Page 18 of Amaze

I fired his bike up and took off out of the parking lot like lightning. Jacking the front tire up, I cat walked the bike all the way down the street. I had to move fast. The men who hadcome to the church couldn’t have gotten too far. I drove in the direction that they had gone. My heart seized up when I saw the black SUV up ahead. The motorcycles were no longer in view, but that didn’t mean that they were gone.

I sped up as I removed my gun from its place on my hip. Anthony had to be in that truck. We would have seen him if he was on one of the motorcycles. As I gained on them, I weighed my options. I could risk letting Zach’s men disappear with my son or take the chance of hurting him to keep them from taking him.

There was no way I would let anyone take my son into hiding. I had already seen how well Zachariah could hide someone. I wasn’t taking that kind of risk with Anthony. I had missed more than enough time with him. Knowing how evil and conniving he was, there was no telling what he would do to him. Letting them get away from me was out of the question.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I shot at the SUV, hitting both of the back tires. I cringed when the truck careened out of control and rolled over as it veered off the side of the road. When I was close enough, my tires skidded to a stop. I allowed the bike to fall as I ran toward the wreckage.

“Anthony!” I shouted, hoping that my son was OK. “Ant!”

When I reached the truck, I snatched the back door open.

“Dad,” Anthony called to me.

“Thank God!” I bellowed, seeing that my son was alive and fairly well.

“I can’t get out. My seat belt is stuck.”

“I got you, Son. Don’t worry. I got you,” I assured him.

The body of the person who likely put my boy in the truck was slumped in the backseat. He looked like he had succumbed to his injuries, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to move quickly. I yanked at the cord while pressing the button before finally freeing him from the hold of his seat belt. Once it was off,he threw his arms around me, and I pulled him out of the truck. After placing him on his feet, I inspected him for injuries.

“Are you hurt?” I quizzed.

“I think I’m good, Dad,” he assured me.

“You sure?”

“You think you can take my grandson away from me, you neanderthal!”

My heart slammed into my chest as I spun around, putting Anthony behind me. I hadn’t heard Zachariah’s voice in over fifteen years, but I would never forget it. His ass had been driving the truck the whole time. It was a wonder that he didn’t take Anthony and Wes both. I was sure that was the plan before we showed up.

Blood covered his face from a head injury. He went for the gun lying on the windshield next to the dashboard. Before he could even reach it, I shot him in the hand, shattering the windshield in the process.

“Ah, you dirty muthafucka!” he spat, still reaching for the gun with his good hand.

“Don’t make me kill you in front of my son, Zachariah. You know I’ll do it,” I warned him.

“You don’t have the balls, or I wouldn’t be breathing.”

Anthony was the only thing saving Zach from his imminent death. I wanted to unload on his ass, but I couldn’t let my son witness me killing his grandfather. It just didn’t sit right with me.

“Shut the fuck up, old man,” I said before hitting him with the butt of my gun.

Thankfully, his ass was knocked the hell out as I pulled him out of the truck.

“So that’s my granddad?” Anthony asked me.

“Unfortunately.” I sighed. Once I dropped him on the ground, I turned to Ant. “Don’t take your eyes off him.”

I needed to make sure the other body in the car wasn’t of someone alive. The man slumped in the passenger seat appeared lifeless, but I wasn’t going to underestimate him. After verifying that he was deceased, I unbuckled him and moved his body to the driver’s seat. An engine revving in the distance caught my attention and put me back on high alert.

“It’s Uncle AJ!” Anthony shouted before I could even make it out of the truck.

AJ was coming down the road wide open on Lade’s bike. Not far behind him, I saw Anthony’s car flying down the highway. I knew my boys had my back. I just had to give them time to get here. The car had barely rolled to a stop when Wesley jumped out of the passenger seat and tackled Anthony with a hug.

“Oh, my baby! I was terrified when I saw that you were gone. Are you OK?”

“I’m good, Ma. I swear,” he told her, kissing her face the way I had done a thousand times.

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