Stolen: Hell's Overlords MC (10 page)

Cole

The address we’d been given as Fang’s hideout was for an old boarded up office building downtown. It was a squat little brick building with an awning over the front door and a metal staircase leading up to a second story door on the side. The back of the building was set against a wall separating that lot from the next. There was an old faded sign on the front of the building advertising a grocery store.

I waved my hand, signaling to the guys to circle around the building. We were still in the old industrial section of town, so everything was vacant, or at least it was supposed to be. I pulled up underneath the awning with Dante and Gage on either side of me. We killed our engines and sat listening for a minute before climbing off the bikes.

“This was where all the factory and warehouse workers would come to cash their checks, I bet,” Gage said, eyeing the building.

“You still remember when it was open, don’t you?” Dante joked.

“I was a kid when this place shut down,” Gage told him, shutting him up.

“Alright, you two. This is where Fang is supposed to be hiding out, so let’s keep it professional until we’re out of here,” I told them, swinging my rifle around in front of me.

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s here right now,” Dante said.

We approached the front door and stood on either side of it. The only sound I could hear was the purring of all the motorcycles waiting to be given the word to close in on this joint. I looked at the guys.

“I don’t think so either, but we’re going to be careful either way. They could just be waiting for us. What do you think, Gage?” I asked.

“Who cares what I think? Let’s just go in. If we see anybody, we take them out. If not, well, your girl better hope they’re still here and didn’t get tipped off,” he said, looking me dead in the eye.

“I’m right there with you,” I told him.

I kicked the old wooden door. The lock exploded, and the door flew open into a dark, musty room. The air that escaped was rank and caught all three of us off guard. I shook my head while we all coughed away the heavy stink that fell on us.

“They’re definitely not down here,” I told the guys.

“If they are, they can stay down here,” Gage said.

“I promise you, anyone in there isn’t going anywhere any time soon,” Dante added.

I chuckled at his comment and nodded to the side of the building. We quickly rounded the corner with our guns drawn. Gage took the stairs first, leaving us to cover his back on the way up. At the top of the stairs was a metal landing with a couple of chairs sitting along the brick wall past the door.

The door on the second floor was much sturdier and had a slot at eye level, allowing whoever was inside to look out before admitting anyone.

“Shall we knock?” I asked my partners.

“Be my guest,” Dante said.

We stepped aside and pressed ourselves against the wall, hoping to be out of range if anyone opened the slot. I banged on the door with the butt of my rifle and ducked back to the side. We waited. No one answered.

I was starting to get the feeling that we’d been had. I could see by Gage’s face that he was thinking the same thing. Either we had bad information or someone had ratted us out to Fang and his men. I had a feeling I knew who that was, even though I would have been reluctant to admit it to the guys.

I knocked again.

When there wasn’t a response the second time, Gage stepped in front of the door and shot the lock with his revolver. What was left of it fell out of the door, and he slid it open.

“After you, sir,” Gage said, stepping aside and holding out his arm to invite me into the building.

We walked into a large, mostly empty office. It was dark, but enough light crept in around the corners of the boarded up windows that we could see the desks and chairs all facing each other.

I stepped back and hit the light switch. Fluorescent office lights in the ceiling came on and let us see the room clearly. The walls had wood paneling along them. The desks were old, probably left over from the last legitimate owners of the building.

“Check the desks,” I told them.

There were three desks. Dante and Gage went to the ones on either side of the room. I went to the one along the far wall, facing the door. Behind it was a cork board with a single picture tacked to it. I pulled the picture down and looked at it.

“Guys, they knew we were coming,” I announced, holding up the picture of me for them to see.

“You’re kidding me,” Gage said, slamming one of the desk drawers closed.

“We both tried to tell you,” Dante said, standing upright.

“Let’s go through the desks anyway, but I can almost guarantee you we won’t find anything useful,” I said. I opened every drawer in the desk I assumed was Fang’s. I had no idea who the other two would have belonged to. I didn’t know anyone else in his organization other than Sasha, and I was pretty sure she didn’t have a desk.

Gage kicked over his desk.

“Hey, brother, calm down. It’s just a desk,” Dante said.

“It’s not just a desk. It’s Cole,” Gage complained.

I knew what he meant, but I kept my mouth shut. There was nothing I could say to him at that point that wouldn’t make things worse. I turned my attention to a file cabinet and opened each drawer, knowing already that they were going to be empty.

“Nothing?” I asked the guys.

“Not a damn thing,” Dante said.

