by Nicole James
Wolf stuttered out frantically, “Get his gun, baby. Bring it to me. Hurry.”
It was lying across the campfire on top of Wolf’s cut. Crystal scrambled across the campsite and returned to Wolf with it. He took it from her, grabbing it in his hands which were still tied at the wrists. He lifted his arms, pain searing through his abdomen with the movement, aimed at Taz and fired off three rounds.
Bam. Bam. Bam.
Taz’s body jerked three times and slid to the ground. Then before Wolf could say anything, the world faded to black as he lost consciousness from blood loss.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“Wolf! Wolf!” Crystal cried, trying to shake him. “Oh, God, please don’t let him die.” She took the gun, shoved it in her waistband, and then ran to the van. Fumbling with the keys in her shaking hands, she managed to get it started and drive it across the campsite, stopping next to Wolf. Throwing open the cargo doors, she dragged Wolf over and somehow managed to roll his body inside, throwing the long thick rope still tied to him in with him. She jumped behind the wheel and tore out of there. The van bounced as she hit the highway, but when she looked back at Wolf, he was still unmoving.
“Oh, please God, let him live,” she prayed as she tore down the highway. After several tense moments of hearing nothing but the roar of the engine and the tires on the pavement, she turned back to Wolf and yelled at him, “You can’t die on me now, Wolf. Not after all this. Baby, please, talk to me.” He didn’t respond, and she pressed the accelerator all the way to the floor as she sped toward the only place she could think to take him, the Evil Dead’s campsite. It wasn’t too far, and they’d know what to do. They’d help him. If only she could get there, everything would be okay, she told herself over and over. Cole would make everything okay. He’d take care of this. He wouldn’t let Wolf die.
She just had to get there, and everything would be all right.
“You’re going to be okay, Wolf. We’re almost there, baby. Just a little further. Hang on, baby.” She kept talking to him. In her mind, as long as she kept talking to him, he would be okay. “I see it, Wolf. We’re almost there. You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna be okay. You’re gonna be okay. Everything’s gonna be okay.”
She flew into the camp, brothers scattering out of her way to avoid being rundown. When she came to a lurching halt, half the camp was running toward the van. She stumbled out and ran smack into Red Dog’s arms. She was covered in Wolf’s blood from having dragged him to the van.
“Crystal. Jesus Christ. What happened?” He caught her to him.
“It’s Wolf. Taz almost killed him. Please. You have to get him to the hospital. He’s bleeding so badly. Oh, God. There’s so much blood. You have to help him,” she pleaded brokenly, clutching at Dog’s arms.
“Baby, calm down.”
The other brothers were already scrambling into the van. Crash yanked his shirt off and pressed it to one of the deeper cuts on Wolf’s leg.
“Did he cut the femoral artery?” Green asked, leaning in and peering over Crash’s shoulder.
“I don’t think so, he’d be dead already.”
Cole growled, “We need to get him to the hospital.”
Mack shouted, “I got this.” He jumped in the driver’s seat.
Crash lay on the van floor holding Wolf, trying to stem the blood flow. Cole’s eyes connected with Mack’s through the sliding side cargo door. “There’s gonna be questions.”
“I said I got it. Move!”
Cole slammed the side door, and the van sped off into the night.
Crystal watched it barrel down the highway toward town. Too late, her brain catching up with the action. “Wait, I want to go with him. I need to be with him.”
Cole turned toward her, his eyes sliding over her tangled hair and blood drenched clothing. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “It’s all Wolf’s blood. None of it is mine.”
He nodded. “Good. I’ll take you to Wolf, darlin’. I promise. But first you’re gonna lead us to Taz.”
“Wolf shot him,” she replied, confused.
“Then his body shouldn’t be hard to find,” Cole snapped, then turned to his men. “Red Dog, Green, let’s go.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Crystal led them back the way she’d come. Riding until she saw the flicker of a campfire off in the distance about fifty yards from the road. “Here. Turn here,” she yelled over Cole’s shoulder, as she sat on the back of his bike. She pointed toward the fire.
