by Eve R. Hart
“Grass is alive. I’m guessing this guy here had something to do with that. He’s in a safe house with my sister and, I’m assuming, one of his men.” Tank looked at Cal as he spoke. There was a bit of worry in his eyes. “I’m sorry, prez. I had to keep my boy safe and the only way I saw to do that was to keep it as quiet as possible.”
“Well, shit!” Cal said looking the slightest bit taken back. “Thank fuck for that. So how come you saved the boy but don’t save his dad?”
Sure, I had wondered that myself, but since Tank was alive, I just wanted to thank the lucky stars that it worked out that way. It seemed like that wasn’t good enough for Cal, but who could blame him for wanting to know all the answers.
“We, ah, ran out of time,” Burke explained. “I only had one person available to help me out. By the time I found out the plan for the explosion, he only had enough time to get the boy out undetected. He couldn’t defuse the bombs. I’m glad it worked out in the end.” He shot a semi-sympathetic glance in Tank’s direction.
“Hmm,” Cal said, his eyes narrowing a little. “Yeah, good on that. So, you were sayin’?”
“I was hired by…well, that one right there.” he pointed and all of our heads whipped in the direction he was pointing to.
“Lulu?” Allison said
“Lucy?” Nadya said at the same time.
“Clean?” Diesel spoke and fuck me if this thing hadn’t just turned into a damn crazy pony ride.
My eyes went from the big, man who we would call in to do our clean up, to the terrified girl with dark hair and dark eyes standing behind him, looking almost as if she was trying to be invisible.
“Uh, there is not enough money in the world for me to take on this job,” Clean said casual as ever as he looked around at all the dead bodies and blood everywhere.
“Oh, holy fuck,” Cal muttered and I couldn’t have agreed more.
Seeing that it was safe, the girl—Lulu? Lucy? These people had too many names. Anyway, she came rushing forward and wrapped her arms around Allison. I remembered Allison’s story and I figured that this was her best friend.
“What are you doing here?” Allison asked as the tears ran down her face.
“Let’s get to that later. Just, know, I’ve been looking for you for seven years,” the chick said. “I called Burke here to go in and get you out. I’m really sorry. It took me a long time to figure out who took you. Then, well, it took him a long time to gain some ground in the club.”
“First,” Cal said. “Let’s deal with this Savage shit so we can fuckin’ put him down already.”
So then we did.
Vice explained that he was looking for the names of the people that Savage had trafficked to. He had no idea where he kept them or if he even had them written down.
My eyes shot to Diesel’s and I could see the light going off in his head.
“When we had Switchblade in the basement, he said something about a leather journal that this fuck was always writing in and protective over. He said that no one was allowed to see it.” Diesel narrowed his eyes in Savage’s direction. His stance became creepy as fuck and his tone became deadly cold. “Where is it?”
“Fuck you!” Savage spat.
With shaky legs, Allison took a step in Savage’s direction, her fingers pulled my knife free from the sheath attached to the side of my belt as she moved away from me. I was worried, though I shouldn’t have been. At this point, he was tied down and unable to move in any sort of way. I knew she needed this so I was going to do my best and stand down while she had her moment.
“Where the hell is it?” She stabbed him dead in the middle of his thigh as she screamed her question.
His sinister laugh rang out as he tried to play off his pain.
“Check his cut,” Brass said seeming to be the smartest out of all of us. Why didn’t I think of that before?
Bocca leaned over and patted him down, then reached into his cut and you know what, pulled out a damn ugly ass brown leather journal. He tossed it to Cal, who flipped through it then walked it over to Vice.
“We good?” Cal asked and I could see that he didn’t want to waste any more time.
“He’s all yours,” Vice said after he flipped through the pages and decided it was everything he needed.
“I told you that you would see your end,” Allison said as she stabbed the fuck outta him.
And not just once.
No, she didn’t stop until she was covered in his blood and Savage seemed like he was struggling to pull air into his lungs.
“Baby?” I whispered calmly. It seemed that no one dared to try and stop her. And while we all had a reason to want to get a slice in, I think we all silently agreed that she had more than earned the right to take that away from us. “Baby,” I said more firmly.
“Looks like I’m the one who gets to see your fear,” she said a little too calmly.
Then the knife reared back over her head, and with a force that made me cringe, she drove it down between his legs. His gargled screams filled the room and she stumbled back into my arms. I didn’t hesitate to wrap them around her and hold her tightly.
Cal took a step forward, raised his gun, and with one clean shot, the Devil was finally dead.
“I need a damn drink,” Cal muttered as he shook his head. “Alright, body count for us. Need to see who we lost, who’s fucked up, and who can still walk. Get those SUVs in here and let’s get loaded and out. Then we burn this place to the ground.”
He paused and turned to Mr. Clean.
“And how in the fuck is it that you are here anyway?”
“Long story?” Clean supplied and it sounded more like a question than an answer.
“Found your psychic?” Diesel said, a hint of amusement in his tone.
“Yep.”
“FBI. Nobody move.” A loud, deep voice called out from behind us.
Well.
Fuck!
