Dayanara Chapter 20
Adrenaline flowed through my body. I was hyperalert.
It was like being back on patrol in the Corps.
Although here, we only had one enemy to worry about.
And he was so outnumbered it wasn’t funny.
I focused my eyes on a point across the way.
Concentrating on it, I took a slow, deep breath in, held it for the count of five, then let it out.
I did it multiple times until the adrenaline settled into an acceptable baseline.
Sometimes, too much was worse than not enough.
Once I was centered, I scanned the surrounding area.
I was somewhat surprised that Stalker and Predator had given in to my appeal to remain outside the safe room and part of the line of defense. I expected we’d have a screaming match, but they had calmly voiced their concerns, and I got to tell them mine.
In the end, when we spoke to Bull and Outlaw, I was assigned a spot between where they placed my men.
We were hidden but within sight of each other.
I think Bull had placed them near each other, knowing he’d add me in that spot.
The way he winked at me suggested he understood.
And from the stories I’d heard about his daughter Harlow, I believed he did. I looked forward to meeting her.
I had not only my personal handgun with me, but an extra given to me by Maverick.
He was the club’s armorer and oversaw their reserves.
I’d seen the room that held all the weaponry.
I was super impressed. I wanted to spend time there, going over it all.
When I told Maverick that, he told me any time.
In addition to the second handgun, I carried a wicked, sharp knife.
The kind that Navy SEALs carried. I could fight hand-to-hand if necessary.
In addition to my weapons, I wore a Kevlar vest. We had to finagle one a bit to make it fit.
Maverick muttered about ordering smaller ones if we women were gonna act like Harlow.
I smiled and told him he should. The last thing I was outfitted with was an earpiece, which let all of us communicate.
They were high-end, like the ones the military used. I wondered where they got them.
The usual outdoor lights pierced the darkness in spots.
There had been talk of turning them off, but then someone said that if Marshall was watching, he might know they were kept on.
We took cover in the shadows where the light didn’t reach.
And we had some barrier between us and openness.
Not that it would stop a bullet, but it was better than standing there with our asses exposed.
The night was so still, though I heard the call of an owl and the flap of wings.
The Great Horned Owl was probably hunting.
The howl of a coyote or maybe a wolf was heard in the distance.
I strained my ear to hear anything else.
Even though Jess said Marshall would enter when the gate opened, he might have been mistaken.
Or God, lying, though I prayed he wouldn’t betray his family for someone like Marshall. What the hell happened to you, brother?
I thought I saw the sky lightening the very slightest. Checking my phone, I saw it was twenty after five. Ivan was set to open the gate and walk the front at five-thirty, so ten minutes to go.
“It’s almost show time. Everyone, relax and know we got this.
Remember where your team members are. I don’t want any of you shooting each other.
Take him alive if you can, but don’t risk your life to do it.
I prefer him dead than any of you. Good luck,” Bull whispered in the earpiece, then it went silent.
Nice pep talk. I liked it. It was short and to the point without being flowery fluff.
The remaining nine minutes dragged by, as was typical in a situation like this.
I kept my mind calm and my body loose. When the signal came over the earpiece, which was a quiet whistle twice, my body snapped into full warrior mode.
Everything and everyone around me faded away.
The plan was to let Marshall reach a central location where damage to the bulk of the compound was less likely.
Meaning we were to capture him in the open spot between the townhouses and the clubhouse.
I was in a position to see the area in question.
I strained to see the slightest movement of him.
Others began whispering into the comms whenever they spotted him or he left their field of vision.
I recalled the map of everyone's whereabouts that Outlaw showed me. Marshall was headed for the townhomes. How the hell did he know about them? The wall kept lookie-loos from seeing most things. How would he know? The opening of the gate surely didn’t give away that much information, which left only one possibility.
My stomach flipped. Someone had told him.
And that someone was…? If it were Jess, I’d never forgive him, and he’d find himself in Marshall’s camp in all ways. Betrayal was a trigger for me.
