Page 16 of Striking Out In The Mountains

His sexy eyes linger on me so he doesn’t notice the guy approaching behind him. The biker punches Graham in the back of the head and then grabs his neck.

I lunge forward and crack the biker right in the nose, sending him flying backward. I rush over as he lands and punch him twomore times before turning him onto his stomach and pulling out my second, and last, pair of handcuffs.

“You’re under arrest, you prick.”

I look around and most of the guys are fleeing on their motorcycles. Emmanuel has about eight or nine men tied up with zip ties. Henry is watching them as Emmanuel grabs another biker by his leather vest and yanks him back.

James, the tattooed fireman, has his fists up and is fighting three guys at once. I run over to help him, but Graham grabs my arm.

“Are you okay?” he asks. “You’re bleeding.”

I feel the hot blood from my temple dripping down my cheek. I didn’t realize I was injured until he said it. But there’s no time to focus on that now.

“I have to help James.”

I turn to rush over, but Graham doesn’t let go. “He’s fine.”

“He’s fighting three guys!”

Now two. Now one.

He drops all three of them easily with quick surgical punches and fierce devastating kicks.

The parking lot empties out really fast now that us cops are getting the upper hand thanks to the firemen.

The prick who sucker punched me tries to run away with his hands handcuffed behind his back, but Graham grabs him by the hair and yanks him back. He falls to the ground at my feet and kicks my leg.

“Don’t touch her,” Graham hisses, about to crack him in the nose.

I step in and stop him. “He’s under arrest,” I say, grabbing the guy’s arm. “And he’s under my protection.”

I drag him over to the group of other guys heading to the county jail as Marv comes out of the bar. He’s older than I thought he’d be with gray hair and a limp.

“It’s not even Fight Night,” Henry says as Marv limps over. “What happened?”

“Some shit disturbers from out of town,” Marv says, glaring at one of them on the ground. “Started a brawl with the local guys. Hope you don’t mind that I called the fire department. Thought you guys could use James’ help.”

“Let me clean that gash for you in my truck,” Graham says in a low voice as he steps beside me.

“I’m working,” I say, walking over to join my fellow officers.

Henry is still breathing heavily and bleeding from a cut on his swollen lip, but Emmanuel doesn’t look injured or tired at all.

“Where are we going to bring these guys?” I ask them. “We don’t have the transportation or room at the police station to hold them all.”

“We’ll just make sure they don’t come back,” Emmanuel says as he glares at the group of guys sitting on the pavement with their hands bound behind their backs.

“Listen up, fuckers,” Emmanuel says to them. “You ever come back to the Greene Mountains and I’ll shove a nightstick up your ass. Got it?”

They all nod as they look up at him with terror in their eyes. I’d be terrified too with that monster standing over me.

Emmanuel picks up a switchblade off the ground and grins as he shows them the long blade. “Who’s first?”

The closest guy to him squeezes his eyes shut in a panic as Emmanuel reaches for him. He grabs him by the hair and lifts him to his feet. He cuts the zip tie off with the knife and pushes him away, sending him stumbling onto the grass. “Get the fuck out of here.”

I watch with my pulse racing as he runs to his motorcycle, hops on, and peels out of the parking lot.

Emmanuel does the same to all of them.

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