by K E Osborn
It’s tradition.
The air blows past me, and a sense of ease washes over me as I ride toward the warehouse. Trading with the Triad always runs smoothly, and this will be easy. Meeting with Linn can almost be fun, his banter is witty, and for the mastermind of an elite Chinese dynasty, he’s actually pretty chill.
I like the dude.
The ride to the warehouse lets my mind wander. Heeley is at the forefront of my mind, and I hate the way we left things. But the ball is in her court, and I have to give her the space to make up her own mind.
I can’t make it for her.
Either she is in, or she is out.
I’m hoping she chooses option one.
Chains pulls to the right and into the giant parking lot of the warehouse. I follow. Water erupts in a small fountain of spray as my tires glide through puddles on the ground while I ride inside the open bay door of the warehouse to see Henry Linn and his Triad members already here. Their Nissan Skylines on show with their glowing neon lights underneath like something from the fucking Fast and the Furious.
I chuckle beneath my helmet as I pull up to the scene, and Linn opens his arms wide with a giant smile on his face. He reminds me of that fucking Asian guy from The Hangover, whatever the fuck his name is. He doesn’t look like him, but his actions are so similar. It’s uncanny.
I let my bike tip to the side as I kick out the stand, turning off the engine. Throwing my leg over, I yank off my helmet as the other bikes all pull to a stop. I head off straight toward Linn.
“Ohhh… hello, fuckers! It so good to see you again,” Linn calls out rushing up to me, grabs me in a tight man hug, his Asian accent thick as ever.
“Linn, good to see you, too.” I slap his back as he sways me from side to side, and I screw up my face at his little-too-affectionate hug. With a small push, I move him back gently from the hug, and he chuckles waving his hand at me.
“Oh, Torque, you so worry about your man part. You live free, boy. Embrace hugging. You feel much happier.” He walks back to his men standing by their neon-glowing fucking cars, and I shake my head as my guys all flank my side.
“Yeah, I’m not one for male bonding, but you go right ahead, Linn. I know it’s your style.”
He lets out a loud laugh, gripping onto the goon next to him as he bends over in hysterics. This guy is so fucking weird, but he’s all right by me. “Oh fucker, you have no idea. But anyway, we get down to business. Where the gun? It coming. Yes?”
I nod and smile. “Yeah, they’re on their way. You know we wouldn’t disappoint you, Linn. You’re our best customer.”
He smiles wide. “Ohhh, you guy, you so nice to me. I think you looove me.” He tilts his head with a smirk as I roll my eyes.
The truck pulls into the warehouse, but something’s off. Vibe’s driving erratically as he swerves and continues at a weird pace.
“Oh, here my gun now. Yippee.” Linn jumps on the spot, clapping his hands in the air as I turn to face the truck that’s driving right at us. My muscles tense as the tires screech just in time for the truck to stop. But it doesn’t stop in time before it takes out Scratch’s bike. The front of the truck slamming into the Harley side on before it comes to a complete stop.
TORQUE
Everyone spins as everything inside me tenses. I know something’s wrong as Scratch bolts for the truck yelling and cussing at the top of his lungs.
“Oooh… bikers gonna fight,” Linn calls out as I step closer to the door. The truck opens, and Vibe falls out of the driver’s side, straight to the floor in a heap with an “oomph.”
Scratch and I race to Vibe’s side as he groans. Scratch reaches him first, and instead of smashing into him like I thought he would, he rolls him over bending to his knees and taps him on his face. “Brother, you okay?” he asks as I reach him and look down to see Vibe’s face covered in bruises, swollen, cut and bloody.
Like he’s been beaten.
“What the fuck?” I call out as the rest of our guys rush over.
Vibe groans out, spitting out a line of blood as he looks to Scratch. “Sorry about your bike, brother. My eyes lost focus. I couldn’t see for a moment.” His Finnish accent coming through stronger when he’s zoning out.
“Is there a problem, Torque? I have places to be, you know,” Linn calls out.
I scrunch up my face, ignoring him. “Vibe, brother. What happened?”