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Allison
I started shaking in Axe’s arms. The FBI was there and I knew there was no chance we were going to make it out of this unscathed.
To say I was in total shock right then would have been an understatement. There was so much that had just happened.
One, Savage was dead. I could finally breathe. I was free—of him at least. I mean I had a pretty good idea that the FBI wouldn’t just let me walk out of here after what I’d done.
Two, Lulu was there. She somehow didn’t forget about me. And while I was desperate to know what all I’d missed in her life, I knew now was not the time.
Three, there was so much blood everywhere. I was covered in it. Axe was covered in it. The walls, floors, just about everything. And the bodies…I tried my best not to think about how many there were.
Four, Axe was alive! He was alive, there, and holding me in his arms. He had come to save me after all.
“Neiryn.” My little boy’s name rushed out of my mouth in a panic.
“He’s fine, baby. He’s at the clubhouse and the girls are watching over him,” Axe whispered into my ear.
Thank God. My son was still alive.
For the first time in a long time, I felt like things were going to be alright. I felt like I could close my eyes and not feel fear. I didn’t have the constant urge to look over my shoulder. I mean, there was still the FBI thing, but my biggest nightmare was no longer there.
Really, this was a room full of criminals. Sure I didn’t have hardcore proof of any of it, but I wasn’t stupid. Criminals and FBI didn’t mix. There was no way we were going to get out of this with a slap on the wrist.
I pulled Axe’s arms tighter around me. I wasn’t sure when I’d be able to touch him again. Hell, it might have been never. So, while I still had the chance, I took everything that I could.
“Breathe, baby.” His words calmed me but not enough that I could forget what kind of situation we were in. “It’ll work itself out.”
“Agent Marks,” Burke said as he stepped ou
t of the crowd, hands by his head letting them know he wasn’t threatening and the journal held up in one of his hands.
“Oh for fuck’s sake. Burke, what the hell are you doing here?” The lead agent said with a roll of his eyes as he put his hands on his hips.
The agent then holstered his gun but didn’t motion for the rest of his team to follow suit.
Burke walked over to the agent, as cool as could be. They had a back and forth that was completely out of earshot. Agent Marks, as Burke had called him, tilted his head to the ceiling and blew out an exacerbated breath as he slightly shook his head. Then his head snapped down and his eyes landed on me. Burke handed over the journal and Agent Marks flipped through it.
We all stayed silent as we waited. I didn’t dare fucking move, that was for sure. There were guns aimed at us and I was afraid that so much as a sneeze might cause one of them to fire.
Agent Marks held up his hand and all the rest of his team lowered their weapons and took a more relaxed stance, but that still didn’t mean that they weren’t ready to draw at a drop of a hat.
“Alright,” he said as he walked over and stood directly in front of me and Cal, who happened to be right beside Axe and I. “This is a fucking shit show.”
He could say that again.
No one opened their mouth to speak as we waited for him to carry on.
“Looks like I got what I needed out of this whole thing. I would have liked to have a man to question, but given who he is, it is probably for the best that it went down this way. But I never said that. Don’t think that I don’t know anything about you. It just happens that I have bigger fish to fry.”
He pursed his lips and looked at me.
“Self defense, right?”
His question wasn’t really a question. Though that was pretty much what it was. I mean Savage may have been tired to a chair and rendered helpless the moment I stabbed him, but I would have called it self defense. Or temporary insanity.
“Yes, sir,” I said with a tiny nod.
“Sykes, call the hospital. Let them know that they have about…” His head did a slow swivel, looking at every inch that he could see. “At least fifteen coming in. I’ll handle it when I get there.”
One of his men, I’m assuming Sykes, walked off with his phone to his ear.
“Get your men up, take the ones that need medical attention to the county hospital. I’ll need a statement from the girl, but as far as I can tell, it looks like the leader of The Devil’s Kings—Savage, as he went by—went crazy and took out his own men. It looks like your men were in a bad car accident while you so happened to be here in town on an unscheduled club ride for charity.”
Oh, I got what was going on.
“I’m sure the local women’s shelter is about to get a big check,” Cal said understanding what the agent was saying.
“Yep. And this one here,” he pointed to me, “you found her running down the road when you drove past. You never saw this place or stepped foot here. And you,” he looked at me, “just happened to find a gas can and a box of matches.”
“Yes, sir,” I agreed feeling like I was in some weird alternate universe. Sure, stuff like this happened sometimes in the movies, but never in real life. Right?
“You happened to grab this before you ran from this place. Then you handed it over to Burke here, who just so happened to be here because he got information on a missing girl. Which, turned out to be you. He found you when they put your information into their system and he used one of his unconventional ways to track that. Then Burke handed it over to me.” His eyes shifted to Burke as he said the last sentence.
And by unconventional I was sure he meant not quite legal. It seemed like this Agent knew more about Burke and the company he worked for than just in passing.
“Got it,” Burke said with a nod.
“Alright,” Agent Marks said. “We are going to clear out. I’ll meet you over at the hospital. Do what needs to be done so I don’t have to deal with this mess.”
With that, he turned on his fancy, polished shoes and walked off.
“You heard him, let’s get movin’.” Cal barked and everyone went in all different directions.
