Part 29 (2/2)

The gunshots had attracted attention. Distant shouts echoed. ”How many men are in the building?” said Ghost.

”Including me, five... four,” he said as he looked over at his dead comrade.

Jase removed the weapons from both the dead and wounded men and pa.s.sed them out. He put a big boot on the man's bleeding leg and leaned until the man screamed like he was on fire. The sound echoed out into the concrete hallways. Will and Ghost flanked Jase with their guns aiming towards the door.

The hollow sound of running footsteps approached. Someone in the hall yelled an unfamiliar name. Jase pressed on the man's leg again and he cried out. The pain was too much for him to make any coherent word of warning; he could only sit helplessly and become the perfect bait.

Two more men rushed down the hallway and into the room to answer his cries. Ghost and Will opened fire on them before they had any chance to comprehend what had happened. Their bodies twisted and contorted and the collapsed in b.l.o.o.d.y heaps. Now the Black Dogs couldn't be outgunned.

”Come with me,” said Jase to Will. ”Ghost, stay here with our chum.” Ghost moved over to the wounded man with a nod and a smile.

Jase tore down the hallway with Will at his back, pa.s.sing storage rooms that were dark and doorless, some with strong foul smells. As the end of the hall approached, he could see a big red metal door closed on the last room on the left, and knew immediately that Maggie was behind it.

Will posted up on the other side of the doorframe and waited for Jase's signal. The door wasn't bolted, but was open just a sliver of an inch, and inside Jase could hear a man talking lowly. He caught Will's eye, gave him a nod, and kicked the door open with his full strength.

Maggie stood before him, crying but alive. From her wrists dangled the remnants of restraints, cut off ragged in a rush from the metal chair in the back of the room. A big hand covered her mouth, while the other held a gun against her head. Behind her, a skinny man with a long brown ponytail glared over her at Jase and Will.

”Put 'em down, boys,” he said.

”You must be Evan,” said Jase. He kept his pistol aimed at Evan's face.

”And you must be the new guy I've heard so much about. I'm sorry she dragged you into this, but I understand. She is pretty irresistible,” said Evan as he nuzzled against her. Maggie's face went red and twisted in disgust, but she couldn't do anything to stop it.

Rage flared through Jase's veins. ”You're not getting out of here alive.”

”Then neither is Maggie,” said Evan. ”I know the money is lost, I don't give a f.u.c.k about that. She was never going back to her daddy, anyway. The money was just to pay those thugs.” He pressed his face against Maggie's hair again. ”I came here for her, and I'm going to leave here with her, or else you can just bury us together. Give us matching deathbeds.”

Maggie's crying intensified. Jase felt his heart wrenching, mixing with his anger into some vile, righteous poison that burned through him. He didn't have a clean enough shot.

”Put them down or I shoot her, and then stand here with a grin while you shoot me,” said Evan.

Jase couldn't bring himself to lower his gun until he felt Will's hand on his arm with gentle pressure. Both of them dropped their guns to the ground.

”Good. We'll be leaving now, my lady and I,” said Evan. He kissed Maggie's curls and made Jase sick.

Jase's mind raced trying to think of a plan. He looked Maggie in the eyes and could feel her fear. He saw her gaze flicker towards Evan's hand as he moved the gun away from her head to point towards Jase and Will as he attempted to switch places with them and access the door.

”Steady,” said Evan to them both as they danced in a delicate circle around the loaded magnum.

Jase looked back at Maggie's eyes and saw something suddenly different there. He'd seen that look before. What was she-?

Maggie's arm raised and her elbow reared back hard into Evan's solar plexus. He gasped for sudden breath and bent in half. The hand on Maggie's mouth fell away, and magnum in the other went slack. With swiftness she hadn't shown drunk on the ridge, Maggie stepped outside of Evan's stance and flipped him over her leg in a split second. He landed hard on the concrete floor. The magnum smacked against the wall next to the door mid-flip.

