“Fuck that.” We all turn to look at Brighton of all people. She rarely curses the small curses, let alone dropping the F-bomb, and she goes from work to home. Doesn’t leave the compound. Doesn’t participate in Lords activities. She’s a conscientious objector to the whole biker life, by her own account.
“Excuse me?” I ask.
“You heard me. Fuck that. I’m tired of being scared. Crass is a good man. He takes care of me and I’m lucky to have him. I love the big lug, but I’m tired of being scared. And Elise brought me into the fold right away—without question. You can’t do this alone and we won’t let you. So let’s figure this shit out. We need a plan.”
“Someone’s embraced her inner biker bitch.” Frankie chuckles, giving her best friend a hug. Shit. This is exactly what I don’t want, these women getting involved. They could get hurt or worse, but at the same time, Brighton’s not wrong. I stand a better chance of getting Elise back with help.
“Okay,” I say, taking in a deep breath. “Let’s plan.”
6.
Raif
Following a lead…
“Get down, get down, get down,” Boss yells and I drop at the same time I watch him drop and yell, “Fuck.” He’s hit. God damn. He’s been hit.
I replace the clip in my Glock and look up over the edge of the ditch I’ve taken cover in. Sludge soaking my jeans, it smells like rotting plants down here. I’m getting low on ammo and take aim more carefully, trying to make every shot count.
Bullets zip through the air. It’s a fucking bloodbath out there, but we have the Riot outnumbered and when the last one falls, the last one not retreating like a coward, I climb out of the ditch to check the casualties.
This is too much for Hatchet and his son to take care of alone. We have to call the paramedics. It’s going to be a nightmare explaining what happened here. But my Lords brothers all have registered weapons and we were fired on first. It was self-defense.
Boss is the first wounded man I get to. His thigh is torn up. “I’m good,” he says. “Get to Chaos and Crass.”
Not Chaos. When I get to my best friend, he’s got a gaping hole in his hip region. His eyes are closed, but he’s breathing. I tear my T-shirt and use it to put pressure on the wound. Drac, Hammer’s VP, is gone.
Crass is down. It looks like Drac fell protecting Crass when he got hit. Someone called the paramedics because I see their red lights flashing, getting closer. There’re sirens blaring. Police are on the scene along with them.
I wave the medics over to Chaos and Crass, who are in bad shape. They take over, shoving me out of the way. Another medic heads to Boss. Duke is up directing traffic, too. Scotch doesn’t appear hurt, but he’s standing over someone and with the pain on the man’s face, I know it’s going to be bad.
It’s fucking bad. “Fuck no!” I scream and drop to my knees at his side. Not Carver. God fucking damn. Not Carver. This can’t be happening. He’s been my friend since we prospected.
Duke runs over to Scotch and me. He grips my shoulder, but I shake it off and bend down to bury my face in my friend’s cut as I scream again. Scotch continues to stand, staring down at our friend, and he looks almost catatonic by his lack of movement. Shock.
Another medic lays a blanket over Carver’s lifeless body. And these Illinois cops, the way they come at us, show they don’t have a soul. I get they have a job to do, but we lost our brother and might lose others. How would I tell Liv if Chaos doesn’t pull through? Carver didn’t have an old lady. We were his only family.
Duke identifies himself. They want to speak to Hammer, but he’s distraught over losing Drac. I can’t blame him. This doesn’t happen to us, and yet it just happened.
Someone is going to pay for this and it won’t be the Lords. The Riot don’t know the can of vengeance they’ve opened. I give my name and my statement to the Sheriff asking me questions.
We were here, searching out a suitable location to hold the Lords’ annual rally, when we were attacked by the Riot. They caught us off-guard, but we were able to fight them off. It appeared they weren’t prepared to face our numbers, having two chapters, Missouri and Kentucky, on site and they ran away when we turned the tables on them. That’s the story we’re all supposed to stick to.
They get my information and how to contact me if necessary. Since they don’t get trouble from the Lords but have had lots of run-ins with the Riot, they appear to believe the story. Time will tell. But they aren’t arresting us.
