Page 40 of Everlasting

“Somehow, it seems my daughter or the women of S.H.E. managed to find an inside source.”

“Source identified at all?” He asked.

“Nah,” I answered back and gave him a knowing look. It meant that whoever had fed my girl her information might well die in the crossfire that night.

We were using the dark to our advantage since the sun had set about 30 minutes earlier. It was still light enough to see, but dark enough to blend with shadows. Perfect for sneaking up on unsuspecting mobsters while they tried to move our boy to another location.

“Heading over this way,” Merc told me. “I have a feeling.”

“I’ll take this side,” I told him and then signaled for two men to follow him while the others followed me. It was an even split among those of us who had arrived in the truck. I didn’t see Jay or any of the other men who had arrived on foot, but that was the point.

Just as we were about to storm the side door, it cracked open and the imposing figure of a younger man slipped out. I nearly shot first, but pulled back when he looked my way and the light from that side of the building hit his face.

“Toby?” I called out in a disbelieving whisper. I wondered, for a brief moment, if I was losing my damn mind. My son had been dead for more than a decade. There was no way it could have been him. Still, the shock of seeing a face that looked just like his was enough to give him a head start. I chased off after the man while the others moved to the door we were supposed to breach. An explosion stopped me cold in my tracks and I turned to look back and see that the door had been blown. A second explosion rocked the house, from further away, and I just knew that it would be Merc and his team who took that hit. When I turned back towards the forest that surrounded this side of the house, I realized I could no longer see the man I had been chasing.

“FUCK!” The word flew from my mouth as I turned to run back towards the door that I was supposed to help breach. Both of the men were dead. They had been newer nomads in the club, and I hadn’t gotten to know them very well while we’d been working up here because they tended to keep to themselves. Still, it was a loss for the club. I continued to move and came to Merc, who was thankfully far enough away that he avoided the brunt of the blast. He still had shrapnel sticking out from his thigh and his midsection.

“Shit, hang in there, man.” I grabbed some gauze I had stuffed in my pocket and wrapped the pieces tight to hold them in place. I was concerned if either was moved, we would have a bigger problem on our hands. “Do not remove them. Don’t let anyone else do it either. I have to secure the area. Play dead if you have to,” I told him just as I heard shouting from the door.

“Coming out!” I recognized the voice instantly. A moment later, J-Bird came out with Diamond, from the Tallahassee Chapter, by his side. Both of them were hauling a man out. It took a minute for me to recognize who they had with them.

“We got him,” Diamond called out.

“Thank fuck!” It was all I could say. “We need to get him and Merc to the hospital and have them looked at,” I called out.

“Don’t trust these hospitals,” Jay answered.

“We’re going to have to, your dad’s in a bad way,” I informed him. “Who else do we have?” I asked, wondering where everyone was.

“Not sure yet,” Diamond answered. “Got separated from Court and Snake while we were in there. Pretty confident I took out the younger brother of their group.”

“Good. Let’s hope we get the other two while we’re here. If not, I’m more than happy to go hunting again once we get these guys home.”

Diamond chuckled. “Remind me never to piss you off.”

“We lost a year. My girl had to give birth without her man by her side because of these fuckers,” I reminded him.

“I know, Double-D. Your family has been through it this year, and part of that falls on our deal we made with these bastards all those years ago.”

“Nah, it falls on their heads for having no fucking honor and pulling this shit.”

“Still, don’t think the Tallahassee Chapter won’t go hunting with you in a damn minute. We’ll be more than happy to make sure this is one particular snake that never grows another head back.”

I nodded as he helped me, carefully, move Merc. His eyebrows furrowed in on themselves about the same time my own did. Merc hadn’t appeared to have lost weight because he was wearing bulky clothing when he got here. I chalked it up to him dressing for winter, but as we moved him, I finally took a good, hard look at my friend. He was damn near gaunt. Granted, his son had been missing for a fucking year. His wife was undergoing treatments, and soon surgery, for her cancer. I expected his age to start eating at him, but not like this. This was something else altogether.

“Damn it, Merc, what the fuck has been going on with you?”

He grinned at me. “Don’t worry about it, D. I have it covered. You just get me to someone who can remove this bullshit sticking out of me and we’ll worry about the rest later.” Then he put his hand up on my arm and attempted to squeeze. “You did it, brother. You’re bringing my boys home.”

“Ever got us the information we needed. She’s responsible for bringing them home, finally.”

“Remind me to kiss our daughter when we get back then.”

“That did not sound right,” I tormented him. He chuckled and then coughed and sputtered when the pain from moving ripped through him. “Stay still, brother.” The warning wasn’t necessary because he passed out before he could comprehend what I was telling him anyway.

Merc wasn’t able to come back with us, so Jay stayed behind along with Diamond and Snake to watch over him and make sure no one turned up to exact revenge. Before we left to take Deck home, I pulled Jay aside, “You let me know what the hell is going on with him. It’s more than the stress of everything that’s happened to your family this year.”

Jay nodded, but then shocked the shit out of me with his response. “No offense, D, but if my father wants you to know what’s happening with him, he’ll tell you himself. I won’t break his confidence unless it means saving him from himself.”

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