Page 55 of Ryder

When we were satisfied we still had the upper hand, we strapped as many weapons to our bodies as we could, as well as filling up the backs of the cages with enough artillery and ammo to end a war. Which was exactly what we planned to do.

We wanted the other bastard who’d threatened some of the women, but more than that, we needed to take out as many of the Reapers as we could, setting our sights on Rabid more than anyone else. We had to take out the new man in charge before he even had a chance to rally his men. And if Koritz just happened to be there, then we’d make sure he got his as well.

Two days after the first secret visit we’d made, we decided to finally make our move. Marek, Stone, Breck and Jagger rode out in one of the cages, while Tripp, Etch, Smiley, Miles and I occupied the second one. The rest of the guys stayed back at the club per request of our fearless leader. Cutter wanted to go with his son, but in the end he followed orders, remaining on standby along with Trigger and Hawke.

By the time we’d arrived, the sun had long since dipped behind the horizon. Darkness shielded us as we parked half a mile away from the shipyard, the various dilapidated buildings offering us shelter while we cautiously snuck closer to some of the men hanging around the back of one of their trucks. There looked to be six of them, but there could’ve been more inside the building they were extracting the wooden boxes from.

“Too bad we aren’t still in the business,” Etch whispered. “Can you imagine how much fuckin’ money is in those crates?”

“You don’t even know what’s in them,” Tripp replied, pressing his back against a concrete wall when one of the Reapers passed by fifty feet ahead of where we were all huddled.

“Still,” Etch finished, shrugging before following Marek around the corner, disappearing so fast we almost lost both of them.

“Fuck, it’s dark out here,” I mumbled, resting my hand on the handle of my gun just in case anything popped off unexpectedly. Turning a few more corners and hurrying across the yard, hiding now and again to ensure our attack was truly a surprise, we finally came to a place where we could see all the action. Action we were gonna be a part of soon enough.

When my eyes landed on the sight in front of me, I smiled. A two-birds-one-stone kind of smile. Not only had Rabid just exited the building, but Koritz followed directly behind him. They were still too far away to hear their conversation, but whatever they were talking about, neither of them looked too happy. The only light provided came from the full moon and the building, but it was enough for us to see how many people we had to contend with whenever we decided to show ourselves. The desolation of the area couldn’t have been more perfect for executing these bastards and then hiding their bodies in any number of places.

Finally, Koritz threw up his hands, said something incoherent, then walked away. My eyes flicked to Rabid, and with the little I could make out of him, he looked pleased, clasping his hands together one time before walking back toward the building with a cocky gait. As if he’d just been told something he’d wanted to hear.

“You guys ready?” Marek asked, looking at each of us before continuing. “Be fuckin’ careful and watch your back.” I took a step forward, but he stopped me, shaking his head. “Ryder, you go with Jagger, Etch, and Tripp. That way.” He pointed to our right. “Get behind that building as fast as you can.” Turning to look at Breck, Miles, and Smiley, he instructed, “You guys come with Stone and me. We’re gonna surround them on the other side.”

With a lift of his hand, we began to move into position, creeping around the sides of the crumbling structures to get to the one we needed, when a shrill sound rang out, making us all stop dead in our tracks.

“What the fuck was that?” we heard one of the Reapers shout, looking all around until a few of them started yelling to each other. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, knowing our plan was goin’ right down the shitter because someone left their goddamn phone on. Some asinine song that just put us all in more danger.

“Fuck!” I heard Smiley whisper-shout, trying to silence his cell through his cut, but it kept ringing. The shouting in front of us increased, and we knew we had to make a decision to attack head-on or scatter to the sides like Marek had originally planned. Either way, our enemy knew they had company.

“Shut that thing off,” Stone demanded, grabbing Smiley and pulling him behind the rest of us. Slamming him against the wall of the building, Stone reached into Smiley’s vest, pulled out the device and threw it to the ground, stomping it to pieces at the exact moment it started ringing again. It was probably the first time since I’d met Smiley where he didn’t have a grin kicking up the corners of his mouth.

“Sorry,” Smiley apologized, keeping his distance from the rest of us because he knew he’d just fucked up. Royally. I thought for sure Stone was gonna knock him out, but instead, our VP walked back toward Marek, mumbling something under his breath.

As we took a step to disband, I heard Koritz shout, “Knights!”

Ryder

A spray of bullets sliced through the air the closer we moved toward the men scrambling to hide behind whatever was in front of them, seeking cover anywhere they could find. Although they were just putting off the inevitable. There was a lot of shouting, from us and from them, instructions becoming jumbled until I barely knew who was speaking.

Moving slightly to the left to peer around the corner of the building I was hidden behind, a bullet struck the concrete beside my head, missing me by millimeters. I knew there was a good chance I wasn’t gonna make it out of there alive, so I decided to push fate’s hand and retaliate.

Just as I was about to move into the open, a hand shoved me to the ground, dirt going up my nose I’d been so surprised by the attack. Only it wasn’t an attack at all—it was Marek. Before I could say a word, though, I saw him spin around and fire off two rounds, followed by a thump. Someone falling to the ground not twenty feet behind us.

“Thanks, man” was all I could say. What other response was appropriate?

“Tripp and Jagger made it around back. When I tell you to, I want you to stand and fire. There are three men in front of us, another two off to the left.” How he could see a damn thing with the clouds passing in front of the moon was beyond me, but I had to trust him. And I did. Wholeheartedly.

“Ready?”

“Yeah.” My heart crashed into my chest as a bead of sweat trickled down the side of my face.

“Go!” he yelled, pushing past my body as he barreled forth and fired shot after shot into the night air. With all of the commotion and bullets whizzing past my head, my adrenaline kicked into overdrive, pushing my feet with every step I hadn’t even realized I was taking. “Behind the building. Your left!” Marek shouted before disappearing.

When I’d finally made it to the building, I indeed found Tripp and Jagger. The light from inside the warehouse allowed me to see much more than I could moments before.

“Where’re the rest of the guys?”

“Fuck if I know,” Tripp griped, carefully peering through the window to check things out.

“Anyone in there?” Jagger asked. When he turned to face me, I saw a streak of blood on his neck.

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