Chapter Twenty-One
Harley
T he weekend flies by and before I know it, it’s Sunday evening and everyone is getting ready for tonight. Early this morning, Grayson, Ryker, Cayden, and I had a very long workout session together. We did weights, ran, and then sparred for a while and pushed each other hard. Grayson, who I have seen fight the least, surprised the shit out of me with how good he can be when he is fully determined and sets his mind to it.
By the time we were done, we were all hot and sticky with sweat. Once we finished showering and eating a huge lunch, we crashed in Gabe’s living room until about an hour ago when Gabe came in and told us it was time to get ready.
After getting dressed in some black cargo pants with a t-shirt and a black hoodie, I walk out to the kitchen and find Bri, Atlas, Linc, and Ryan. Smiling widely, I head straight for Bri and give her a hug.
“I’m glad you guys are here,” I exclaim. “I wish it was for better reasons, though.”
“This is a good reason. It’s a good thing that is going to be happening, and you will be changing the lives of whoever you get to save. That’s good, kid,” Linc assures me.
“That’s true.” I nod, easily able to accept a hug from him when he wraps his arms around me. I move on to give Ryan and Atlas each a hug and then start a pot of coffee while we wait for the others to come out.
“So, I wanted to come over here to check on you before we step into all the chaos,” Bri explains. “I want to make sure you’re alright and completely ready for this. You never know what this could bring up for you. And I don’t want you thinking that I don’t believe you can do it; I know you can. And I’m coming to terms with the things you’re all planning to do, but I still worry about you, honey.”
Once the coffee starts pouring, I turn around to face Bri. Especially after Colton explaining Gabe’s thoughts to me, I can be more understanding of her concerns and not let them bother me like they usually would. “I promise I’m ready,” I swear to her. “And I have to believe that over the last year I have overcome enough of what happened to me that I can fight through any possible triggers.”
“And she’ll be with at least one of us the whole time, so we can help if needed and be there for each other since we all have dark pasts, but the four of us have never done something like this, and you don’t really know how you handle it until you’re in the moment,” Ryker adds as he walks into the room and rounds the island to stand beside me.
Wrapping his arm around my shoulders, he greets the guys and Bri before placing a kiss on my forehead just as Cade and Gray come into the room.
Linc watches Grayson closely but doesn’t make a move to go to him even though based on his tense demeanor and hands that are clenching and unclenching, he wants to go to him.
Grayson says a quiet hello and then glances at me. Giving him a soft smile, I gesture towards Linc with my head. Gray exhales and then walks towards him, and after an awkward moment, Grayson gives him a side hug. Lincoln’s entire face lights up at the small gesture and when I glance at Bri, she is watching them with a big smile.
When she notices me staring, she grins at me and mouths, Thank you.
“Alright, we should probably get over to the club because everyone needs to get moving to their spots in the next thirty minutes.” Atlas glances at the boys and me. “If any of you have any issues, you find one of us and we will get you out of there or help in any way we can. Bri is staying here with Ryan and the few others that are staying behind. But Linc and I will be there. I’m driving the big van Rage got, and Linc is driving the truck.”
We all agree and promise to find them or get ahold of them if we need to. After chugging down some coffee, we head over to the club to find everyone getting ready. Noah takes us all downstairs to the safe room, and we pick out our weapons and put on bulletproof vests.
Everyone splits off into their groups, and before we load into the truck with Linc, Brielle hugs me again. “Be safe, please, honey,” she says softly.
“I will,” I respond confidently, holding her tight.
Cade sits in the front with Linc while Ryker, Gray, and I get in the back. Everyone pulls out of the club, splitting off to head to their set locations. The rest of the SOS stay behind our truck with the van Atlas is driving following up after their bikes.
Vance and his guys are meeting us in the same neighborhood we used before when we checked out the warehouse. When we arrive, we all get out and the guys pull their bikes up to the empty house. Atlas and Linc drive away heading for whatever spot Nerds told them to stay parked that is hidden so when we’re ready for them, they can drive up to the warehouse.
“Ready, little flame?” Ry asks as he, Gray, and Cade form a circle in front of me.
I nod, placing my hands on my hips. “More than ready.”
“Don’t be afraid to speak up if it becomes too much. For any of us. For any reason,” Gray says, glancing between me and the guys.
Suffice to say, we’ve had a few late-night conversations about everything.
