by Sadie Savage
A tall man shouted something. More bullets hit, shattering the windows at the front of the apartment. They retreated. Ace hauled her along, one hand solidly on her shoulder. He grabbed a door, a thick and heavy thing. It opened with a heavy creak of hinges and the smell of a dank basement wafted up.
There were shouts and screams. Footsteps pounded down the stairs. The front door flew open and more gunfire echoed as did more screams. The sound of bikes roaring and clashing their gears out on the street rose higher, adding to the din.
Women appeared. Ace shouted at two of them to help Julia and then he was gone. One woman grabbed kids and herded them down the stairs. More women appeared and several of them carried guns and wore grim expressions.
The woman who had grabbed Julia shouted, “Get down the stairs!”
“I can’t leave Ace!” Julia’s scream held desperation.
The woman gave her a hard stare. “You can’t help him with a bad leg. You’ll just get in the way.”
Julian went down the stairs, leaning heavly on the other woman and praying. Terror and exhaustion nagged at her.
The door swung shut and the woman who had herded the kids down the stairs shot a bolt home. They raced into a small room with an outer door. The woman said, “We may have to go out. If we do, shoot anyone who isn’t one of us.”
She shoved a gun at Julia. Julia stared at the hunk of metal in her hands, recoiling from the thing. The other women gathered the kids close and held them tightly. Julia clutched the gun and stared wildly around herself.
One of the woman looked at Julia, “You’re his sister, ain’t you?”
“Not by choice.”
The words held all the bitterness in her heart. “I’m sorry about all of this.”
The woman snorted. The kids huddled on a low sofa, not crying or speaking. The sound of gunfire had ceased but the sound of bikes roaring away was loud even where they were. The woman said, “This war’s been on the brink for years. Walker’s been after the borough for …shit. Forever. He wants the whole city and he doesn’t know how to stop.”
No, he didn’t. Julia licked her lips. “Why don’t the other crews in the other boroughs stand against him?”
The woman gave her a grim look. “Because so far he’s just attacking us. As long as he kept off their turf it wasn’t their prob;em.”
Julia looked down. “Why? I mean why has this been so close to happening for so long?”
The woman stared at her. “You really don’t know, do you?”
Julia shook her head. “Oh, wait. Margo, right?”
The woman snorted. “Margo hell. She’s just one more reason for Ace to hate Walker. This started long before that. Your mama, she was one of us. She was born and raised right here. Her dad was a Brooklyn Son. He was the leader of the crew, all up until he died and Ace took over."
All the air left Julia’s body. Little spots danced before her eyes. The world spun on its axis. “No.”
“Oh yeah. She got scooped by Walker’s dad, your gramps. He got her hooked on him and dope and then treated her like shit for years. She ran and he tried to get her back, he tried to burn us down then too but your gramps stepped in and made sure she and you were safe. When she died Walker took you, and there was nothing your gramps could do about it because he wasn’t listed as your mom’s dad on her birth certificate so the courts didn’t want to hear it. Walker only wanted you to get even with your gramps for killing his dad.”
Oh God. The world went gray. Julia’s body sagged and she took a seat on the sofa, tears streaming down her face. “Nobody ever told me that.”
“Of course they didn’t.” The woman stuck out a hand. “I’m Megan.’
“Julia.” Julia took her hand. She swallowed hard. “Did you know my mom?”
“We all did. She saved Ace’s life once, did you know that?”
Julia shook her head from side to side. “No.”
Megan nodded. “She did. She found him back when he was a snotty ass teenager trying to face down a street dealing pimp who had decided that his cousin was just what he needed in his stable. She hit that dude in the head with a bat and brought Ace and Margo here.”
Julia bent double. Sorrow filled her. Her mother had never told her that. Walker had never told her and Ace had never told her that either.
She wiped her eyes. A little hiccup of laughter came from her mouth. She said, “I guess that explains why I feel more at home here than I ever did at Walker’s.”
Megan smiled at her. “Girl if we don’t all die over this shit, I think you’ll do just fine.”
The other woman looked up. She said, “And there’s the cops. You all stay here. I got this.”
She went up the stairs and shut the door behind her. Julia looked at Megan, “Do you think they will be all right?”
Megan sighed. “You know what? I don’t know. Someone’s going to go to jail for this one. Walker really lost his mind this time. I can’t even believe that he did this. I mean shooting up a house in broad daylight? That’s bold as hell but more than that, it’s crazy. The cops are going to have to come down on them and us for this one. So I don’t know. I really don’t.”
The cops were the least of Julia’s worry. She was more afraid that Ace would die without her ever being able to tell him that she loved him. That she loved him with all her heart.
Come back to me, she prayed silently. Just come back to me please.
Chapter 14
The bikes raced through traffic. Sirens started. Cars tried to get out of the way but failed and the bikes went past them, the men on their backs as angry and determined as any of them could be.
Ace spotted Walker riding just ahead. He bent lower over the bike, relaxing his body and hitting the gas as they spun around a long series of curves. The world flashed past. His eyes spotted obstacles a few feet before he reached them and he rode hard, his body slicked with sweat and his shirt flapping in the wind.
