by K. J. Dahlen
“Where is he now?” Mountain asked.
“He’s over at the bar. They got the music cranked up really loud, so we can’t hear what’s going on inside. We have been watching the men he’s got roaming the streets. There are six of them altogether. Plus the two at the docks and at least two watching the roads coming and going from town.”
A twig snapped behind them and everyone turned with his weapon up, ready to shot. A lone figure stood there with his hands raised and he smiled.
“Micah, you are still the biggest fool I know,” Georgia grumbled. Her hand came up to Mountain’s bow. “It’s okay, he’s one of us.”
“Just came to check on Jason.” Micah grinned. “Damn, it’s good to see you girl.” He moved in and grabbed her into a hug.
Caine’s eyes went dark and he snarled.
Micah’s eyes popped open wide and he carefully backed away. He caught the look of pure rage in Caine’s eyes.
Before he could apologize, Georgia rolled her eyes and asked, “What is happening?”
Micah glanced over at Jason and shook his head. “I just saw Joey and he ain’t looking so good.”
Jason’s lips tightened. “What’s wrong with the little traitor?”
“He looks pissed off, pissed on and pissed up.” Micah sneered.
“Oh, boo-hoo,” Jason scoffed. “His big plans got him nothing, I take it?”
“What big plans?” Mountain asked.
Jason ran his fingers through his hair and turned to Georgia. “I am so sorry but this is all my fault. I should have known better than to even breathe about what happened at Shadow Lake but Micah and I went working out in the barn. I swear I didn’t know Joey was even home.”
“What did you guys talk about?” Georgia had a sinking feeling in her chest.
“We were talking about how much our lives have changed since that day at the lake,” Jason admitted. “How even though we only distracted the bikers, how lucky we were that we didn’t take any hits. How we were lucky enough to walk away while so many of the Reapers didn’t.”
“Then I said something about how I didn’t think you’d actually go for the kill shot that took Greg out. I really didn’t think you’d take a shot like that,” Micah added. Shrugging he said, “It wasn’t just Jason’s fault, I take some of the blame too. As soon as I said the words, we both saw Joey standing there. Jason tried to stop him but Joey pushed him away then got on his bike and rode away.”
Georgia wanted to cry. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter now. Somebody would have found out anyway. Word would have reached Lyle someday, one way or another.”
Jason stared at her. “But he’s my brother, my blood. I can’t believe he did this to you.” He shook his head. “Oh yeah, what am I saying, I can believe it. Joey has been a pain in the ass long enough for me not to expect anything different from him.”
“He’s gonna learn the hard way what it means to be part of that group,” Mountain told Jason and the others. “Some MC’s are worth the pain but that one isn’t one of them. That MC could get him killed or put in jail. Are you ready for that?”
Jason nodded. “I’ve tried talking but he never listens to anything he doesn’t want to hear. He’ll have to learn the hard way that the world doesn’t owe him anything. They came to town seven years ago and tried to run roughshod over us. Joey thought it was cool and he wanted to be one of them. But then he was just a kid and Greg told him he had to finish growing up first. It was after that, he changed so much, started skipping school and acting like a big shot. He didn’t see the horror of what the Reapers stood for, he only saw the glory of what he thought they could stand for. In his mind, he saw the atrocities they did as glorious. Now, I guess he’ll finally see them for what they are. I hope it doesn’t get him killed. Jail might actually do him some good.”
“Just so you know,” Caine warned him. “If your brother or any of the Reapers come after her, they’ll have to go through me to get to her.” He motioned toward Georgia.
Jason and Micah stood tall and proud. “They’ll have to go through us too.”
“Okay, we need to move into position,” Hawk commented.
Caine nodded. “Mike and Lonnie need to get into position on the school roof. When they get into place, we’ll have the coverage we need to take the bar and then the diner.”
Georgia turned to her friends. “Did Lyle get my guns?”
