by Brook Wilder
As the guards fell back, the women spread out with keys and guns to release the others.
The sound of gunfire from outside was getting closer. Liz ran over to the chains that hoisted the bay doors.
“The doors are locked,” she panted.
“Side door,” I shouted over the commotion.
I pointed to where the men were running.
“Something’s going on outside.”
Liz nodded. “I think Ruiz’s opponents are about to teach him a lesson.”
“You mean, the warehouse is under attack?” I looked around at all the women. “What are we going to do?”
Liz shook her head and tossed me a gun, which I almost dropped.
“We’re going to help them.”
She headed off into the mass of women, and I followed her as best as I could. A woman stumbled into me, and I helped straighten her up.
“Thanks,” the woman said breathlessly.
I nodded at her. “Just keep moving.”
As we ran, I noticed girls still in the cages. The doors were open but they remained inside. Some lay motionless or were too injured to move. Some simply sat, rocking back and forth, not really seeing or hearing the noise all around them. Those were the most traumatized, locked in their own private hells. My heart broke for what they must have endured. Years of working the E.R. hadn’t prepared me for what I’d seen since I’d been dragged into this world.
I forced myself to focus as gunfire rang out again outside. It was time to fight, not to cry.
Chapter 23
Cassie
“Liz, watch out!” I screamed.
One of Ruiz’s men had come up behind us while we were trying to get the last cell undone. Before Liz could react, the man backhanded her. She was on the concrete before I could take more than a step forward.
Liz got to her feet and ran at the man. He stumbled as another woman threw herself on him from behind. When Liz hit him in the midsection, they all tumbled into a heap on the floor.
Liz was up quickly and back to unlock the door.
“You bitch,” the man spat out at the woman still holding him. I went over to help her pin him down.
Liz ushered the caged women out toward a side door we had finally gotten open. There was confusion, as men tried to pushed their way in.
I looked over. The distraction had allowed the guard on the ground to get up.
The woman gave a shriek as he threw her off. I took a few steps back.
The side door was open now and men with vest and jackets covered in badges began storming in.
The guard too looked over at them in surprise.
“What the fuck?”
His words confirmed that the men were not Cartel.
Liz smiled.
“It’s the Riders.”
Relief flood through me.
The relief did not last long. Liz’s words seemed to snap the guard out of his stupor. His hand grabbed my wrists.
“Get off of me,” I snapped.
I swung at him, but all it got me was both my hands pinned behind my back.
“Liz,” I cried, turning my head toward her.
Liz was being held by another guard. She was fighting with him, but the man easily lifted her petite form off the ground.
“Come on, the Boss wants these two.”
I shook my head and struggled, but the guard paid me no attention. He dragged me through the confusion toward the offices.
“Where do you think you can take us? It’s over!”
My voice was rising with fear. Ruiz would surely kill us. Now, with time short, he would probably do it as soon as we walked through the door, just to make sure we didn’t get back to the Riders with any of what little we knew about his plans.
The men dragged us back along the corridor. Liz was kicking her feet wildly. One of the kicks eventually landed on the guard’s knee. He howled in pain and dropped the red-head.
“You stupid…”
He never got to finish the sentence. Liz kicked him in the balls with all her might, and the man fell to the floor.
The man holding me drew a gun. Liz stopped and held her hands up.
“Try that shit with me, and I’ll put you down right here. Boss never said if he preferred you dead or alive. Got it?”
The man moved the gun’s aim from Liz to my head. I could feel the cold metal barrel against my temple.
I swallowed and tried to talk calmly.
“Let’s all just take a deep breath.”
“As long as you both cooperate, you’ll get to live a few more minutes,” he said reasonably, as if he was making us a generous offer. “Now move.”
Liz nodded.
“Okay. Okay.”
She kept her hands up and turned around.
“You know, the Riders aren’t the most forgiving people,” Liz said conversationally as she walked along in front of us. “Bet they won’t appreciate you threatening their leader’s chick like this.”
The man scoffed. “He hasn’t missed her yet.”
“Are you listening to the same gunfire that I am?” Liz laughed. “You might have a chance of walking away from this if you help us.”
The man’s hand flexed around the gun’s hand.
“Shut up and turn to your right.”
Liz took a deep breath and turned into the doorway as she was directed.
The guard pushed me through the door in front of him. The gun barrel rubbed against my skin.