The gun resting on his hip warmed under the sun and next to his body. His entire being was focused on catching Walker and ending this once and for all.
Walker took a sharp curve. The bike came dangerously close to eating the pavement but Walker got it under control just in time. Ace had to admire Walker’s skill even as he hoped the bastard would eat it, just ride himself right into Hell.
The other bikes had fallen away as his crew caught up to the men in Walker’s crew. They were in a long and mostly deserted stretch of industrial buildings whose businesses had closed years ago and nothing had ever come back in. Ace was no fool. He knew Walker had come that way for a reason. He had drawn him away from the residential and busier streets to a spot where there would be no witnesses.
Ace didn’t care. Live or die, it didn’t matter. What did matter was that if he was going to die that he took Walker with him. Walker’s need for vengeance would die with him. Ace thought as the bikes kept moving, dipping over a hill and then bouncing along a rutted two lane that led into a mass of buildings now haunted by burned out squatters and mental cases.
Walker spun his bike in a circle, kicking up dust and gravel. He kicked the stand below the bike and came off of it, his gun already drawn.
Ace came off his too. His gun was in his hand and he faced Walker, both of them breathing hard. The sun beat down, baking along Ace’s head and shoulders.
Walker grinned at him. “You topok my sister.”
“You took my cousin.”
“Yeah but you know what? That bitch was useless. All she was, was a skanky whore. You were the only one who didn’t see that. You were the only one who didn’t know just what a whore she was.’
The words would have hurt, if they ha dbene true. Ace didn’t drop the gun a single inch. His smile didn’t falter. “Yeah, I did. But you see, I know what made her into what she was and I didn’t blame her for being what she was. No matter what, she was the only family I ever had, the only person who ever knew what loyalty looked like until I got into the crew.”
Walker
sneered. “Yeah the crew you never would have gotten into if it hadn’t been for that bitch Melinda. My sister’s sorry ass mother. You know what? I told my dad to let her be, to leave her alone and stop trying to mess with her. He wouldn’t hear it. Not him. He had to have her, had to. I don’t know what it was about her that made him so crazy for her. Hell I don’t know what it was about that bitch sister of mine that made Pete so crazy about her. What I do know is that she was the key to everything and you fucked her and you fucked me right out of what is rightfully mine in the process.’
“Rightfully yours?” The hammer on the gun went back. His thumb was steady as was his eye. “She’s a person, not a bag of dope or money. You don’t get to trade her off because it suits you.”
“The hell I don’t! She’s property, just like every single other person who ever comes to my crew. I own her and I own them and I will do whatever the fuck I want with them!”
“How’s that working for you?”
Walker twitched. Ace understood something then. Walker was beyond violent, he was completely fucking off his rocker. He was insane and the mental illness that was driving him would never let him stop until one of them was stone cold dead. That was fine by Ace, really it was, but he knew that if he was the one that died there Julia would never be safe.
Walker didn’t just want Julia as a form of revenge against the former leader of the Son’s. He didn’t just want her to trade off for his schemes. He wanted her because as far as he was concerned Julia was just a possession, one that he wanted and he was not going to let go of, no matter what.
Walker smiled. His finger twitched. The gun went off.
**
Julia stood in the middle of the room. The cops were gone. The kids had been hustled out the back and taken somewhere else. She was alone now, waiting for someone to come and tell her what was happening. She was more frightened than she had ever been in her entire life too. The woman who had taken the kids after talking to the cops had not told her what to do. Megan had vanished with her. What should she do?
Unable to stand it anymore Julia managed to crawl up the stairs, taking her vcructhes with her. The broken glass was everywhere. She eyed it and then went back into the apartment that held the door to the basement. She found a broom and dustpan and began to clean up the glass. She cleaned the foyer and the broken glass in the apartment. She hobbled outside to see more glass on the sidewalk and she cleaned that up too. Neighbors stared at her and she lowered her head, shame eating into her.
This had nothing to do with those people and it was not fair, that they had to handle it. Had anyone who was not in the club hurt? She managed to get the full dustpan to a set of trash cans and dump it then she swept more glass off the sidewalk, tears threatening. She knew it was probably stupid, being outside like that, but she was at a total loss as to what else she could do just then.
A cop car pulled to the curb and she stared it, wordless as two uniformed men got out and headed toward her.
**
Ace went sideways, dropping to the gorund and rolling. The bulet whined over his head and he shot from where he lay, aiming low. Walker went down. His hand opened and the gun hit the dirt. Ace got to his feet and kicked it further from Walker’s reach. Walker, bleeding from the upper part of one thigh, grinned ta him. “You missed.”
“No I didn’t.”
Ace was no killer. He was a lot of things but amurderer was not one of them. He had to take Walker down, no doubt about it and for a moment there he had really thought that he could kill him. But if he killed Walker he was heading off to prison for a very long time and what would happen to Julia then? He had to be there for her, to protect her and be with her.
He loved her.
He didn’t want to but he did.
Walker made it to his fee3t. His grin held madness. “What now Ace?”
Good question. Ace leveled the gun at Walker. “Now you’re done. I don’t care how this goes down but you’re done.”