He glances at me, his left eye completely bloodshot and the other one is swollen shut. No wonder he was having trouble seeing where to drive.
“Cars ran me off the road. Then pulled up in front of me. I had to pull the rig over. Men in balaclavas jumped me. Took me out of the cab. Beat me…” he pauses. “They took the guns, Pres.”
My face falls as I turn to Ace, and he races to the back of the truck, the sound of the heavy metal doors squeal as they open. “Fuck,” Ace calls out, and I wince as Linn walks over to us, and I clench my jaw standing back up and turn to look at Linn.
“Problem, Torque?” Linn asks.
I crack my neck to the side as my anger intensifies. Fucking Andrettis screwing everything up for us. If my relationship with Linn is in question, this could start an all new problem.
Fuck!
Exhaling, I step up to Linn and place my hand on his shoulder. “Linn… Henry. We have a good friendship, don’t we?” I ask.
He smiles wide at me. “Of course, fucker. You’re my homeboy.”
I chuckle and walk him away from the scene where my other brothers are still tending to Vibe, but I do see Ace heading toward Linn and me. “That’s good to know. Because there’s a slight delay in your shipment.”
Linn stops walking and turns to me, his bright smile falling, and all humor is gone.
Shit.
“Okay. So, now we have problem. You deliver gun. I give money. This how we stay friend. Yes?”
I nod and let out a small sigh. “Yes, and we’ve done this for years, Linn. I’ve never let you down—”
“Then why start now, Torque?”
“Someone intercepted the load, and its arrival here—”
His fingers come up to my mouth, effectively shutting me up as he looks me deadpan in the eyes. “I don’t want excuses. I want your gun. You smart boy, Torque. You know how this work. We extend deadline. This once… in good faith. But you screw us. We screw you. You feel me, fucker?”
Nodding as he peels his fingers from my lips, he walks away to his men, and my muscles clench all over. I hate that our strong alliance is now on tenterhooks because of fucking Andretti. If I get my hands on that motherfucker, I’m going to tear him a new one and then take him out myself.
Ace steps up to me holding out his cell. It shows me a map with the glowing red dot. The dot on the map is not showing up in the same vicinity as we are now. I smile and slap his shoulder knowing the tracking device he put in one of the cases of guns is still active, and we have the location of the guns.
Fucker’s going to pay.
“Good work, Ace. I swear, Andretti doesn’t know the shitstorm he’s just rained down on himself—”
The screeching of tires breaks me mid-sentence as I look up to the entrance of the warehouse to see the telltale red Alpha Romeos of the Andrettis fly in. My muscles clench as I look at my men. They all stand, bar Vibe as we all draw our Glocks ready for whatever might come.
Linn’s men all stand around like deer in the damn headlights.
“Linn, take cover,” I call out as the three Romeos drive in circles around us menacingly. Their windows are tinted so we can’t see in. My heart is pummeling in my chest as I aim my Glock at the car nearest me.
I glance to Ace, who’s standing right next to me, his gun drawn too. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see Linn’s men shove him into his Skyline, which I know has been bulletproofed. Thank fuck. But his men stay outside of his car, and they too pull their guns while we all watch and wait while the Romeos continue to circle.
“You already took the guns. What else
do you want, you fuckin’ Mafia scum?” I call out.
As if in answer, the windows of the Romeos wind down in unison, and Andretti’s men wearing balaclavas hang out their windows, weapons aimed high as I tense all over when I hear the first round of bullets let go. My legs don’t fail me as I start to bolt toward the closest car, which happens to be Linn’s while gunfire rings through the warehouse. The closed-in space makes the echoing of the gunfire seem even louder as the three cars, and the three men hanging out of the windows, don’t hesitate to shoot at my guys.
Slipping in behind Linn’s car to take cover, bullets fly past my head. The whirring of bullets barely missing me sets my heart racing at a million times a minute as I raise my gun and start firing, not really looking where I’m aiming. Just trying to take shelter.