I have to get to the hospital to check on my brothers. It’s located about thirty minutes from where we were at. How in the hell could Chaos and Crass survive a thirty-minute drive? I guess it’s better in an ambulance.
Those of us uninjured head in a group to the hospital. It’s a sad scene. We’re directed to surgery when we enter the emergency. I have to call my sister. I don’t want to. But she deserves to know.
I pull my phone from my pocket and as I search for her contact, a hand comes down over the screen. I look up and Duke’s shaking his head. “Know she’s yer sister, Blood, but wait ’til we know more. Best not upset her ’til we know she needs to be upset, yeah?”
“Fuck, I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore. Tell me, am I coming or going?”
“I know. Christ, I know. Call Hannah. Don’t tell her what needs to be kept, but call. A good woman can help soothe the pain.”
He’s right. I can’t tell her shit, but I need to hear her voice. When I dial, it rings three times before going to voicemail. I hang up and try again. On the third ring, just before voicemail picks up for a second time, she answers.
“Hey, how are you?” she asks, and instead of answering, I start blubbering like a goddamn baby. It’s just so good to hear her voice. “Blood, honey, talk to me. What’s wrong?”
“Raif,” I manage out.
“What?” she asks.
“Call me ‘Raif,’ not ‘Blood.’ I need you to call me ‘Raif.’”
“Okay—I’ve never called you ‘Raif,’ though.”
“You weren’t my old lady before.”
“Okay, Raif. What’s wrong?”
“I’m not supposed to tell you, but it’s killing me, baby.”
“I won’t say a word to anyone. Give it to me. Please, Raif, let me take some of your pain.”
“We lost Carver, baby.” I hate having to tell her. She sucks in a breath but doesn’t do any more than that.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“Not yet. But Chaos and Crass are in surgery as we speak. Boss is getting the hole in his thigh patched. It’s bad—I wish I could hold you.”
“When—When are you coming home?” She’s fighting back tears. Her voice is thick, but if she cries, she’ll have to explain why.
“Not for a while. Too many men injured. Sneak, Boetcher, Hero, and like I said, Boss, Chaos, Crass.”
“Hero, again? Why would you take him with you?” she asks, whispered. “Brin is—”
“Pregnant, yeah, he told me. He’s fucking ecstatic. He got one in the shoulder earlier and another in the arm. He’ll make a full recovery. Be around to raise that baby. But we needed him and that’s all I can say about that.” There’s a horn honking in the background, which is odd because she’s supposed to be at the compound. “Are you in the clubhouse?” I ask suspiciously.
“Sure, why?”
“The horn?”
“I think one of the brothers is tired of waiting,” she says. I guess that’s plausible. There’s a doctor coming out from the surgery area and Duke and I need to grab him, see if he knows how Chaos and Crass are faring. “Gotta go, baby. I’ll call later tonight, okay?”
“Are you sure?” she asks.
“Yeah—gotta go. Love you.”
“Be safe, Raif,” she says. “Love you too.”
Both Duke and I hop up from our chairs at the same time to wrangle the doctor. “No one’s talkin’. We got two men in there. Need to know the status,” Duke orders the poor guy.
&nbs
p; “Who are you asking about?” he asks.
“Gage St. James, his cut says ‘Chaos,’ and Gunner Duncan, his cut says ‘Crass,’” Duke tells him.
“Well, I can tell you we haven’t lost anyone. Those were the gunshots, correct?”
“Yeah,” I answer.
“Let me check their status for you. I’ll be right back.”
Duke and I both know he won’t be right back, but at least he’s willing to check for us, which is more than we’ve gotten since we’ve been here.
We wait another twenty minutes before the doctor finds us. “Both are still in surgery. They’ve been stabilized. That’s as much as I can tell you. Sorry. Someone will tell you more when they’re out.” The same old bullshit that we always get.
It seems like a lifetime before we get that notification. “Anyone here for Gage St. James or Gunner Duncan?”
Scotch, Duke, and I stand and make our way over to the woman standing there in scrubs with her hair pulled back in one of those paper caps. “Hi. I’m Doctor Jacobsen. I performed Mr. St. James’s surgery. Dr. Agarwal who did Mr. Duncan’s surgery was called away unexpectedly. Since we were told we had people in the waiting room waiting on news of both men, I offered to speak to you on both our behalves rather than keep you waiting any longer to find out his condition.”
