“Caitlin’s pregnant. Should she be here?”
“I’m early. Unless I take a shot to the gut, it’s safe.” She says, flippantly flapping her hand in the air as if waving off my concern for her and her unborn progeny. Or unless you die, I think while she goes on, “You and I will be hiding. If done correctly, Houdini won’t know we’re there.”
I’m skeptical. Houdini doesn’t seem like the kind to let much get past him. He’s already proven as much. But this is what we have—to finally get out from under this maniac once and for all.
Once and for all. That sounds nice. Gage will be pissed.
No. Nope. Once and for all is too enticing a proposition to ignore. “Then let’s do this,” I tell them.
We resume moving in a speed walk instead of a run because hello, woods. It’s dark. There are branches and tree roots. I couldn’t even maneuver through during the day when running from Houdini. Speed walking is absolutely safer.
Hopefully, if there are any animals in the vicinity, they’re sleeping.
The forest abruptly stops at the start of a clearing. Beyond the clearing there’s a rickety old cabin. This is where Houdini instructed Elise to meet him.
Caitlin and I separate, going in opposite directions. Closer to the cabin. The better to kill Houdini. Elise walks straight down the center, stopping halfway between the woods and house.
“Logan,” she calls. “Logan, I’m here. Come out and please bring Liv. I kept my word.”
A figure emerges from the cabin. Tall, strong and fierce. The kind of physique built for intimidation and pain. My heart rate quickens. I know what he’s capable of. The hand holding the gun feels sweaty and lethargic. What if I can’t shoot? What if he gets Elise? We should have brought the brothers in on this ludicrous plan.
“Don’t take me for stupid, bitch,” he bites out. “I know she’s with you.”
Shit.
“Come out, come out wherever you are…” His eerie singsong.
The thought of facing him again turns my stomach. Maybe this was a stupid idea, but at the same time it makes the most sense. He won’t expect us to take him down. He’d never give the idea credence.
As scared as stepping out from my cover makes me, I swallow down my fear, hide the gun in the waistband between my yoga pants and tight tank for stability, even though admittedly that’s not the best location.
Is the safety on?
To be safe I withdraw the gun, slide the safety off, which phew—it had been on—then slide it back into place so I know for sure I won’t shoot myself in the ass, and replace it back where I’d hidden it so hopefully Houdini won’t see it, pulling the bulky sweatshirt down to conceal the bulge.
Big breath in. Big breath out, I step out of the woods toward my friend Elise.
“Where’s the baby?” It’s dark, but I feel like he’s narrowing his eyes at us. Searching, maybe? Or upset we hadn’t followed his directions? He couldn’t think we’d really bring Gun into a firefight.
“You have me,” Elise says. “I’m not bringing my son.”
“I gave you an order. What? You think I’m gonna be a good guy and leave him alive? Think, you fuckin’ bitch. I’m never a good guy. More people are gonna die now until I have him too.”
“Listen now, you piece of shit.” Elise’s momma bear instincts kick in, kick in a way that he’d be stupid to discredit them. “I brought you me, but you will never, never get my son.” We were supposed to draw on the count of three. Apparently, Elise forgot that little fact as she draws her weapon and my brain kicks on, so I pull mine from the waistband and point.
He begins to laugh. “Oh goody, I was starting to lose interest in our game. Challenge accepted.”
19.
Gage
That guy John is a straight-up lunatic. But when Duke put out feelers for a base camp, he answered the call right away. One of the few I’ve ever come across who think bikers are trustworthy before getting to know us. Bonded by guns and ammo and taking the law into our own hands when the situation calls for it. He also knew a guy who knew a guy who did great cleanup work for a price. One we were more than willing to pay.
He wanted to join the hunt, but with his blatant disregard for women, we weren’t sure how he’d handle taking out a man who’d hurt so many.
Boss left his phone out with the contact for Houdini, or at least the phone he sent the videos from. We had to hope Elise would take the bait. These women, too easy to read. She added the contact to her phone, and thinking she’s slick, made the agreement to meet with the fuckwad.