None of us have killed without it being self-defense. Taking out David, the guys that attacked us at the beach, or people from our pasts won’t be the same as what we’re about to do.
They may be horrible men who deserve death, but they aren’t coming after us. We are walking right into their territory. It’s fair game.
And that could fuck with our heads.
Like Ryker has said, we don’t truly know how we’ll react until we’re in the moment.
Above all, watching out for each other is the most important part of all of this. I never knew that I would depend on and trust people as much as I do this club, but with my guys, it’s even more intense. I would rip my chest open and hand any one of them my heart and trust that they wouldn’t break it.
A few minutes later, Vance and his men pull up in three large SUVs. Once everyone meets and is ready, we start the trek through the woods.
“Everyone remember where they’re going?” Gabe asks quietly.
We each respond with some form of affirmation. Ryker, Grayson, Cade, and I, along with Axe and Gabe, are going straight through the front door while a few of Vance’s men will be following up behind us helping with the guards.
Vance and a few others are going in through the back door and focusing on taking out people and finding the men in suits.
As we approach the warehouse, the ones going to the back of the building loop around through the woods to get ready. Stone takes off through the woods to find whatever spot he was at last time to set up with his scope.
Gabe sends the message to Nerds that we’re all ready and now we just have to wait for confirmation to move in. Taking a few deep breaths, I roll my shoulders and count to ten in my head
Everything will be fine. Everyone will be fine. We’ve prepared for this.
“You good, Harley?” Gabe whispers from nearby.
I nod and glance over at him. “I’m good. Just ready to shut this place down.”
“Me fucking too,” Ryker murmurs.
Gabe’s phone buzzes in the quiet woods, and he flashes the screen at everyone after he reads it.
Nerds: Two minutes.
Cade and I lock eyes, and I see the determination and gleam in his gaze as a tiny smirk stretches on his lips.
One more deep breath and I make myself let go of every anxious thought, of my fears, of the things I have been through, and my concern for everyone I have come to love.
They can defend themselves. We are all ready for this.
Gabe holds up his phone for everyone to see again.
Nerds: Thirty seconds.
Pulling out one of my knives from Lincoln, I grip it tightly in my hand and focus on the two guards who are currently walking the length of the front of the warehouse.
“Move,” Gabe breathes, and we are off.
“I’ve got the guard to the left,” Axe whispers.
“The other one is mine.” Ryker grins and takes off in front of us.
Axe quickly locks his arm around the guard's neck and slowly takes him down to the ground until he is no longer moving.
Ryker, on the other hand, pulls out a knife and sneaks up behind the guard when he turns his back on us. Reaching around him, he grips his forehead in his free hand, yanking it backwards and slicing open his neck. The man gurgles and grips at his throat as he stumbles to the ground, unmoving.
Cade reaches the double front doors first and, twisting the handle, it opens with ease. Not even locked. Bingo.
Vance’s men, that I don’t even know the names of, go ahead of Cade and we all follow after them. There is a desk straight across from the doors where two men sit that are quickly taken out before they can alert the others. Then to the left of the desk is a hallway, and to the right are a set of stairs.
Three more men come from farther down the hall, spotting us and immediately yelling out. Shit. Ryker, Gabe, Axe, and a few others rush toward them while I glance at Cade and then gesture towards the stairs. Grayson follows us to the next level along with two other men.
When we get to the top of the old wooden staircase, there is a single long hallway going straight to the back wall of the building. There are doors on either side, so we slowly work our way down the hall, quietly checking each door and hoping no one up here heard the commotion from downstairs.
The first on the right is a shitty little bathroom, then next door on the right is a dingy medical room. It sends shivers down my spine as I notice the medical bed that has stirrups attached to the end and a large light above the bed.
As we head towards the next room on the left side of the hallway, a door towards the end of the hallway flies open, and four guards come out along with another guy behind them. They yell and immediately charge towards us, but it doesn’t escape me that the last guy bolts in the room directly across the hall from where they came from.
Cade and two of Vance’s men take on the guards while one of the other guys, Grayson, and I head into the next room.
The second I step through the door, the sound of gun cocking makes me pause long enough for the guy to my right to aim right between my eyes. Forcing my legs to move, I step to the side and then grip his arm that is holding the gun, twisting until I hear the bone snap and he drops it.
Bringing my knee up to his balls, I hit hard, causing him to drop down in front of me. Before I have the opportunity to pull my gun out, a pop sounds from a gun with a silencer. Blood sprays the front of my sweatshirt, and I feel some land on my neck.