“That’s good ‘a ya,” Duke says.
She nods. “Both men made it through the surgery. Their wounds were pretty substantial. They’ve both been moved to the intensive care unit instead of recovery. When they wake you can go see them, but only one at a time.”
Hurry up and wait. Then hurry up and wait some more. We all thank Dr. Jacobsen and to stretch our legs, we walk down to the elevators. Duke and I need a smoke. Scotch doesn’t smoke, but he joins us outside, leaning against a wall while we suck back nicotine. Then we head to the cafeteria for coffee. Who knows how long it’ll take either of them to wake up.
Hot drinks in hand, we head back up the elevator and take seats. I must have dozed off at some point because I’m shaken awake by Scotch. “Chaos is awake. Go. Take yar turn.”
That’s good of him to let me go first. He knows the history we have. Chaos isn’t just my best friend, he’s my family. Not of the cut, but real damn family. Married to my sister. I follow the nurse back. Duke is already there with Crass. I thought that each man would get an individual room. At this hospital, the ICU consists of one large room with ten separate beds. There’s no privacy aside from the curtains you’re allowed to swing partially closed. The foot of the bed remains open. It cuts you off from the people directly next to you on either side, but not much else.
“Hey, man,” I say, trying to keep up appearances.
“You… didn’t do something stupid… like tell my wife?” he asks, but he hardly gets it out, running out of breath. He looks rough. Dark circles under his eyes. Not much color to his face.
“I’m not crazy,” I answer.
“She’s gonna be pissed.” He’s not wrong. My sister will totally blow a gasket when she finds out the extent of his injury.
“Then get better before we tell her, brother.”
This is such horse shit. We’ve still got Elise out there—God knows where and we’re inside a goddamned hospital making sure more of our brothers don’t die. Chaos half-smiles, but his eyes begin to droop. Knowing that he’ll be all right for now, I pat his leg down by his ankle.
“Rest now,” I order. He doesn’t even answer, instead letting himself drift off.
Duke leaves the same time I do. Scotch is anxious to talk to Crass. All the brothers are close, but since Crass claimed Brighton, who is Scotch’s woman, Frankie’s, best friend, those two have become tight.
It’s like a tag team. Duke walks through the doors into the waiting area and tags Scotch in. He nods at us then moves back through the doors.
“Only got a minute,” Duke tells him.
They’re keeping Boss overnight for observation, but he was told there shouldn’t be any reason he can’t get out tomorrow. Our prez made the executive decision to not tell Boss that Elise had been the one kidnapped instead of Hannah. With the way Boss went off the last time Elise got into trouble; we didn’t know if we could contain him. As a club, we needed our VP in full command of his emotions to help us follow that lead. Part of the reason Duke sent us on the initial scouting mission was because of reports that the Riot were in with the Anguino cartel and we needed to know how deep those ties ran. With the way they ambushed us, it’s clear we were on the right track.
Boss is going to lose his ever-loving mind once he finds out the truth. And with Escalante being Anguino’s number two, who knows how many more of us will go down? Messing with rival clubs is bad. Messing with a cartel is just plain suicide. Elise is one of us, though. We have to make a stand.
My gut tells me to get back out, to keep searching for her. Now with so many men out of commission and our initial plan shot to hell, I don’t know what to do. I’ve never felt so useless in my life.
Fuck.
I stomp away from the brothers to make my way outside to the parking lot, away from people. It’s that or punch something. The men follow me but don’t get too close. We drive to a hotel for the night. When Boss gets discharged, we’ll head back to Missouri. It’s closer. He won’t be able to travel all the way back home and Hammer still has our rooms set up.
Thinking about all this shit has my stomach in knots, but it has to be thought about. Elise. The brothers. They’re cremating Carver. His funeral will take place back home so the women can attend. Then we’ll take him on his last ride when the weather is clear enough. Dammit. I can’t believe he’s gone.