I move around, and my body slams into the side of Linn’s car, next to Ace, and we both duck down as two of Linn’s men are on either side of us. Bullets pummel the car, and I have no idea how we’re going to get out of this. There’s absolutely nowhere for us to fucking go unless Linn opens the door to the car which I know he won’t. There’s too much fucking distance between us and the truck for safe shelter.
We’re screwed.
I look to my guys who are ducking down behind the side of the truck, firing off shots when they can, but I don’t see a way out of this. My chest heaves as a Romeo turns and comes into our view and I prepare to take on fire. An Andretti man hangs out the window aiming his weapon right at us. I aim back at him, but his rifle will beat a Glock any day.
The bullets fire off rapidly as I try to keep my back as pressed against the car as far as possible, and a line of bullets pierces the car then slams straight into Linn’s man. His stomach opening up as the bullets pummel into him. Blood pisses out everywhere as his body falls to the ground leaving Ace wide open. I grit my teeth as Ace turns to look at me, fear in his eyes, but I can’t let my brother go down. So I think on my feet, reaching down and grabbing Linn’s guard’s body and yank him up. His body shielding mine, and I use him as a shield to protect Ace and me as bullets pound into his already dead body.
Ace looks at me and nods in a gesture of thanks as I tilt my head with a grimace thinking we’re not quite out of this yet. My other side is open when the next car comes around. I glance at my other brothers seeing them all huddled together. Surge catches my attention, and I shake my head at him letting him know I have no idea what the fuck to do. He looks to me. I see his Adam’s apple bob up and down, and that tells me everything I need to know. He doesn’t see a way out of this either.
Anger rushes through me, and I shake my head knowing we’re going to go down like this. This is my club, my brothers, and I’ll be fucked if we’re going to go down without fighting back. I brought them here, so I need to figure a way out for them.
“Ace, I don’t really see a way out of this. But I’m not going down without a fight. If I’m going out, I’m going out in a blaze of glory.”
He grimaces, looking to his other brothers. “Pres, I’m with you. I’ve got your back. Let’s fuck up some Andretti assholes.”
I have no idea if my brothers will hear me or not over the fucking screeching of the Romeo’s tires, but I need to try. “Defiance… defend,” I call out, and they all look to me, hesitate for a brief second, but a fire lights in their eyes knowing what I’m asking.
They know the cost.
They know they will probably all die for the fight.
But an honorable death is better than dying a coward.
We both stand up, bullets flying, and we race forward to the middle of the warehouse where the others are huddling. Creating two circles, an inner and an outer row. Linn’s men watch on from their cars in surprise as they continue to shoot at the Romeo’s giving us some ground cover.
But we aim, and we aim clear.
All of us directing right at the Andrettis hanging from the windows. There’s only three of them, and there’s eight of us. Plus, Linn’s men. We’re all trying to take out the moving targets.
Their rifles aim right at us, and I tense as a round of bullets fly haphazardly around us. Trax, Ace, Surge, and me are in the inner row and everyone else is on the outer. My arm extends between Sensei and Chains as I aim my gun, shooting it at the Romeos, and aiming as best as I can at the moving targets.
My stomach sinks as I watch Chains shudder and fall to his knees, a grunt echoing from his mouth. But he stays upright keeping his gun up and continuing to shoot. I shake my head hating that he’s hit as I watch one of the Andrettis fall from the car window to the ground. The Romeo accidentally running over his body with a thud, his torso splitting apart with the force, and I smile knowing we’re down to two.
The bullets keep flying as I continue to shoot knowing this is still a shitty situation, and it could go either way. But as I see Lift fall to the ground with a shudder, I let out a groan, and focus on the guy coming into my line of sight. I aim for his head, focusing intently on the moving object as he aims for us in the middle of the warehouse. His weapon pulls back, bullets flying, and one sweeps past Sensei’s head and shoots past my arm nicking it on the way through, making my shooting hand wobble a fraction, but I grit my teeth and pull the trigger. I watch as the bullet flies straight in between the Andretti framed eyes of his balaclava, and the guy falls forward out of the car into a muddy puddle, which quickly turns red with his blood.
