Page 54 of No Mercy

The last thing I was aware of before pain sucked me into the deep well of painless nothingness was intense agony as the knife sliced into me again and again.

Chapter 29

Rock

It had just turned dark when what we’d been waiting for happened. As soon as the truck was hit, BK dropped us a quick text. We picked up speed to catch up with them, hearing the sound of gunfire well before we arrived. We could also see that the truck and some of the bikes’ lights were still on. Thank fuck we’d been traveling back roads and the Blue Knights had chosen a particularly desolate section of road for their ambush. That meant that they knew the area well.

Predictable fucks.

Hawk, Big John, and I rode in hard, assessing the situation when we reached the scene. Since we were in a shootout we ditched our bikes to use as cover. Blue Knights were swarming around like ants, shooting wildly as they ran in different directions, dodging our return fire. BK was outside the truck using the open door as a shield. Ned and Jumper’s bikes were in the ditch, and they were crouched low, using them for protection. Clay, Painter, and three soldiers were squatting behind the empty barrels we’d put on the truck so they’d have some kind of cover if bullets went flying.

It was hard to tell how many Blue Knights were there, and they were caught in the crossfire between our guys in the truck and five of us on the road. As they scrambled further into the darkness, I could barely make out their Blue Knights’ cuts, but I determined one thing, they looked fucking familiar.

“Who the fuck is running this circus?” Hawk yelled out when there was a second of silence. “I want to talk to your president!”

Someone hidden in the dark beyond the truck shouted back, “What if our president doesn’t want to talk to you?” Muted laughter followed as some of the men from the other side found the comment funny.

“What, do you fucking think this is some joke?” I snarled loudly. “Your secret identity ends tonight! Everyone already knows what fucking cowards you are!”

Gunfire was the response, which set off several rounds from both sides. Shooting blindly in the dark was fucking dangerous, but at least the flash gave away Blue Knights’ position in the surrounding field. It also gave away our location, but they already knew that we were near the truck.

“No one calls us cowards!”someone shouted out.

I shot in the direction of the voice.

“Then pussies!” Hawk clarified. “You killed one of our brothers! There’s only one way this is going to end, and that’s with Blue Knights six feet under!”

“Fuck you!”

“No, fuckyou, motherfuckers!” Ned screamed back from his location. I knew that he would take this personally since he and Bullet had been the ones ambushed by Blue Knights.

Apparently they didn’t know who they were fucking with. I motioned to Hawk that I was going to circle the perimeter and then caught Big John’s eye and indicated that he should go in the opposite direction. He gave me a chin lift and took off, keeping low. I did the same, making sure to keep well into the darkness. I had no idea how many Blue Knights were out there. According to BK’s brief text, he thought he’d seen six or seven riding up on the truck right before all hell had broken loose.

It was fucking dark. I kept low and moved slow. I didn’t want to give my position away, much less step in a gopher hole and break my fucking ankle. I concentrated on my movements and breathing, listening for any tiny noise or sound that would indicate that I wasn’t alone. My eyesight was fucking good in the dark, so was my hearing. Hawk was doing a good job of keeping the random comments coming so that Big John and I could detect the fucker’s location.

“You’ve got MC’s pissed all up and down the east coast!” I heard Hawk yell. “They want your club gone!” He was lying. No one really gave a fuck about the Blue Knights because until now they’d been more of a nuisance than any real threat.

“They’re afraid of us!”

Fuck! That was close. I stopped and listened. I heard shallow breathing off to the left of me. I slipped my gun into the back of my pants. The next sound he made was a little louder and I was able to pick up his location. I jumped him, chopped the gun out of his hand, and wrapped one arm around his neck. The other held his head in place. I pulled him back into me. “No we’re not,” I whispered into his ear right before I snapped his neck. I released him and he sank to the ground.

I snatched his gun up and continued scouting around.

“We want you gone! We’re not going to let a little unknown club come into our area, our town, and fuck with what we’ve got here,” Hawk barked. “If your president is too chicken shit to face me−”

Someone fired their weapon, and then other guns went off. Soon the air was filled with the acrid smell of gunpowder and smoke. During the brief exchange I was able to locate another Blue Knight hiding in the tall grass. I wasted no time in breaking his neck, too. When I looked up from his crumbled body there was a gun in my face.

“Fucking mistake, big man,” the ugly fucker said to me. The crooked snarl on his whiskered face told me that he knew he had the upper hand.

He cocked his gun and I realized I’d only have a second to make a move that counted. The only decision I could make was to make a jump for him. Just as I was about to lunge, a huge arm slid around the front of his neck, snapping and twisting it back. As the man collapsed to the ground I met Big John’s eyes.

“That was close, brother, thanks.” He grunted. “How many did you get?” He held up two fingers. I did the same. That meant there were three to four left. “Four, Prez!” I shouted out, and then ducked down in case someone fired in my direction. Someone did, and the bullet whizzed by me, a little too close for comfort.

“You hear that?” Hawk called out. “My VP just informed me that four of your brothers are dead.” He let his words sink in. “Give yourselves up and you might make it out alive!”

“Bullshit! Why should we trust you?”

“You shouldn’t. But that’s all you’re gonna get from me. You got five minutes to make up your fucking minds.”

---