“Ow,” I complained and gritted my teeth.
Ruiz straightened up and looked over at us.
“Ah, there you are Charlie. Where’s Maril?”
“The red-haired one clocked him one. He’s spewing his guts in the hallway,” Charlie answered as he glared over at Liz, who just stared right back at him.
She had put her back to the wall and Charlie shoved me over toward her. She braced me when I stumbled and collided with her. I rubbed my temple and gave Charlie a sour look.
My eyes finally went to what Ruiz had been bending over. A couple of women lay sprawled on the floor with bullet holes in their heads. Blood was pooling around them. I recognized one of them as a woman I had freed.
Anger swept through me. The bastard had killed them. They had almost gotten out.
Ruiz followed my gaze.
“Oh, sorry. I just had to take care of a few things. I didn’t know I was going to have guests so soon.”
He walked over to us. Liz and I both straightened at the man’s approach.
“Does it bother you that I killed them?”
His words were directed at me.
I pressed my lips together. He could more than likely see what I thought by the look on my face. I looked away from him. My disgust for the man was too great.
Liz shook her head. “I bet no one cries at your funeral, Ruiz.”
“Not that you’ll be around to see it,” Ruiz countered.
He looked over at Charlie, who was lingering by the door with his gun still aimed at us.
“Charlie, I’m going to be escorting Cassie to the roof. Would you be so kind as to entertain Liz?”
Charlie smiled and gave a little bow.
“It would be my pleasure.”
The man’s eyes raked over Liz, who curled her lip in disgust.
“Very good,” Ruiz said, and he motioned with his gun for me to move.
I stood firm. There was no way I was going to leave Liz.
Liz shook her head.
“She’s not going anywhere with you. The Riders will be here any minute. So you can just shoot us here or you can fuck off.”
Charlie cocked his revolver. Ruiz raised his hand for Charlie to wait.
“I’d love to engage you in a lengthy debate over how much the Riders care that either of you lives or dies, but I don’t have time for it.”
Ruiz walked over and grabbed my wrists. Liz moved forward to intervene, but all she got for her efforts was the butt of Charlie’s gun against her jaw.
; “Liz!” I called out as she fell back against the wall.
She raised her hand to her jaw and looked over at me. Our eyes met, and Liz nodded that she was okay.
Ruiz smiled as Liz wiped the blood off her lip.
“Meet me on the roof when you’re done here, Charlie.”
“Yes, Sir,” Charlie said with a grin as he grabbed Liz’s hair.
The last thing I saw before Ruiz dragged me from the room was Liz elbowing the man hard to try and get him to let her go.
Ruiz was shorter and stouter than Mason, but he had a couple hundred pounds on me. I barely slowed him down as I struggled against his grip.
We turned into the stairwell. I glanced at the emergency signs denoting it as roof access.
Ruiz was silent as he worked his way up the stairwell. It was his silence I found most disturbing. Ruiz struck me as the kind of man who liked to hear his own voice.
“Why are we going to the roof?”
If I could engage him, perhaps he would slow down enough for me to throw him off balance and give myself a chance to escape.
Ruiz sighed.
“For the view, of course.”
To my disappointment, he didn’t slow down. It certainly looked like the man was no longer interested in talking.
I rolled my eyes as I stumbled up the steps behind him. If Liz was right, then the GRMC was in the warehouse.
So, where the hell were they?
Chapter 24
Mason
When we launched the attack on Ruiz’s headquarters, we were surprised by the sounds of fighting from inside the warehouse. Ruiz’s men seemed unsure as to whether they should be inside helping or outside fighting the Ghost Riders’ assault. I waved for the men on my left to move forward, then I opened fire to give them some cover as they made a run for a supply truck that had gotten caught up in the conflict. The driver had ducked out and run off as soon as the gunfire started.
Diesel landed beside me out of breath. He leaned his shoulder heavily against the pickup I’d taken cover behind in the warehouse parking lot.
“We’ve got some guys in at a side door. Looks like the Cartel’s merchandise got out of their cages. It’s a madhouse in there.”
“Sounds like Ruiz bit off more than he could chew,” I mused. “Are the men inside?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I told them to make finding the girls their priority.”
I reloaded and nodded at Diesel’s words.
“Come on, let’s get in here. I think the boys can keep them busy out here.”
I waved over to a spiky-haired man who was busily loading up a rifle.
