Page 57 of Journey

“I knew he couldn’t hack it,” I snarl, rage burning through my veins.

I wipe away the little girl’s tears and rise to my feet. I’ll be damned if I’m gonna hide away in some dingy closet and wait for another man to come rescue me. I’m no damsel in distress.

I’m also not stupid. I can’t go downstairs, guns—or no guns, in this case—blazing and expect to wipe out all six of the twats who kidnapped me. No… I need a plan.

I make my way to the top of the steps, careful not to cause any creaking of the floorboards. The voices I heard from earlier waft through the air, and I strain to listen to what they’re saying.

“... the hell happened?”

“Kurt went to get Stone from his cell, and he was gone. Apparently, he’s being transported to a police station for questioning on a crime from years ago. How Kurt missed this, I don’t know, but he’s never gonna earn a patch now. Shit, it’s a toss-up if he’ll live at this point.”

“What the fuck are we supposed to do with the bitch?”

“We’ll have to improvise. Kurt did manage to get the route Stone’s being taken on, so, Slime, you take Rocker and Cowboy to hijack the transport. I’ll stay here with Southpaw and Dirty Boy to keep an eye on Wren.”

“Can we at least do some damage to the assholes driving Stone?”

“Do whatever the fuck you want with ‘em.”

“Thanks, Jester,” the biker called Slime says. “Let’s ride out, boys.”

The front door opens and closes, and the three remaining men pass by the bottom of the steps. I flatten against the wallso they can’t see me, and when they’re out of my line of sight, I move to the room Wren’s parents used when they still lived here to see if any of her dad’s weapons are still around. It’s a long shot, but a long shot is all I have.

“Fuck,” I mutter when I find his stash spot empty.

I glance around the room, and my eyes land on the curtain rods. Not my weapon of choice, but like the pricks downstairs, I have to improvise. Once I’ve collected all the curtain rods from each room, I return to the top of the steps.

With any luck, Wren will be able to walk outta here fairly unscathed.

CHAPTER 29

JOURNEY

We can patch him up and then send him straight to hell.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

I shift my gaze from the road to Poker and then follow his line of sight. Three bikers are riding toward us, and I recognize them instantly from earlier. Seething rage floods my system.

“What the hell are they doing here?”

“I’m guessing the same thing as us, but for very different reasons,” Ghost says.

“You two go handle them,” I order. “Fuckin’ kill ‘em. I’ll text Crow to send someone to clean up.”

They move to the center of the road, pull out their guns, aim, and fire. One by one, three bikers fall from their motorcycles to bleed out on the ground.

Easy peasy.

I glance around to make sure there’s no witnesses while they drag the corpses and bikes into the brush on the side of the street. Not much we can do about the blood, but at least there’s not dead bodies out in plain sight.

Two minutes later, and with a text sent to Crow, the transport vehicle comes into view. Ghost, Poker, and I move into their path and point our weapons. If we do this right, it should seem like a carjacking instead of a kidnapping. Of course, the masks covering our faces help, and we left our cuts at the clubhouse. We don’t care if we’re identified, but Addi does since she wants to keep her job.

As Addi explained, the driver pulls the van to the side of the road, and both he and the other guard get out. I guess that’s protocol in situations like this. Stupid as hell, if you ask me.

Ghost pulls zip-ties from his pocket as he walks toward them. “Put these on,” he demands, tossing them to the men.

“I assume there’s a third guard in the back,” I state.

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