“Only the ones in your shop. The damn fool doesn’t realize those guns won’t shoot.” Micah grinned. “He’s got them stock piled in the bars parking lot.
“What do you mean they don’t shoot?” Hawk asked.
Micah nodded. “Georgia only keeps real weapons in her shop but she doesn’t put the firing pins in them until they sell. Most people know this but Lyle doesn’t. He thinks he’s got himself some prime weapons.”
“She caught some kids trying to sneak one of her guns out. After she read them the riot act, she began pulling out the pins. The parents appreciated her efforts. Georgia is all about gun safety and respecting the weapon, you have in your hands.” He shook his head. “After they took all the weapons, they set fire to the shop. It burned to the ground in a short time.”
“Have they found the stash in the woods yet?” Georgia asked as her throat tightened with the loss of her shop, “Did anything else burn?”
“No sweetheart, nothing but your shop burned.” Jason looked upset.
“Not a chance. No one in town even knows where they are,” Micah told her. “Like we said, before, Lyle thinks he has the whole damn town in the school. The guys are roaming the streets to give themselves something to do. It’s been really quiet.”
Georgia nodded. “Then we can get some real guns and you guys can do your thing.” She started walking deeper in the woods. When everyone followed, she came upon a rusted out abandoned line shack. She reached inside her pocket and pulled out a set of keys. Unlocking the padlock, she pushed the door open. The fact that the hinges didn’t make any noise told the group that she’d oiled them. Leading the way inside, she lit a camp lantern.
As the light lit up the old shack, everyone could see what was there.
Caine, Mountain and Calico looked around. They simply saw an empty room, except for a rickety table and a worn out run underneath it. There was a small cupboard hanging on one wall with a rushed out single bed under it, but the whole place didn’t hold much more than that. The bed didn’t look like it would hold anything heavier than a small child.
“Ummm… baby girl, you got nothing here,” Mountain stated the obvious.
Georgia grinned. “Oh, ye of little faith.” Then she pushed the table over to the side and pulled up the rug.
Everyone could see a trap door that had been hidden by the rug.
She knelt down and pressed a code into the lock then lifted the door and revealed a deep hole in the ground.
“What the fuck is this?” Mountain asked perplexed.
“When Georgia first started making her own weapons she needed a safe place to store them. She didn’t want to use the shop as there were too many little kids around all the time.” Jason chuckled. “And too many people like Joey and Greg that wouldn’t hesitate to rip her off. Everyone knew she made the best guns in the state. Anyway, she needed a safe place to store her guns. We found this old shack and made some upgrades.”
Caine stepped forward and gazed down into the dark hole. “Did you guys dig that out?”
“Micah, Grady, Rio and I did yeah,” Jason told them.
“Hey, I helped too.” Georgia slapped his shoulder.
“Yeah, you did,” Micah agreed.
Georgia grunted and began climbing down the ladder. Once on the floor, she lit another camp lantern and as she did, everyone looking down could see there was a room below them.
They came down the ladder one by one. Mountain, Caine, Dewy, Calico, Jason and Micah were all that would fit in the small room.
Mountain whistled when he saw the armory she
had below ground.
The room was ten feet long by twelve feet wide and eight feet deep. The walls were lined with gun cases and there was a wall to wall locked cabinet along the far wall. She had a small table sitting next to the locked cabinet and there was a gun in pieces on it.
What had the men staring was the sheer amount of weapons she had in the cases. She must have had at least twenty five to thirty weapons and they all looked ready to fire. She also had a number of cross bows and compound bows underneath the gun cases. This was a shooter’s dream world.
“Okay, I see rifles but I don’t see hand guns,” Calico mentioned.
Jason and Micah smirked and walked over to an alcove. Pressing a hidden button, the panel slid back revealing five rows of handguns. Each weapon shone as if they’d all been polished and preened.
Calico whistled. “Very nice.”
Georgia turned to Dewey. “If you use the guns, won’t you lose the element of surprise?” Shrugging she went on, “I mean guns are a lot louder than crossbows.”