“We’re going in, Marshal. Keep those assholes entertained.”
Marshal grinned. “My pleasure.”
He snapped a fresh magazine into the rifle and was swiftly on his feet, firing at the men directly in front of the main doors. Diesel and I took the opportunity to make a run for the side of the warehouse.
When we hit the side of the building, Diesel leaned against the wall and looked back at Marshal, who was laughing wildly as he fired off round after round at the Cartel’s men.
“You know,” Diesel said, jabbing his thumb toward Marshal, “that guy needs a hobby.”
I laughed as I moved toward the side door. There were some men there, but they were ours. Some women were with them. I narrowed my eyes at the commotion the women were making.
“What’s going on?” I asked the first man I got to.
He shook his head.
“What do we do with them? They just keep coming out the door.”
“Take them to the road away from the fight,” I said and waved him off.
One of the women grabbed my jacket.
“They saved us. I don’t know where they came from, but they got guns and keys and let us out. They’re still in there.”
“Who?” I asked in confusion as I pried the woman off.
She frowned.
“I don’t know. One had red hair and one brown.”
“One called the other one Liz,” another woman offered.
The first woman nodded.
“That’s right! Liz.”
I waved my hand to the man behind the women.
“If you’ll follow Rodriguez, he’ll take you to the road.”
They nodded with relief at the thought of getting away from the fighting. Most of the women were dirty and covered in bruises, and several were carrying weapons that they laid down as soon as they came out of the warehouse.
Diesel leaned in to murmur in my ear.
“Whatcha thinking? Liz and Cassie?”
“Well, Liz never did take direction very well, and Cassie…” I frowned. “Let’s go see if we can find them.”
Diesel nodded and we shouldered our way through the side door.
A woman came running toward us.
“Behind me!” she screamed.
She was out through the door before what she’d said registered with me. One of the Cartel’s goons rounded the corner with his gun aimed straight at us. It was the last thing he did. I shot him before I even thought twice about it.
“Bastard,” Diesel muttered as he stepped over the dead man.
The warehouse was in chaos. The Cartel’s men were so distracted by the confusion that they never saw us until our bullets hit them.
We were looking out across the warehouse floor when a woman jumped on Diesel. She was wailing like a banshee. Diesel cursed as he tried to sling her off. I grabbed the woman by the waist and hoisted her off of him.
She turned on me, all teeth and nails.
“We aren’t Cartel!” I shouted
“Crazy bitch,” Diesel growled as he touched a scratch on his neck.
The woman wilted and started crying.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
I shook my head. “The door’s just down the hallway, over there. Go!”
She took off. Diesel and I looked at each other and shook our heads.
We held our guns at the ready as we made our way through the warehouse. There was a lot of smoke. I couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from until we got closer to the offices. Right outside the offices – a trash can with its contents on fire. Luckily it was metal, so the fire was contained.
“Go help the boys. I’m going to find Cassie and Liz.”
“I’ll give you a yell if I find them first,” Diesel said as he turned to leave. He hesitated and added: “Careful of Ruiz, Boss. He has very little to lose.”
I nodded. The psychopath was likely to be even more unstable than normal, which made him all the more dangerous.
I stalked off into the offices to hopefully find some sign of Cassie or Liz.
“Cassie?” I called her name softly.
I wasn’t sure who’d be in earshot, and I’d make a nice target for any Cartel men or Ruiz himself. I’m sure lots of them wanted me dead.
“Cassie,” I called again this time a little bit louder.
Further down the corridor there was a loud thud, as if something heavy had been turned over. I frowned and made my way down the passageway. The door on the right at the far end was open. It could be Ruiz, the girls, or even some of the boys taking a bit of time to loot. By this point, I was willing to expect anything.
There was a woman’s scream, and my pace quickened. It sounded like Liz.
When I got to the door, I raised my gun and rounded the doorframe. The man in the room stopped mid-swing. He had one of this hands around Liz’s arm, and the other was raised to hit her. From the blood on Liz’s face, it didn’t look like it was for the first time .
Liz dove to the side and I took the opportunity. I squeezed the trigger. He didn’t make a sound. His face just went slack, then he dropped to the floor.
Liz was on her feet in an instant. She came over and gave me a hug
“I’m so glad to see you, Mason,” she sobbed. “He’s got Cassie. He took her to the roof.”