I crumbled the picture of me and dropped it on the floor.

“Looks like your girl sold us up the river,” Gage said, stepping in front of me. “You going to bring her in?”

“Not now, Gage.” Dante put a hand on his arm and tried to push him aside.

“Yes, now. I got my ass kicked for this chick because Cole thought he was getting an old lady out of the deal, but she just turns out to be Fang’s little snitch.” His breath was hot in my face.

“Do you want to get your ass kicked again, Gage?” I asked. “Because this time, you’re earning it on your own.” I pulled my gun off of my shoulder and set it on the desk.

Dante stepped between us and pushed both of us away.

“Nobody is getting their ass kicked here, guys. Both of you back the fuck up. We have a job to do here, and it looks like we’ve been had. I don’t think anyone will deny that. Right?” He looked back and forth between us, making sure we agreed with him.

“Okay, good,” Dante continued. “Now, the question is, where do we go from here?”

I ran a tired hand through my hair and sighed. I knew exactly what needed to be done, and I felt like such a jackass for not handling it sooner. I’d let that beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed thief steal something more valuable than my drugs this time around. She’d taken my integrity, and it was a good thing I was starting to catch on before she stole my heart with it. Of course, I couldn’t mention that last part to the guys. They never would have let me live that one down.

“From here, I need you, Gage, and everyone to go back to HQ. Get the basement ready, because I’m going back to my apartment to pick up our girl,” I said.

“Your apartment? She’s at your apartment?” Gage started again. “Jesus H. Christ, Cole, no wonder you can’t get it together, brother. How was it?”

“Fuck off, Gage,” I said, grabbing my gun and heading towards the door.

“No, really, was it worth selling out your MC?” he asked behind me.

“You know what? It was. And if her answers satisfy me back at HQ, it’ll happen again. So don’t think I’m going to bring her back for anyone to lay a finger on her, got it?” I snapped, turning around and getting right back in Gage’s face.

“Yeah, brother, I got it. I read you loud and clear,” he said. “You’re a punk,” he added, laughing and walking around me.

I laughed, too. I couldn’t fight with him anymore. I had to laugh it off or else I’d knock his block off.

I stopped at the door and looked back in while the guys walked down the stairs outside.

“Hey, is it possible we’re missing something?” I called out to them.

“Like what?” Dante asked, stopping on the stairs.

“I don’t know. I feel like there’s another room or something here,” I added. My eyes probed the back wall, looking for a door or panel in the wall that wasn’t quite in place. I didn’t see anything, but I couldn’t shake the feeling we’d missed something.

“That’s just disappointment that you’re feeling,” Gage called up to me from the pavement. He looked up and shielded his eyes against the sun.

“I guess so,” I said with a sigh. I left the light on as I closed the door, not really admitting defeat, but coping with a setback.

“Come on, let’s go so you can get Sasha and bring her back to HQ before she runs,” Dante said as I started down the stairs.

“Oh shit.” I stopped and looked at him, realizing why we’d been had.

“What is it?” Dante asked me.

“Remember what happened when we left her alone at HQ with Andre?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Dante said as the realization dawned on him as well.

“What happened?” Gage asked. “I missed it.”

“Yeah. Look, she tried to escape, but someone besides Fang tried to pick her up. It wasn’t pretty, and I bet that’s what’s happening right now,” I said as I ran down the stairs.

“You really think her boss has it out for her?” Gage asked, running over to his bike.

“Yeah, I think so. She was caught, brother. She walked right into a trap when she came to HQ the first time. Bosses like Fang don’t take too kindly to stuff like that, so when she finally got in touch with him, he sent a few of his goons to get her. They didn’t look like they were a welcoming committee either,” I explained.

“Yeah, but we showed up just in time and killed two of them. We wounded the third, and no one really got a look at the driver,” Dante added.

“How much do you want to bet when she called Fang to let him know we were on the way, he sent some more goons to pick her up at the apartment?” I asked.

“You want us to follow?” Gage asked.

“Not yet,” I said. “Get everyone back to HQ. You two get the basement ready for her. I’ll call you if anything’s wrong.”

“Alright, go,” Gage said. “You need to get there while there’s still a girl to pick up.”

The three of us gunned our engines at the same time and started pulling away from the building. Dante and Gage rode off in one direction, waving their arms to collect the guys who’d parked in neighboring properties to keep their eyes on the hideout.

I sat and listened to all the engines roaring, breathing life back into this dead portion of the city. It was a beautiful sound. I revved my engine and watched as motorcycles started pouring out onto the streets.