Dewey shrugged. “We’ll take them with us and pass them around to the guys but we won’t use them until we have to. We have to take back the town first and foremost. Then and only then, we have to take out the Reapers. The men all know this and are prepared to do what they have to do.”
Georgia nodded and walked over to the locked cabinet at the far end of the small room. She unlocked the doors and opened them wide enough for everyone to see the boxes of ammo she’d stored there. “Take whatever you and the others need.” She stood off to one side and watched as the men loaded up the guns and ammo.
One by one, they went up the ladder. As one went up another came down to grab more weapons and ammo.
Finally, there was nothing left and Georgia turned out the light and went up the ladder. Closing the door behind her, she went outside. The men were all getting ready to take back the town.
Then Calico got everyone’s attention, “Reaper and I will go to the bar. I want three or four of you with us in case things go south before we can get inside and take it back. The rest of you will keep to the shadows and take out the Reapers one by one, as quiet as you can. We don’t want Lyle to get a handle on this before we have him where we want him.”
“And where do we want him?” Jason asked.
Calico grinned slowly. “We want him alone with no backup. I’ve met men like him before, they hide. When caught out, he’ll try to hide behind the rest of his men. If we can take out enough of the others before he finds out, he’ll be under the gun, the less civilians will be hurt. He’ll still go down, but he’ll go down alone.”
“And my brother?” Jason asked.
Mountain snarled. “If he fights us he’ll go down too. Do you have a problem with that?”
Jason looked sad for a moment then shook his head. “No, I don’t. I wish to hell he could have been a different sort of man, but he isn’t. He put us all in front of Lyle and his fucking guns for his own selfish pursuits.’
Mountain stepped over to him. “You know as well as I do that men like Lyle never keep their word. The Reapers are the worst of what an MC is supposed to be. He never would have allowed your brother to patch in. Your brother is chasing a dream that will never become reality. Lyle will kill him before this is over, you know that right?”
Jason nodded. “Yeah, I know. I don’t want to see him dead but I don’t see any other way. Joey has always been hardheaded and smug. He’s always taken the easy way out and now it’s gonna get him killed.”
“It’s hard to think about that but if it comes to him or one of my men, I’ll shoot him first and it won’t bother me at all,” Mountain told him the harsh truth.
“I know.” Jason nodded. “It’s just a waste that’s all.”
Mountain put his hand on Jason’s shoulder and looked him in the eye. “I need to know what you’ll do if it comes down to you and him. Will you take the shot or let him kill you?”
Jason frowned. “You really think he would shoot me?”
“Don’t you doubt it for a minute,” Calico replied. “Your brother is the reason we’re all here. He created this mess. He thought he would make a name for himself with the wrong MC by tattling on you and everyone who lives here. He handed over everyone here to Lyle and his fucking friends. And he did it for nothing more than his own sake. He wasn’t thinking about you being family, he did it because a woman embarrassed him. He didn’t think about what kind of man Lyle was, he did it to get his own glory.” He shook his head. “A real man doesn’t need glory, he just needs to know he’s the best he can be. Your brother has no honor.”
Jason gazed around at their faces. He turned and looked at his buddy Micah and read the truth in his eyes. Lastly, he looked over at Georgia. He saw the tears in her eyes and took a shaky breath. Then he finally faced Mountain. “I can take the shot.”
Chapter Nine
One by one, the men melted into the shadows of the night. Just as he was ready to head out, Mountain heard a crackle in his ear. He tapped the receiver and asked if anyone could hear him. When he heard more than one reply, he looked at Georgia and grinned. “We got the tower powered up. Now we can talk among ourselves.” Then he asked for everyone to report in. After several minutes, he nodded at the men with him. “Okay, most everyone is in place. Mike and Lonnie made it to the school without meeting anyone. Calico and Reaper are watching the bar trying to determine what’s going on there. Robbie and Shawn took care of the guys keeping an eye on the road leading in and out of town. They’ve taken their place to make sure no one leaves before we’re done.”
