Three of them were dead. Two were wounded and trying to fight but doing a piss-poor job. Between the two that were dead in the front, that left about five still fighting.
I lined up my gun and killed one with ease. The good news was that cut their ranks by a fifth. The bad news was it gave away my position, and I had to take cover on the side of the building.
“Welcome to the motherfucking party, Steele!” I heard Garrett yelling in the distance.
“Got a little tangled up with Sheriff Davis!” I yelled.
“Kill the bastards!”
More gunfire was exchanged. I turned the corner, took aim, and fired, but missed. I was rapidly running out of ammo—I had to think we all were. Cole hadn’t brought us our weapons yet. We had our own guns, sure, but this was different.
And then I heard something that made so little sense in the context of this battle that I believed it wasn’t meant for us. But then it kept getting closer and closer, and I had to believe it was.
The sound of sirens.
And not just one car—two of them.
“Thought we bribed the asshole!” I heard one of the Bandits say.
“Damian will fucking hear about this,” one of them growled. “Let’s get the fuck out of here!”
When I next turned the corner, the Bandits were laying down cover fire. They briefly went to the front, saw their bikes ruined, and, judging by the sound of their shouts, high-tailed it into the desert. I walked back around, holstering my gun, and saw both Sheriff Davis and Officer Cone getting out of their respective squad cars, wearing the kind of protective gear I would have expected a Navy SEAL to wear.
They had to know what today meant. They had to know that this meant the Bandits no longer had a sole claim to Santa Maria. And they had to know that because of that, the Bandits would disregard the normal rules about what they could and could not do.
Sheriff Davis ordered Officer Cone to stand down, and he came up to me.
“Mind telling me what happened here, Steele?”
I bit my lip. He had let me go so I could help my brothers in the Black Reapers, but I didn’t have any insight as to whether such a move was permanent or a fleeting moment of being a good person.
“Seems obvious, no?” I said, but I kept the sarcasm out of my voice. “Gang came and tried to shoot us, a small business. We defended ourselves until you showed up.”
The sheriff pulled his mouth back into a grimace. I would have fucking killed so many Bandits to know what was going on in that man’s head. Behind me, I heard some of the Black Reapers approaching, but I put my hand back, signaling them to stay back. The gesture did not go unnoticed by the sheriff.
“You know that what you’ve done here is going to make the rounds in the town,” he said. “I took an oath to protect and serve this town. What you boys are doing, you’re fighting against a hornet. And you know damn well that hornet doesn’t want to be provoked.”
“No shit,” I said. “But I’m tired of getting stung. We’re fighting back.”
The sheriff looked back at Officer Cone. None of us knew Officer Cone that well; he was a relatively young guy, someone who, in a different life, might have been a Bernard Boy first, but was obviously more of a goody-two-shoes than a biker could be.
“You better know exactly what you’re doing, boy,” Davis said. “Don’t think I’m on your side because of what happened earlier. Don’t get any ideas.”
I nodded.
“I never had any about you to begin with, Sheriff.”
It was sarcasm. I could not help myself. And for a brief moment, I resigned myself to having cuffs thrown on me.
But instead, Sheriff Davis just nodded, told me to watch myself, and headed back to the squad car, ordering a confused Officer Cone to head back to the station. No one moved or said a word until both cars were long gone.
“You actually fucking did it,” Brock said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Did you bribe the fucker?”
I shook my head.
“He’s not worth it,” I said. “He’s a nuisance, but he’s not a complete idiot.”
“Agreed,” Brock said. “Won’t be the last time he pulls us over or arrests us. But it sure seems like you got him to at least stop being the cocksucker of the Bandits.”