It was about eighteen minutes before one of the guys reported that Marshall was on his way toward the clubhouse. He wasn’t slinking around the edges as much as he had been. He would become visible in the kill zone, as I called it, though the goal was not to kill him.
My heart jumped when I saw a shadow in the shape of a man hunched over, slithering toward the clubhouse. However, his version of slithering wasn’t that polished. He wasn’t used to sneaking around.
“Stalker, Predator, Daya, take him when you’re ready. We’ve got you,” Bull said over comms.
I rose to my full height, and my men did the same.
I automatically gave them hand signals as if they were Marines in the field with me.
I knew neither had served, but they nodded and gave me hand signals back.
Apparently, someone had been teaching them.
I’d have to wait to find out what they knew after this mess was over.
I held my handgun in firing position as I moved closer to Marshall.
He didn’t see me until it was too late. When he did, I watched his body jerk.
He halted. Then he ran his eyes up and down me.
I couldn’t read his expression in the dim light, but it was bright enough to recognize each other.
His gun was partially raised. When I knew him, he hadn’t been anything special with a firearm.
I hoped he hadn’t gotten better between the time he hurt me and when he went to prison.
“Put that gun down, Daya. You’re one of the people I’m here to see. Where is your sister?” he asked, bold as he could be.
“I’m not putting it down. You put yours down.
As for Breezy, she’s where you can never touch her, Marshall.
You should’ve stayed away. Better yet, you should’ve never laid a finger on her or anyone else.
What is about to come is all your fault.
You brought the wrath of the storm down on you.
I’m gonna enjoy watching it destroy you,” I hissed.
“Storm? Do you think I’m afraid of you or the bikers who live here?” he asked incredulously.
“If not, you should be. And yes, you’ll be thrashed and tossed like a leaf in the wind.”
“You can’t shoot me. No matter how angry you pretend to be, you can’t hurt me. You remember how special we were to each other,” he said in that charming voice of his. It didn’t work on me. I saw right through the mask to the ugly beast underneath.
“Bring Breezy to me. The three of us have so much to talk about, and so many things to relive.”
The leer on his face was evident. I almost gave in to my urge to shoot him, but I held back.
And because I had stood there talking to him, focusing his attention on a single point, Predator and Stalker were able to get within feet of him in the surrounding shadows.
I got the thumbs-up signal from Stalker, then Predator. I didn’t wait.
As I dropped to the ground and rolled into the shadows, I yelled, “Now.”
As I did, they came out of the darkness and jumped Marshall.
His gun discharged twice, but luckily, I was out of the line of fire.
His gun was stripped from him, and then he was roughly thrown to the ground.
More of the Warriors came out of their hiding places to watch. I got to my feet and joined my old men.
Predator had Marshall pinned to the ground with a knee in his back, and his arms cranked so far up that all the hated man did was scream in pain and beg Predator to stop.
Stalker was patting Marshall down, looking for additional weapons or anything that could be used against us.
So far, Stalker had come up empty-handed.
“Ow, let go of me, you cocksuckers!” Marshall shouted.
“Shut the fuck up and stay still,” Predator snarled.
There was more swearing and demands, just variations of the first ones. When Stalker stood, he’d confiscated a second handgun, two knives, zip ties, and a small roll of duct tape. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what those last two were for, or who.
Both of my guys yanked Marshall roughly to his feet. The side of his face was covered in dirt and blood. Predator had gotten zealous in pinning him down. I smirked.
“How’s Ivan?” I asked those surrounding us.
“He’s gonna be fine. He has a bump on the head and is groggy. Demon has taken him to be checked out by Zara,” Tank answered.
“Thank God,” I said.
“Too true. We were damn lucky. Those staying here to keep an eye on the clubhouse, go ahead inside. Those who are going to be part of what comes next, let’s go. I want to spend the least amount of our Saturday dealing with this piece of filth,” Bull sneered.
“You can’t do this. You’ll go to—” Marshall’s protest was cut off by Renegade, who slapped a piece of duct tape over his mouth.