Cole, Red Dog and Green went off road. They pulled to the campsite, drawing their guns as they dismounted. Cole shoved Crystal behind him protectively. Four sets of eyes scanned the campsite. No Taz in sight.
Crystal peered around Cole’s shoulder, her eyes scanning around the campsite searching the area where Taz had been before they left. “He’s gone,” she stuttered, unbelieving.
Red Dog stood next to the tree where Wolf had been strung up. The cut and frayed rope tied off to the tree trunk still lay on the ground, ground that was soaked in blood. “Jesus Christ. Look at all this blood.”
Cole turned to Crystal. “Where was he when Wolf shot him?”
Crystal stared up at him, half in shock.
“Show me,” Cole snapped.
She pointed to the area, and Cole bent to look at the bloody trail that led away into the trees. He stood, motioning with two fingers for Dog and Green to follow him. They quietly followed the trail, guns drawn, and not fifty yards into the undergrowth, they found him.
“Going somewhere?” Cole asked a surprised Taz, who glared up at him and then huffed out a laugh as he kept scrambling back, his boot heels digging in the dirt and inching him along in a pathetic trail.
“Did you see what I did to your guy?” Taz grunted out in pain. “It was really you I wanted strung up in that tree. You I wanted to fucking slice up. For what you did to my face. I wanted to make you pay for it, you son-of-a-bitch.” He laughed and grunted in pain again. “But I guess I’ll have to settle for the fact that every time you look at your brother’s scarred up face, you’ll be reminded that I did that to him. And that it was meant for you. He took your punishment for you. You gonna be able to live with that?”
“Shut your fucking face, asshole,” Cole growled. And then he raised his gun and emptied his clip into Taz, watching his body jump and jerk as each shot plowed into him. He didn’t stop until he’d fired every one of the fifteen rounds, and there was just a clicking noise as he continued to pull the trigger over and over.
“Cole. You’re empty, Brother,” Red Dog whispered quietly from behind him.
Cole stared down at the man that had haunted his life for years, all the way back to when Angel had first come into his life, his chest sawing in and out with his ragged breathing. It was over. That sadistic son-of-a-bitch would never again torment anyone.
Green held out his gun to Cole. “Here, use mine.”
That broke the tension, and Red Dog slapped him on the back.
Cole let out a deep cleansing breath, the weight of his hatred rolling off him.
Red Dog’s hand on his shoulder tightened. “You know all that garbage coming out of his mouth was bullshit, right?”
Cole looked back at him, but couldn’t bring himself to agree. His eyes dropped back down to Taz’s lifeless body, and he ordered, “Tonight, bring some guys back and bury his body where no one will find it.”
Green and Dog both nodded wordlessly.
“And bring me his cut.”
“You got it, brother. He got off too easy.”
“I’d have strung him up from that fucking tree and tortured him all night, but I don’t have time to waste another minute on this piece of garbage. We need to get to the hospital.”
Cole turned and headed back to the campsite and Crystal. She stood with her arms wrapped around herself, her body trembling. He figured shock was starting to set in. He took her in his arms, holding her tight, his hands rubbing up and down her back. “He�
��s dead, sweetheart.”
“I heard so many shots. Are you all okay?”
“That was all me.”
“Oh.”
Cole glanced around the campsite. “What did you and Wolf touch? I need to know everything you put your hands on. We can’t leave any traces of either of you being here.”
“But all that blood. Wolf’s DNA…”
“We’ll bury the blood soaked dirt. What else?”
She pulled the gun from her waistband, and Cole took it from her, shoving it in his own waistband. “What else?”
She glanced around. “The keys, the van, the knife—it’s still in the van, I think. Umm.” Her eyes fell on the whiskey bottle, its glass shining in the dying embers of the fire.
