Hawk strummed his fingers on the table. “So skeleton crew during the day? Maybe we should head over now?”
“I’m down,” Shadow replied. “We can get a few more members to ride with us. Let me tell Macon.”
Hawk stood. “Hopefully we don’t make too much noise, but the spot is far off the beaten path. For now we’ll plan recon only, but if force is necessary, we need to keep one or two alive.”
After Shadow gathered a few more guys and gave Macon the heads up, we all got ready to ride out.
We rode for about an hour. The road was empty with only a few tractor-trailers passing the other way occasionally and a car here and there that turned off after only a few miles. Being so out in the open was unsettling. Even during the day in Georgia, most of our interstates were surrounded by trees. The landscape up here was flat and bare. Lots of fields, but you could see for what seemed like miles. The air was still humid but not quite as warm as back home.
Shadow motioned that we’d be slowing soon, and I was relieved to see some trees finally. We turned down a paved street and rode another few miles before we passed a gated driveway.
We pulled down past that, then Shadow moved to the shoulder and Hawk pulled alongside him. We all pulled up behind them, waiting for orders. My head was on a swivel in case anyone came by.
Hawk held up his fist, so we killed our engines. “Move the bikes out of view and we’ll head over through there,” he said, pointing to the woods.
We all did as instructed, then headed to the fence. Hawk knelt down, inspecting it. “No electricity. Let’s go.”
We all climbed over the weathered chain-link fence, then followed Hawk and Shadow until a building came into view.
We all squatted and tried to find trees to hide behind. A few bikes and a box truck, not much different from ours, were parked near the rundown building. We’d already found out this place used to be a seed processing factory, but the small company was bought out, and the operations were moved elsewhere.
It was one big building, dingy from wear, but it probably used to be white, with only a few narrow windows stamped across the top all the way around. Hopefully that meant nobody from inside could see us.
But that also meant it wouldn’t be easy for us to look inside.
“How can we get close enough to see what’s going on?” Jackal asked just above a whisper.
Hawk surveyed the grounds. “We need Keys.”
My phone buzzed, but I let it go since we needed to keep our eyes peeled. But then Hawk patted at his side, pulling his phone out. “Fuck. We need to head to the–”
Before he could finish, shots rang out and birds exploded from the trees around us. My phone buzzed again in my pocket, but I had to reach for my pistol instead.
We all trained on the building, unable to locate a body to aim at. More shots came toward us, so we did our best to find cover against the trees, occasionally peeking around to see if we could figure out who was shooting and from where.
My heart beat wildly in my chest, but not because we were being shot at. I worried that there was a problem back home. My phone never blew up, but it continued to vibrate. Thefact that I ignored mine, then Hawk’s went off and he was ready to abandon the mission, could only mean there was a problem back home.
But it had to wait until we got the current situation under control. Wanting to be done with it, I took a breath, then looked around my tree cover and got lucky. Movement from around the side of the building gave me something to aim at, so I took a shot, but that only brought more fire in our direction.
“Where the fuck are they shooting from?” Falcon called out.
Hawk sprang from tree to tree, taking shots as he did. We all followed his lead and moved ahead.
“I’m going for it,” Shadow said.
“Where’s Shiv when you need her?” Jackal joked.
There were at least two shooters by the building, so I looked over and said, “Cover us,” before running out with Shadow.
Shots fired from ahead of us and behind us. Still running toward the building, I fired toward the side I’d already seen movement. Once I made it against the concrete wall, I took a breath and saw my brothers heading toward the building. I inched toward the corner.
Waiting just at the edge, I tried to control my breathing and listen. Finally, the crunch of gravel was close, so I swung around and took my shot. As I did, a bullet pierced my arm. I winced at the sting as I laid eyes on the fucker who shot it.
Not sure what was happening on the other side, I shot at the man’s hand and he yelled, “Fuck!” The gun fell as he grippedthe wound.
Rushing in, I slammed the butt of the gun to his temple, sending him to the ground, limp. He landed face down, and sure enough, Hellbound Heathens was on the back of his cut.
Picking up his gun, I rounded the back of the building slowly, but was met with the business end of Hawk’s gun. When he saw me, he lowered it. “I think it’s just the two. At least out here.”