Like Boss wouldn’t have eyes on his wife at all times. Like when he brought Elise into the room they share to fuck her, it wasn’t so Blood could tap into the camera on her phone to have it record her and send the feed to his own. Or download an invisible app that sends all her texts to his phone. Well, it wasn’t only so Blood could tap into the camera and hijack her texts.
As anxious to end this as we were, the woman didn’t waste any time setting up a meet. We got everything. The date. The time. The location.
They’d pushed the meet back until they knew I had Liv and we were on our way back to the brothers. Solidarity among sisters or some shit.
Dr. Brennan took Liv to get checked out. Once I was able to shake John, I went to check on her and found her back in the kitchen with the women.
“Clean bill of health?”
All three women jumped in surprise from the sound of my voice, so deep in discussion were they. I laughed at the sight. They might’ve been scheming or they might’ve been discussing how ridiculous it was that they’d been sentenced to kitchen duty.
Her eyes hit mine and she smiled up at me bright and beautiful, showing her teeth. Even after all she’d been through. My dick twitched in my pants. Damn, I wanted her so bad. She had to heal though. Even if everything came back good physically, I knew her back had to clear before I touched her the way I wanted. Then there was her mental state. What if she was too fragile? Fuck if I could risk losing her again.
While Caitlin and Elise continued to stare between the two of us, Liv set the chef’s knife she’d been holding down on the cutting board, then walked over to where I stood, head held confident, but not rigid, as she slid her arms around my waist to press her body against mine. When she pushed back it was to stretch up on her tiptoes and whisper close to my ear.
“I’m fine, Gage.”
“Baby—”
She shut up what I’d been about to say by pressing her mouth to mine in a sweet, seductive kiss. Not because she meant to be seductive—the woman just couldn’t help herself. I’d devour her if not for her friends in the room.
“I promise, babe. I wouldn’t lie to you.”
I found it so fucking hard to believe her when she’d lied to me before. When she’d promised me that if any of the mess in her head became too much, she’d talk to me and we’d get her help. But she never talked to me and took off and we ended up here.
“Okay.” I nodded my head once. What choice did I have? Not that internally the thought please make it true, please make it true didn’t continue on a loop, because it did. So fucking did.
The women created a beautiful pot roast dinner with mashed potatoes, a squash dish with sautéed bacon, mushrooms and onions, biscuits and even a salad. Gravy for the potatoes, too. After sitting down to the meal as if he was owed it by the women, John sent them into the kitchen to eat.
Fuck that. I promised Liv a long time ago that if she was with me, she’d never have to face this second-class citizen bullshit ever again. I didn’t care that he’d volunteered his home to us. I picked up my plate and beer and walked my ass into the kitchen to sit with my woman.
The shock on her face sort of distorted her eyes and mouth, though she remained the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen in my life. I set my plate next to hers and pulled out a stool, plunking myself down.
“What are you?” she asked.
“Not second-class, Liv.” I took a huge bite of the roast
, which melted the moment it touched my tongue. “Mmm… God damn, baby. You ladies can cook.”
There were chuckles from Caity and Elise. Liv pressed her cheek against my shoulder before she straightened and began to eat. I’d only been in the kitchen maybe five minutes when Boss came in with plate and beer in hand. He shoved in next to his wife and set his plate down, then scrounged up an empty outdoor trashcan, which he flipped over to sit on so he could eat his dinner with us.
I was glad to see it.
Next Duke came grumbling in. Grumbling something like, “motherfucker make my wife leave the table… I’ll fucking end him.” He dropped his plate harder than necessary next to Caity’s, then looked down at her, biting her quivering lip to bite back a laugh. “Lips,” he ordered.
She immediately tipped her chin upward to meet his waiting lips and kissed him long and hard. Thankfully, no tongue. We didn’t need to see that shit.
After a few more moments, the other non-attached brothers walked into the kitchen carrying plates and beers.
Each man found a spot to set his beer down and leaned against a counter or wall to eat.
