Page 39 of Hell's Fear

“You’re going to die. And then we’ll have some fun with your women before taking them back to the clubhouse,” a Fang called out.

“Over my dead body,” Chance snarled.

“Yeah, that’s the plan, asshole. You’re a bit slow on the situation,” a Fang snickered.

“Now!” Ramirez yelled, and I saw our men ducking and diving for cover.

Ramirez stood alone and whipped his weapon out, firing three shots and downing two before the Fangs understood he was armed.

Ramirez flew towards a box but threw his gun at Chance.

The Fangs had trained their weapons on Ramirez and hadn’t realised what Ramirez would do. With them distracted, Chance leapt up and shot a third before tossing Ramirez’s weapon to Jase, who caught it and took out a fourth Fang.

In sheer fury, the last Fang began spraying bullets. A muffled curse came from someone, but I couldn’t lift my gaze. I curled into a small ball and covered my head with my hands, trying to be as tiny a target as possible.

The rapid shooting paused.

A single shot was fired.

Ramirez called out, “Everyone stay down.”

“Not happening,” Chance rumbled, and I peeked through my fingers to see Ramirez edging forward, his weapon out and Chance at his side.

“He’s still alive,” Chance announced as they reached the first body.

A gunshot rang out, and I jumped.

“Not anymore. That’s for Goldberg,” Ramirez stated coldly.

I drew in a sharp breath.

Ramirez had just murdered a Fang in cold blood—and in revenge for the detective they’d lost. Phil Goldberg had been Nando Hawthorne’s partner. The Venomous Fangs had killed him in a shootout. Ramirez, the cleanest cop in Rapid City, had executed a Fang in Goldberg’s name.

As I let the realisation sink in, two more shots rang out and Ramirez gazed at Chance stoically.

“You okay, brother?” Chance asked into the sudden silence.

“Fine. You can report me once we get out,” Ramirez said.

“For what? That fucker was reaching for his gun when we approached. Same as those two. If not for you taking the killing shot, we’d be dead. And I distinctly heard you warn them,” Chance replied.

“Same here, exactly what I witnessed,” Calamity agreed, standing up.

“They wouldn’t listen. You warned them to raise their hands,” Bunny claimed as she rose to her feet.

A warm feeling swept through me. Even though we were based in Spearfish, Phil Goldberg’s death affected us. Now Ramirez, his close friend, had gained some measure of revenge for him.

Ramirez looked stunned as we all vocally agreed on the same version of events. Tears appeared in his eyes, and they were quickly batted back.

“You’ll never walk alone, Ramirez. None of you will. That was what we promised,” Chance muttered. I was the only one in proximity to hear him.

“I just murdered three men, Chance,” Ramirez replied softly.

“No, you stopped my wife, Bunny, and Rosie from being gang raped and tortured. Serve and protect, Ramirez; you did that. If you’d let me get close enough, I’d have snapped their necks,” Chance responded, and Ramirez nodded.

“Taking the trash out isn’t murder,” Calamity murmured and griped Ramirez’s shoulder.

“Remember, brother, there’s a lotta different shades of grey,” Chance agreed and straightened. “We gotta fuckin’ escape. God knows how many more Fangs are around, and the other teams are unaware.”

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