Maggie barely had time to get out of the way before Jase barreled towards Evan, who was shocked but already scrambling for a weapon. Will stomped a hard boot on Evan's outstretched wrist, and he howled loudly against the concrete floor.

Will secured the magnum while Jase wrestled Evan onto his back, landing punch after b.l.o.o.d.y punch into Evan's face and kidneys until he stopped resisting Jase and only writhed in pain. Will handed Jase the heavy silver revolver.

Jase stood over Evan and c.o.c.ked the gun. He fired off a single shot into Evan's chest. Every part of Evan fell limp like a dropped stage curtain. Jase let the gun drop heavy onto the body.

”Jase...”

He whirled at the sound of Maggie's voice. Tired and scared, shaking with tears, this was a version of her he had never seen before, and never wanted to see again. She stood tensely against the concrete wall, her eyes flicking from him to the body and back.

Suddenly every part of him ached. He said her name, but it barely came out a whisper against his tight breath. She rushed to his open arms and he felt as though he could collapse on top of her and still not be close enough. She cried into his chest and he wrapped her completely in his arms.

Everything else fell away from Jase's mind in that moment. He laid his head on top of her hair and inhaled her scent. He soaked in every touch. He knew his life would be divided, now; the time before this moment, and the time after.

”I'm so sorry,” he whispered into her hair. ”I failed you the second they laid hands on you.”

Maggie shook her head against his chest. She looked up at him with steel in her wet eyes. ”You saved me. You saved me, Jase. You always have.”

”I always will,” he said, pressing his forehead against hers. ”I promise.”

”I know. I love you.”

”I love you too.”

Eyes closed, he felt a gentle tapping on his shoulder. ”This is beautiful. But we're not secure here,” whispered Will. ”The drop men could be back any minute.”

Jase opened his eyes. Maggie smiled up at him, though it was just a shade of its usual brightness. He kissed her forehead. ”Don't leave my side.”

”I won't,” she said and shook her head.

Maggie on one hand and his gun on the other, Jase led them back down the hall with Will bringing up the back. They found Ghost lazily guarding the wounded man, who cried to himself.

”Do I get to kill him now?” said Ghost. The man erupted into sobs and inaudible begging.

”He can't follow us,” said Will. ”Let the other Crosses tear him to pieces when they find out he helped a plot against the Black Dogs president.”

Ghost seemed a little disappointed, but he only gave the man a kick as he pa.s.sed and followed the group out. Halfway through the factory floor, they heard the rumble of bikes and trucks pulling up outside. The group stopped on instinct and listened.

”That's a lot of vehicles,” said Will. ”Not just the van from the drop.”

”Could be the backup from the Crosses,” said Ghost. ”Let me scope it out.” He pushed ahead of the group on the narrow walkway and lifted his weapon as he swiftly approached the factory door. After a few tense moments, he yelled back, ”All clear!” His voice carried across the room.

Henry, Beck, and the sheriff waited for them, along with the secondary riders from the MC outsourced to the police. Everyone was putting away their guns when Jase emerged with Maggie clinging to his side. Henry called out her name and she unlatched from Jase to run to his arms for an embrace. Henry held her tight and spoke to her too quietly for Jase to hear. He waited at a distance, watching, while the cops and Black Dogs swarmed around him and into the building to begin clean-up.

EMS arrived a few minutes after. Henry insisted Maggie get checked out, and Jase followed them to the bus. He stood next to Henry at a distance as they both watched the paramedic a.s.sess her condition.

”Are you alright?” said Henry, putting a hand on Jase's shoulder.

Jase nodded. He crossed his arms and kept his eyes on Maggie as she sat on the edge of the bus. ”I am now.”

”I'll never be able to repay you for this, Jase. Thank you for saving her.”

”Don't thank me,” said Jase. ”Even if you hadn't already saved my life... she has. I owed her this.”

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