Page 75 of The Ghost of Rage's War

Artemis

Artemis checked her team as they took positions. They had zone eight, and it was a lesser-known route into the city. Not as heavily trafficked as some of the major routes, it still offered Fangs an in to the city. They were surrounded by houses and local shops, which made Artemis nervous in case someone came out.

As they approached where they’d be based, Artemis frowned.

“You got to be fuckin’ kidding me?” she growled out. Yesterday, they’d closed this road and used vehicles to barricade it. Numerous cars and trucks obstructed the path, with idiots trying to shift the barrier.

“What the hell are you doing?” Artemis yelled as she began jogging forward. “Get out of that fucking bus!”

A man was trying to start the bus to drive it out of the way. Artemis jumped up the steps, grabbed him around the neck, and yanked him out.

“Get out of my way, lady!” the bloke shouted, squaring up to her.

“The fuck I will. Didn’t you hear the announcements?” Artemis demanded as she caught sight of Akemi removing someone from the other bus and Kristoff shoving another asshole out of a third bus.

“That’s why we’re getting out of here,” the guy retorted.

“Jax,” a woman exclaimed, approaching.

“The public service announcement said to stay in your homes and hole up. So you assholes think to move busses that had been set up to protect this city? Instead of listening, you are gonna run right into them,” Artemis informed Jax.

Men and women were milling around.

“Why are you out here?” somebody shouted.

“Because we’ve been deputised to defend your sorryasses,” Simone interrupted.

“You’re full of shit,” Jax retorted.

“Fine, do not fuckin’ pay attention to anyone but yourself. We warned you. If we had time, I’d arrest the lot of you idiots. Hang around if you want, but don’t expect my team to risk their lives for you. If they’ve got children, remove them, otherwise, let the adults stay,” Artemis ordered.

“You ain’t touching my kids,” Jax roared, getting into Artemis’s face.

Within seconds, he was on his back with a knife at his throat. He swallowed hard as Artemis glowered at him.

“We have got thousands of bikers descending on this city. They have one intent. To take over Rapid City and rule it. They’ve decided they’re above the law. They want to walk in here, take whatever businesses they desire, take your women and children, and they’ll shoot any fucker standing between them and their goal.

“I got better shit to be doing than protecting your ungrateful asses. But you wanna stand here and act like you’ve got bigger balls and know better than the rest of us. Go the fuck ahead. When they ride down that road, don’t expect us to protect you. We’ll be defending those who obeyed,” Artemis hissed.

“Danny’s gone!” a woman screamed.

“What?” a guy yelled.

“Mine are gone!” another man cried.

“I’ll not be responsible for children dying. My team has moved them somewhere safe. Your choices areyour own, but the kids are innocent,” Artemis announced and turned away.

Jax scrambled to his feet and came at her.

She sidestepped and throat-punched him.

The crowd behind hissed.

“Give us our kids back,” a woman yelled.

“Go fuck yourself,” Angel said as he approached. “Buzz says there’s about a hundred and fifty approaching.”

A hush fell at his words, and people began looking worried.

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