Connor
Ihadn’t anticipated Damian thinking so…so fucking smart.
It fucking killed me to call it that. He was evil, he deserved to die, and he was a fucking psychopath. But I never fucking pegged him as someone smart.
The plan was laid out well. We had Zack hiding in the office of the store, Mason in the back, and a bunch of us on our bikes hidden in the shadows about a quarter mile away from the store. As soon as Katie dropped the code phrase about being on a coffee date, that was our cue to move in.
But when Damian started talking about rape, I wasn’t going to wait for any fucking coffee date cue or any of that shit. Yeah, we might have gotten discovered sooner, but Damian wasn’t going to kill a cute white girl. Right or wrong, there was no faster way to get state and federal officials on your ass than to kill an attractive white girl like her.
There was one thing I hadn’t anticipated him doing once the gunfire started, though.
For him to have grabbed Katie and used her as a human shield was sickeningly brilliant. And then for the other Bandits to point their guns at her, making it so that if we killed them, they might pull the trigger and kill her…
Fuck!
Bullets were an unfair death. They would be far too quick for what fucking shitheads these guys were.
When Damian drove off without waiting for his other Bandits to follow, we quickly ended them. There was no room for mercy or taking prisoners; they’d cast their lots when they joined the Bandits. Maybe that was too harsh, and maybe I should have shown some mercy.
Or maybe the woman I cared about and had feelings for was being fucking kidnapped and I had to do whatever it fucking took to get her back, and that left no fucking room at all for sympathy for the enemy.
I sped out of the store parking lot in a tear, giving no notice to any oncoming traffic. Even at top speed, though, I could barely make out Damian up ahead; he was speeding as fast as he could, and I had a sick fucking feeling about where he was taking her.
It was one of two places. Either the Bandits’ hideout or his home. And judging by what we’d done to him, it wouldn’t have surprised me if he tried to rape her before killing her at his place—and then leaving the body for us to come across, just as he had come across his brother.
Well, I had no room for any fucking poetic justice. I just wanted his bloody corpse in my hands.
I sped over the hill leading into Santa Maria. I sped down Freedom Alley, a name that now seemed fucking terrible. I needed to name it Blood Alley for what I was going to do to Damian.
I stole a couple of glances behind me. Brock and Steele were hot on my tail, ready to provide backup, but I wasn’t going to stop for them, no matter what. If I got to Damian’s place and the entire Bandit crew was waiting for me, I’d fucking mow them down, even at the cost of my own life. I wasn’t thinking straight, no, but I didn’t fucking care. I wasn’t self-aware enough right now to pull out of it.
We reached the gas station that Brock had once worked at and blazed right past it. We scorched past SMAR. We sped past “downtown” Santa Maria. I was pretty sure at one point I saw Sheriff Davis patrolling, but he didn’t turn to follow us—and if he did, he was doing so very slowly, perhaps aware that one cop against a multitude of feuding bikers was a good way to get fucking killed.
We sped on and on until Damian finally started to slow down. That almost gave me the chance to catch up, but just when I thought I’d get close enough, he turned around and fired at me. I had to swerve out of the way and nearly lost control of the bike, but I kept control long enough to see where we were.
Damian’s neighborhood.
All the quiet and solitude that we’d tried to respect on our last hit was about to go out the fucking window. And I did not give two shits. Katie was in danger, and that overrode any other societal concerns I may have had.
Damian got into his house just as I pulled up into the driveway. I ran up, kicked the door down, and darted inside, barely dodging gunfire coming from the top of the house. I still remembered the layout of the house, the three doors upstairs…but which one would Damian go to? He’d already shown enough awareness to escape a pincer attack earlier. There was no guarantee he’d default to his room with ease.
I had to take the risk. I could hear Katie screaming. I—
Katie screaming.
It was coming from upstairs and to the left.
I wouldn’t have a good angle coming up. Damian not only had the high ground, he had the defended high ground.
“Connor!”
It didn’t fucking matter. I’d been shot at before. Katie needed me.
I sprinted up the stairs, firing my gun at the spot where Damian would have fired from. It wasn’t going to land anything unless I got a lucky shot, but I did provide myself cover fire. I prevented Damian from coming out to hit me.
I got to the top of the stairs with three bullets left. I fired one just as Damian tried to turn the corner and shoot at me. I missed, but he ducked back in.
Then, to my amazement, he stumbled out as he had been shoved.As if Katie had shoved him.
