Page 88 of Texas Hold Em'
Up ahead, shots rang out in the night. I picked up speed.
William’s bike was a steady, strong, not-smooth ride, and under any other circumstances, I might have enjoyed my time in the saddle. Tonight wasn’t for pleasure, though.
Tonight was for vengeance.
I took the first exit to the landfill and wove my way through the first couple of bends. The road was a few miles long and I couldn’t fly—the bike would make too much damn noise. I hadn’t ever been here before, but I’d mapped it while Tex slept in this morning. I knew the lazy pattern of unpaved roads winding through it, and I knew our three exit points. I also had a hunch I knew where Bates would position himself for a fight.
He’d want the most leverage, and he’d take the high ground.
So I came in through the back as the shots rang louder.
I prayed like hell Tex wasn’t doing anything stupid. He’d proven that he was willing to take whatever risks necessary to end this thing with Bates by literally dying last night for the sake of a plan. If push came to shove tonight, I knew he’d sacrifice himself for the others.
I pushed the thought down as soon as it rose up in my head.
Now was not the time to consider worst-case scenarios. We werealready in the deep end. There’d be no turning back now. All that was left to do was put my big girl pants on and ride.
I was about to take the next right toward the rise of garbage blotting out the stars when I spotted flashing lights up ahead coming down the road from the other direction.
Red and blue lights.
Shit.
The whole point of coming out to the landfill was to avoid the cops. Had Bates called and tipped them off so he’d have even more backup? Had he planned the entire night around the squad cars being close by?
If the cops rolled into the landfill, Jackson and the others wouldn’t stand a chance.
They’d be killed. The police would warp the story to the media, who would report that it was a gang-related shooting and that the Devil’s Luck were no longer around to plague the city.
Someone had to stop them and I was the only someone in the vicinity who even knew they were coming.
I pulled out of my turn and opened up the throttle, speeding toward the flashing lights.
They were easy to close in on. Their headlights swung around a bend and I kept on riding straight toward them, splitting the lane. There were four cars in total. More than I wanted to contend with but not enough to give me reason to run.
I flashed my headlight, hunkered low beneath the windshield, and screamed toward them. The car in the front went hard on the brakes. The other cars slammed theirs, too. Tires shrieked on asphalt and I blew past the first squad car.
A cop in the passenger seat rolled the window down and took a shot at me.
He missed by a lot, and I wove between the back of their car and the front bumper of the next, pulling one of my guns out from my jeans and shooting out the two back tires and front tires, leaving two cars losing air. I swept around the second car as both of them turnedaround to give chase. Meanwhile, the back two cars pulled sideways across the road, attempting to block my path.
Two cops spilled out of the rear car, dropped to their knees, and drew their guns. I tucked myself in even tighter, using the windshield for cover, and blew past them. Their shots went over my head. I peeled off down the street and came down hard on my brakes—a little too hard. The back tire lifted and I wobbled a bit.
Cursing myself, I got the bike back under control and swung it back around to face the cars.
I revved the engine.
I needed to lead them away.
As I watched and taunted them, they all piled back into their cars. One of them barked orders. They turned themselves around to come after me, except for one of the cars with the blown-out tires, which headed back in the opposite direction toward the landfill.
Unfortunately, I’d have to trust the Devils to handle that one.
In the meantime?
I would lead the three cruisers away from the landfill and handle things myself. It was the least I could do, and with this bike, I knew I’d be able to keep a decent enough lead on them that I wouldn’t have to stand on my own two feet and fight.
They could chase, I could ride, and Tex and the others could have more time.
