by K. J. Dahlen
“What happened after that?”
“Greg began ruling this town with fear. He made everyone afraid of what he would do next. Anything he wanted he just took, without paying for it. Then one day, he found my best friend Maryanne. The fact she wanted nothing to do with him didn’t matter, neither did the fact she begged him to leave her alone. When he was done with her he dropped her off in the middle of the street and rode away.” Georgia shook her head. “There wasn’t one person in this damn town that did a fucking thing to stop him or go after him for what he did to her. Maryanne left town to get away from the shame of what happened and when she gave birth to his son nine months later, she left the baby behind and tried to start her life over.”
“What happened to the baby?”
“She came back for him a few days later. She couldn’t turn her back on her son, no matter what. He hadn’t asked to be born and he hadn’t asked that Greg be his father but she begged me not to tell him about the baby. She never wanted him to know he had a son.”
“So how did the incident at Shadow Lake happen to come about?” Caine asked.
Georgia laid her head on his shoulder and let a deep breath. “About a year later, I was busy looking for a choice piece of wood to carve a gun stock from when I heard Greg and a few others talking. They had no idea I was there and they thought no one could hear what they were talking about. I heard them saying something about taking over the Sons of Satan’s turf. Greg was getting tired of this town and he wanted to move on. He said something about killing the leaders of the Son’s and stepping into their club. He thought it would be a piece of cake. He told his boys about calling a parley with the top few men of the Son’s and having them all meet at Shadow Lake. He told his boys they would be hidden and to wait for his signal and once the shooting started, to make sure every last one of them was dead.” Georgia shook her head. “Greg thought it was the perfect plan. He would use a larger force and take out the men coming in under a flag of truce with deceit and murder.” She shrugged. “I wasn’t going to let that happen. I knew he had to be stopped. So I got some friends together and we staked out the Lake. Just before the shooting started, I called the Sons and told them what was going to happen.”
Caine shook his head and squeezed her hand.
“Jason, Grady, Micah, Rio and a couple more friends and I waited until just before Greg gave his signal and we started shooting. We just wanted to give the Sons a chance to get to cover. We weren’t going to kill anyone, just provide enough time, so the other could take the Reapers out. Greg and the others in hiding started shooting back and for a few minutes, chaos ruled, then the rest of the Sons showed up and things got real. Greg was about to shoot Mountain in the back and I couldn’t let him do that. That would fit with the type of man Greg was, he had absolutely no honor at all. Then I thought of everything Greg had done over the years and I got pissed. I was so mad at Greg by that time, I shot him in the balls. Before he hit the ground, I shot him again in the head. The Sons took care of the rest of them. By the time the shooting stopped, there were only a few of them left to tell the tale.”
Caine grinned.
“Mountain called us out of hiding and when we came out of the woods, he and the others were surprised. We were only a bunch of kids. Then he got mad because we were only a bunch of kids.” She shook her head again. “I’ll tell you something there is no pleasing some people. We saved their asses that day and all he could do was yell and scream at us.”
Caine chuckled. “Something tells me a whole lot more happened.”
“Well, you could say that I suppose,” Georgia agreed. “Mountain and a few of the guys decided to keep an eye on us. When we got back to town, we found out the Reapers had been cut down to fewer men but Lyle stepped up and took his brothers place as leader of what men were left. He was worse than Greg by a long shot, and he started demanding that someone tell him who shot his brother. He threatened everyone but no one knew for sure who had taken the fatal shots. Except Jason, Micah, Rio and me that is.”
“How bad did it get?”
“It was bad for a while, then it got better. Lyle didn’t have what it took to keep the fear going and eventually, things settled down. Every so often, he’d go on a rampage and get things stirred up again, but they’d settle down after a while.”
“How long has Joey been acting up?” Caine asked.
Georgia sighed heavily. “Joey had been a pain in the ass since he was about ten years old so about the past eight years or so. He thinks the world owes him and nothing will ever change that, not for him. He quit going to school when he was sixteen, tried to get a job but no one would hire him. He still lives on his dad’s farm but doesn’t do any chores. He only thinks he’s tough, then about three weeks ago he tried to push his way around and I had to set him right. Apparently, he didn’t like it and when he overheard Jason and Micah talking about the lake he put two and two together and…”
“Got four,” Caine finished her statement.
She nodded. “He thought by giving Lyle what he wanted; Lyle would make him a member of his club.” Shaking her head she added, “I don’t think Joey thought things through very well. Lyle will kill him before this is over. I just hope Jason doesn’t have to witness it. That would kill him.”
Caine wrapped his arms around her. “It’s never okay to lose a brother, not like that. But Jason knows as well as you do that his brother is probably a dead man walking.”
“That doesn’t make what’s about to happen any easier,” she whispered into his chest.
“No it doesn’t,” Caine agreed.
Georgia peeked over Caine’s shoulder to where her father laid. She hadn’t seen him move in a while and she couldn’t help but wonder if her father was dead or still alive. Tears rolled down her face. “I hope he’s not in any more pain.”