“The bottle.” She pointed and Cole’s eyes followed, seeing it lying on its side in the grass.
He pushed away from her and moved, bending to pick it up. “What else?”
She pointed to another tree at the other side of the fire. “The chain.”
That got Cole frowning, his eyes searching the ground. They fell on the thick chain and padlock. Jesus Christ. “He used that on you?”
She nodded. “It was around my ankle.”
Cole’s jaw clenched, wishing again he had the time to string Taz up and make him pay for all this shit as he moved to gather up the chain in jerking movements he was sure revealed his anger. He paused, turning toward Crystal, his shoulders slumping under the weight of what had happened here. “How the hell did you both get free? I mean, Christ, Wolf’s strung up to that tree, you’re chained to this one…”
Crystal hugged herself. “Wolf talked me through it. I was getting hysterical. Taz got a call on his cell and walked off to take it. That gave us a few minutes to talk. Wolf calmed me down. Got me focused. Told me what to do.”
“And what was that?”
“He told me I had to use the only weapon I had. Sex.”
“Shit.”
Crystal shrugged. “I did what I had to.”
“Darlin’.” Cole didn’t know what to say.
“I gave him a blowjob, when his guard was down, I pulled him off balance and to the ground. And then I hit him with the bottle. Got the keys and freed myself. Wolf wanted me to run, to leave him and save myself. But I couldn’t do that. I would never have left him.”
She said the words loudly, as if she needed to convince him. Cole reassured her that wasn’t necessary. “Crystal, I know you’d never leave him.”
“By then Taz was coming around. I got the knife and started cutting Wolf down. He kept telling me to leave him and go. I thought I’d never get through that thick rope, but I kept sawing at. I wasn’t going to stop. Finally, it frayed and snapped. Wolf told me to get the gun. I’d forgotten about the gun. I brought it to him, and he shot Taz. Three times.”
Cole nodded.
“That’s when Wolf passed out. I drove the van over to him and got him inside. I don’t know where I had the strength to do that, adrenaline I guess.” She started shaking.
Cole approached her and put an arm around her, pulling her to him. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You did good, Crystal.”
She hugged him. “He can’t die, Cole.”
“He won’t, babe. He’s strong.” Cole glanced around. “You touch anything else?”
“That’s it.”
“You sure?” His arms fell to her upper arms and pushed her back, looking down at her face. “You gotta be sure, darlin’.”
She nodded. “I’m sure.”
He nodded back. “Okay. Let’s get out of here.” Her eyes moved to the woods, where Dog and Green hadn’t returned from yet. “They’ll be cleaning this up all night. Let’s get you to the hospital and your man.”
She nodded, and they moved toward the bike.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Cole sat on a vinyl couch in the hospital waiting area. Crystal was snuggled against his chest sound asleep, her legs tucked under her. She’d finally given in to exhaustion after sitting up with Wolf all night. He’d yet to regain consciousness.
Cole felt his cell vibrate and slid his hand in his pocket to retrieve it. Looking at the screen, he smiled and put it to his ear, answering quietly so as not to wake Crystal.
“Hey, babe.”
Angel spoke in his ear. “How’s Wolf?”
“He’s still unconscious. They repaired all the damage and gave him blood. They’re watching him closely. They want to make sure he doesn’t have any organ damage from the blood loss. His blood pressure is still pretty low. They’re giving him something that’s supposed to help with that. Now we just wait, I guess.”
“Please tell me he’ll be okay, Cole.”
“He’s a fighter. He’ll pull through this, Angel.”
“Okay,” she said in a soft voice.
“How are the kids?”
“Fine. They miss their daddy.”
“I wish I could say I’ll be home soon, but I’m not leaving until we can bring him home with us.”
“I know, honey. I wouldn’t expect anything less. How is Crystal doing?”
“She’s asleep on my shoulder at the moment. She finally passed out about twenty minutes ago.”
