Logan: New Crusaders MC (27 page)

Logan wished he’d brought earplugs.  The bar was full of gunshots, breaking glass, and shouting.  All the sounds echoed off the walls, bouncing around and setting his teeth on edge.  He tried to focus on the task at hand.  They’d almost won, and he had to get to Ruiz.  He wasn’t leaving that bar until he’d watched the light fade from that bastard’s eyes.

As deafening as the noise was, the sudden silence that followed grated on Logan more.  It felt wrong.  He waited to see if the Devil Kings were going to renew their onslaught, but nothing happened.  He chanced a glance around the tattered host stand and saw a half dozen men crumpled on the floor.  A couple weren’t moving, but the rest were nursing serious wounds.  Taking them by surprise had worked.  They’d been completely exposed.

Logan was glad that it had gotten over with quickly, considering he was already out of ammo.  He was pretty sure everyone else was in the same boat, but it didn’t look like they’d be needing any more bullets.

A low groan brought Logan’s attention to the emergency exit, and his heart nearly stopped.  Danny was also lying on the ground, his hand on his side.  Blood was slowly soaking through his shirt.

As if they sensed it, everyone else began to stand up, looking in Danny’s direction.  At the same time, Logan saw Ruiz hunched behind the counter.  Their eyes met, and Ruiz smiled cruelly, drawing his gun.  The shot rang out before Logan could even get to his feet.  Logan knew that he hadn’t been the target; he’d still been well protected.  He got to his feet, his brain working slowly, taking too long to process what had happened.  First he looked at Danny, but the kid didn’t have any fresh wounds.  He was still half-conscious on the floor, clutching his side.

Slowly, too slowly, Logan realized who the other targets had been.  He stepped out from behind the host stand just in time to see Cork fall, his eyes wide with surprise.

Everything sped up then.  Yancey and Chuck dropped to Cork’s side to try to stop the bleeding, and Logan rushed the bar.  Ruiz tried to point his gun in Logan’s direction, but he wasn’t quick enough.  Logan hurdled the bar and came down on Ruiz, knocking the gun free of his hand.  His fists came down relentlessly, bloodying Ruiz’s nose, splitting his lip.

“Logan,” Sam said from the other side of the bar.  “We gotta get Cork some help.”

Logan barely heard him.  He brought his fist up for another attack.  Ruiz started laughing, like he was waiting for death, unafraid.  Logan hesitated.  He couldn’t kill him yet.  Cork needed help, and Ruiz could be more useful alive right now.

“I’m not going to kill you,” Logan said, his voice quiet.  “I’m going to drag you through the streets so that everyone can see you’ve been defeated.  You’re going to call off your boys, crawl back to the hole you came out of.”

“Logan,” Sam said.

Logan nodded.  “Keep your gun on him, Sam.  He so much as breathes too aggressively, put a bullet in his head.”

“You got it.”

Sam stepped around the bar, keeping his gun trained on Ruiz.  Logan felt like his whole body was made of lead as he walked over to where Cork was lying.

Yancey looked up at him with tears in his eyes.  He slowly shook his head, and Logan felt like someone was tearing him apart from the inside out.

“Help Sam keep an eye on Ruiz,” he said quietly.

Chuck and Yancey left, and Logan knelt down beside Cork.  The wound was in Cork’s chest.  His breath was coming out in rattling gasps, and blood was pooling around him.  When he saw Logan, he reached out and grabbed his arm.  His eyes were wide, intense.  He managed one word –
Live
.

Logan took a shuddering breath.  He knew what his friend was saying.  Cork wanted Logan to keep on going, to live his life.  He didn’t want his death to be Logan’s undoing.

“I will,” Logan managed, pressing his hands over Cork’s wound.  He knew it was a futile effort, but he didn’t care.  “I’m gonna make a life for myself,” Logan promised, his voice breaking.  “I’m gonna marry Nicole, Cork.  I hope she says yes, because I don’t want anyone else besides her.  I want to marry her, and… and be a father.  A good father.  Like my dad was.  Like you were.”

Cork managed a weak smile, but then his head fell back, his hand slipping off of Logan’s arm.  Logan bent over his friend’s body and cried.  It wasn’t supposed to have gone like this.  He hadn’t meant for Cork to lose his life just so Logan could take back his own.

More than anything, he wanted to finish this.  Cork had given his life for this cause, and Logan was going to end it now.  He walked away from Cork’s body, past the bar, out the back door.  He knew this place.  The owner had an old pickup with a toolbox and some odds and ends in the back.  He found the truck right where it always was.  In the truck bed, he found a length of chain and a couple padlocks.  He found one that was unlocked, and took both the chain and the lock back inside.  He wrapped the chain around Ruiz’s neck, locking it in place.

“Find something to tie his hands with,” he said.