Caine tightened his hold but nothing he could say would give her any relief. Looking over across the way, he prayed her father wasn’t in this world anymore. He had prayed for death more times than he could count when he’d been fighting a war nobody could win but for once, he prayed death had already come.
It was time to end this charade before any more lives were lost needlessly. Caine looked down at the top of Georgia’s head and he prayed she would make it through to the end of this battle. He knew this was a battle between Lyle and his Georgia.
He hoped she would be strong enough to win this war and he knew the men with him would not take defeat calmly. In fact, he was counting on them to help her win this war. He figured when he got out of the service, he wouldn’t have to fight anymore but now he knew he had one last battle to prepare for, one last fight to win. He might not have known Georgia very long but he knew she was worth him fighting again, only because he couldn’t face losing her, not to a bullet and certainly not to Lyle Boyd.
Chapter Eleven
Donny Hastings and his group stayed in the shadows and waited until the lights in the houses near them were extinguished one by one. Paulie Jamison and Ray Oliver had tracked the rest of the Bleu Vipers to this location.
An hour after the SEALS had left the Gulf shores, another van had pulled up.
Paulie watched from his hiding spot as three men got out and began searching the van parked there. It was the vehicle the dozen men had brought to the scene. The same twelve men his team had taken out in the waters and stored in the freezer aboard the abandoned rig.
Paulie and Ray followed them back to the three houses they now watched as a dozen more men came out and talked in quiet voices. Paulie had listened carefully while the men talked about what had gone on and what they should do next, then he waited until they had gone back inside before he called Donny and reported what he’d heard.
When Donny and his men had shown up, Paulie filled him in on what he’d seen and heard. Donny told his men to watch and wait for the right moment, then they would take them out. His mission had been clear. He was to stop the Bleu Vipers by any means necessary and to collect any evidence
that was left of what they had planned for the next step in terror.
So Donny and his men waited for the right moment to move in and take these terrorists out of the equation. Finally, when the last light was turned out for the night Donny signaled his men. Using their night vision goggles, they moved in quickly and quietly. His men split into three groups and as each group breached the perimeters of each of the houses, they opened fire.
Twelve more men died that night. They were nameless faces to anyone that didn’t know them but when the lights were turned on and Donny looked over the papers they had—he realized something. These men would have brought nothing but pain and suffering to the nation, they hated. He and his men stopped that from happening and he felt happy with the results. These men wouldn’t cause any more trouble. He also realized something else…this was only one small step forward in this fight. One very small step with the bigger battle yet to come and if the papers in his hand were correct, that battle would be fought in another city altogether.
It was three a.m. when the mics in Caine’s ear began to talk. The whispered voices told him the men were on the move. Calico and Reaper along with the other three in their little group were taking back the bar. Lyle had finally left and they were waiting for him to get far enough away, so he couldn’t stop what was about to happen.
Lyle stumbled as he walked away from the bar. He had a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand and he was going to see if Red Lacey was still alive before he found a place to lay down for what was left of the darkness. Tomorrow, would be a new day and he had a good feeling tomorrow would bring Georgia back home and back into his clutches.
He took a deep swig of the bottle in his hands and almost tripped over his own feet. Cursing under his breath, Lyle gazed through blurry eyes at the figure on the ground in front of him.
“Hey old man,” he slurred. “I’m talking to you, Red Lacey.” He went to kick the downed man but missed. He tried again and fell flat on his ass. He leaned over and saw Red’s eyes open. “Damn, old man why don’t you just die and be done with it?” Lyle wanted to know.
Red groaned and tried to speak but couldn’t get the words out of his mouth. He tried again. “I want to say goodbye to my Georgia. I’m not dying until I say goodbye to my daughter.” His words were whispered and broken.
Lyle snorted. “Don’t worry I’ll tell her goodbye for you, you old fuck. Just before I slit her throat for killing my brother, I’ll let her know you cursed her as you took your last breath in this world.”
Red frowned as the pain washed over him. “That would be lie.”
Lyle sneered. “It might be a lie but she’ll never know it. Now…” He slapped the other man’s chest. “Why don’t you be a good boy and die, so you won’t have to witness your daughter’s death?”
“I may die here tonight,” Red whispered softly, “But I won’t be the only one. My daughter will kill you in the same manner she killed your brother.”
“She won’t kill me.” Lyle sneered. “She’s afraid of me and what I will do to her.”
“My Georgia isn’t afraid of you,” Red scoffed as he began coughing.
“Your whore of a daughter should be afraid of me.” Lyle boasted in his drunken state. “It’s not every day that an MC can take over a town without anyone standing in our way. I did that.” Lyle screamed and beat his fist on his chest. “I took over this town and I’m not going anywhere until I get what I came here for. I’m not going away until I get Georgia and teach her what real fear is all about.”
“You’re nothing but a coward.” Red gasped. His breathing was getting rapid now as he was getting less air in his lungs.
Lyle struggled to get to his feet. When he did, he glared down at the man at his feet. “I’m not a fuckin coward.” He lifted his foot and stomped down on Red’s neck. “I’m not a fuckin coward!”