“Has anyone seen Joey yet?” Jason asked.
Mountain shook his head. Then he thought of something and turned to Georgia. “Would Joey know about this place? Or any other places you guys hung around?”
Georgia thought for a moment then shook her head. “I don’t think so. He was never hanging around where we were.”
“What about the tree stands? Would he know about those?”
She gazed at Jason and Micah. “I don’t know. I don’t think he ever hunted these woods but I just don’t know. Not many people knew for sure. I know some people talked about hunting here but not many people other than us ever did.”
“We had hunters out at our place all season long. Joey never hunted but he might have followed us sometimes. He claimed he never had the patience to wait for the animal to come to him. He was a real pain in the ass at times when he was younger.” He paused then added. “Does that make a difference?”
“It might,” Mountain replied. “I told Rip to find the last tree stand and he hasn’t made contact yet. He should have been there by now.”
Georgia turned and stared into the distance. The only tree stand they hadn’t checked was the one Grady was supposed to be in. She turned to Jason and Micah. “Is Grady out there yet? Why didn’t he come to see what was going on?”
Jason glanced at Micah then back to Georgia. “I don’t know. I don’t know if Joey knows where the stands are either.”
Georgia turned to Mountain. “We need to check this out. We may have a man down.”
“Two men down,” he reminded her. “Rip hasn’t checked in either remember.” He turned to Jason. “If your brother hurt either man, I’ll kill him myself.”
Georgia, Jason and Micah led the way over to the fourth tree stand. The area was quiet, almost too quiet. Georgia dropped down to one knee and began looking around the brush. She reached out to one area on the ground and brushed it with her fingertips. When she brought her fingers back to her chest, she looked at them. They were smeared with drying blood. She glanced over at Jason with worried eyes. Then she whistled a bird call softly and waited for a response.
A few minutes later, she’d almost given up on getting a response when they heard another call from a ways away.
Jason and Micah took off and there was no sounds at all for a moment. Then they came back holding a third man between them. It was Grady and he looked injured.
L
aying him on the ground, Jason looked over at Mountain. “We found another man with Grady. He’s unconscious but still alive. Come on, I’ll show you.”
Mountain and Jason took off but returned a few minutes later with the injured man. He was one of Mountain’s men.
A few moment later, Grady groaned and opened his eyes. “What happened?” he looked around and found Micah and Jason. Then he spotted Georgia. “What the hell are you doing here? Lyle and his band of merry men are looking for you.”
“I know,” she told him sadly. “What happened to you and Mountain’s man? Do you remember?”
“Yeah,” He growled as he tried to sit up. “I fucking remember.” He glared at Jason. “It was Joey. The little bastard tried to tell me he changed his mind about the whole Reaper thing then we heard the other guy coming and Joey panicked. He slammed his gun into my head and I heard a struggle then I didn’t hear anything at all. When I came to, I noticed someone had dragged me off the tree stand and dumped me into the bushes. I was just coming around when Jason and Micah found me.” He glanced over at the man lying on the ground at Mountain’s feet. “I don’t know who he is or who any of the rest of them are.”
“They’re all friends that are going to help us take the town back,” Georgia assured him.
Grady went to nod his head then groaned. Glancing up at Jason he glared, “I’m gonna hurt your brother for this.”
Jason nodded. “You’re gonna have to stand in line, buddy.”
Just then, the man at Mountain’s feet groaned and opened his eyes. “Oh fuck,” he uttered.
“Are you okay, buddy?” Mountain asked.
“Yeah, I’m good, got a hell of a headache though.” Rip grabbed the back of his head as he sat up. “Who do I have to thank for that?”
“Probably my brother,” Jason admitted.
Rip glanced up at the other man and smirked. “Remind me to thank him the next time I see him, will ya?”
Mountain went over to where Grady was standing. “What did you see before Joey got here?”
