Chapter 1
ONE
FROST
Just as smoothly as Clancy had opened the door to the warehouse, they closed it behind the officers. Then, he turned to face us as Ruby sobbed against her brother’s shoulder.
“If you need bail money for him, we can--.”
I shook my head as I stepped up to the plate. “I’ve got him, don’t worry about that. But we need another plan. If someone is pinning the shooting on Diego, they’re doing a damn good job of it.”
Puck nodded his head as he stroked his fingers through his sister’s hair. “He’s right. They know where we’re camped out, which raises the possibility that they have a sense of what we’re involved in.”
Stone growled. “I’ll take care of figuring out what they know. Frost?”
I peeked out the window and waited until each and every cop was gone. “On it. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
I left the chaos of the warehouse and hopped onto my bike. I knew Stone would find it risky that I ended up back at my place so I could pick up my car, but it wasn’t like it mattered any longer. If the police knew where we were, then it was only a matter of time before our enemies found us, too.
So, I parked my motorcycle in my garage and backed out my old mustang.
“All right, princess, let’s take you out for a ride.”
I cruised with the windows down and inhaled the fresh air. The sounds of the city passed by me in a blur as I headed straight for downtown. I knew they wouldn’t ask him too many questions before booking him, especially if they had enough to warrant busting through our front doors.
Then again, anyone could be paid off with the right amount of money.
I hate this world so much.
I parked in front of the booking office and walked inside. I told them I was there to post bail for Diego Hernandez, and I got a great deal of dirty looks. They dragged their feet with the process, forcing me to sit in the waiting room for damn near two hours.
But after paying his bail, they practically shoved him through a side door.
“Shit, come here,” I hissed.
I caught him before he had a chance to hit the tiled floor. He looked rattled, his eyes darting around as he raked his hands through his hair. I threw my arm around his shoulders, quickly ushering him out of that place before anyone had a chance to ask us any more questions.
Then, I stuffed him into my mustang and peeled out of the parking lot.
“Diego,” I said.
He kept staring out the window while he picked at the beds of his nails.
“Diego, talk to me. What happened?”
His jaw quivered with his response. “They have someone on the inside.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t shock me. I figured one of the police was getting their information from the cartel if they knew where to find us.”
He peeked over at me. “They tried to kill me in there.”
I narrowed my eyes. “The Banderas Cartel?”
He swallowed hard. “They--they processed me and threw me into a holding cell with four other members. You should’ve seen the looks they gave me. The threats they spat my way.”
“Fucking hell,” I murmured.
“It’s bad, Frost. I don’t know if one of them is a C.I. or if a cop is dirty, but there’s no way in hell--.”
I reached over and patted his knee. “Just take a deep breath for me. Once we get back to the warehouse--.”
He snapped his head in my direction. “You mean no one’s been moved yet?”
“Where the hell would we go, Diego?”
He sank into his seat. “We’re fucked.”
I let him have his moment. He deserved it, after all.
After everything he had done for us and everything he had sacrificed, he had every reason to be worried.
But, if the point of his arrest was to kill him, those four members would’ve bled him like a stuffed pig in that holding cell without a second thought.
Which meant there had to be another reason for detaining him.
“What do they get by pinning the shooting on you?” I asked.
Diego scoffed. “They get another one of their betrayers behind bars. That’s what they get.”
“Is there anything else, though? Is there information you might have that worries them?”
Something clicked behind his eyes. “Drive faster. I need to talk with Stone. Look out, Frost!”
Two cars pulled up beside us before they donned sawed-off shotguns.
Windows shattered as my car swerved left and right, trying to knock the guns out of the assailants’ hands.
I didn’t need to look at them to know who was trying to gun us down, though.
And I quickly understood why they had tried to pin that fucking shooting on my newest brother.
It was to get him out of the darkness and into the light.
“Hang on,” I growled.
“I’ll call Stone. We need back-up, and quickly,” Diego said.
I slammed into the car to my right and careened it off the road. But another person popped up in the back of the other car and peppered my side of the mustang with bullets. I gritted my teeth as I swerved again, but the car maneuvered out of the way.