Sam disappeared without a word.  Chuck kept his gun on Ruiz, but the Devil King president didn’t move.  It didn’t look like he could.  Though he’d put on a brave face for Logan, now he seemed half dazed, like the pain and blood loss were getting to him.

Sam returned a couple minutes later with some cord.  Logan held Ruiz’s hands together, palms flat against each other, while Sam tied his wrists.  When that was done, Logan hauled Ruiz to his feet, then dragged him out into the parking lot by his chained throat.  It wasn’t hard to find Ruiz’s motorcycle, parked by five others in front of the bar.  He searched Ruiz’s pocket, found the key, and started the bike.  Then he wrapped the chain around one of the handlebars, putting his hand over it to help keep in place.

Logan looked at Chuck and the others.  “Get help for Danny,” he said.  “I don’t want to lose anyone else.”

“You got it,” Chuck said.

They all went back into the bar.  Chuck was already on his phone, calling for help.

Logan got onto Ruiz’s bike and looked over his shoulder at Ruiz himself.  “Try to keep up,” he said, and then he pulled out of the parking lot.  The chain pulled tight, and Ruiz stumbled along behind him.  Logan wanted to really open the bike up, tear down the streets, dragging Ruiz behind him.  But he held off on that impulse.  He needed the Devil Kings to see this.

Logan kept to the main streets, hitting as many of the locations they’d had on their map as he could.  A lot of fights had spilled out onto the streets, but most of the Devil Kings surrendered when they saw their president in chains, being dragged by his own bike. 

Logan didn’t stop until he found the vice president of the Kings, still alive and fighting.  He, too, stopped suddenly when he saw Ruiz.  Logan stopped the bike and shut it off.  With a good chunk of the Devil King club watching him, he took his knife, grabbed Ruiz by the hair, and sliced Ruiz’s kutte in half, from top to bottom.  With the two pieces of the kutte dangling uselessly from Ruiz’s shoulders, Logan took the knife to the president patch, cutting it free.

“Gun,” he said, his eyes never leaving Ruiz.

Moments later, someone pressed a gun into his hand.  He took aim and blasted a hole into Ruiz’s chest, right where he’d shot Cork.  Logan shoved the gun into the back of his jeans and walked over to the Devil King VP.

“You’ve just been promoted,” he said, taking the president patch out of his pocket and tossing it at the ex-vice president.  “Get your club out of my town, and don’t let me or Wiseman catch any of you on our territory again.”  He turned to look at the assembled Crusaders and Iconoclasts.  “Our friends need to be escorted back to their territory.  See to it that that happens.  And someone check on Wiseman, make sure both his team and the Devil Kings in that warehouse know how this turned out.”

Everyone got moving at once, but Logan didn’t wait around to supervise.  He knew the war was won now.  The Devil Kings had been broken, and with the Iconoclasts and New Crusaders working together, getting the remaining members out of town would be all too easy.

Logan unchained Ruiz’s body from the motorcycle and started it back up.  He left the body where it was, knowing no one would ask too many questions about Alex Ruiz’s death.  He knew all the bodies would end up in a mass grave well outside of town.  The Iconoclasts were efficient.

With a heavy heart, Logan pointed the bike in the direction of the church.  He already missed Cork, wished that he could go back in time to undo what had happened.  His only consolation is that he would be with Nicole again soon.  He had every intention of keeping his promise to Cork.  With this conflict behind him, he would be able to marry his girl, start a life with her.  He could watch her belly grow, feel his baby kicking against his palm, impatient to get out and see the world.  Nicole could finish her coursework, get a job outside of the diner.

It all seemed too good to be true.

And it was.

When Logan got back to the church basement, the meeting room was empty.

Nicole was gone.

Panic began to set in almost immediately as Logan called Nicole’s name. 

No answer.

Then he noticed the cellphone lying on the table by the map.  All the thumbtacks had been rearranged into an arrow on the map, pointing directly at the phone.  Shaking with fear and anger, Logan picked up the phone and pressed a button.  The display lit up, showing that a number had already been dialed.  It looked familiar, but he wasn’t thinking clearly enough to remember why. 

Logan pressed the call button and put the phone to his ear.

“So glad to hear from you, Logan,” Clay said.  “If you want to see your old lady alive again, come to Hamilton’s Diner.  Alone.”

He hung up without waiting for a response.

Nicole wished she could stop crying, but the tears kept flowing endlessly down her cheeks.  She hated showing Clay this much weakness. 

He had seen Chuck leaving the diner after Logan called, and had followed him.  Chuck had picked up Wiseman and taken him to the church.  Clay had hung back, watching from his car.  He saw Chuck and Wiseman go inside, but he still waited, watching.  Then he saw Tommy the Devil King wander up, and he had witnessed Danny jumping him.  Still he waited.  When he saw the groups of men leaving the church, he knew something was going down.  It wasn’t until Logan left the building that Clay became sure that Nicole was inside.  He’d seen Rip come out of the shadows, heard the general details of the conversation he had with Logan.  From the way they talked, it was clear Logan had left Nicole in the church.

