Page 86 of Texas Hold Em'
The shadow of the landfill rose up in front of me and I killed my headlight so I could ride in dark. I didn’t want to give myself away. I dropped my speed and coasted. The bike rumbled but not too loud, and when I hit the gravel of the lot, I turned off the engine altogether and used my existing momentum to coast the rest of the way.
The stench was wretched.
I pulled over near some heavy machinery where I could hide in the inky shadows. To my right, a giant dune of garbage blocked out the night sky.
Carrie couldn’t have picked a better place that didn’t stink like the inside of a pig’s asshole?
I pushed my bike forward so the front tire hovered on the edge of shadow provided by the big excavator. I straddled the seat and leaned forward, draping my forearms over the handlebars. Out in front of me, the terrain sloped gradually, and several crossroads, all wide and rough and full of potholes, wove patterns between different dumping sites. It was all pretty spread out, and visibility wasn’t terrible, but there weren’t many places to hide.
I was about to poke out a little farther and see if I could get a better look when I heard someone coming.
Bikes rumbled in the distance, and I knew they weren’t those of the Devil’s Luck.
Less than a minute later, the scene before me suddenly filled with dozens of bikers.Dozens.I crept backward a little bit, seeking cover in the shadows, and held my breath as the bikes pulled U-turns in the middle of the crossroads and circled back, taking refuge right smack in front of me at the top of the rise.
It made sense. They wanted the advantage of higher ground, which was exactly why I’d picked this spot.
They killed their engines and headlights, and the night went quiet.I wanted to pull out my phone and send a message to Jackson. He needed the heads-up that the bastards were already here and they were lying in wait.
But the light of my phone might give me away. The closest man was a mere fifty or so feet from me, so I held fast, trusting Jackson would know what to do, and he’d have his eyes peeled.
Headlights swung around from behind me. I flinched and ducked down low, but they never landed on me. The large tires of the excavator and its low center of gravity kept me concealed in shadow as Caroline’s white Range Rover came in behind the gang of bikers.
I let out a shaky breath.And so it begins.
Caroline got out of her car. As per usual, she wore a sleek all-black outfit. For once however, she wasn’t wearing heels. She wore what looked like construction boots, probably in anticipation of the night’s meeting location, and she wove through the parked bikes while pulling on black gloves. Up at the front of the pack, she stopped beside the man in the lead and put her hand on his shoulder.
They exchanged words I couldn’t hear, and I silently thanked Miss Bates for revealing which of the pack was her father.
After that, nobody moved. The night went still. Somewhere not too far away, garbage rustled. A man on one of the bikes in the back twisted in his seat and cursed.
“Fucking rats.”
“Face forward,” the man beside him muttered. “The real rats are going to be here any minute. Focus, Sloan.”
Sloan, the guy who didn’t like rats, squinted into the dark place I was hidden. “Do you really think they’re gonna show tonight? They’d have to be fucked in the head to think they could make a stand here.”
The other rolled his shoulders. “Shut up, Sloan.Focus.”
Sloan never managed to sit still as the minutes ticked by. I knew Jackson and the others would arrive at any second, and I took the risk to pull out my phone. I used my jacket to conceal the illuminated screen and prayed like hell nobody happened to be looking in my direction while I texted.
Bates on high ground. He’ll be at your two o’clock. I’m behind them.
I dumped the phone into my pocket and worried what would happen if Jackson and the others never saw my message. Would they ride right into the nest of Wolverines?
I steeled my resolve. This was the fight we’d expected.This shit ends tonight.
I thought briefly of Carrie’s lips. I thought of her ass against my crotch, her soft giggle, and the way she rolled her eyes when I gave her a hard time, her anger and her sharp tongue and her grit. Soon I’d be back with her. Soon this would all be nothing but a memory.
Whispers rolled through the Wolverines up ahead.
I strained to peer through their bikes and down at the crossroads, and I heard it too—tires rolling over gravel. Like me, the Devils had killed their engines and coasted the rest of the way in, hoping to make a silent and sneaky approach. But Bates already had eyes on them, and as I watched he held up an arm, silently ordering his men to hold. To wait.
To wait for what?
The man on the bike beside Bates shifted in his saddle, and it took me a minute to realize what was happening.
He had a gun. Something long range. I couldn’t make it out from where I sat, but my stomach leapt into my throat as he trained his sights on the bike in the lead.