Whipping my head up towards where the sound came from, I find one of Vance’s men.
“What the fuck?” I question angrily, glancing around the room and finding Cade now in here helping Grayson restrain a man in a suit behind the desk that sits in the center of the space.
The guy shrugs. “I already had my gun out. It was just easier for me to take the shot.”
I eye him warily, not sure if I believe him, but now isn’t the time to question it. “We need to go farther down the hall. I watched the other man in a suit go into a different room when the guards came at us,” I say warily.
We quickly clear the other rooms until we get to the last door on the right where the man went earlier, finding it locked. Grayson nudges me and shows me his phone screen.
Rage: Downstairs is cleared.
Nodding, I peer behind me at Cade, who glances at the door over my shoulder and then grins at me. “I’ve always wanted to kick down a door.”
Biting my lip to hold back a laugh, I gesture towards the door, and everyone steps back. Cade approaches it and faces away from the door before lifting his leg and kicking backwards. It takes about three solid blows before the door finally splinters and we can get it open.
But as soon as we step inside, my heart stops.
Ryker
Twenty Minutes Prior
Adrenaline pumps through my veins after having cut the guy's throat open. It is something that I have always wanted to do. Just one swift drag of my knife across a neck and to hear the gurgling and feel the blood gushing out of them as they drop dead. It feels even better knowing that the piece of shit deserves it, if not worse for the things they do here.
As soon as we make it inside the warehouse, three guards come racing down the hall towards us. I dart forward hearing others move behind me as we move straight towards them.
“Who the fuck are you? Stop moving!” the dumb fucker yells at me as he tries to yank his gun out from the waistband of his pants.
It’s clear as day that these guys aren’t true guards who are always on their A-game. They’ve probably never had a threat or concern before being here and are just posted at the warehouse as a scare tactic for the victims they keep.
Gripping the wrist that now holds his gun, I yank it behind his back and slam him face first into the nearest wall.
Leaning forward so my mouth is close to his ear, I whisper, “I’m an angel here to send you to hell where you belong.” Using my free hand, I yank the gun out of his grip and use it to shoot him in the side of the head.
The shot echoes through the hallway and makes my ears ring, but it is fully worth it considering he got to die by his own fucking gun.
Spinning around, I check on the others, but don’t see Harley, Cade, or Grayson. “They went upstairs with a few of Vance’s guys,” Axe explains.
As I’m preparing to go bolt up the stairs to them, he stops me with a hand on my shoulder.
“Hang on. They’ve got it under control,” he assures me, his eyes trained on our surroundings. “We need to clear the downstairs area, and then we can head up there if they aren’t back down yet.
I fucking hate it, but I get that we need to clear every part of the house. Shooting him a glare, I quickly nod and turn back around heading further into the warehouse. We come into a large open living room with tables in rows and a kitchen to the left side of the room. There are two doors on the far wall that lead out to the back of the warehouse and then a hallway on the far side of the kitchen.
Vance’s men take down the three guys in the room sitting at tables with ease, and we head into the kitchen towards the hallway. The hall has three doors: one holds a bathroom, another a storage closet, and the last one is a large steel-looking door with a padlock on the outside.
Rage shoots off a text, and a few minutes later Noah comes inside with another one of Vance’s men and brings us some kind of cutter that easily snaps the lock off. Once we get it open, a gust of freezing air smacks me in the face as I step into what is a large, room-sized freezer. It has to be colder than what a standard freezer should even be kept at.
Along the back wall is a metal table on wheels, and it has a sheet laying over it with what looks to be the outline of a body beneath it. Rage’s hand lands on my shoulder before I can step forward.
“I can look,” he rasps as he stares straight ahead at the table.
“We can do it together,” I respond and start walking towards it, shivering at the hard gusts of freezing air in the room from fans on either side of us.
Rage reaches forward and takes a deep breath before peeling back the sheet.
Dull, wide brown eyes stare up at me from a sickeningly pale body. They look terrified, cold, and lost. But more than anything, they’re empty.
“Fuck,” Rage swears under his breath.
She can’t be older than thirteen and is completely naked under the sheet that Rage folds down so her body is still covered but we can see her shoulders and face. Her red hair is braided perfectly, running down her sides, and I know Rage is seeing how similar it is to Harley’s hair when he inhales sharply next to me.
This little girl has scars on her chest that run down under the sheet that I won’t remove to look at, attempting to give her any dignity that I can.
