Becky"s eyes widened and she nodded and got to her feet. "Is Mr. Colt gonna take us home?"
"I hope so. But we gotta be ready to run, okay? I want you to come stand over here behind me. If you get a chance, I want you to run as fast as you can and don"t stop until someone helps you. You understand?"
Becky nodded. I hoped she understood. I stood facing the door. If someone was gonna come out shooting, I wanted the bullet to hit me first.
Never had exhaust pipes sounded so musical. I listened to them grow louder and louder. Then I frowned. It was one bike. It wasn"t all the guys. This wasn"t the whole clubhouse-it was one person.
Either Colt thought he could save us on his own or it wasn"t him. Unless it was something personal, the guys never really traveled alone. I didn"t ask questions about their business, but whenever they walked in the clubhouse door, there were two, or three, or four. Never one.
"It might not be Mr. Colt. Okay, honey? So let"s just be real quiet."
Becky"s grip tightened around my leg, but she stayed quiet.
The engine cut and all was silent for a few minutes. Then, voices. Robby, and who else? I ran through the guys that Robby used to hang with when we were married. Most of them were either in jail or dead. I had no idea who was on the other side of that door.
Chapter Thirty-Eight.
Colt "Are you sure the trees hide the van?" Russ asked.
The six of us were lying in the dirt on a little rise just to the side of a warehouse. We were completely hidden by trees and bushes, but we had a good view of the building"s side door.
"Jesus, stop asking," Skeeter mumbled. "It"s a black van and it"s f.u.c.king midnight. He ain"t gonna see it."
I rolled my eyes. They"d been b.i.t.c.hing for the last hour. Bear was supposed to meet Robby at three at the all-night Liquorama. It was 1:00 a.m. We had two more hours until my plan went up in flames. If Bear didn"t show up, I was gonna be the failure going home with my tail between my legs.
Sweat started to form on my forehead. It was cold as h.e.l.l lying in this dirt, but my stress level was rising. I had no idea what would happen when I got home. h.e.l.l, I"d probably go back to prison, but I might be out of the club too. Prison without protection of the club was going to be brutal.
The club was my G.o.dd.a.m.n family. My dad had helped start the original chapter. Ever since I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be in the club. There was nothing else for me, and now I was about to be drummed out. f.u.c.king Tina had started this, but I was going to be the failure. There was no way I could blame this on her. It was all up to me.
Headlights flashed in the distance. I blew out a fast breath. f.u.c.k yeah. This was it. Bear.
Putting the binocs up to my face, I peered through. "It"s a d.a.m.n car," I muttered. "Two headlights."
"s.h.i.t," Tate swore. "Bear is gonna be on his bike. That ain"t him."
The car was an ancient hatchback, dark color. I couldn"t see much.
"It"s pulling in," Skeeter whispered.
The six of us were lined up on the ridge top, looking through our specs trying to catch a glimpse of the car in the warehouse parking lot. A child got out of the front seat, then an adult wriggled out of the back. The dome light from the interior of the car shone on the adult"s head. Blond hair.
My stomach hit the bas.e.m.e.nt and I just knew.
"It"s Krista and Becky." I tried to stand. "That"s Robby. How the f.u.c.k did he know to come here?"
Tate grabbed my arm and pulled me back down. "Give it a minute. Bear must know something is up. Robby didn"t know about our plan."
s.h.i.t.
"We"re giving it just one f.u.c.king minute." I shook my arm free of Tate"s grip. "There"s a woman and child in there. I"m not gonna let anything happen to them."
Because I loved them. Both of them.
The thought of losing both of them made my heart squeeze to the point of pain. I would give anything to have them both safe and here with me right now. I would even give my future with the Horde.
f.u.c.king s.h.i.t, I had to keep them safe. If that meant claiming Krista as my old lady, I was gonna do it. I wanted to do it.
Chapter Thirty-Nine.
Krista The voices got closer and closer until the door opened. The man"s face was turned away from the door, but I could see his profile-Bear.