“Bastard is still out there, head of the table,” Blue says around a mouthful of food. He wiped at his chin when a bit of gravy dripped from his fork.
This is the brotherhood, the part Liv never understood growing up because they never showed her. She gets it now, though. That this is our family.
We retired early to bed. Even if too soon to make love to her again, I wanted some private time before the bullshit of the evening started.
Our plan was to secretly follow the women and strike at the right time. That simple.
Boss, he’s strung so tight. Having to stand back and watch his wife walk out into that clearing and not do a damn thing about it. It goes against every instinct for a man to leave his woman swinging out on the ledge alone. Especially for a man like Boss.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are…”
Oh, goddamn. The man knows Liv is there. Of course he knows—he’s not stupid. And now I find myself exactly where Boss is, strung tight, watching the best thing to ever happen to me in my life walk herself out of the tree cover to stand next to Elise. Totally exposed.
He says something to Elise I don’t hear. The blood is rushing so loud through my ears. Pound, pound, pound. In my ears. In my chest. Sweat beads my forehead. He’s gonna die tonight.
Then, shit—Elise pulls her piece and aims. Houdini aims at her and Liv. My gut just drops. Boss has had enough. He looks to me, I nod. Then look to the next man over, Duke. The three of us step from the forest, a wall. We got each other’s backs. The other brothers see us and step free as well.
Houdini pops off a shot at Elise, and she drops to the ground. An arm around a stunned Liv, he uses her as a shield. The coward uses my woman as a fucking shield. Boss goes running, but Elise rolls to bring her legs around and pulls them up. She kicks out hard, catching Houdini in the calves. His knees buckle.
Blue launches himself at Liv, tackling her to the ground as the clearing lights up with gunfire. So many bullets flying, I can’t tell if anyone is hit. Then Liv screams. Boss and I reach the women at the same time. He checks Elise over. I roll a bleeding Blue off of my woman.
Jesus, there’s so much blood. “Blue, buddy…” I slap one cheek, then the other. “Blue, stay with me.”
Houdini, the bastard, lays motionless on the ground. Caity, Dr. Brennan, rushes from the tree line to drop down next to Blue. She assesses the situation, then begins emergency protocol. She brought a patch-kit in the backpack she wears.
Duke drops down next to his wife. “Careful,” he warns.
“The baby’s fine,” she assures him. “I can’t guarantee the same for Blue.”
“Stay with us, boy. You been a good brother. My wife’ll take care ’a you. Yeah.”
Blue winces but doesn’t respond. Tears roll down the man’s eyes. Fuck.
“I can’t give you pain meds yet,” Caity talks in a real calming tone to Blue. “We need to get the bleeding under control first.”
There’s nothing more I can do there. We’re just getting in the way. I tug on Boss, who shoves Elise at Hero. The two of us walk the few steps over to a still-unmoving Houdini and kneel down next to him.
“It is him, right? I mean for sure?” I ask. Goddamn we have to be sure.
Boss nods. His face drops. “Dammit, Logan.” He punches his cousin’s shoulder. “You had everything, man. Didn’t fuckin’ have to end like this, you stupid fuck.” Then he wipes at his eyes, a move I don’t expect, but I give him that moment without chiming in. Houdini hurt a lot of people; still, I get it. The loss for him would be no different for me if Blood went off. The men grew up as close as brothers. It’s got to be hard.
“Right,” Boss says again. “Let’s do this.”
Houdini, the blood pooling around him makes that sticky squelching sound when we peel his body from the ground. I take a leg and shoulder, and Boss takes a leg and shoulder, then we walk him over to the cabin. The door is open. One light burning, a kerosene lamp.
There’s another body slumped on the floor in the corner opposite the door. We drop Houdini on the sofa and I walk over to check it out. Using the toe of my boot to move him, I’m no doctor, but he’s pretty stiff, so I’d say he’s been dead a while.
Probably the old man who owned the cabin. My guess, one of those recluse types. Shot. Hell of a way to go, all alone.
