by Naomi West
Next, his eyes glanced up to the pool table. Two cues leaned precariously up against the side. That was a particular pet peeve of Smalls's. He hated it when you leaned the sticks like that, complained about how it warped them over time. It looked like Wyland and whoever was with him, had come in during the game. They'd struggled, maybe? Squirrel hadn't given up, so Wyland had him executed?
That would explain the broken bottles, and the flipped over chair next to the table. Cutter shook his head. Something about this whole setup seemed off to him. He walked over to the pool table, tapped the nine ball and sent it into a nearby pocket. Whoever had been playing had just barely missed.
But, then a thought occurred to him. Where the Hell was Smalls? Surely, Wyland wouldn't have taken him along with Liona. Would he? That was when he heard it. A muffled pounding, back in the bunkhouse. He picked up one of the pool cues from where it leaned against the table and, grasping it in both hands like a makeshift club, headed off to the find the source of the noise.
The noise grew louder as he stalked down the hallway, deeper and deeper into the bunks. A thudding, thumping sound like a shoulder or a boot on the wall. It could be Smalls, locked away by Wyland for whatever reason. Or, hell, it could be one of Wyland's men. If he had men, of course. He gripped his cue tighter, his knuckles white, as he crept down the hallway.
As he got closer to the source, he realized it was coming from Smalls's bunk. He padded down the silent hallway till he reached just short of Smalls's door. “Smalls?” he called, his voice booming in the tomb-like silence.
There was more thumping and bumping, clearly on the other side of the door. Cutter reached out with one hand, the pool cue still gripping the other, and twisted the nob. He flung the door back and stepped away, ready in a heartbeat to start swinging at whoever came out.
Nothing burst out at him, though. Instead, there was a muffled cry for help from just inside his second-in-command's room. “Cutter?”
At least, that's what he thought he heard. He poked his head in through the door, taking it in slices, and looked around. There, tied up in a chair with a gag in his mouth, was Smalls, his eyes open and pleading for Cutter to untie him.
“Goddammit, Smalls,” Cutter muttered as he tossed the cue aside and drew his pocket knife. He went over and tore the gag off began cutting the bonds from his wrists.
“Cutter, man,” Smalls said, “I'm so fucking sorry. That bastard Squirrel attacked me and must've put me in here.”
“Squirrel?” Cutter asked. “Squirrel did this to you?”
“You'd just left, and Liona had gone back to your room for something, then all a sudden Squirrel just starts wailing on me with his cue stick,” he said as rubbed his tender, previously constrained wrists. “Messed up my leg and beat me unconscious. Woke up in here, all tied up. Heard some gunshots, then a bunch of guys talking.”
“They got Liona,” Cutter said, cutting right to the point, as Smalls leaned down and started to untie the bonds around his ankles. “And Squirrel's dead, shot to death.”
Smalls glanced up at him, winced, and shook his head. Cutter returned the look. Squirrel had been there brother, even if he had ended up being a real rat in the end. “So it was all bullshit, then? The meeting, all that?”
“Wasn't even there,” Cutter said, groaning. He wanted to curl up in a ball and die. Not only did they have the woman he loved, they'd killed one of his brothers. And he still didn't have any evidence to ruin Wyland.
“Well,” Smalls said with a sigh, “not only all that. But, Wyland's got help.”
“Help? Who? The cops?”
He shook his head. “Bolt Riders.”
Cutter shook his head and ran a hand down his face. Shit. “How the fuck did he get them?”
“Dunno,” Smalls said.
“Are you sure?”
“Heard 'em through the walls, man. Recognized one of their voices. Who else is gonna have that many bikes with 'em?”
“Any idea where they took her?”
Smalls frowned and shook his head again. Cutter turned and kicked the wall, putting a hole in. He cursed and wiggled the tip of his steel tip boot free. “Well, he did mention something. Dunno who he was talking to, but it sounded him important to him.”
“What was it, brother? Anything can help.”
“Something about Memory Lane.”
“Like, taking a trip down it?”
“Yeah, maybe.” Smalls shrugged. “I dunno.”
The gears pulled together in Cutter's head. Wyland had mentioned the same thing, or something similar, over the phone to him, towards the end of the conversation. Then, it clicked. What had been their most important experience growing up? Where had they all first met?
“The old high school,” Cutter said. “It's the only thing that makes sense.”
“Really?” Smalls asked, making a face. “He'd go back there, you think?”
Cutter shrugged. “Got any better ideas?”
Smalls grunted. “No. I just know the guy's an asshole.”
“You said he's got the Bolt Riders with him, huh?”
“Yeah,” Smalls replied “We can't get past all those guys. Can we?” he asked as he went to stand.
Cutter lunged forward and caught him, his reflexes fast as ever, as Smalls's leg gave out on him. “We?” he asked. “Ain't no way with that fucked up leg of yours.”
