Page 87 of Eden's Joker

Everyone, not just the Devils, have their facescovered with bandanas and such, but I can still clearly tell who is who. The Devils move with a singularity of purpose, like a well-oiled machine, wasting no energy but what is required to make the kill.

I’ve seen some of them fall too. And that gives me hope.

“They’re so close,” Scorpio says. “Can we strike now?”

“I want them just a little closer…” I say, eyeing the invisible line I envisaged in my plans.

My heart rate’s picking up. If my plan for the rest of this battle doesn’t work, we’re totally screwed. I’ve kept my men as the last line of defense to tighten the final noose around the Devils, because my men are used to how close to the edge I like to play things. They won’t scatter and run when things get bad, because they trust that I know what I’m doing.

But if this goes wrong, if this part of the plan fails, then Justice is surrounded, and it’ll be every man for himself after that. I’m counting on the hate all my men and the ones joining us feel for the Devils to be the tipping point in our favor.

“Now!” I yell into the walkie-talkie.

One, two, three seconds later, the first explosion sends the dried desert ground in front of the Devils skyward. Six more such explosions follow, creating a wall of finely ground sand that hides the hills and the Devils from me momentarily.

When that clears, they’re not where they were,they’re retreating. Right into the ravine where I want them. Between my two rings around Justice, where they’ll be sitting ducks in a barrel.

“Move, get in position,” I instruct over the walkie. “Keep the cover fire going.”

Then I move with my men. The excitement of battle seems to have taken care of Scorpio’s shakes. Good.

We find the Devils right where we wanted them. In a narrow crevice between two flat-topped hills, ready for picking.

But there’s only about fifty of them in there, maybe less. And my men are all out in the open now, atop the hills, exposed.

The bullets start flying from everywhere the moment I realize that.

“Retreat, pull back, pull back to Point Zero,” I shout through the walkie, looking around to see if they all got the message before making a break for it too.

Point Zero is our last circle of defense. Justice is nestled between three hills. As long as we control those hills, no one can take the town from us. That must’ve been the founders’ thinking too, because it’s designed perfectly like that, I didn’t even have to make any changes or build any walls.

Sweat is mixing with the dirt on my forehead and running into my eyes, making them sting and water. On top of that, I’m panting as I finally reach the hill that overlooks Main Street and my house in thedistance. Eden can see all of this from the bedroom window. She can see all our faces from there. Another reason why I didn’t want the main part of the battle to take place here. Not that it will make much difference in the end.

All my men made it, several of the others did too. But we’re surrounded now. And it looks like a hell of a lot of the Devils are still standing. Many more than I had hoped for. They’re walking towards us, tightening their own ring around my town.

The walkie in my hand crackles and then Manic’s breathless voice says, “They broke through on the main road. The bastards just rode right in, at least fifty strong. The fucking bullets just bounced off them.”

“Pull back to Point Zero,” I instruct. “Get behind them.”

“Can’t move… sniper got me in the leg,” Manic says. “They got snipers everywhere. Up high and far out. Everyone here’s down.”

That’s at least thirty of my men. And at least fifty fell in the hills at dawn. I’m down to three hundred. Maybe less.

Then the roar of bikes approaching the Saloon on Main Street drowns out even those dark thoughts. They’re shooting as they go, bullets ricochetting off roofs and other hard surfaces, smashing windows, getting stuck in the wooden walls of the houses, sounding like hail if it weren’t for the bangs of doom that brought them.

We made it to Point Zero, but we’re surrounded on all sides.

I see Karma’s hair flying free on a hill behind the town. I think I see Cross and his son on the one in front of me. And in the distance, I see my last ring of defense, closing in from behind. There don’t seem to be enough of them to squash the Devils from the back. But there’ll have to be.

Ice himself dismounts in front of the Saloon, aiming his gun at me. The bullet misses me by less than a hand span.

Three hundred of them, three hundred of us. We’re stacked all atop one another, surrounded on all sides. A glorious Mexican standoff if ever there was one. One for the books.

We wipe them out. They wipe us out. The end.

I never expected to make it beyond this act of vengeance. Just as I told Eden. But she wouldn’t hear it. Destroying the Devils was always the objective. It was always very likely that we’d all go down with them.

And I gotta admit, it’ll be a much sadder death since I didn’t get to see her beautiful face one last time, didn’t get to kiss her goodbye, didn’t get to enjoy her sweet softness one last time. I should’ve done all that last night. But it’s too late now for regrets.

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