I drop my arm as I shake off the pain seeping through me, and I look around noticing only one shooter left, but we’re two men down, and I figure if I’m nicked then others must be too.
The car rounds the truck heading straight for us, and I tense up, the gunfire begins, and I watch in horror as Surge drops to his knees. I let out a muffled sound, but Sensei’s quick off the mark as he grabs a shooting star from his back pocket, and wastes no time hurtling it with skill and precision. The tiny metal star slices through the air spinning with such delicate ease that the air sparkles with the shards of light glistening from it as it slams straight into the Andretti’s forehead. He yelps in pain as he falls back inside the Romeo, his rifle dropping to the ground of the warehouse, and the gunfire halting immediately.
The three Romeo’s take off, skidding out of the warehouse and leaving the scene as I breathe rapidly looking down at the devastation.
I waste no time moving to Surge as I see him lying on the ground covered in blood. My heart leaps into my chest as I rush my hands to his chest, but I have no idea where to put them as there’s blood everywhere. “Surge, fuck.”
He looks to me and lets out a muffled chuckle. “I’m okay, son. I’m okay…” he murmurs, then proceeds to blackout.
Panic ripples through me as my hand rubs my forehead, then I realize it’s covered in his blood, and I’ve just smeared it all over my face. But I don’t care. I need to get my men tended to. “Ace,” I call out, and he limps to me. I look at his leg to see he has blood running down his thigh.
Shit.
“Yeah, Pres?”
“Call Doctor Kline, tell her to meet us at the clubhouse. Now. Tell her to bring her surgical shit. She’s gotta lot of work to do. Tell her Surge is critical, and I don’t even know how Chains and Lift are doing.”
He nods walking off as Linn moves out of his car and over to us. “Torque, I don’t know what kind of shit you pull here today, but this no-fly with me. You try take me out?”
I flare my nostrils as my neck tenses with anger. “Linn, you think my men are lying here with fuckin’ bullets in them, and I did this?”
He raises his brow, and a slow smile crosses his face then he bursts out laughing. The fucker actually laughs. “Oh, silly me, no, of course. I see you hit bad by this. But I lost men in this, Torque. I not like this. You understand that. Yes?”
“Linn, I don’t really have time for this right now.”
He frowns and nods. “Yes, okay. But I want my gun. You have a week. And if this shit happen again, we can no longer be friend. Okay? I no like my men getting splattered.�
� He grabs a handkerchief and throws it to me, then turns walking off as I grit my teeth.
Sensei walks up to me and bends down to my level. “Pres, I think we need to take Surge, Lift, and Chains back via the truck. I will take Scratch, too, seeing as his ride is damaged. He can watch them, make sure they do not deteriorate. I will drive, and we will come back for the bikes later. For now, our priority is their health. They are bleeding out, and Doctor Kline is on her way. The rest of the brothers only have grazes. They can all ride.”
Nodding, I let out a long huff looking down at Surge who’s still out and stand back up. “Right, everyone, back to the clubhouse. Doctor Kline’s going to patch us up, and then we need to figure out what the hell we’re gonna do.”
Chains groans as he rolls onto his side. “Kline… she can’t handle this all on her own, Pres. Two of us are pretty bad. Surge is critical, and the rest of you have all sorts of injuries. It’s too much.”
Sinking into myself, I nod, knowing that there is someone else I can call.
I just don’t know if she will like the chaos I’m about to bring her into.
HEELEY
This morning my head has been in a fog. Last night was magical with Torque and then this morning’s conversation and him leaving, well, needless to say, I haven’t gotten any studying done. Instead, I got off my ass and cleaned. My apartment is now officially livable. My bedroom is tidy, my bathroom you could eat off, and my floors are shining.
I’ve officially lost my damn mind.
And now it’s mid-afternoon, and all I can think about is a fucking man on a bike, and how I feel like I need to talk to him, but I have no idea what to say. He gave me a choice. Three really. Be with him and make a choice on whether to know it all and be liable or know nothing and always be wondering. Or, of course, there’s always the third option—not be with him at all.