"Thanks for meeting me here instead of at the liquor store." He smiled a deadly smile. It was the face he used when he would talk to me at the bar. "Before we get started, you give me the rest of the money you owe."
Becky and I huddled in the dark corner. I hoped to G.o.d he didn"t see me.
"What money?" Robby shrugged. "When you called you said you wanted to give me a loan. I don"t have any money."
Bear paused. "I only agreed to the loan because you wrote in your note that you had money to pay off the last loan I gave you." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper. "Right here. You said you had the cash."
"I didn"t write you a note." Robby turned and pointed at me. "But I brought collateral for the loan. I swear I"ll be good for it."
Running his fingers through his hair, Bear turned slowly in a circle. "If you didn"t write the note, who did?"
Robby started walking toward our corner. "I don"t know, man. But look who I brought. You can sell the girls to the next ship headed to Asia. They pay d.a.m.n good for white p.u.s.s.y."
Bear looked briefly in our direction and then back at Robby. "f.u.c.k." His eyes were round and wild. "I"m being set up. f.u.c.king s.h.i.t." He turned in a circle again.
I wasn"t real sure what was going down, but Bear was unhinged. He kept looking from one side of the room to the other, as though someone was about to jump out and grab him. I clutched Becky closer to me. This had turned from really bad to catastrophic.
"Okay, baby," I whispered in Becky"s ear. "When the time is right, I"m going to try and make them look at me, then you run behind them and run out the door. Okay?"
She nodded. I just needed to create a diversion.
Bear was yelling, "You stupid f.u.c.king junkie, you set me up, didn"t you?"
"No way. You called me, man," Robby insisted. "I brought the girls, they"re worth at least twenty grand, right? That"s enough for collateral. The little kid could even be worth more. They pay good for the little ones. She"s cute too."
Bear turned his crazy eyes on me. Was he considering it? s.h.i.t. It was now or never.
"I love you, baby," I whispered to Becky. "Run."
I gave her a push and ran, full speed into Bear. He had over a hundred pounds on me, so I couldn"t take him down, but I grabbed his big beard and yanked his face to the side, trying to snap his neck.
He grabbed my shoulders and threw me across the room. I hit concrete. The world went dark.
When I came back to consciousness, I couldn"t see, really, but I could hear.
"Shoot her up. It"ll look like she"s out here doing meth. When they get here, we"ll say she stole the money for drugs. I"m gonna go find the kid."
Bear"s boots stomped away from me. Thank G.o.d, Becky must have run out the door. I hoped she had enough of a head start that Bear wouldn"t catch up with her.
"No way, man, it"s my last hit. I ain"t gonna waste it on her," Robby whined. "What do you mean, "when they get here"? Is someone coming? Are they bringing my money?"
There was a thud and some rustling.
Bear growled, "Just do it, you f.u.c.king junkie. If you can keep your mouth shut and convince them that it"s all her fault, I"ll give you ten large."
Bear"s voice was off in the distance. I couldn"t tell how close he was to the door, but I needed to keep him inside the room. Becky needed as much time as possible to get away.
Moaning, I started to get up. "Bear." I tried to say his name, but it came out more of a groan. "No."
Bear"s footsteps grew faint. I struggled to sit up-I couldn"t let him get to Becky.
A door slammed. Bear hauled me up against him. I could smell his cigarettes and sweat. Then angry voices.
Things were going too fast for me to understand. Bear wrenched my arm around and stabbed me with something. I felt the p.r.i.c.k of it in my elbow, then ice invaded my arm. The cold running through my veins became liquid pain. Voices. Shouting. The pain turned into fire. Gunshots, I couldn"t count them. Where was Becky? I tried to move my arms to search for her.
Fire turned into acid that rotted my body from the inside out. I lost track of where Bear was, how far Becky might have run. I grabbed at the floor, hoping to find her. The acid tore at my stomach and at my heart, making them both squeeze tighter and tighter.
