“You bitch.” He loomed over me.
His fist cocked back and slammed into my cheek.
“Not the face” echoed in my ears.
Chapter 5: Delta
Pounding on the motel door woke me up. I stumbled out of bed and the room spun. Fucking hangovers. I’d drunk too much with the Renegades. I’d barely stumbled back to the motel room last night.
I threw open the door, and Thorn strode inside. The giant was six foot five and built solid—a badass by any definition. I’d worked with him many times back in the day when I worked for Brotherhood Securities, and I was glad to have his help on this bounty assignment.
“You look like shit.” He sat at the desk in the black rolling chair.
I kicked the door closed and sat on the edge of the bed running hands through my hair. Head pounding, and mouth coated with scum, I just wanted to crawl back into bed. I squinted against the bright sun shining through the curtains. The room was clean and functional, but it had been designed sometime in the eighties, and the Ravens, who owned the motel, hadn’t redecorated since then.
Instead, I leaned over and grabbed my phone from the nightstand and opened up my notes on the bounty. “I’ve got intel that says Chaos and Mayhem are staying over at the Golden Inn across town.” I scrolled through my notes. “One of the Ravens saw them two days ago, but I didn’t want to chance them spotting me, so I stayed away.”
Thorn nodded. “Any other Angels in town?”
“Not that I have found.” I lifted a shoulder. “But that’s not a sure thing.”
He stretched his long legs out in front of him. “Tell me the plan.”
“We take your Jeep, stake out the hotel—my source says they’re in 113. We confirm and then take them down.” These guys were bad news and I wanted to capture them at the motel where there was less chance for innocents getting in the middle of our operation. “Drive them straight to the Reno police station, and collect the cash.”
“They’re each worth a 100K?”
I nodded. “They put down the last hunter who tried to take them.”
Thorn grunted.
“We’re not making any mistakes today.” I liked the cash—not that I needed the ten percent cut I’d receive, not after winning so much in Vegas—but I craved the thrill of the hunt. I loved taking down the dangerous ones, pitting my skills against theirs.
“When?”
“Give me twenty and then we roll.” I grabbed my duffel before I stood. “You bring the toys I requested?”
Thorn smiled for the first time. “And some extra, like I always do.”
The man must have been one hell of a Boy Scout back in the day. He believed in being prepared for every contingency. And that’s one reason we’d never blown a mission.
I hurried through the shower, chewed up a few tablets of ibuprofen and shaved. I might need to do some undercover surveillance, and when I was clean shaven, I looked more business than bruiser. Thorn couldn’t do undercover—he screamed biker even when he didn’t wear his cut. The long hair, tats on his face, and general badass vibe were clear giveaways.
“Ready?” I asked as I stepped out of the bathroom.
On the bed were two automatics, four handguns, two grenades, and two C4 charges with detonators. And Thorn would have another gun and at least four knives on him—serious firepower.
“I see you are.” I slapped his back. “Let’s go earn our keep.”
I holstered one of the nine millimeters in the shoulder harness I’d put on, then shrugged on the windbreaker that made me look more like a tourist than a bounty hunter. Thorn packed the other guns and goodies in a black nylon bag.
We loaded up and drove across town to the Golden Inn. The neighborhood was mostly boarded-up businesses and flophouses—just the kind of place the Angels liked. They thrived in neighborhoods where decent people refused to go and cops never patrolled. Those who lived the one-percent lifestyle were always rough and ruthless, but the Angels were the worst of our kind—lowlife scavengers who fed on corruption and violence. The two guys we hunted now had killed the entire family of a man who they said dissed them.
I’d be happy to put the animals behind bars—they gave us a bad name. Thorn glanced at me. “You’ll stick out here.”
“Good thing you fit right in.”
He boomed out a laugh. “True that, bro. But you better hide the preppy, pretty boy face of yours.”
“Fuck you.” I gave him the bird.