“You gotta let me help, man,” Smalls said as Cutter eased him back down into the chair. “This is as much my fault as anyone's.”
“’Cause you let your brother-in-arms blindside you?”
“Fuckin' A, Cutter,” Smalls hollered. “Lemme help you, man.”
“Fine, fine, just stop your yelling,” Cutter said as he offered him an arm and helped ease him up out of the chair. “We'll think of something. Meantime, we better check to make sure the stash is intact. No telling what Squirrel spilled to Wyland.”
Smalls put his weight on Cutter and slowly rose from the chair. Together, they crept down the hallway, back to the linen closet where they kept all the sheets and towels stored away. “Should be fine,” Smalls said. “I didn't hear any noise down this way.”
“You know, old man,” Cutter said as he opened the closet and reached inside, “them not coming over here is probably why you're still alive, old man.” On the right, just behind the door frame, was a small catch. He searched with his fingers, probing the area, until he found it. He pulled the latch till he felt a click, then shoved back a false wall they'd installed years ago. A small portal lead through the back.
He glanced back at his second-in-command, just to check on him, then pushed through the stacks of towels and sheets, and into the small secret compartment. The Vanguard had built this room a couple years after Cutter had joined up with the MC. He'd noticed while taking some measurements, and looking at the floor plans, that there was this small vacant space in the wall. Even if you were paying really close attention to the dimensions of the outside versus the inside, and really looking for a secret cubbyhole like this, you'd still have a real pain in the ass trying to find it.
Together, they turned it into their stash, the place where they kept their guns, ammo, and other contraband. It was a good hiding spot, Cutter thought. After all, what cop was going to look in the linen closet for a machine gun? He reached up and grabbed the pull cord for the single bare bulb that hung from the ceiling. It flared into brilliance, washing the small room with stark white light. Shotguns, submachine guns, handguns, rifles, pistols. They had it all, here, with crates and crates of ammo.
All untagged, untaxed, and completely illegal. And, most importantly, it was more than enough to take down a small banana republic.
Chapter 37
Liona
Liona didn't know how long she'd been out. Her sleep had been like a blanket of darkness, with no dreams or ideas of how she'd gotten there. All she knew about now was that her head was pounding, and the world seemed to move in slow motion behind her eyes. A slow spinning overtook he
r world, like she was laying back in the center of a merry-go-round and staring up at the sky. She didn't open her eyes, just squeezed them tighter and prayed the spins would go away.
With her eyes still shut, she reached out with her other senses to try and get her bearings. The smell of mildew and damp filled her nose, and she could hear dripping water off in the distance. At least that was a start. She couldn't tell where she was, but something about the place, about the resonance of the area, just made her feel as if she were in an old building. Perhaps in a basement, or a cavern of some sort, like one of those old speakeasy tunnels from the 20s. She remembered going down into one on a tour, back when she was a teenager. All the bricks, and the lights, and that cloying feel of the damp on her skin.
“You think she's coming to?” a man growled somewhere out there in the darkness, just beyond the edge of her senses. She didn't recognize the voice, but it reminded her of Cutter or Smalls. It gave her the impression of cruelty, though. Like the man who spoke was the type of kid who plucked the wings off houseflies.
“Nah, not yet,” another man replied.
“Tired of this bullshit, yet?” the first man asked.
“Long time ago, man. But, hey, this lawyer says he's gonna give us the run of the town. So, I'm fine sticking it out.”
Silence, for a moment.
“Think he'll give us a run of the girl, too?” the first man asked after a while.
“Dunno if West will, or not,” the other admitted. “I like 'em to be awake, personally. They got more fire in 'em, that way.”
One of them laughed as she drifted back into unconsciousness. This time, the dreams did come. Dreams of Cutter, with his strong hands running over her naked body. Of the two of them riding on the back of chopper, ripping and roaring over the scenery. They rode together through the day, through the night. The stars and planets spun over their heads in a surreal symphony of celestial movement, like it was a choreographed dance composed for just them. Then, as the sun rose again, Liona looked around and took in the sights.
Except, now, the landscape had been transformed into a twisted hellscape. The world, all ashen gray and bright fiery yellow, seemed to burn. She asked Cutter where they were, where they were going, but he didn't reply. He just kept riding. She pounded on his back, a feeling of dread filling the core of her being. She hit him again, over and over. Finally, he looked back but it wasn't Cutter, like she'd originally thought. Instead, it was Wyland's laughing visage.
She screamed to herself, tried to realize it was just a dream. To not worry, to just wake up and be done with it. Some deeper voice within herself warned her against waking, stopped her struggles to come up from her slumber. Here, Liona was safe. The world could pass her by, and she could wait for everything to be better. Because, here in the land of dreams, there was nothing to truly fear. Everything was nothing more than a figment of her drugged out imagination.
Another voice whispered, in the world of the waking, that the nightmares were real.
