Burn (9 page)

She had only eaten half her second burger, but her stomach wouldn’t let her eat any more.
 
She threw away the rest and got on her bike.
 
She rode carefully, making sure the Rattlers were nowhere near.
 
She rode into a small alley with good exits on both sides.
 
There was good cover from the street.
 
If the Rattlers rode by, she didn’t think they’d be able to spot her.

She sat on her bike, phone in hand.
 
The reason she hadn’t called Mercer was because the phone had a passcode attached to it.
 
She sat staring at the numbers on the screen, completely frustrated.
 
It could be anything.
 
Even if it was something simple, like her daughter’s birthday, Danni had no idea what that could be.
 
She didn’t know anything about the woman other than she’d called her daughter Ella.

Danni stared at the phone, specifically the letters above the numbers.
 
Could it really be that easy?
 
She punched in 3552, the numbers that corresponded to ELLA.
 
The phone unlocked, leaving Danni very proud of her detective skills.
 

She punched in Mercer’s number.
 
He picked up after two rings.

“Mercer?
 
It’s Danni!”

“Danni!
 
Oh my God!”
 
He had to shout over the sound of his bike.
 
He didn’t say anything for a minute while he pulled his bike over.
 
“Are you OK?
 
Where are you?”

“I’m OK,” she said, even if it wasn’t entirely true. “I’m in Laramie, Wyoming.
 
I don’t know how far that is from Rawlins.”

“Thank God.”
 
The relief in Mercer’s voice was palpable.
 
“Tell me exactly where you are.
 
What street?”

It was a good question.
 
She hadn’t looked at the streets when she pulled into the alley.
 
Danni got off her bike and ran to the end.
 

“In an alley on California Street.
 
Near the corner of Elm.”

“Stay there.
 
We’ll be there in ten.”

“You’re in town?”

“We’ve been looking for you all over.
 
Just stay put, we’ll be there soon.”

She hung up the phone.
 
She wanted to scream and jump up and down with joy.
 
The nightmare was over.
 
Mercer was just minutes away, and this long, horrible experience was going to be over soon.
 
She would be in Mercer’s arms again and they would ride away from this terrible place.
 
Danni was so excited, she didn’t hear the gun cock behind her back.

M
ercer rode fast—too fast, really—but he needed to see Danni.
 
He needed to hold her in his arms and make sure she was safe.
 
He had been thrilled to hear her voice on the phone, but it wasn’t enough.
 
He wouldn’t believe she was safe until he could see her and touch her.
 
He thought of the dead man on the floor of the cabin and wondered what the hell she could’ve been through in the last few days.
 

There were getting closer to town; the trees were dropping back and the buildings were starting to form.
 
Mercer told himself he should slow down, that the last thing he needed was to have trouble with the law, but his body wouldn’t listen.
 
He just needed to get to Danni as soon as possible.

He was passing an old Chevy pickup truck on the side of the road when it exploded.
 
The force knocked him from his bike, sending him sliding across the road.
 
He couldn’t stop himself from skidding and slammed into a parked car.

The world was spinning and there were two of everything.
 
Mercer couldn’t see Cruz.
 
He couldn’t even stand up.
 
There were loud pops that, somewhere in the back of his head, he registered as gunshots, but it was like watching everything on a blurry movie screen.
 
He was aware of it, but it seemed distant from him and not worth worrying about.

His vision came back into focus and he saw Cruz behind a parked car, firing a gun.
 
He was yelling at Mercer, but Mercer couldn’t figure out why.
 
Cruz fired a couple more times, then ran out from behind the car, grabbed Mercer by his cut, and dragged him behind the car.
 

Mercer put his hand to his head, and when he pulled his hand back, he saw it was covered in blood.
 
The world started to make sense again and Mercer realized that Cruz was firing his gun at someone, and that someone was firing back.
 
That someone was going to kill them, if they didn’t get a move on.
 

Slowly, he pulled himself up.
 
His fingers were shaky, but he thought he could get a couple rounds off.
 
Mercer lifted his head over the hood of the car and spotted the Rattler.
 
It was that same son of a bitch, the one with the thinning hair.
 
He was hiding behind a car.
 
The Rattler and Cruz were trading gunfire back and forth, but so far, it was a stalemate.

Mercer lay back down on the ground.
 
He looked beneath the car and saw the man’s lower half.
 
He was crouched down, but Mercer could see his knees and feet.
 