“Their rides.” He nodded to two choppers parked in front of room 113. He backed his Jeep into the far corner of the lot. We had a good line of sight but we’d be hauling ass to get to them if they saw us coming. We’d just have to be sure they didn’t see us until it was too late.
“Rebel said you cleaned up in Vegas.” Thorn glanced at me. “So why did I haul ass from Salt Lake then?”
“Because you’re a sick motherfucker, just like me.”
Thorn smiled again and I had half a mind to tell him to stop that shit. The dude was extra creepy when he smiled.
We didn’t have to wait long before the door to 113 opened up and Chaos left, turning toward the front office.
“You take him, I’ll get the other fucker.” Thorn was out of the car and jogging toward 113.
Shit. Shit. Shit. I booked it across the lot to the motel office. I walked in a few steps behind Chaos and into the office with its gray painted cement floor, sagging desk and half-dead fern. The guy behind the desk assessed us and stepped back. Chaos sneered at me, dismissing me with a glance. I grabbed my plastic cuffs and moved forward with quick, crisp steps.
Chaos turned too late, I had my hand on his left wrist and flipped him to the ground with a judo move. He grunted as he hit the cement floor, and I followed him down, planting a knee in the middle of his back. Once the cuffs secured his hands, I pulled him to his feet. “Let’s go, Chaos.”
“You’re a fucking dead man,” he snarled at me.
“Not today.”
He twisted in my arms and circled away. His leg was in motion, and I saw the blade on the tip of his boots too late. He sliced the arm I’d thrown up to block his kick. I took the blow and grabbed his foot, twisting off the fucking boot as he flew through the air and landed with a crunch on the floor.
“Hey, no blood in my office,” the clerk yelled, holding a bat. “Read the sign.”
Chaos was out cold, so I turned to the clerk. Above his head was a faded sign that read No Blood, No Urine, No Bodily Fluids. A classy place.
Ignoring my dripping wound, I hauled Chaos up on my shoulder in a fireman carry—he was a heavy bastard—and left with the clerk yelling after me.
Thorn sat in the Jeep just outside with his scary smile. Mayhem was unconscious in the back seat. I heaved Chaos into the back and slammed the door.
“He got you.” Thorn already started in on me. “You’re getting slow.” I found a package of wipes and duct tape in Thorn’s glove box, just what I needed to fix my cut.
“Could use stitches,” Thorn suggested.
I kept wrapping the tape around my arm. I definitely didn’t need stitches.
The ribbing continued all the way to Reno’s main police station. When we pulled up in front of the station, Thorn stayed with the two bounties while I went in and wrangled cops to take the idiots off our hands. It took almost an hour to get the paperwork finished up, but two hundred large for a couple hours of work wasn’t anything to complain about.
“We’re going to lunch.”
My stomach lurched at the mention of food, but Thorn was the club’s sergeant at arms, so he outranked me in every way. I guess I was eating despite the hangover annoying me.
He pulled into a greasy spoon that looked like it hadn’t been visited by the health department ever. Just what I didn’t need—bad food on top of bad booze.
Thorn raised an
eyebrow but I wasn’t saying shit.
The inside smelled of old grease and peppermint—a terrible combination. We sat at a booth with a vinyl tabletop and faded orange plastic that pretended to be leather. The cook with a spattered apron lumbered from behind the counter and stopped in front of us. “What’s your poison?”
“Give me that chili of yours.” Thorn looked at me.
“Burger and fries.”
The guy took the menus and left. At the counter he turned back. “Drinks?”
“Coffee—black,” we both said at the same time.
He nodded and disappeared to the back.
“You coming home?”
I fiddled with a napkin from the metal dispenser on the table. “Think I’ll head back to Vegas for a bit.”
“Heard you had a thing for our Glory Ann.” He winked at me. “You know she’s Pixie’s best friend, right?”
I did, now.
“And used to be Sharpie’s girl?”
“I didn’t say a fucking thing about her—you sayin’ something to me?” I didn’t like being warned off.