Chapter 38
Cutter
“You're dead serious about this, ain't you?” Smalls asked as Cutter piled up on the rec room table the last of the guns and ammo he'd selected. This was his fourth and final trip from the stash and he'd brought out every possible gun he thought he might use, along with a couple heavy duffel bags to haul all them in.
“Should I not be?” Cutter asked as he set a pump action twelve-gauge shotgun with a pistol grip on it.
“Just looks like you're fucking Rambo, or some shit.”
“At this point,” Cutter said as he picked up one of the rifles and took it over to another, less cluttered table and began to break it down, “really wish I was.”
“You scared?” Smalls asked as he set a hunting rifle, complete with scope and suppressor, down on the table next to him.
“Fuck yes,” Cutter said, glancing up. “But I get scared every time I go do something this stupid. Doubly, now, since Liona's life is on the line, too.”
“Scared is a good thing,” Smalls said. “Means you're ready to see tomorrow.”
They'd had this little pre-war pep talk more times than Cutter could count. Smalls was ex-military, Marines. You wouldn't have known it to look at him, but he was one of the best shots Cutter had ever seen.
“Gonna cover me, then?”
“Looks like it,” Smalls said.
Cutter nodded. “We'll wait till after dark, which gives another hour or so.”
“Dunno how many men they got, do we?” his second-in-command asked as he began to break down, clean, and oil the rifle with the kind of grace only hours and hours of regular practice can give you. Cutter shook his head.
“Doesn't really matter, does it? You'd be going in either way, wouldn't you?”
He nodded. “I can't let anything happen to her. And, besides, Wyland needs this payback. Gonna be honest. I don't care if the Vanguard fall apart after this or not. I just want him dead.”
“Fair enough,” Smalls said, nodding solemnly. “Soon as sunset rolls 'round, we'll head out.”
“What're we gonna take? You can't ride out with your leg busted. 'Sides, we're bringing a whole goddamn arsenal with us.”
“Need something stealthy,” Smalls said, deep in thought as he cleaned out the barrel of the rifle with the long swab. “I was thinking we take my Prius.”
“Quiet, and efficient,” Cutter nodded at the joke Smalls had made in spite of the seriousness of what they were walking into. He stopped, though, and looked at Smalls. “Oh, shit, brother. You're serious, aren't you?”
“Yeah,” Smalls said, locking the barrel back into the receiver. “You think of something that's quieter?”
Chapter 39
Liona
Liona came to again in the darkness of her cell. She was more aware this time around, enough so that she realized it wasn't a jail cell, as such. More like a utility closet, in somewhere like a boiler room. She was laid out on a hard cotton cot with a scratchy pillow beneath her head, the kind you'd get at a cheap motel that had complimentary cans of roach spray in each room.
She groaned loudly, put a hand to her head to try and stop the painful throbbing.
“Ho, ho,” said one of the voices from earlier, “looks like girly-girl’s awake here.”
“Oh, man,” added the other, “would you look at that? She is a fine piece, that's for damn sure. Even prettier awake.”
She opened her eyes, groaning again as the weak light from a burning kerosene lamp shot up a flare of pain in her head. She could make out two barely visible forms standing against the wall, now. Both wore biker vests, like Cutter's and Smalls's, but they were all the wrong colors.
“Don't spook her now,” said one of the men, the one still up against the wall.
“I ain't gonna spook her,” replied the one approaching her. “Gonna just take it real nice and slow, so she can get used to us. Like a scared kitten.”
As the man came closer the door handle jiggled. Quick as could be, he came to a complete halt and shot upright. In two long strides, he was back at his old spot next to his friend. His buddy chuckled a little as the door creaked open.
“Liona?” a familiar voice asked as the form stepped into the room. “You feeling okay, sweetie? You waking up alright?”
Wyland. Wyland West. Just as dapper looking as ever, clad in his perfectly tailored suit.
She recoiled, her body instinctively curling up into a protective ball. “Go away,” she slurred. “Just, leave me alone.”
“Well,” Wyland said soothingly. “I'll just come back in a little while, okay sweetie? Once you're feeling better, and not so loopy?”
“Fuck off, Wyland,” she groaned.
He turned to the two other men. “Keep an eye on her,” he snapped, before leaving the room again.
The men followed him with their gazes till the door shut quietly behind him, then she felt as they swiveled back to her. A grin began to grow on the face of the man who'd come closest to her, but the other m
an quickly slapped him.
“Nah, dude,” he said. “Not this time.”
Chapter 40
Cutter
A moonless night fell over the small town. Cutter and Smalls had scoped out the condemned high school before the sun went down, using binoculars to count men and map out routes. These were bikers, basically just goons, not military or even security guards. They were as undisciplined as any of the Vanguard would have been in the same situation, and neither men expected them to be too much of a worry if they were taken on individually.