Bikes slewed into the lot. Jack sat astride one and Bert on the other. Both were bloodied and Jack was obviously seriously injured but they were there.
Ace lifted the gun and brought it down hard on Walker’s head. Walker’s eyes rolled back in his heads and he staggered to the left. He went down on his knees in the dirt. Ace kicked him, righgt in the ribs. Walker let out a low gasp. He shouted, “You can’t do this to me!”
Ace looked at Jack. Jack nodded wearily and took out a phone. Bert got off his bike and strolled closer, carrying a gun in his left hand.
Walker said, through teeth that dripped blood. “What are you doing? What are you doing Ace? Go on, kill me.”
“I think there’s only one thing worse than death,” Ace said softly.
Walker’s face showed terror. “No way man. Don’t do that to me. Do it. Kill me. Kill me goddammit! Don’t you dare do that to me! That’s worse than death!”
Ace smiled at him and it was not a nice smile. “I know, and you will have plenty of time to think about all the things you did to the people who would have followed you if you had just let them love you, you sick twisted sonofabitch.” Then he raised the gun again and brought it down on Walker’s temple.
Walker toppled to the dirt. He lay there, not moving. Jack rested a finger against Walker’s neck, looked at Ace, and nodded. “He’ll live. Man, you sure about this? I mean putting him in the pen, that’s harsh. That’s a death sentence all its own and he won’t go alone. Half his crew will go, and some of ours too.”
“I will go.” Ace’s heart ached. “I’ll take the whole fall but you have to promise me to look after Julia. You have to swear it on your colors. Swear nothing will happen to her while I’m inside.”
Jack looked him in the eyes. “She’ll be cared for. We won’t let anyone or anything take her down. That’s a swear on my colors.” He took his jacket off and lifted a knife from his pocket. He sliced a small nick into his wrist and poured his blood over the patch on his jacket then handed the blade to first Ace and then Bert. Their blood joined jack’s on the patch.
Ace managed to breathe. He’d be away from her for a little while. He didn’t want to be but if he was going to be able to be with her he had to do it. Walker would do hard time, and a lot of it. The rest of his crew would face various charges. There was nobody there who was high enough up or who would have enough connections to keep the crew going. It would crumble and fall.
There’d be another crew that took Queens eventually. That was just the way of it. Ace hoped his crew could find a way to call a truce between themselves and the next Queens crew. The Son’s were nobody to fuck with, and any crew that came in while he was in prison would have that understanding long before they rolled their bikes into Queens and took it over
“Good.” Ace took his gun to a burned out building and quickly stripped it down, scattering the pieces all around and covering tem with dirt. Jack handed Bert his gun and Bert headed off in the opposite direction.
The cop cars came as Walker began to stir. The back door of one opened and Julia got out. She moved toward him, her crutches unsteady on the ground. Ace ran to her and held her, his arms holding her up. She looked up at him, tears falling from her eyes.
“You’re okay,” she whispered. “You’re okay.”
The cps were putting Walker into the car. He screamed, “You got nothing on me!”
More cruisers screamed into the lot. One, an unmarked car, held two men in street clothes. They got out and came to where Julia and Ace stood.
One of them said, “Ace, you know you gotta go in.”
Ace nodded. Julia clutched at him. She asked, “Why? He didn’t do anything wrong!”
One of the detectives said, “Bad news, you don’t get to have a shootout on the street and not go to jail.”
Julia clung to him. “No, he didn’t have a shootout on the street, Walker and his guys shot up the house!”
The detective looked at Ace. “Tell her to back off or I’ll lock her up too.”
“Wait!” Julia’s voice shook. “What about a trade?”
The detective frowned. Ace’s brow wrinkled too as he looked at her. Ace asked, “What are you talking about?”
Julia licked her lips. Her eyes went from the detectives to Walker to Ace. “He’s going to get at least ten years right? The crew won’t take care of him because a lot of them are going down too and when you go to their place you’re going to find stuff that will keep them in jail a little longer but…” She drew a long breath. “But I know who killed that cop last year. I know where the gun is. I know who killed the shopkeeper over in Sunnyside too and I can give you all the stuff you need to know about those things. I will. But you have to let Ace and the others on the crew, his crew, go, if you want it. That’s my offer. If you don’t take it I won’t talk at all.’
Ace’s mouth fell open. What she could give the cops would wreck Walker’s crew forever and keepWalker in prison for life. He would never get out and many of his crew would be facing life sentences too. Ace was smart enough to know that as soon as the detectives went to the house and started gathering evidence a lot fo the prospects and even some of the crew would roll over and start telling their own tales. But did they know what Julia knew? Could they possibly?
The detective pursed his lips. “You know that for sure? How?”
Julia gave him a long and level look. “He’s my brother,” she said softly. “That’s how.”
Chapter 15
Three weeks had passed since the shootout. Julia stood in the bathroom of Ace’s apartment, staring at the stick she held. The test was positive. She was pregnant!
Her eyes widened and she stared at her reflection in the mirror. She didn’t know how she felt. Part of her was ecstatic but the other part was very scared. Ace had always been careful not to have kids. He had told her, not so long ago, that he had never wanted them because his own childhood had been a mess.
