“Humanbackup,” he reiterates. “But I’m with you, if we feel we can’t wait, we go in ourselves and get the job done.” I nod my head and stick out my fist, we bump our knuckles and fire up our bikes. It’s time to rain down hell on this town and its officials.
It’s doomsday, motherfuckers!
It takes less than five minutes for us to hit the center of town where we shut our bikes off and stand in the middle. Maniacally, I lift my rifle into the air and send off five warning shots, they’re loud enough that everyone freezes on the spot and turns in our direction. All of them shocked.
“Listen up!” I bellow, my rifle butt up against my shoulder blade. “We’re done playing the middleman, we no longer give a fuck about peace. The Onyx Dragons have declared war and we’re here to deliver!”
“You don’t fuck with the Kings!” Indiana thunders. “Our women and children are protected at all costs! We will light up this town and burn it to ash! Someone better start talking and tell me where the fuck my woman Zoey and our daughter Elodie is! You know our numbers, they’re programmed into your phones, somebody better send me a message with their location.”
“You have three minutes starting now,” I advise, making sure everyone sees me starting the timer on my wristwatch. “Just in case you’ve forgotten, I’m not a man to be messed with. Snuffing your life out is no hardship for me, you mean nothing to me! But my sister and niece do! Somebody better deliver my princess to me or heads are going to roll!”
For emphasis, I walk to my saddle bag and pull out a Molotov bomb. It’s not just for show and tell either, I plan on using this if someone doesn’t start talking. “Two minutes and twelve seconds!” I shout, flipping the lid of my Zippo back and forth. When I don’t see any action, I stop messing around and ignite the flame then slam the lid shut only to start all over again. The screeches and fear from the women don’t sway me, if anything, it’s music to my ears. Irritation swamps me, I’m livid. I don’t give a single shit if I look manic. Out of my peripheral, I see Indiana acting bored and unaffected which makes me internally chuckle. He leans back on the saddle of his Harley and crosses his ankles, bringing his phone out and scanning it.
“Nobody?” Indiana asks the town, shaking his head as if he’s disappointed. “Light it up, Icer!”
“Fire in the hole!” I bellow, lighting the rag sticking out of the top and tossing it like a grenade.
“Stop!” The sheriff booms as he comes running out of his office. “Stop this right now!”
Indiana whips his gun from the back of his jeans and points it at his forehead. “Gonna tell me where your boy has my woman and daughter stored, asshole?”
“You have no evidence it was my son who took your family, Indiana,” he states, his hand resting on the butt of his revolver which has me squinting my eyes. Nobody threatens one of my brothers. Fuck that noise. Sneering, I walk behind the sheriff with a grenade in hand, removing the pin and pulling out the front of his uniform pants, I warn him, “If I drop this, that puny dick of yours is going to be blown off. Wanna try telling the truth this time, sheriff?”
“Are you nuts!” the sheriff bellows. “Put that pin back in, Icer!”
I shake my head, telling him, “Nah. I don’t think I will until you tell me what I want to know. Where is my princess?”
“Before you lie again and tell us your asshole son isn’t involved, we know differently,” Indiana taunts. “He and his accomplices may have thought they killed our prospect, but he’s alive and has shared all he knows. So, get to talking, Maloney.” Hazard got lucky, and he’s another person I’ll be avenging.
Thinking the sheriff needs a nudge, I scream. “Remember,nobody fucks with the Kings!Nobody!”
“You won’t get away with this,” the sheriff says. He may think he has an ace up his sleeve since Patrick’s mother is the District Attorney. Patrick may be Jerome’s right-hand man, but as faras we’re concerned, Patrick’s mother is just another shitstain in our town. But here’s the problem with the sheriff’s sentiment about being safe from harm by the Kings through his connection through the DA, she is the next perpetrator on our list. We don’t give a shit what title she holds, or the fact that she’s a woman, she’s been sweeping the Dragons’ bullshit under the rug long enough. That ends today.
“Watch us,” Indiana scoffs. “Time’s a’wasting, y’all. We need information and we need itnow.”
Maloney’s eyes stay glued to the grenade held in my hand. “I’ll tell you what you want to know once he disarms this,” he states, his eyes pointed toward the explosive device.
“Or,” I sing, “I put it back together once you tell us what we want to know.”
“Either way works for me as long as we get what we’re looking for,” Indiana adds.
“Fuck. Okay, okay. They’re out at the old Kmart warehouse off of Trade Days Road,” he states. Then, he looks at me and says, “There are bigger fish to fry in this town than the Dragons, Indiana. May wanna look closer to home.”
“Yeah, I’m not gonna be trying to figure out any puzzles today,Sheriff,”Indiana sneers.
“Zoey’s parents,” he replies as I smack the back of his head. “And their church. Do you honestly think any of the men in the Dragons have the smarts to do anything more than juvenile bullshit like graffiti? Their strings are being pulled like they’re those fucking marionette puppets.”
Indiana and I take off like the hounds of hell are traipsing on our feet. We don’t stop, we hit the streets going at a rate of speed that’s not safe. Neither of us gives a shit, all that’s on our mind is bringing our girls home and getting them away from those lowlife motherfuckers.
CHAPTER
SEVEN
Letti
The trickleof water dripping from pipes wakes the woman they brought down. I’ve gotten used to it over time so it no longer invades my sleep. She scans the room, confused about where she is, you can clearly see that with the way her face drops as she twirls her head from one direction to the other.
We’re in dog kennels that are only big enough for us to crouch down inside of.
