Page 30 of Fighting a Riot

Torture. Sweet fucking torture, but he had to be stronger than that. He had other things to worry about. The problem at Platinum’s wasn’t limited to Lucy, since another dancer was held at gun-point Thursday night.

He tucked his rain gear into one of the saddlebags and took off for Platinum’s.

The front lot was packed, though there were two parking spots Yak noticed as he rolled through. For the hell of it, he looped around to the back where the dancers parked.

The hairs on his arms stood up. At first he thought it was from the misting rain that had started, then he spied a male body sprawled on the pavement not far from a vehicle.

Yak pulled his bike to a stop, swung off, and hurried to the body.

“Punc!” he yelled, dropping to a crouch.

Puncture was laying on his side, and Yak rolled him flat. “Puncture! Wake up!”

His fingers found a pulse in Punc’s neck. He yanked his cell out of his back pocket and called Turk.

“I’m busy, Yak,” Turk answered.

“Get unbusy. Punc’s in the parking lot, knocked out. I need help getting him back in the building.”

“Jesus Christ,” Turk muttered and hung up.

A moment later, Tundra barreled out through the back door and helped Yak maneuver their brother into the club.

Punc came around once they settled him on the couch in the office.

“What the hell happened?” Turk asked after Punc focused.

“Is Shayla okay?” he asked.

“Didn’t see Shayla,” Yak said.

Turk pulled up the security app on the iPad. “You walked her out, that’s on the feed.”

Yak watched the screen. Punc stood behind another vehicle while Shayla backed her car out of the lot. Right after she left, a man in dark clothing came out from behind a dumpster and cold-cocked Punc. Then the man spit on him and kicked Punc in the back. Turk paused the feed.

With a groan, Punc leaned forward and rubbed his back. “Fuck. No wonder my back hurts.”

“Let it play,” Yak said.

Turk glanced at Yak. “I’m taking a screenshot. Hoping we can get a better look at this asshole.”

Yak nodded. “Hurry up. I want to see where the hell he went. He didn’t just disappear.”

The office door opened. Blood came in, anger shining from his eyes. “Do you know who did this shit, Punc?”

Puncture shook his head. “No. Came up behind me.”

“Fuckin’ pussy,” Tundra muttered.

Yak glanced over at him. “You need to get back to the floor.”

Turk let the security footage play. The man hurried back the way he came, prowled behind the dumpster and out of the view of the camera.

“Shit,” Turk hissed.

Yak shook his head. “Don’t we have a camera that covers the other side of the dumpster?”

Turk sighed. “No. That camera malfunctioned a couple weeks back.”

---