Mercer aimed carefully and fired.
 
The Rattler’s knee exploded.
 
He fell on his back, howling with pain.

Cruz helped Mercer up and they cautiously approached the bald man.
 
He was still holding his knee, tears of pain running down his face.
 
Even so, he looked Mercer right in the eye.
 
Mercer saw something in those eyes, something dark and evil.
 
In that moment, Mercer was convinced they weren’t just fighting another MC.
 
They were fighting dark forces hell-bent on destruction.
 
Without a word, Mercer raised his gun and put a bullet through the man’s head.

C
autiously, Danni turned back towards her bike and Tommy was right there, holding a gun on her.

“Hi Tommy,” she said, her voice clear.
 
Even though he had a gun trained on her, she wasn’t afraid.
 
Maybe killing a man made her look differently at death, but she stood defiantly in front of Tommy.
 

“Hi, Danni,” he said.
 
“Come with me.”

“You don’t have to do this, Tommy.
 
You don’t have to send me back to the Rattlers.
 
You know what they’re going to do to me.”

He kept the gun trained on her.
 
“Yeah, I do.
 
But I’m finally going to get the respect I deserve from those guys.
 
Finally show them what I’m made of.”

“I think we had something, Tommy.
 
I thought we understood each other better than that.”

Tommy shook his head.
 
“Jesus, you don’t stop, do you?
 
I knew back in the cabin you were just using me to get what you want.
 
Is that how you do?
 
Just use people for your own ends?”

It was true.
 
She had been using Tommy, but if he couldn’t see why, then he was dumber than she’d thought.
 

“Whatever you say, Tommy.
 
But let me ask you something.
 
Do you really want to earn the respect of a bunch of psychopaths?
 
Fixer’s fried his brain beyond recognition.
 
You said as much yourself.”

“That’s right.
 
Fixer is going to OD on coke and the rest are going to get themselves killed.
 
There’s not enough left.
 
That’s going to leave me to lead the way.
 
I’m the only one smart enough not to kill myself with cocaine.”

As he talked, he lowered his gun.
 
He punctuated his sentences by stabbing at the air with the barrel.
 
When she had the chance, Danni pulled her own gun.
 
Tommy realized too late what was happening and Danni had her gun pointed at him before he could react.

“Throw it down, Tommy.
 
I’m not fucking around.
 
I’ve already killed one guy today.
 
One more won’t much matter.”

Tommy looked shocked.
 
“You killed Roscoe?
 
Is that how you got away?”

“The gray-haired son of a bitch that liked to hurt people?
 
Yeah, I killed him and took his bike.”

Tommy looked at the bike and nodded, recognizing it as Roscoe’s.
 
He looked back at Danni and threw his gun to the ground.
 
Danni kicked it away from him.

“March your ass down to the end of the alley and don’t look back,” commanded Danni.

Tommy did as he was told.
 
Danni kept her gun on him as she picked up his gun and shoved it in her pocket.
 
She mounted her bike and kicked it to life.
 
She hesitated before leaving, really debating on pulling the trigger.
 
He was a Rattler and a threat to her life… but she couldn’t shoot an unarmed man in the back.
 
Killing Roscoe had been self-defense, but killing Tommy would’ve been murder.
 

She rode out of the alley, leaving the dumb kid behind.

She called Mercer back and told him she’d had to move.
 
Mercer said he and Cruz had to make a run for it before the cops showed up.
 
He told her to come to them, and to hurry the hell up.
 

When she arrived, there was smoke, fire, and a dead man on the sidewalk.
 
She saw Mercer and Cruz standing triumphantly over the body.
 
Mercer was bloody and injured, but very much alive.
 
Danni stopped her bike and ran to him.
 
She threw her arms around him and kissed him full on the mouth.
 
He kissed her back, ignoring the destruction around them for a second.

Finally, Cruz said, “Uh, guys.
 
I hear sirens.”

Danni and Mercer broke apart.
 
She touched his face lightly.
 
“What happened here?”
 

“Goddamn roadside bomb.
 
If I’d been going any slower, I’d be wearing a halo right now.”

“Good thing you have a lead foot.”

The smiled, but the sirens getting increasingly closer snapped them out of their happy place.
 
Mercer’s bike had been destroyed in the blast, so he got on Danni’s and she climbed on back.
 
With her arms around him, they took off with Cruz close behind.