Page 13 of Brick

A lightning bolt of white-hot rage struck Brick with the intensity of a thousand volts. He took three steps toward the man who was once his best friend, intending to beat the smug look off his face. He stopped short when Deuce pulled out his gun and pointed it straight at Brick. “Slow down there, Brickie-boy.”

The cascading percussion sound of guns being pulled and cocked filled the room. Deuce was either too high or too focused on Brick to notice the barrels pointing in his direction. “In case you hadn’t figured it out yet, this ain’t just a church meetin’ about missing money. It’s a fucking takeover. Seems like the current president and his stupid son don’t have big enough balls to run this club.”

“Deuce, we aren’t ready for this yet.” Blackjack’s tone was rough, but there was an underlying fear to it. “This ain’t how we planned it.”

“I know, but plans change sometimes. I think it’s time we say goodbye to the old and hello to the new. Whaddaya say, Jesse? Brick? Time for you to go. Leavin’ town and not comin’ back is a great idea. The Dragon Runners don’t need your kind of leadership. You decide you wanna stick around? Well then, my daddy's old sniper rifle has a few more shots in it.”

The air froze. Jesse's angry voice dropped to a deadly volume. "Are you sayin' what I think you're sayin? Did you shoot Isaac?"

Deuce grinned. “Might be I did, though you can’t prove nothin’.”

Brick’s gut burned with a thousand stabbing knives. The concept of a Dragon Runner killing another Dragon Runner was unthinkable, and he couldn’t get his head around it. He looked into his father’s bloodless face and saw the same disbelief, followed by sheer white-hot rage. Jesse lunged at the younger man, and Brick instinctively dove to catch him. A shot rang out, and Deuce jerked back with a look of surprise. He grabbed at his shoulder, and a growing red spot appeared on his white shirt.

All hell broke loose. Blackjack pulled a gun and fired randomly. Brick felt Jesse’s body shudder with the impact of bullets as he tackled him to the ground. Shouts and curses of pain blasted out, along with bullets hitting the walls. Brick felt a burn across his back and shoulder as he covered his father. The cracking sound of guns cocking and hammers falling filled the room, and Brick clenched his body tight, expecting the next shot to find its way to him. As he waited for death, his thoughts went straight to Betsey.

Sorry, sweetheart. I tried. God knows I tried. Please forgive me.

As fast as the gun battle started, it was over. Brick gritted his teeth against the pain of the bullet graze. He looked up, his ears still ringing with the phantom sound of gunfire. Scottie lay on his back, unmoving. Bugs slumped over and clutched at his side. Bear crawled on his elbow and cursed in short grunts. Blood poured from Blackjack's head and side as he lay still on the floor. Two of the bodyguards were down. A third was on the ground with his lower leg shattered, the bones showing through his torn skin. Raul was crouching behind his two dead guards, yelling in Spanish. Everywhere Brick’s eyes touched, there was chaos. His mind couldn’t process all of it, and the sour taste of panic traveled up the back of his throat, threatening to spew out.

Except… where was Deuce? Had the fucker run off in all the confusion?

A hand grabbed his shoulder, and the sudden pain centered him. He gazed down at Jesse, who lay on his back. Red foam frothed at the corners of his mouth, and he coughed up more.

“When your mom died, there was a big piece of me that died with her. I wasn’t a great father. There’s things I shoulda done better. I shoulda been a stronger man. Shoulda been a stronger president and this shit woulda never got outta hand.” He coughed and more blood appeared. His breathing grew shallow and labored. He raised his hand to clasp Brick’s. “You’re a good man, son. A t-tough one and a smart one.” Jesse gasped and choked, growing weaker. The sound of his struggle filled Brick’s ears until nothing else remained but his father’s fading voice. “T-take care of this brotherhood and give it the leadership it n-needs. It ain’t gonna be easy, but you’ve got the b-balls to handle it.” Jesse’s body relaxed into his son’s arms. “Gonna… gonna go see your mom now. Never said it m-much, but I love you, son. I’m p-proud of the man you’ve become and the man you’re… you’re gonna be.”

Jesse’s grip on Brick’s hand loosened as life left him. Brick’s heart wrenched, the pain in his back nothing compared to the pain in his chest.

“Brick, we got work to do, son. We’ll grieve later. Right now we gotta get this shit under control.” Walrus squatted next to Brick as he spoke. “Taz and Spade didn’t get hit. Moth got a bullet to the arm. The two prospects have flesh wounds but nothing serious. Through and throughs. We still got the moneyman over there to deal with. How do you want to play this?”

Brick swallowed the pain of his father’s violent end and stood up. His back flamed in agony, and he clenched his jaw against it. He was reeling from his father’s words, the trust placed in him, and hearing for the first and last time that Jesse loved him. He looked around at the faces of the remaining Dragon Runners. Confusion and pain stared back at him, seeking a direction. Brick felt his spine snap into place and turn into rock-solid iron. He could either lead or quit and run.

I ain’t no fuckin’ quitter.

Brick’s eyes tracked the rest of the room and his mind scrambled and sorted. The third bodyguard was bleeding out and wouldn’t be around much longer. Raul whimpered in the corner at the slow death of his last protector. Brick stared hard at the sniveling man whose power had just shriveled to nothing. At least nothing at the moment.

“Walrus, you know how to get rid of a dead body so there’s no trace?”

Walrus pulled at his mustache. “Yeah, I do. Get ’em on my truck.”

Brick nodded. “Raul, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. I figure this wasn’t what you were intending when you showed up here this morning. I’m guessing you were here to collect the money and kill everyone as an example of what happens when your bosses get crossed. Is that right?”

Raul’s teeth chattered and his dark eyes were wide with fear. “Si. That was the instructions of my boss, but I didn’t follow them exactly. Right, amigo? I was to get our money, but I would not kill all the Dragon Runners, just the ones who betrayed us. Blackjack and his sons. Just them.”

Brick didn’t believe that for one second, but the groveling man held the key to the future peace of the club and his hometown. “Well, seems to me you got your orders done. Blackjack is dead, and his son soon will be. Taz, take Bear and Bugs to the medical center in town. Get Doc Swaim outta bed or get his new guy, Holbrook, I think his name is. Walrus, I’ll load your bike an’ the bodies of them two bodyguards on your truck. Spade, you get Moth and them other two outta here. Go to the hospital over in Sylva and tell them you were in a hunting accident. Leave your cuts here so the club don’t get implicated, and don’t say nothin’ ’bout us. As far as you’re concerned, you didn’t know ’bout none of the shit that went down here tonight. Blackjack and Deuce went rogue, and you had nothin’ to do with it. Stick with that story no matter what. You don’t, and all of us will be sitting in jail with Ratchet.”

He looked at Walrus. “We can’t just lose this many members and the cops not find out about it. We’ll say it was a takeover attempt by Blackjack and he shot first. Had no choice but to return fire. Self-defense. Think that’ll work?”

Walrus rubbed a hand over his bristly cheek. “I don’t know. I gotta think on it some, but for now, it’s as good a story as any.”

Brick nodded. “Taz, you call it in at the medical center. Call Tambre too and let her know what’s happened. The cops will come and ask a bunch of questions. If they haul you down to the station, keep with the self-defense line.”

“What about the cartel people? We get caught around them, it’s over. We’ll go to prison, and I won’t see my kids until they graduate high school.”

“Walrus and I will take care of the cartel shit. You take care of Bear. Go, now.”

Brick turned back to the cowering cartel man. “Get in your car and go to the Rose Tree Inn off Route 19. Stay there tonight, and I’ll bring you your money in the morning.”

“How do I know you’ll do this?”

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