My tires ate up the road, my brothers roaring behind me. We were an army, an avenging one but I still had hope that we would get to her in time. We had to. The alternative didn’t bear thinking about. One thing was certain though, I wouldn’t give up on her. No matter what they had done, or where they had sent her I would bring her home. Because my grandmother was right. I was in love with her. She was my family and I didn’t give up on family. Not ever.
Not unless that family had betrayed me first.
Lucas was left behind, under guard at the clubhouse where he had no chance of escaping. I would have to deal with him another time. But his day was coming. Death when it came for my little half brother would not be quick. I would make him suffer. And if anything had happened to Darcie then I would make him suffer a lot. I would draw it out until he was begging for death.
Fang pulled level with me, his hand motioning for me to pull over. Stopping was the last thing I wanted to do but I did as I was asked. Turning to him questioningly, he got off his bike and stalked towards me. He didn’t say anything until he passed something shiny and black into my hand.
I stared down at the gun thoughtfully before lifting my face to his.
“You didn’t grab it on your way out. I thought you might need it.”
“Everyone else armed?” Stuffing the gun down the back of my jeans I settled my cut back over it. Hiding it from view but keeping it within reach.
“Yeah everyone is armed. There’s maybe a mile between us and the warehouse where the Judge said they will be keeping her. Are you ready for what you might find?”
I knew he was asking if I was ready to find her raped or worse, dead. “Yeah I’m ready.” I wasn’t. No man could prepare himself for seeing the woman he loved used by another man or dead and bleeding on the floor but I also knew I had to keep my head about me and lie. I couldn’t let myself think about anything but getting her back. To think of her dead would cripple me and we couldn’t afford for that to happen. “I just want this over.”
He nodded thoughtfully, running his fingers through his beard. “Let’s get it done then.”
“Fang?” I called after his retreating back. He half-turned. His eyebrow arched in a silent question. “Thank you.”
I knew that us riding to her rescue would cause a war. If we took out the family patriarch, then their revenge would be bloody and swift.
Fang was risking the club to help me save the woman I loved.
“I know how it feels to lose the woman you want to spend your life with. Losing Hayley almost killed me. When she died I thought I was going to die as well, I wanted to die. If there’s hope we can get Darcie back then we are going to take it.” His smile grew from sad to eager. “Plus I’ve been waiting a long time to put a bullet in that old man’s head.”
***
We went in fast.
Our bikes tearing into the courtyard like a roaring monster but it wasn’t us that shot first.
The pop of the bullet was loud. Not daring to look behind me to see if anyone had been hit, I pulled my own weapon clear of my waistband.
Somewhere to the left, behind a dark van, a woman screamed in fear. Her voice drowned out as more and more people started screaming.
Flinging myself from my bike, I headed towards where Fang was crouched, his gun already out and pointed.
“Did I just see you let your bike fall?” he whispered without looking back.
I almost laughed. Almost. “You can beat my ass for that later.” My eyes squinted in the darkness. “That way.” I jutted my chin in the direction of the girlish screams and he nodded.
“That way seems like we got here just in time.”
It did, but I hadn’t recognised Darcie’s voice amid all the screams.
“Let’s move.” Crouched low I started to run, my gun held down against my thigh. The last thing I wanted to do was shoot someone who wasn’t a threat. “Darcie?” I called her name. I wanted her to know I was here for her. That I had come to rescue her. “Darcie if you can hear me then stay down baby. I’m coming!”
I reached the van first. Pausing to catch my breath, I peered around it and the bullet missed me by an inch as I jumped backwards. It hit the metal with a loud thud. “Fucker almost shot me in the face,” I swore.
Behind me, Fang laughed. “Best shoot him then. Any sign of Darcie?”
“Not yet.” Taking aim I let off three rounds in quick succession and the screams that went up told me I had found my mark. People not used to violence always screamed when someone died.
Slowly I moved into view, my eyes scanning the ground, two bodies lay with blood pooling around them. They were dead. I didn’t need to bend down to check for a pulse. The bullet holes in their heads told me all I needed to know.
“Darcie?” My eyes searched the women’s faces. Four of them I counted quickly. All huddled together against a wall. We had been just in time. They had been about to move them when we arrived. A few minutes later and we would have been too late.