Then, I spotted someone who wasn’t with us on top of one of the other buildings.

I didn’t have time to signal anyone, and no one else saw him. He had a gun, and I watched in shock and horror as he knelt down behind it to take aim at one of my guys. A shot rang out, and I saw one of our newest members take a nasty fall. A couple of guys riding near him were obviously shaken by the incident, as they lost control of their bikes as well.

Then, shots rang out from another direction, from the parking garage some of our members had just pulled out of. I saw a couple more bikes go down as we were ambushed. The guys had no chance to get out of the way. We were just getting picked off left and right.

Then, shots rang out behind me, and I pulled the bike back underneath the awning, knowing anything they were shooting could have easily pierced the thin sheet metal over me. I pulled a bandana out of my back pocket and tied it around my mouth and nose. I ditched the bike and ran inside the building, listening to the hail of bullets raining down mercilessly outside.

I pulled out my phone and texted Andre back at HQ.

Ambushed! Under fire right now.

Send backup?
he texted back.

No. Hunker down
, I told him.
I’ll text you when we’re safe.

A moment later, Dante rode up to the building and ducked inside with me. The air wasn’t as heavy and rank as it had been earlier when we first arrived.

“How many down?” I asked him.

“I don’t know. I saw five, maybe six go down before I circled around to come back for you,” he said.

“That was dumb. You should have gone back to HQ and waited for me. Andre knows I’m here.” I held up my phone.

“Gage was right behind me, but I think he went the other way around. We were trying to scope out how many shooters there were,” Dante continued.

Just then, Gage pulled up and coasted into the parking lot in front of the building. Just before he reached the awning, though, he sprang back from his bike and flipped over behind it, sending it crashing into our bikes while he lay limp and lifeless on the ground right in front of us.

“Oh fuck this,” Dante growled, bringing his rifle around. “There are two to the left, one on top of the building next door, and the other across the street from him. There are at least three to the right, two in the parking deck and one on top of the building across from it,” he added as he stepped outside.

It took me a minute to realize what he was telling me. I was still staring down at Gage’s fallen body. I couldn’t believe how quickly it had happened. One second, he was on his way back in to see us, to join up with us and regroup before making a move to get us out of this mess. And in that same second, he was on his back, his body bent at an unnatural angle. The next moment, his bike was being carried by momentum alone into our bikes parked under the awning.

Then, Dante was on his way outside to stand over him with his gun drawn, trying to take out the shooters, knowing damn well they would have taken him out just as easily as they had Gage. And I was just standing there, dumbfounded, staring at the body on the ground and the man standing over him playing hero. There was no telling how many other guys were down on the pavement outside.

Dante started shooting. The
rat-a-tat-tat-tat
of his gun snapped me out of my trance and brought me back into the moment, forcing me to realize my right hand man was standing his stupid ass out in the open firing back at these assholes who were trying to kill us. I couldn’t let him do that alone.

I joined Dante outside, both of us standing over our fallen brother as if protecting him from further injury or insult. We stood back to back and fired on the men shooting back at us. I got the shooter on top of the building across from the parking deck and turned my gun on the two men shooting at us from the garage. I got one of them and the other ducked back into the darkness.

Dante stopped shooting behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder to see him turning around.

“Got both of them,” he said with a proud smile.

“Yeah, I got two of them on the other side, but one of the guys in the parking garage looks like he left.”

About that time, we heard the screech of car tires from the far side of the parking deck.

“Well, at least he’ll be able to tell Fang what happened here,” I said.

“Yeah, tell him that we took four of his men out, and that there are still at least two of us left,” Dante said.

We walked around the side of the building and saw the street littered with bikes and bodies. We had come down here at least twenty deep, and it looked like almost all of our members were present and accounted for on the road.

I turned and looked at our motorcycles, mangled underneath Gage’s bike. I shook my head and pushed my gun back over my shoulder.

The gunfire had apparently alerted law enforcement. We could hear distant sirens.

Truck. Now
, I texted Andre.

Okay. Lance and Aaron made it back
, he replied.

Don’t send them. Send someone else
, I told him.

It’s on the way
.

A few minutes later, a black F350 pulled up in front of the abandoned hideout. Our driver, Chase, climbed out and opened the tailgate, pulling down two ramps he installed to roll motorcycles up into the bed of truck quickly and easily. Dante and I pushed our bikes up into the bed, leaving Gage’s motorcycle on the concrete near him.