Thorn’s deep laugh filled the empty diner. The cook came out with our coffee then. I just stared at the ass, waiting for him to get to the point.
“Fuck, bro, you got no sense of humor.” He leaned back in the booth. “I ain’t saying shit, the club ain’t saying shit.” He held his hands up, palms toward me. “Just making conversation.”
I relaxed and made myself smile. No need to take my shitty mood out on a brother.
“So you heading back for another round?”
“I ain’t in a hurry to get home. I may work a few more jumps out here.”
“You ain’t been home much since JoJo hooked up with his old lady.” Thorn leaned his massive forearms on the table. “You doing okay?”
“I am fucking perfect.” I ran fingers through my hair. “Just restless, and I don’t want to catch whatever disease Rebel and JoJo caught—I am too much man for any one woman.”
JoJo was my best friend, and we went all the way back to high school. We’d joined the army together, been kicked out together, and both ended up in the Jericho Brotherhood. It was a good life, but now that he had his old lady, he didn’t need me as a third wheel.
“Shit.” Thorn shook his head, then focused on me again. “You been a lone wolf lately—you’re more of a loner than me.”
Thorn had demons. Hell his demons had demons, and that had seriously fucked him up. He’d been a super soldier who’d been captured and held prisoner. When he got out, he’d lost some of what made him human. He’d gotten better over the past few years, but he was still way fucked up. What did it say that he was worried about me?
“Look, you can quit the mother hen shit. I’m good. Tell Elle I’m fine. Better than fine. Shit! I am surrounded by fucking women who want to take my balls.”
Thorn smiled but I saw the worry in his eyes. Hell, I saw everything and that’s why I stayed away. I didn’t want to see JoJo’s guilt, Rebel’s worry, Elle’s fucking pity. No, it wasn’t what I needed right now. I needed space away from everyone trying to mother me.
“There’s a new class of recruits to train. And that’s your gig.”
The guy dropped off our food, so I bit back the string of curses I’d been about to spew.
“Since fucking when?” I asked when the cook had left.
“Rebel said he told ya. You got maybe six weeks before you’re considered AWOL.”
Fuck. “I don’t want any ducklings following me around. I can’t be responsible for them. I just can’t fucking do it.” Panic pulsed through me, making the cut in my arm throb worse. No. No way. The last time I’d been responsible good men died, and that wouldn’t be happening again.
“Time to get over the past.” Thorn met my gaze with a brutal honesty I couldn’t deny. “Jericho didn’t cut me a single break when I played the crazy card. Nope, here I am in charge of keeping all the fucking club in line.”
“You aren’t fucking crazy.”
He had a temper that could be fatal if you were on the wrong side of it, but he wasn’t crazy.
“And you’re leadership material.” Thorn’s index finger poked toward me. “You got to do your part—you have ten years in now. Time to step up.”
“Yes, sir.” I gave him a salute. “I’ll report for duty in two weeks. One last taste of freedom?”
He nodded. “That works for me, soldier.”
We finished eating in silence. I wanted to rail at Thorn and the club for forcing me to step up, but that’s what it meant to be a brother. And Rebel had let me slide for a while, but it didn’t make me happier. I’d been in charge of the investigation where two good MPs lost their lives. And when I wouldn’t stop trying to figure out why, JoJo and I had been punted out of the army with a Bad Conduct Discharge as fast as they could get it done. We never solved the case and that pissed me off the most. There had been no justice for the private first class who’d been killed or for the two MPs, my two friends, under my command.
When we both finished, I tossed money on the table and we left.
In the Jeep, Thorn turned that hard stare of his on me. “We good?”
“We’re golden, brother. I always do my duty.” But, man, it was getting harder and harder. Part of me wanted to get on my bike and ride, leave everyone and everything far behind. The club was my family and I’d fight for them, die for them, but living the grind for them was harder by far. I wasn’t sure I was cut out to move up the chain, but they were all I had.