Sending me flying down an embankment.
“Hold on,” I murmured.
Diego yelled at Stone through the phone while I managed to get us out of the ditch and back onto the road.
I weaved in and out of traffic, trying to lose the tails that had stalked us out.
Even if the police knew where the crew was holding up for now, I didn't want to lead these assholes back to the place.
All I wanted was to get out of the shootout alive.
“Frost!” Diego shrieked.
“Will you shut the hell up and grow a pair!?” I roared. “There’s a gun beneath your seat. Get it and put it to good use.”
He stared at me for a second, but he didn’t wait for long. He pulled out the two pistols I kept beneath every seat in my restoration project and held his arms out across my chest. I rolled my window down and he started shooting, causing the other van beside us to careen right into a tree.
But the skidding of tires behind us caused me to look in my rearview mirror.
“Looks like they’re not done yet. Diego, can you get into the back seat?” I asked.
He unbuckled his seatbelt. “Yep. I’m good.”
The roaring of bikes in the distance filled me with hope as Diego shot out my back window.
The amount of work this car would need after all was said and done made me sick to my stomach, but I knew it wasn’t anything I couldn't fix myself.
I put the pedal to the metal, pushing my car over a buck ten as bikes flew past us driving in the opposite direction.
And as bullets flew, cars abandoned the main road we were on left and right.
“Sucks to be you guys, ha-HA!” I exclaimed.
“Oh, fuck,” Diego murmured.
I turned off onto a side road. “What? What is it?”
He sighed. “I don’t know what I just saw, but I think West got grazed by a bullet.”
I gripped the steering wheel and whipped the car around. Diego went flying around in the backseat as burnt rubber kicked up around us. Hell, no. There was no way these assholes were getting away with shooting one of my guys. Even if he only got grazed, that warranted a bit of revenge.
So, I spun my tires to kick up more smoke before I took off.
“Keep shooting, Diego!” I exclaimed.
I slammed into cars with the front of my own, knocking them off-kilter. A couple were shoved into a deep ditch while others crashed into lights and electricity poles. I whipped my car back around and Diego jumped out to tend to West who was sprawled out in the middle of the road.
And after we dragged the man into the backseat of my car, Diego locked eyes with me in the rearview mirror.
“I’m driving his bike back. Get him to Notch,” he said.
I nodded. “On it.”
Then, Diego hopped out and scrambled to get to West’s bike.
“You okay back there, man?”
He groaned as he held his arm. “Been better, if you’re honestly asking.”
I chuckled. “Hang on as tight as you can. Neither Notch nor I can do anything until we can get back to the warehouse.”
Notch wasn’t the only medic on the team. I had spent my years in the Army as a combat medic, so I knew how to handle myself while under pressure. Some of the guys in my club needed that sort of knowledge, Diego especially. But that type of knowledge also came with time.
And experience.
The more our men flooded the streets, however, the more the cartel backed off. Until soon, there was no one tailing us back to the warehouse. I pulled right up to the front door and parked my banged-up, beat-up, shot-up mustang before helping West out of the backseat.
Then, I got him to the kitchen table before I rummaged around for supplies.
“Fucking hell,” I murmured.
Notch burst through the door. “Where is he?”
West cleared his throat. “Kitchen!”
I stood as Notch came into the room. “We’re out of stitching supplies. We have to re-up.”
“Shit,” he hissed as he inspected West’s arm. “That’s a pretty good graze, too. Glue won’t fix this.”
“What do we do then?” West asked with a grunt.
Notch looked over at me. “I’m going to give you the number of a contact I have at the hospital in town. It’s an old EMT friend of mine. She can snag us some supplies.”
“Fine by me. What’s the contact’s name?”
Notch scrolled through his phone. “There, I sent her number. Her name’s Lexi. Just tell her what you need, and she’ll set up a meeting inside the hospital.”
The name alone brought back so many memories, but I shoved it out of my head. I had to focus for the sake of my men, and drowning myself in memories did me no good. So, I pulled out my phone and checked the text.
“Great. I’ll get on it.”
“And hurry!” Notch exclaimed. “We sure as hell don’t have any more time to waste!”