“I should come up there and be with her, she probably needs another woman right now.”
“Baby, she’s fine. I’m taking care of her. All of the boys are.”
“Are you sure? I could catch a flight and be there in a few hours.”
“Angel, she’ll be okay.”
“All right, honey.”
Just then Cole looked up to see several men in Evil Dead cuts troop into the waiting room that was already crowded with brothers. Shades, and a couple of his guys, a big one named Griz, and a guy built like a brick house named Hammer.
“I gotta go, babe. Love you. I’ll call you later.” Cole disconnected and slowly slid from beneath Crystal, lowering her gently down on the couch. She didn’t wake.
He stood and clasped hands with Shades. They bumped shoulders and slapped each other on the back.
“Heard about your guy. How’s he doing?” Shades asked.
“He was sliced up pretty bad. Lost a lot of blood, but he’s hanging in there.”
Shades nodded, his voice low. “Any idea who did it?”
“Yeah. A DK,” he replied quietly.
“No shit?”
Cole nodded. “A sick motherfucker out of Cali named Taz. Went nomad a couple years ago. I’ve had several run-ins with him the last few years.”
“Hell, let’s go get him,” Shades offered.
“Already taken care of.”
Shades nodded, understanding Cole’s unspoken message. “Good.”
Cole noticed the frown on Shades face and knew there was something he wasn’t saying. “What?”
Shades eyes moved to the two uniformed officers who’d been posted down the hall. Mack was right now down at the station giving some bullshit statement about an attempted robbery by a masked man. Cole wasn’t sure how long that was going to fly. Cole’s eyes followed Shades, and then returned to him. “Shades?”
“Look, you’ve got enough on your hands—”
“Yeah, and my patience is about shot, so just fucking tell me.”
“We’ve got a guy missing.”
“What do you mean ‘missing’?”
“Didn’t come back to camp last night. Haven’t been able to reach him. He’s not answering his cell, it just goes straight to voicemail and about an hour ago, it stopped doing even that.”
“Maybe the battery died.”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t buy it? He’s not just off fucking some pussy?”
Shades shook his head. “He’d have found a way to check in.”
“You’re worried it’s connected to this?”
Shades shrugged. “Strange coincidence.”
Cole shook his head. “It’s not related. Taz…he was acting alone. It was a personal grudge.”
Shades nodded, but Cole could see t
he wheels turning in his head as he tried to figure out an explanation.
“Have you had any other trouble I don’t know about?” Cole pressed.
Shades shook his head. “If it’s not the DKs making a move against us…I don’t know, there’s been some shit going on with the Death Heads, but nothing we’ve been connected with.”
“What shit?” Cole asked, frowning. This was news to him.
“Rumors mostly. Nothing I can confirm or pin down. But they had some kind of agenda this week. They’ve been all over town this rally. Not just making their presence known, it was almost as if they were hunting something or someone.”
Cole nodded. They had been acting odd. Not in their usual way. What the fuck was up with that? “So, who’s missing? What’s his name?”
“Ghost.”
Cole nodded. He’d met Ghost the last time he was in Birmingham, and again at the campsite at the beginning of the week. He was a good man. “You want some of my guys to help you find him?”
“Naw. He’ll turn up. Keep me in the loop on Wolf, yeah?”
Cole nodded. “Will do.”
Shades and his guys left.
As they moved down the hall, they passed Red Dog and Green walking in.
Cole’s eyes connected with them as they approached him. His eyes swung down the hall to make sure the officers were still occupied, before he turned back to ask in a hushed voice, “Everything go okay?”
Dog nodded. “Found something.”
Cole frowned wondering what the hell else could go wrong. “Yeah? What’s that?”
Dog held out his fist, obviously holding something that he wanted Cole to reach out and take. Cold extended his hand, palm up, half-afraid at what Dog was about to drop into it.
Dog opened his fist and something cold and metallic fell into Cole’s waiting palm. He looked down.