He’d waited until they’d all left, then gone inside looking for her.

Nicole didn’t know what Clay had done to Father Truesdale, only that she’d heard sounds of a scuffle coming from above.  Before she’d been able to investigate – or hide – Clay had appeared in the doorway.  When he saw her, his expression was predatory.  She nearly ran, before he pulled out a gun and pointed it at her.  Nicole had watched helplessly as Chuck had dialed a phone and left it for Logan, with an arrow of thumbtacks pointing to it.

“Let’s go for a ride,” Clay said to her, pressing the gun to her belly.

Nicole hoisted her purse further onto her shoulder and went outside with him.  He put her into his car and buckled her, keeping the gun trained on her stomach.  Nicole didn’t dare try anything as he drove away.  She thought about the gun in her purse, but Clay was paying very close attention to her.  She didn’t want to risk surprising him and having that gun go off.  Not when she had her baby to worry about.

So she’d sat and bided her time, knowing that she would kill Clay the first chance she got.

While they drove, Clay explained to her how he’d followed her father and found her.  He spoke quickly, without pausing for breath.  Every now and then, he’d wave the gun as he spoke, and Nicole would flinch, worried he was going to fire it accidentally.

She made it to the diner in one piece.

A part of her had hoped to see Rip waiting there for her, but she had no such luck.  Judging from what Clay had told her of the conversation he’d overheard, Rip was on his way out of town.  He was leaving Castillo and the MCs behind him.  She was glad for that.  She’d only called him in the hopes that she could save his life, but right now that didn’t help her much.

There were no cars in the diner’s parking lot, the Open sign was off, and all the blinds had been pulled down to cover the windows.  Clay shoved her into the building, took her purse, and tossed it into a booth.  Then he sat her down on one of the chairs, a ways back from the door.  He’d tied her there, then caressed the side of her face with his gun.  When he leaned down to kiss her, she tried to get away, but couldn’t. All she could do was purse her lips and withstand the brief assault.  He had pulled back eventually, only to tie a gag around her mouth.

“A part of me hopes he dies,” Clay said into the silence, bringing Nicole back to the present.  “I want that bastard dead.  Especially now, seeing what he did to you.”  He nodded with disgust at her stomach, then went back to glancing out the door.  He still had the gun with him.  “A bigger part of me hopes he survives.  I want to be the one to take the life from him, to see the look in his eyes when he realizes he’s going to lose you.”

Nicole took a deep breath through her nose.  Hearing his insane rambling was shocking her out of her tears.  He turned back to her after a moment of silence.

“I want you to know that I love you,” he said.  “I know I’ve got a weird way of showing it, but you’ll understand in time.  After Logan’s out of the way, we’ll go far away together.  I don’t like the idea of leaving the diner, but we can start our own.  Maybe in California.  Just gotta take care of the ex-boyfriend first.”

Nicole bit down on the gag in an attempt to keep fresh tears from falling.  She would not cry in front of Clay anymore.  He was a sad, insane person, and he didn’t deserve her fear.  All she had to do was figure out a way to get to the gun in her purse, and she would never have to worry about him again.

The sound of the diner phone ringing broke into her thoughts, and her body went cold.  She knew who was calling.  So did Clay.  His smile was vicious.

“Speak of the devil,” he said to her, then picked up the phone.  “So glad to hear from you, Logan,” he said, his tone casual, as if he were catching up with an old friend.  “If you want to see your old lady alive again, come to Hamilton’s Diner.  Alone.”

Nicole tried to scream out to Logan through her gag, but Clay hung up quickly.  She was sure he hadn’t heard her, and even if he had, that would probably only have made him more determined to come for her.

Clay was still smiling when he came over to her and rubbed his hand up her thigh.  She kicked out at him angrily and he backhanded her.

“We’re gonna break you of that mean streak,” he said.  “Soon we’re going to be together.  Just you and me.  I’m excited.  Aren’t you?”

Nicole couldn’t speak, so she simply glared at him for all she was worth.

“Don’t be like that,” Clay said.  “I know you thought you loved him, but once he’s gone you’ll start to see clearer.  It’ll only hurt for a little while.  Promise.”

Nicole wanted to kill him.  She wanted it so badly, she half believed her thoughts alone would cause him to collapse.  But she had no such luck.  Clay wandered behind her chair, so that the first thing Logan would see was Nicole tied and helpless, and Clay with her.  Nicole prayed Logan wouldn’t come, or that he’d find a separate entrance, or that he’d bring his friends with him.  Anything but walking straight into Clay’s trap.

