while our cover had been completely fucking blown, no one was getting to her.
No one but me.
With every man I downed, Maya cried out. With every bullet that made it a little too close to home, she screamed my name. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. And when I finally found an opening to continue running, I searched for her.
Because the only thing on my mind was getting her to safety.
I navigated the woods in a zig-zag pattern.
I marked my initials on trees with the butt of my gun so I knew where I’d been.
And the deeper back I went into the darkness, the further the gunfire fell behind me.
Stone and Asher must’ve had a handle on the situation, because bullets no longer made their way back to me.
Then, I heard it.
“Notch?” Maya asked helplessly.
“Oh, holy shit. Maya.”
I ran to the petite pair of legs poking out from beyond a rock.
I slid down into the dirt, taking stock of the woman in front of me.
I squinted my eyes, trying to see her as best as I could.
And even without a strong light source, I saw the bruising on both of her cheeks.
The swollen eye she had. The way she held her arm.
“I think—I think someone—”
“Here, it’s okay. I’m right here. Let me take a look at it, yes?” I asked.
“Notch, someone’s com—”
I pulled my gun from my holster at lightning speed and shot behind me.
I’d heard them coming. And I didn’t even have to look back to put a damn bullet between their eyes.
Maya gasped as the gunshot rang out, and the man groaned as he fell to the ground, soon no longer breathing.
I cupped Maya’s cheeks and forced her to look at me.
To not pay attention to the Hell raining down around us.
“Focus on me. Nothing else. Got it?” I asked.
And when she slowly nodded, I began clocking her wounds.
“Are you nauseous?” I asked.
“I was, but not anymore,” she said.
“Does your neck hurt?”
“It does.”
“What about your shoulders?”
“Notch, just—”
“Maya,” I said curtly.
Another set of footsteps made their way for me, and I picked up my gun.
I turned to my right and put two bullets in the man’s gut before he fell to the ground.
Every sense I had was on high alert. Everything around me seemed muted and accentuated, all at the same time.
My heart thundered in my ears as my hands danced around Maya’s body.
“Does this hurt?”
“What about this?”
“Tingling or like knives?”
I rattled off questions and slayed men who came in our direction.
Other than the mild concussion I was afraid of and the bruises on her face, she was okay.
Even though she smelled like piss. That alone made me want to set her brother on fire at a stake.
But when I removed her hand from her arm, I saw why she winced in pain.
“Is it bad?” Maya asked breathlessly.
I rolled up the cuff of her sleeve and sighed with relief.
“You’ve only been grazed. Though, in some respects, that hurts more than actually being shot,” I said.
“How is that possible?”
“You really want me to do into the specifics now?” I asked, grinning.
She scoffed. “How can you joke at a time like this?”
I cupped her cheeks. “Because I thought I’d lost you. And I’m just so happy to look into your eyes again.”
Then, with the approaching footsteps behind Maya, I reached for my gun and put a bullet between the eyes of the man approaching us.
“You’re good with that gun,” she said.
“And you’re good with my heart,” I said.
Without warning, the gunfire ceased. I whipped my head up, taking in the eerie silence that fell across the patch of land we were annihilating. My heart stopped. My veins froze. I had no idea what the fuck was going on, but the only sound I had in my ears was the crickets in the night.
“Stone? What’s going on?” I murmured into my intercom.
“We need you. Now,” he whispered.
“What’s happening?” Maya asked.
I shook my head as I helped her up, scanning the woods around us. The darkness was thick. The only reason I knew where to go was the fact that I’d walked in a semi-straight line. Even with my zig-zagging. I picked my gun up off the ground and holstered it and then tucked Maya underneath my arm.
“Come with me,” I said.
“What’s going on?” she whispered.
“I don’t know. But it’s not good,” I said.
“That’s him, isn’t it?” Asher asked into the intercom.
“Who? Who are you guys seeing?” I asked.
Then, as Maya and I started softly through the woods, Bronx’s voice came alive in my ear with shock, hurt, and anger.
“Detective Woolf,” he said flatly.
“The detective just came out of the warehouse with Harry,” Stone whispered.