Page 25 of Shadow Touched

Leia spun around. “This isn’t about beingtough and strong, Martha. It’s about a bullet finding its way intohis back. He didn’t see what I saw. He might be too occupied toeven notice what’s happening around him.”

“Easy,” Martha said calmly. “Now, I can’tbegin to understand what you saw, but I do believe you. Okay?There’s too much in this world we can’t explain. With your warning,this fight will have a vastly different ending than the one yousaw.”

“What if it doesn’t?” Leia sked. Shewouldn’t be able to bear it if anything happened to Brim or hernewfound friends.

“Well, that’s easy to answer. Do I have theshadow on me?”

Leia slowly nodded. “But…it’s faded.”

Martha tilted her head to look around Leia.“What does that mean?”

“That death was pushed away.”

“See? That’s a good sign.” Martha smiled andpatted her hand. “Maybe it was the Almighty who put you in Brim’spath. Maybe the miracle was Nate’s doing from Heaven, to stop hisfather from feeling so damn guilty over something he couldn’tcontrol. Whatever it was, I will bless you every day, Leia, forsaving my son and this club. Do you hear me?”

A lump formed in Leia’s throat. It feltstrange to have people believe her and not think she was crazy orworse … to fear her. She nodded. Martha smiled.

“Let’s go help the others keep the childrenoccupied.” She reached out and took Leia’s hand in her own. “Youknow, if you and Brim ever have a girl, Martha is an awesome name.Just saying.”

Chapter Nine

“You sure your woman is legit?”

Brim glanced at Kix, startled to hear theproprietary description regarding Leia. He’d reluctantly agreed tocome here in order to establish a fake relationship, but he had toadmit, he liked having her around. Which scared the hell out ofhim, because after Cindy he had vowed never again.

“She is,” he said.

“I don’t believe in supernatural shit, butI’ll take your word.”

“You’ll believe when she saves everyone’slives.”

Kix grunted non-committedly. Instead, hepulled out his cell phone and made a call. “Open the gate. We haveintel that we’re gonna be under attack.” He hung up and slipped thephone back in pocket. He glanced at Brim. “Saves me from buying anew one.”

“What’s the plan?” Brim asked.

“We kill the fuckers.”

“Yeah, that’s without saying. Do you wantany left alive to interrogate or to send a message?”

“I’d rather send the message that you can’tcome onto my turf, threaten my men and my family, and expect tolive.”

“Understood,” Brim said.

As men scrambled to move bikes into the maingarage, he and Kix marched to the armory. He pulled out a key andunlocked the sliding doors. Inside the large, insulated garage layhundreds of weapons. Guns, ammunition, grenades, rocket launchers …anything and probably everything was in there. Several men enteredbehind them to hand out the firepower and Brim stepped up to do thesame. He grabbed a 9mm and several loaded magazines before layinghis hands on an AR15 rifle. He also took a few hand grenades. Kixbarked out orders, mainly where to go and what to do when theassholes showed up.

“I want snipers in the tree line! We haveour club’s name for a reason.”

As they scrambled into place, Kix’s phonebuzzed. He pulled it from his pocket and glanced at themessage.

“They’re here!”

Fueled by the call, Brim hurried outside tofind cover. He saw the parked cars and remembered Leia’s warning.He bypassed that cover to head toward a tractor parked near themain garage. Bringing his rife up, he took aim through the scope,and held position. The danger of what lay before him made hisstomach clench. He took a deep breath and cleared his mind.Worrying about the others would only get himself killed.

A moment later, the roar of approachingpick-up trucks reverberated down the driveway. He saw the flagsfirst, Nazi symbols flapping in the breeze, and the sight pissedhim off. There were clubs that supported Neo-Nazi thugs, but hecouldn’t stand the fuckers and made sure his own club vetted outsuch poison. He didn’t care what color a man’s skin was, only ifthey were loyal. Almost immediately, the intruders standing in theback of the trucks began taking aim. The house was hit, windowswere blown out. A spattering of bullets fanned out, cutting throughthe picnic area where the kids had been running around not longbefore. The trucks slowed, and Brim saw the men looking around,confused.

Then the White Death MC opened fired. Heaimed his rifle and targeted the trucks. Tires were shot out,making escape impossible, so the ones who weren’t killedimmediately abandoned their vehicles and took cover. For a moment,chaos reigned. Brim retuned fire until the rifle ran out ofbullets, then he switched to his 9mm. He remained crouched near thetractor trying to make every shot count.

The invaders abandoned their trucks to takecover. Some ran into the tall cornstalks, so he gave chase. Hedidn’t want to leave any of the fuckers alive. Kix wanted to send amessage and he agreed wholeheartedly. As he ran through the tallstalks, he had to rely on his hearing to pinpoint where to shoot. Abullet grazed his temple and he ducked, returning fire. He heard agroan and a thud and knew he had killed one man. A dozen or soleft.

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