Then the acid whispered. So sweet, in my ear. "I love you, babe."
It had Colt"s voice.
Chapter Forty.
Colt I stopped at the corner of the warehouse and motioned for Russ, Clint and Rip to cover the back exit. Tate, Skeeter and I were going to bust in the front. We all had our weapons out. s.h.i.t was gonna go down. We were gonna catch Bear red-handed, but having to do it while rescuing Krista and Becky was definitely a complication. We would have to be careful about this.
Tate pointed at his watch and held up three fingers. We were gonna bust through the front door in exactly three minutes. The other guys would go in the back at the same time. Clint nodded.
As I turned to head around the front, Becky came hauling a.s.s out of the building. Her little legs were pumping hard. Krista wasn"t following. f.u.c.k, that was a bad sign.
I caught Becky and she tried to say something, but she was scared and her little kid-speak was hard to understand as the other guys cl.u.s.tered around me.
"What the h.e.l.l is she saying?" Tate demanded.
Becky was sobbing and trying to talk at the same time. I couldn"t make it out.
"f.u.c.k, I don"t know." I grabbed Becky"s shoulders. "Stay here with Russ, okay?"
Tate looked at Russ and then c.o.c.ked his head back toward the ridgeline. "Hide in the bushes until we"re done."
Becky didn"t hesitate-she took off for the bushes, with Russ trotting behind her. She was a strong kid, just like her mama. At least I just had one of them to worry about now.
I c.o.c.ked my weapon and three of us walked quietly up to the warehouse. Since Robby was there, Bear had probably discovered the note was a ruse, so he knew we were on to him. That meant Bear knew we were coming and probably had his gun ready. We would be easy targets going single file through the door.
But Krista was in there. I didn"t have a choice.
Tate and the others let me take the lead. I wasn"t going to leave Krista"s life in someone else"s hands. She was my woman and my responsibility. I loved her, d.a.m.n it, and I needed to her whole. The guys knew it and hung back, waiting for orders. This was my play.
I tried the handle on the front door. Unlocked.
We charged through. It was pretty stupid to just charge into a situation like this without any knowledge of what was behind the door. But Krista was behind that door, and that"s all I needed to know.
We cleared the main warehouse in no time. It was empty. Except for the boxes of cash-filled books in the corner, there was nowhere to hide.
Off to the left was the manager"s office. That had to be it. I motioned for the guys to follow me.
I kicked in the door. Bear was lying on top of Krista. She had a needle stuck in her arm and was twitching. Robby was cowering in the G.o.dd.a.m.n corner.
"I knew it was you," Bear growled.
He grabbed the needle out of Krista"s arm and threw it to the corner of the room. "Hey, man, I just heard she and Robby were shooting up out here, so I thought I"d come to make sure our shipment was okay."
I leveled my gun. There was no way he had heard that because it would never happen.
Tate put his hand on my arm. "Bear is mine. He"s been betraying our club for months. Skimming off the top. Haven"t you?" Tate pointed his semi-auto at Bear. "You"re killing the club slowly for your own gain."
Boot steps pounded behind us and Rip and Clint barged in.
Rip pointed his gun at Bear and then back to Robby. "What the h.e.l.l are you doing here, Bear?"
Bear looked around the room. You could see the gears grinding in his brain. "I was here "cause I got a tip that Krista and Robby were stealing from the club. I was just checking it out. Look, she"s out here pounding some meth. She"s a f.u.c.king junkie. She"s had to pay for her habit."
"Bulls.h.i.t." I aimed my gun at Bear as well. "You and I both know that didn"t happen."
Skeeter c.o.c.ked his old-school .38 special. "She"s never once done hard-core s.h.i.t. We all know you"re lying."
With all of us denying his tale, Bear knew he was caught. His eyes went wild.
"Look, Tate, I"ll pay you back, okay? I got all the cash from the last shipment. I"ll pay the club and we"ll be square, okay?"