“I did my duty to the club.” Thorn sighed and shook his long hair away from his face. “This is just friend to friend.” He held my stare until I nodded my head. “Good then. You know if this shit isn’t for you—responsibility, leadership, all that shit—you could pass it up, and you can just be a soldier, not a commander. The army trained us to always step up, but the Brotherhood won’t kick you out if you pass. Might limit your income—but that don’t seem too big a deal for you.”
I didn’t need any scratch and wouldn’t anytime soon. Maybe I should say no, be the lone wolf who did jobs when he wanted and let that life Rebel and JoJo lived—all for the club shit—let that go. I’d been lost since JoJo hooked up with Charlie. I mean I was happy as fuck for him, but we’d been stuck together for fifteen fucking years and I wasn’t sure how the world worked now that it was just me against it. I stayed silent as we rode back to my motel room.
Once there, I asked the one question I had on my mind. “Not sure that sits right with me?”
“That’s how I got my job. Damned if you do, fucked if you don’t.”
I exited the Jeep and looked over at my friend. “I’ll think about it because I’m not sure about all of this...just not sure at all.”
Thorn grunted, then put the Jeep in reverse. “You do you, brother. Fuck the rest of ’em.”
With a nod, I shut the door and watched him drive away. If I only knew what I wanted then I’d be on top of it. I dropped my weapons in the room and headed out. I needed a drink to cure this hangover and quiet my mind.
Chapter 6: Glory
I licked dry lips, and pain burst in my head in a massive explosion. I squeezed my eyes tight and sucked in a breath. It was like I’d breathed in fire—my chest burned with a fierceness I didn’t understand.
What happened? Where was I?
I struggled to fight up out of the darkness.
I needed to... What did I need to do?
The blackness sucked me down into its quiet depths.
* * *
Beeping woke me. My head pounded and the shuffling of feet registered in my slow-moving brain. I cracked one eye open, and the bright light made me squeeze both eyes shut tight.
“Ms. Atkins? Are you awake?” A soft female voice called my name. But I didn’t recognize that voice. Why didn’t I? Where was I?
I peeked out with one eye. My head throbbed but I ignored the pain and focused on my surroundings. The railing of a hospital bed was the first clue. I shifted my gaze up, opening my eyes wider, and made out the blurry shape of a woman in scrubs. A doctor? A nurse?
“You’re awake. Good.” The woman held a straw to my lips. “Take a sip, dear.”
The cold water slipped over my thick tongue and trickled down my parched throat. I sipped the water and read her name tag Laura with RN under it. I swallowed the sweet water until the dry scratchy feeling abated.
“What happened?” My voice was creaky and sounded terrible. I searched my memory.
The brunette nurse patted my shoulder. “You want more water?”
I barely shook my head but a lightning strike of pain burst in my brain. What the fuck? I squeezed my eyes tight and focused on breathing. With each breath the pain lessened, or maybe I became a bit more used to it.
“Girl, you need to be still.” She met my gaze. “You need more pain meds?”
I almost shook my head again. “No thank you.” I needed some answers before I fell into a drug haze. The casino and the hotel suite flashed in my memory in slow-motion snippets. Frankie hit me and that was all I could remember.
“You remember what happened?” The nurse squeezed my hand with a kind smile, which reached her soft gray eyes.
“Not really. What happened?” I asked again.
“Maybe you should rest a bit more. The doc will be here in a couple hours.”
Was the news that bad? Anxiety tightened my chest and made my ribs ache worse. I was afraid to catalog all the places that hurt on my body. “Please, tell me. I don’t even know what day it is.”
“Calm now, honey. We don’t want you to hurt yourself.” She let go of my hand to bring a chair over next to my bed. Older than me, but not yet forty, Laura had the kindest eyes I’d ever seen.
“Now, we don’t know too much.” She sighed and clasped my hand again. “Today is Monday and you’re at University Medical Center, you were found out by the ER entrance about four Sunday morning. We don’t know how you got here. Do you?”
Get Away Page 5