Raising my hand, which I now realize is shaking, I gently try to shut her eyes, but she has been here long enough that they are too frozen to move. Rage reaches for the sheet again and starts to cover her head.
“I’m so sorry, sweet girl,” he whispers, pulling the sheet over her. He’s quiet for a moment. Then, “I’ll ask Vance if he can help us with getting her moved, and we can decide what to do then.” I nod but don’t speak. “Are you alright, Ryker?”
Nodding again, I glance up at him and then back down at the sheet, my stomach plummeting.
“I… just didn’t expect her to have hair that looks just like Harley’s. I just can’t stop myself from seeing Harley on this table when I look at it. How easily this could’ve been her,” I say quietly, swallowing hard.
My own voice sounds distant, broken. Lacking even the anger that is usually flowing through me. I need to lay eyes on Harley. Now .
Rage looks like he plans to respond, but I spin around and walk out of the room where Noah is standing, his eyes roaming over me in concern. I stop in my tracks when my eyes catch on something else. Moving closer to the door that is swung open wide into the hallway, I squat down and look at the bloody track marks of what looks like fingers trying to claw their way out of the door.
Noah notices what I am seeing and sucks in a sharp breath. “Mother fucker. What the fuck do these sick fucks get from this shit?” he rages.
Jolting back up to my feet, I take a deep breath and head back towards the front of the warehouse where the stairs are while listening to Rage and Noah talk about how the downstairs area is clear and the guys outside took care of everyone they could find.
Stone hasn’t seen anyone trying to sneak away through his scope. Good. The more of these fuckers are dead, the better.
I pull my gun out as I jog up the stairs just to be safe, but I don’t find anyone as I make my way down the hall until I get to the last door on the right. Entering the room, I let my eyes run over Grayson and Cade before they land on Harley.
I swear to God, I am going to spank her ass raw for putting herself in front of an obviously desperate trapped psychopath with a gun.
Harley
My stomach turns as my eyes quickly dart around the large, dimly lit room. The far wall is lined with what appears to be dog cages. I can see two kennels currently occupied, while another girl is laid out on a metal table to our left tied down.
The fourth girl is barely able to keep her head up as the man in the suit is holding her back against his chest, with a gun touching her temple.
“Get the fuck out or I will kill her and every other whore in this room!” he screams at us.
His eyes dart wildly around the room, his voice trembling slightly. I take a step forward, and Cade tries to grip my arm, but I pull away quickly, focusing on the man.
“Who says we want them kept alive?” I raise a brow at him, hoping he won’t call my bluff.
His mouth gapes open as he tries to figure out what to say, the tiny amount of confidence he had disappearing as confusion takes over.
The girl he’s holding up has managed to barely raise her head enough when she heard my voice. Her long beautiful black hair is braided down her back, and when we lock eyes, I can see the same pain there I’ve glimpsed in the mirror countless times before.
She has bags under her dark brown eyes, and her lips are tilted down in a deep frown. She looks put together, but also like she is falling apart at the seams. I try to convey with my eyes that we are here for her, that we’re here to help them, but when she inhales deeply and squeezes her eyes tightly shut, I know she is about to do something stupid.
Everything happens within seconds. The man is too confused and thrown off by what I said to be on guard, so when she drops her weight he is forced to either drop with her or let her go.
When she hits the ground, he aims his gun down at her just as one of Vance’s guys takes a shot, hitting his shoulder and causing him to drop his gun as a second shot echoes through the room. He stumbles and cries out but manages to stay on his feet.
His eyes darken in rage, and he charges directly for me, seeing as I'm the closest intruder to him.
I brace myself with my knife, but Cade gets to him first. Slamming into him and rolling onto the ground, he gets on top of him and pounds into his face with his fists.
One of Vance’s men steps in to help while Grayson walks slowly towards the cages. When I look back down at the girl on the ground, she has grabbed the gun the fucker dropped and is using what little strength she seems to have left to roll onto her side and point it at Grayson.
“Stop.” Her voice is so hoarse you can hardly hear her, and Grayson doesn’t notice the weapon now being aimed at him.
Diving to the ground, I knock the gun out of her hands, and she immediately attacks.
Flinging herself at me, she manages to knock me onto my back out of surprise. Grasping her arms, I flip her and straddle her thighs, pinning her wrists on either side of her head.