“So…” I said to Axe. I was still confused. My head was spinning and it almost seemed too easy how we’d gotten out of it.
“We’re good, baby. Nothing will come of this. The club is in the clear.” He spoke like he knew exactly what I was thinking. “Let’s get you in the car and get you taken care of.”
He carried me out of the building. I tucked my head into his neck and kept my eyes closed. I had seen enough for a lifetime, I didn’t care to see anymore as we walked out of the hellhole I’d been trapped in.
The blood had dried and started to crack and flake off every time I moved. It pulled at the hairs on my arms and made them tingle. My hair was a matted mess of knots, dirt, and clumps of the man that had terrorized my life for the last seven years.
It was over. I wanted him dead. But did that mean that I would automatically be okay with what I had done? It was all unclear at that moment. Too much had just happened and my brain was spinning trying to process it all.
I sucked in a lungful of cool night air as we stepped outside. I felt like I wouldn’t ever get the smell out of my nose.
It was over. I couldn’t let myself really believe it even if I had seen with my own two eyes that it was done. Hell, I had pretty much been the one to do so. I had no doubt that when I was finally done with him he wouldn’t have been hanging around much longer, even if Cal hadn’t shot him in the head.
Axe carried me over to a line of SUVs that were parked just on the other side of the gates. There were already men standing out there and by their cuts, I knew they were part of Axe’s club. Axe set me gently onto the seat and stood just outside the door watching me.
“I was so fucking scared,” he admitted to me. “I don’t know what I would do if…if he’d killed you.”
“I’m here,” I said as I slowly reached for his hand.
The door on the other side opened with a jerk. I jumped only because I had been so lost in the moment that I had forgotten what was around me or even where I was. My body screamed at me with every move I made. I was trying to be strong, but I had to admit that I was way past hurting. Every single part of me either ached or burned in some way, and those that didn’t just felt numb.
Next thing I knew, a very busted up Brand was plopped down in the seat beside me. I gasped at the sight of the state he was in. One of his eyes cracked open to look at me and he tried his best to smile. I wanted to shake my head at him and at the same time hug him.
“Aren’t we a pair,” he said with a choked cough.
Without thinking, I reached down and grabbed his hand, he gave me a tiny squeeze then his eye fell closed as his head went back against the seat. I could see that he was still breathing so I tried not to panic.
“Need to get these two to the hospital,” the guy that had helped Brand into the car said.
I didn’t recognize him but I could see he was part of the club. He shut the door and jogged around to the passenger’s side and slipped into the front seat. Another guy I didn’t recognize got behind the wheel and turned over the ignition. Axe carefully got in, lifted me up, and held me on his lap as we drove away.
My eyes watched out the back window as the building got smaller and smaller the further we drove on. I just barely saw the smoke and flames start to rise before it was out of view.
“It’s over,” I whispered finally letting it sink in.
“Yes, it’s all over. You are free now.” Axe ran his fingers over my hair as he whispered in my ear.
“Lulu?” I said and I couldn’t believe that I’d almost forgotten that she was there. I didn’t even get to tell her bye or figure out how I could get in touch with her.
“Don’t worry. If she doesn’t show up at the hospital, I’m pretty sure I know how to find her.” He chuckled and I felt like there was something I was m
issing.
But it wasn’t the time to try and figure it out. I trusted him, so, therefore, I believed him when he said that. I knew he wouldn’t let me down and he wasn’t trying to soothe me with false words.
“I love you,” I mumbled into his neck and then realized that I’d never actually said those words to him.
“I love the shit outta you too. You’re my forever bitch. Don’t ever fucking forget that shit.” His tone was light and almost had a hint of humor to it. If we both weren’t covered in blood and God knew what else, I could have kissed him right then.
“I don’t think I’ll ever understand you, brother,” Brand mumbled beside us and the car erupted with laughter. “Ky?”
“Yeah, man?” the guy in the passenger’s seat answered as he half turned around to give Brand his attention.
“You owe me twenty bucks. Don’t think I forgot that shit.”
“Make it out of the hospital alive and I’ll give you forty.”
The air went still. Brand didn’t move. The half smile on his face had faded and his head sagged to the side. I couldn’t watch, yet I couldn’t look away. I waited, my eyes glued to his chest almost like I was expecting it to stop moving at any second. But thank God it didn’t. His breaths may have been shallow, but they were steady. We pulled up to the hospital and they wheeled him away, I could only hope that we’d gotten there fast enough.
I was wheeled in after him. I felt so tired all I wanted to do was close my eyes. They had a room ready and people standing by, and within a few minutes, I had a doctor by my side asking me questions as he poked and prodded me.
My eyes grew heavy not long after the pushed the IV in. I didn’t fight it because I was so desperate for a moment to rest.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Axe
In the end, the club lost eight men. Fake and Lars from South Carolina. Dutch, Abe, Blitz, and Marco from West Tennessee. Adam, from Gray Fort.
And Crow. He had made it all the way to the hospital before he finally gave in. There was nothing to be done. The shotgun blast had torn up his insides. And the ten other bullets he took after that didn’t make matters any better.