No. No. I have to shove him out of my head. Don’t want to. Have to. For my sanity and to get the work done that we clearly have to get done.
The next morning, we drive back over to the hospital to collect our man. Boss is the only one going home today. We’ll keep men coming back for visits to Chaos and Crass. Best thing we can do for them now is to let them rest and recuperate. It won’t be me, however. I’ll be out finding Elise and ending the life of the man who took her. That’s a vow.
Boss bitches about having to ride in the back of the white van, but Boss was bound to bitch about anywhere we put him. He’s in pain and mad as hell—raring to get back at the Riot. He’s not the only one.
It’s a solemn mood when we reach the Missouri compound. They’re feeling their losses hard. As we help Boss to a room that’s been set up, we pass by Kath, Hammer’s old lady, with her arm around a very distraught woman. Drac’s old lady. I’ve met her before.
Those bastards will pay.
Hero greets us. He headed back here to let Hatchet patch him up again rather than going to the hospital with the more wounded brothers. Thank Christ I don’t have to explain anything worse to Hannah and Brinley.
“Just show me to a stool, and bring me a beer,” Boss says instead of a hello.
He’s lost his mind. “Not with your meds, brother,” I say at the same time Hero goes off on him.
“If I can’t have a beer, neither can you.” Hero pats Boss’s back, but grumpy-ass Boss shakes it off. Today should be fun.
“I’m about to drop-kick your ass into next Tuesday if you don’t stop the whiny bitching,” I grumble and like I thought he would, Boss laughs.
“Need my wife. Need to get laid. Need to see my boy,” he says in way of an excuse. My back goes taut and my jaw gets tight as I try not to look like a teenager caught browsing internet porn. We have to tell him. I don’t want to be the one to break this particular news.
Thank Christ Duke approaches our group. He’s got his hand resting on the back of his neck with his head down. That’s not how Duke walks into a room. At least not since Dawna passed. He stops in front of our little group.
“It appears Blaze’s betrayal was worse than we thought,” Duke starts and my body goes from taut to downright rigid. It was his betrayal that got Brinley kidnapped and Blue injured.
�
��What the hell?” I ask.
“It ain’t only Hannah, he gave intel on all ’a us. The brothers. Old ladies. Kids. He didn’t hold back. Any friend of the Lords like Tommy and Maryanne. All given over to the Riot. And Blood, as my only uninjured lieutenant, I need to speak to you privately.”
The women I get, but the kids?
He was our brother and he fucked us for drugs. I hate that son of a bitch right now, addiction or not, I hope he’s rotting in Hell.
Our president turns to Boss. “While we were scoutin’ yesterday shit was goin’ down. Blood, let’s go.”
He can’t be serious. “What happened?” I demand, gritting my teeth so hard, I could chip them.
“Not here,” Duke says and turns to walk away. I follow him into the rally room. We’re the only ones in there. He stops, leaning his weight against the wall as if it’s too much weight to bear. And although it’s not my right to sit at the Missouri table, I drop down into the closest chair because my legs won’t hold me up.
“Tell me,” I demand.
“Brother, first, I gotta tell Boss. Want you coverin’ him.”
“This shit’s about go from bad to worse,” I say exactly what we both know.
“So much worse.” He catches my gaze pointedly. “I’m tired. Down to my soul. I got my wife and my kids. I got the club. Love leadin’ this club but some days I wish I could just walk away.”
“Holy fuck.” I press the palm of my hand to my forehead, studying the man I thought I knew.
“Got brothers in the hospital. Carver gone. And now I gotta go out there and tell a good man—my fuckin’ VP—that his wife’s been nabbed for the second time since they been together. This time by a fuckin’ sex trafficker.”
“Boss is gonna go ballistic.”
“Boss is gonna go ballistic,” he agrees.
“What’s the second thing?”
“Brace, Blood. It might be nothin’ but the brothers ain’t seen Hannah around the clubhouse in a while. My gut says she’s doin’ somethin’ stupid.”
I shoot up from the chair. “Goddammit,” I shout. “She fucking promised me she’d stay put.”
Blood Revealed (Brimstone Lords MC Book 6) Page 9