“Stop! Stop fighting me—please! I promise we’re here to help, but I need you to calm down,” I try to plead with her through her screams and jerky movements as she tries desperately to gain control.
A soft cry comes from one of the girls by the cages behind where we are currently on the floor. It sends adrenaline flowing through her, and she is able to get a wrist free and claw at my neck until I have to release her other wrist to get her to stop. She wiggles out from under me and turns to dive towards Grayson by the cages, but I grip her ankle and yank her back towards me.
“Please stop. I don’t want to hurt you!” I yell, but her eyes are set on Grayson, and she is too far stuck in her head to truly hear anything I’m saying.
My hand grips her hip, attempting to pull her back, but I pause when she gasps and flinches. Pressing down slightly harder, I can feel how the part of the black slip she is wearing that I am touching is soaked.
Her body jerks, and then she seems to give up and starts sobbing while trying to grip her side. I bat her hands away and raise the black slip dress up to find a bullet wound on her side. Fuck.
“Hey! Someone, I need help over here!” I yell as I use her dress to press down as hard as I can on the wound to stop the bleeding. Locking eyes with hers, I say, “It’s going to be okay. I promise. We are here to help.”
“No. N–no. I prom–promised. I told her, I told her I could be strong,” she stutters and gasps out through her sobs.
“Who? Who did you tell?” I demand just as Vance drops down next to me with a black medical bag of some kind. He gestures for me to move my hands as he pulls the dress away and presses gauze down on the wound oozing blood.
“Help me roll her on her side so I can see if it has gone through or not,” he urges quietly.
Nodding, I help rotate her as gently as I can.
He curses under his breath and shakes his head as he looks up at me. “No exit wound.”
“I couldn’t be brave enough,” she says so quietly I almost don’t hear her, her skin already turning clammy and pale.
“Hey, sweetheart, I bet you were so brave. You’ve done so good. I promise. No one is going to be upset with you, okay? We are going to help you, and you’ll get to leave here with everyone else and be free, okay?”
“Free?” she mumbles as she coughs and gasps in pain.
More blood gushes from her wound, and Vance does his best to keep it under control as one of his other guys is on the phone with someone talking about her a few feet away.
Placing my hand on her cheek, I smile at her. “Yes. Free. You are free now, sweetheart. Can you tell me your name?” I ask, fighting back tears.
She rasps, “Sammy. My name is Samantha Brown.”
“Sammy. It’s beautiful. You get to be free, Sammy.”
“Does that mean I get to see my mom again?” she asks, her eyes drooping slightly.
“Yes, Sammy. We will find her, okay? But I need you to keep being strong for me. Be strong like you told the other person you were strong.”
“Mom?” she murmurs, her gaze growing distant.
I nod as a few tears fall down my cheeks. “Yes, we are going to find her. I promise.”
“I’m free now.” Her eyes slowly fall closed, and she takes a gasping breath. But her chest doesn’t rise again.
“Hey, hey, Sammy. Sammy, talk to me, okay?” I sob, unable to contain myself any longer.
Vance slowly pulls his hand away from where he was keeping pressure on her wound and presses two fingers against her wrist. Shaking my head, I press my hands onto the wound.
“No. No. Sammy is not dead. Not dead,” I cry harder.
“Harley, there wasn’t anything else we could do,” Vance explains emotionlessly.
I shake my head firmly, not pulling my hands away. She didn’t fight just to die the second she was going to finally have freedom. No.
Vance sighs, glancing between me and her. “Like you said, she’s free now. You did everything you could for her. She didn’t die with this place on her mind. You helped her,” he says, trying to comfort me.
Dropping my hands from her wound, I look up at him. “You’re never truly free,” I seethe through my tears.
Vance tilts his head as he studies me. “Something happened to you,” he states, not asking.
Narrowing my eyes at him, my hackles rise. “That’s none of your business,” I retort and quickly wipe the tears from my face.
Vance pinches his lips together but nods in understanding and moves away as Cade approaches. He bends down and meets my eyes, gently gripping my chin between his fingers.
“I can take care of her, but you’re needed. The girl on the table is terrified of us. She needs you, baby girl,” Cade murmurs.
Nodding, I carefully run my hand over Sammy’s still perfectly braided hair. “You’re free, Sammy,” I whisper before standing up. Cade squeezes my hand and gently presses his lips to my forehead, looking down at the girl.
Taking a deep breath, I force myself to shove my feelings down and keep going. This isn’t about me. They need us to be strong.