Page 91 of Texas Hold Em'
I ran as fast as I could past him while he covered for me. A few paces back, Gabriel was behind his bike.
“Where’s Jack?” I yelled.
“Brody’s with him! Behind the truck!”
I ran to the beat-up old shell of a Chevy and slid around the front, ending on my knees on the other side.
There, propped up against the flat tire, was Jackson. Brody knelt in front of him and worked to stop blood pumping out of a hole in his side. He pushed down hard on the wound, and Jackson’s eyes squeezed closed in pain.
“Fuck,” the President hissed. “Watch it!”
Brody spoke through clenched teeth. “I can’t stop this bleeding here. We need to go.Now.”
I poked my head over the hood of the truck and watched as Abel, Gabriel, Grant, Knox, and Mason moved forward, closing in on the Wolverines on the other side of the crossroads.
“If we’re going to move, now’s our chance,” I said.
“He’s not going to be able to ride,” Brody said.
Jackson gripped Brody’s shoulder. “I don’t have a choice. Get me up.”
Brody shook his head. “You’ve lost too much blood. You’ll pass out in the saddle. We need a distraction. Something to take the heat off us while we get you out of here.”
Jackson tried to push himself higher up against the tire. “It was a setup. We shouldn’t have come.”
“Carrie didn’t set us up,” I said.
“Bates might have never trusted her in the first place,” Jackson managed. He was pale. “He might have just used her like he uses everyone else.”
Brody and I shared a look, and he shook his head slightly. “We need to get him out of here.”
Just then, we heard a familiar engine rumbling. A bike came speeding around a corner, back tire sliding through the gravel, the petite rider hunkered down low in the seat as they barrelled toward us.
Brody drew his gun. “Who the hell is that?”
Jackson squinted at the bike before slapping Brody’s gun down. “Wait! That’s Will’s bike.”
From somewhere close by, Mason yelled Suzie’s name.
Jackson’s eyes went wide. “Is that my fucking sister? What the hell is she doing here?”
The bike came to a sliding stop behind the truck, and I knew right away it wasn’t Suzie. The rider pulled her helmet off and blonde hair spilled down her shoulders. Carrie looked down at us, sweat beading on her forehead.
Her eyes flicked from Jackson’s wound to me. “You guys need to go,” she said. “The Wolverines are pulling out but the cops are right behind me.”
“Jackson can’t ride,” Brody said.
She pointed in the direction she’d come. “There’s a car parked at the main entrance. You can hotwire it. Just get him there. I’ll lead the cops away.”
Brody nodded and slid an arm under Jackson.
I shook my head. “No, I will.”
She ignored me. “Where’s Bates?”
I nodded to the top of the rise. “Caroline drove off with him a couple minutes ago. I shot him in the back, but I don’t know how much damage I did.”
Carrie pulled her helmet back on.