Georgia watched as Lyle crushed her father’s neck. She gasped and held on to Caine.
Caine had to hold his hand over her mouth as she sobbed and tried to call out her father’s name. “Shhh, girl please be quiet,” he whispered in her ear. “You’ll give away our position.”
Georgia wept and tried to hold back her sobs. Shaking in her grief, she tried to hold on to her sanity and reason.
Caine held her close and whispered, “You need to stay strong right now, baby. I know you just want to scream and cry but we don’t have time for that right now. We have to put aside the urge you have and help us find a way to stop this from destroying your town. Help us find a way to win this war and bury each and every one of those suckers.”
Georgia didn’t want to hear those words, not right now but she knew deep down in her heart, what had to be done. She was about to tell him to go to hell when the silence surrounding them was broken by the sound of a cycle motor coming up the street.
Caine turned and with Georgia watching, they saw Joey Patterson ride up behind Lyle. As he shut off his engine, they watched as Joey got off the bike and stepped up behind the other man. “Well, man you just couldn’t let him die peacefully could you?” Joey sneered. “Now, she’s gonna kill you for sure.”
Lyle turned his head and slammed his fist into Joey’s jaw. “She isn’t going to do shit to me you little rat bastard! If any dies it will be her at my hands.”
Joey stumbled away holding his jaw, glaring at Lyle. “You really are fuckin crazy if you believe that.”
“And why is that?” Lyle scoffed. “Her old man ignored her for years, why would she care about him now?”
Joey shook his head. “Red might have been drunk more than sober the last few years but he was still her father and she loved him. Your brother took her mother away and I thought she would kill him then and there. It only took her four years to get him, but you…you took so much more from her, she won’t hesitate to kill you where you stand.”
“She won’t do shit to me.” Lyle growled. “But I’m gonna find her and fuck her up good. She’s gonna regret killing Greg.”
Joey shook his head slowly. “She will kill you and spit on your rotten corpse.”
Without thinking, Lye reached for his weapon and with nothing more than hate in his eyes, he shot the younger man three times in the chest. As the shots echoed in the silence, Lyle didn’t even blink.
Joey was thrown to the ground but his body jumped as each bullet slammed into his chest. He died before he could even feel the pain.
When the silence shrouded them again, Lyle stared at Joey’s body. His eyes couldn’t move off the trickle of blood rolling down the other man’s chin. Each drop collected in a pool forming in the indent of his neck, where his collar bone met the base of his throat.
Caine grabbed the back of Georgia’s head and slammed it into his chest as she sobbed. Her hand grabbed his shirt and she struggled not to scream. He had to wrap his arms around her and hold her tightly to him as she struggled to pull away from him. She kept trying to pull away from him. So Caine slammed his mouth down on hers. He ground his lips down on hers just to keep her from screaming out loud. After a few minutes, she responded to his kiss. Then after a long moment, she collapsed in his arms and Caine broke the kiss.
“I’m sorry baby, so sorry,” he whispered to her ear. “I know this is upsetting but we couldn’t let Lyle know we were here.” He wet his lips with his tongue. “We have to hold on until the others are in place.”
Georgia nodded. “I know. I was just upset. Lyle didn’t bat an eye when he murdered Joey. He just shot him in cold blood. I guess I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Yeah, Lyle’s a real prince.” Caine growled. Reaching up he tapped the ear piece and when the line was clear, he passed the news along to the others. In a low whisper, he told them, “Lyle just murdered Joey after he made sure Red Lacey was dead. We’re running out of time here guys. Georgia is about to lose it.”
“Tell her to keep it together,” Mountain rumbled in his ear. “We’re almost in place. Calico and his group are at the bar almost ready to go and Gage and his group ar
e at the diner. Five more minutes. You guys on the tree stands make sure no one gets away. All hell is about to break loose in the next few minutes.”
Georgia wiped her tears away and glared at Caine for a moment. Her lip curled back and she sneered. “Tell him Lyle is mine. No one touches that fucker but me.” Then she leaned over and picked up her crossbow. Loading the bolt, she laid flat on her stomach and took careful aim at the man standing in the parking lot.
Sweat beaded her forehead and when a drop rolled down the side of her face, she took a moment to wipe it away. Then she closed an eye and took careful aim in the scope. Time moved slowly as they waited for the signal from Mountain.
Then Caine heard the words, “Team one, move in. Team two, move in. The rest of you prepare for war.”
For a moment, the silence held then they heard muffled shouts and music turned up loud. Lyle turned toward the direction of the bar and frowned. The strains of the music floated through the air. He brought his hand gun up and waited. Then he looked around.
If he was looking for his men—Caine noted,—they weren’t coming.
Motorcycle engines could be heard in the background but from the sounds, they could hear they weren’t coming any closer. Now gunshots echoed in the distance and Lyle frowned. Moving toward Joey’s bike, he was ready to swing his leg over the saddle when Georgia let loose her first bolt. The bolt caught his leg and slammed into the gas tank. Gas spilled out of the tank and soaked his pant leg. Lyle screamed and tried to pull away from the bike but couldn’t.