It didn’t take long before she heard the sound of an approaching motorcycle.  Clay heard it, too.  He chuckled to himself and rested the gun against her stomach again.  When Logan burst through the door, he immediately froze.  He had a gun of his own, but he didn’t move to fire it.  His eyes were on Nicole, and the weapon held against her.

“That’s it,” Clay said.  “You do as I say and no harm will come to her.”

“You wouldn’t shoot her,” Logan said, his voice tight.  “You want her too much for that.”

“I wouldn’t shoot to kill,” Clay acknowledged.  “But this bullet isn’t meant for her.  Not really.  She’d survive it if I shot her here, but the baby wouldn’t.  Now drop your weapon.”

Logan looked at Nicole with a pained expression and then dropped his gun to the floor.

“The knife, too,” Clay said.

Looking murderous, Logan removed the knife that was sheathed at his hip and tossed it down with the gun.

“Now kick them away from you,” Clay said.

Logan did so.

“That was easy wasn’t it?” Clay asked condescendingly.  “Glad you obeyed so easily.  I’m going to have your bastard child terminated anyway, but I think we can both agree that doing it with a bullet is risky.  I’d much rather take her to a doctor.”

“No,” Logan said.  “You can’t do that.”

“I can!” Clay shouted, suddenly furious.  “Nicole’s body is
mine
.  I won’t have your spawn
tainting
her!”

Without another word, Clay swung his arm out and shot Logan in the leg.  Nicole screamed as the shot rang out and Logan dropped to the floor.  Clay walked over to Logan and kicked him in the stomach.

“You will not touch her again!” he shouted, kicking Logan once more.  “She will be mine and only mine.  I waited years for her, you understand?  Compared to my dedication, you can offer her
nothing
.”

Nicole was crying again, but she was also thinking.  Clay kicked Logan anywhere he could.  His ribs, his stomach, his injured leg.  He was clearly out of his mind, and she needed to get him away from Logan.  She needed to get to her gun.  Her mind racing, Nicole landed an idea.  A distraction.  It was risky, but she had to do something.

Summoning all her courage, Nicole shouted as if she were in pain, a prolonged sound that drew Clay’s attention.  Then she slumped forward, panting.  She’d never given birth before, never been in labor, but she doubted Clay would be able to tell she was faking.  It wasn’t like he was an expert. 

Clay had stopped attacking Logan, but he wasn’t coming any closer to her either.  Nicole waited a moment, then shouted out again, throwing her head back and squeezing her eyes shut as if she were being racked with pain.

She tried to say Clay’s name.  It came out muffled, but he understood it.  His eyes flickered to her legs, which she was pressing together.

“What’s happening?” Clay asked, taking a few steps closer.

Nicole winced for effect, then tried to speak.  Of course the gag wouldn’t let her.  Clay went all the way over to her and pulled the gag out of her mouth.  She gasped in air, fighting every instinct that drove her to look at Logan.  If she drew Clay’s attention back to Logan, he might figure out she was faking this.  She had to stay focused.

“The baby…” Nicole panted, then she gritted her teeth and groaned in feigned pain.  “I think… Oh, God… I think I’m…”  She paused for breath, slumping forward.  “Please, Clay… I think I’m going into… labor.”

“That’s excellent,” Clay said, starting to believe her.  “We won’t have to pay for the abortion after all.”  He turned to Logan.  “You hear that?  Her body is rejecting your child.”

Logan made a pained noise from the floor, and attempted to crawl toward them.  Clay turned his gun on Logan, and he froze.

“Please, Clay,” Nicole said, getting his attention again.  “I need… to call my doctor.  Number’s in my phone.”  She nodded toward her purse, sitting in the booth next to her.  “Just need… to call.”

Clay looked skeptical, so Nicole paused to grit her teeth and pant again.  Then she looked up at him, her eyes watering with real tears.

“Please, Clay.  Logan’s not… going anywhere.  I just need one hand free so I can call my doctor.  You can take me there yourself, okay?  But I need to know what this is, need to know what I should do.”

Clay took a moment to decide, and Nicole held her breath.

“I’ll find your phone for you.  I’ll make the call,” Clay said.

Nicole tried not to panic as she shook her head.  “They might not discuss my medical condition with you, and even if they did, they might insist on calling an ambulance.  Do you really want emergency vehicles coming here?”

Clay sighed.  “Fine.  One hand.  And I’ll be watching Logan, so don’t even think about signaling him or calling for help.  First sign of trouble, I shoot him.  Understand?”

“Yes.  Thank you, Clay.”

He grabbed Logan’s knife from the floor and used it to cut one of her hands free.  Then he grabbed her purse and held it out for her.  Nicole knew she had to be quick.  She reached into the purse, glad that it was such a big bag, which hid her movements from Clay.  Her fingers reached the gun, and she carefully found the safety, switched it off. 

“Got it,” she said, wrapping her hand around the handle.