Boss and I take separate sides, using the kerosene lamp to set the cabin ablaze, disposing of the men. My phone chirps with a text. I look to Boss. “They’re moving Blue down to the main road. Easier for the ambulance to get to him. The drive’s pretty hard to locate in this dark.”
It’s time to get the hell out, anyway, with the cabin heating up good now. Flames licking at the walls, the curtains. The old wooden furniture goes up like kindling. Smoke chokes the air and us. My eyes just start to sting and water. I keep low as I back out of the house.
We stand outside a moment longer. The cabin’s far enough from the trees that they shouldn’t catch fire. At least I hope not.
Hero, when he texted me, was right about the drive being hard to locate in the dark. It’s hard for me and Boss, and we follow it from the cabin. Not too long, but definitely winding.
Then there’s those damn nocturnal animals tracking us. I feel their eyes on us. Hear the owls. The rustle of leaves from whatever’s on the ground. I might be carrying, but that doesn’t mean I’m creaming in my jeans for the chance to tussle with a big cat, big foot or Mothman.
When we finally break from the unpaved drive to the paved road we see the red and white flashing, accompanied by red and blue.
It’s gonna take some slick talking on Duke’s part, mine too. What with the fire raging. It’s big enough to illuminate the sky. So no doubt they’ll see it driving up.
Caity identifies herself as Dr. Caitlin Brennan. We’re detained, as I knew we’d be.
None of the brothers here got rap sheets or warrants. And yeah, we all take it a step further; we don’t use stolen guns. When we voted to go legit, we went legit, giving up the shit that would most get us busted or dead.
We give our statements, which with Liv’s kidnapping on the books, can be backed up. I tell the officer questioning me to get a hold of Officer Drinkswine. They want the video of Liv being injured, which we’re willing to turn over. The rest of the events we sort of fudge by omission. There was a standoff for Liv. True. Liv was used as a human shield. True. Blue jumped Houdini from behind to free Liv. Still true. A wounded Houdini made his way back into the cabin and a fire was set. Mostly true. We don’t know how Houdini ended up with Liv in the first place. Okay, not true.
They don’t need to know he was already dead and that we’d set the fire. But they do need to contact Sgt. Tommy Doyle who led the Houdini murders case in Kentucky, and the Chicago PD who dealt with her first kidnapping, to let them know the case is closed.
I’d been preparin
g for them to take us in. Except for the sheriff’s department in Thornbriar, most police officers don’t care too much for bikers. After taking all our statements, the only one the cops actually want to come down to the station is Liv because of the abduction. They want her statement on record.
And despite a medical doctor, Caitlin Brennan, checking Liv out, the paramedics want Liv to be checked out at the hospital. Since we were only just supposed to have gotten her back, she agrees.
We hitch a ride back to John’s place for the van. Then we follow them to town. I guess with as grisly a shooting as the Smitty’s shooting was, it shouldn’t have surprised me, but shit news travels fast. Within a half hour of us arriving at the little county hospital, reporters and camera crews descend on us from Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland, shoving a microphone in any one of our faces that they think might give them the scoop.
One woman is caught trying to sneak in to see Liv when I leave my guard spot to take a piss. I call security to have her ejected from the premises.
Thanks to Caity’s quick actions and forethought to bring her medical kit, Blue made it to the hospital in stable condition. Shoulder and thigh wounds, nothing life-threatening. The worst injury comes from where he hit his head on the packed ground during the tackle. He’d been hit from two sides, the ground and when Houdini reared his head back, cracking Blue with the back of his skull, slicing open a pretty deep gash along Blue’s eyebrow.
That sucker bled like a motherfucker, as head wounds tend to do. He also ended up with a pretty gnarly concussion, which is what knocked him out.
Blue’s set up in a room now. They’re keeping him at least overnight. Maybe longer, depending on how fast he begins to recover from the head injury. Can’t be too careful with those. We all decided early on to take a Blue watch. But Boss gets a call from John that we left a few things at his place and we need to go pick them up. So that leaves him out of the running for a while. He asks me to go with, which leaves me out, too.
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Brimstone Lords MC 3) Page 17