“Alright, let’s hurry,” I told him as we closed up the back and climbed into the truck. From the sound of the sirens, we were going to be leaving right in time to miss the cops.

“So what’s the plan?” Dante asked as we pulled away.

“It’s still the same. When we get back to HQ, I’m grabbing my old standby, and I’m riding over to my apartment to get Sasha,” I told him.

“What then?”

“I don’t know yet. I might just kill her right there,” I told him flatly. The thing that got me was I wasn’t really joking. I’d meant it as a joke, but it sounded right, given how I felt. She had effectively taken Gage from me twice with her little games. I didn’t know if I wanted to bring her in or just take her out.

“Don’t we need her to find Fang?” he asked.

“Hell no. She’s the one who alerted him anyway. I mean, there’s still the possibility that he’s already got her, you know? I don’t know what I’m going to do.” I shook my head and shut my mouth. I didn’t want Dante to know how emotionally invested I was in this girl.

I looked out the passenger side window of the truck and watched all the dilapidated buildings of the old industrial side of town pass by as we headed to HQ. Chase pulled into the bay, and Andre shut the door behind us.

“Thanks, Chase,” I said as we climbed out of the truck.

“No problem, boss. Want me to have someone look at these bikes for you?” he asked.

“Not yet. Let’s play it safe for a little while. The law’s going to come around to ask some questions about all of our dead members. We’re probably going to have to lay low for a few days until it all blows over,” I said.

“Want me to talk to them when they come by?” Dante asked.

“Wait, where are
you
going?” Andre asked me.

“I’ve got to go get Sasha. I want you and Dante to get the basement ready, but let’s keep this place locked down. Nobody in or out for at least the next twenty-four hours. Got it? That means everyone who’s here now stays,” I explained to them.

“Yes, sir,” Andre said, saluting me.

“This isn’t the military, kid.” Dante patted him on the back and started to walk off.

“Hey, where’s Gage?” Andre asked.

I looked down, unable to meet his eyes.

“You’re kidding me.” I could hear the wind as it was knocked out of him. “But he’s been a member of Hell’s Overlords longer than most of us have been alive, Cole. He has survived countless gunfights, war, everything.”

“I know,” I interrupted him. “But none of us can survive women, Andre. Remember that,” I said before walking away to get my old ’79 Harley Roadster.

I pulled my old bike away from the wall and walked it to the bay.

“That thing’s older than you are,” Chase said as I walked it past him. “Still run?”

“Purrs like a kitten, brother. Hell yeah, she still runs,” I told him.

“Whose was it before you got it?” he asked. “Surely, that bike’s got a story. I don’t see anyone else with one that old.” He walked over to it and ran a hand along the curve of the body.

Chase had a long, golden brown lion’s mane and a thick beard to match. He wore glasses and could stand to lose a few pounds. He had thick, muscular arms, and the muscles in his chest were obvious, but somehow he managed to keep a beer gut. He was loyal, but he never seemed to be all that motivated.

“I got it from an old member,” I told him. Truthfully, I got it from the guy who’d recruited me, but I didn’t want to get into that whole story with him. Time was still of the essence. I had to get back to the apartment to make sure Sasha was okay and bring her in for questioning, beating, whatever I decided to do to her, but she was going to pay for the trouble she’d caused, either way.

“That’s a sweet ride, man,” he said. “I guess I’ll go see if Dante or Andre need me to do anything,” he said, walking off in the direction of the bar, where Dante was pouring shots for the other two guys who made it out of the ambush with us.

“Hold on,” I called him back over. “I’m going to need someone to close this door behind me.”

“Got it.” He ran over and lifted the bay door to let me out. Once I was outside, I heard it close behind me. Before firing up the Roadster, I listened for the lock, which he quickly slid into place on both sides.

No one was going to be able to lift that door to get in. I just hoped the police stopped with HQ and didn’t decide to pay me a visit at home. And I hoped that Sasha wasn’t okay. I needed something to go wrong to convince me not to take all of my anger and frustration out on her when I got there.

I gunned the engine and listened as the Roadster came to life underneath me. I didn’t drive her nearly enough, but I needed to start driving her more. I pulled away from the clubhouse and started to head into the center of town, where the newer buildings reached up into the sky, where business and traffic still existed, and where the streets weren’t littered with the bodies of my fallen brothers and their mangled motorcycles.

I was going to get Sasha, and she was going to lead me to Fang. Fang was going to pay for what he’d done to us, and Sasha wasn’t going to be able to talk me down. She also wasn’t going to get the opportunity to tip him off.