Page 111 of The Vows We Keep
Both Halo and Vex extend their left arms, palms facing back, to indicate we need to stop. But when we do, I don’t see Catalina. “Where the fuck is she?” I say.
“She’s a mile away,” Vex says.
“Then why the fuck aren’t we riding?” I shout.
“Because we don’t have an attack plan, and we should make one that includes stopping and getting our weapons out. Because as soon as they hear our bikes, they’re gonna act,” Halo says.
The brothers do as he says, pulling their weapons from holsters and hiding places on their bikes.
I turn to King. “We need to ride in there. Go now.”
King stares at the map on Vex’s phone as Vex points something out quietly.
“Split up. I’ll take Niro, Bates, Vex, and Switch with me. Clutch, you take Spark, Saint, and Halo with you. Take the left here and come around behind where they are.” He points to a junction on the map and looks up at Halo. “Send Wrinkle an updated location for the van.”
I know this is the right thing to do—make a plan, be thoughtful—but I can’t wait. “Fine, I’m going.” I jump back on my bike.
“For fuck’s sake,” I hear King curse. “Let’s go.”
I pull out, and a strange thing happens. King does not overtake me. He simply settles in slightly behind me to my left. When I look over at him, he tips his chin ahead of us, encouraging me to go on. When I pull up to the trail, the first thing I see in the distance is Catalina sitting over Felipe with her hands around his neck. The second are the guns all aimed in her direction.
Hold on, smart girl, I’m coming.
Then the sound of our bikes alerts them to our presence, and all hell breaks loose.
Bullets fly our way and theirs. It’s hard to steer, dodge, and fire at the same time. I hear a bike behind me go down, but I can’t turn, not now. Not when I see Felipe try to grapple out of Catalina’s hold.
The sound is deafening. Cracks of bullets, the metallic vibration when they hit our bikes. I don’t know the men I’m facing, and I have no qualms when I hit one of them with a bullet and see him fall to the ground. One of them manages to get back on his bike and drive farther down the trail, and I’m relieved to know anyone fleeing will run into my brothers.
Now there are four of them left, and Catalina.
I’m getting closer, but before I can get to them, Mateo aims a gun at Catalina and fires.
I see her shoulder jerk as he walks toward her. She’s grappling with Felipe, but Mateo raises his gun again.
Time slows. I want to yell but can’t. The back end of my bike flips out as I increase my speed to reach him. I know I’m going to go down, but so is the bastard about to shoot at the one person who is more important to me than my own life. My knee hits the ground with so much force, it feels as though my femur breaks in two. But I manage to angle my bike such that the rear wheel smashes into Mateo’s legs, and he goes airborne as I let go of the handles. The bike skids across the snow, wheels spinning, but I manage to get from beneath it and roll to a stop.
I pull the knife out of my boot and jam it into Mateo’s jugular twice.
Fucker tries to say words as he gurgles. I pull on the fingers that currently hold his gun until they snap. And then I reach for his weapon and shoot him dead.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see King and Perrito in a fistfight. The roar of bikes tells me the rest of my brothers are headed toward us. But my only thought is Catalina. Felipe has his hands around her throat now, and while she claws at his wrists, he has her pinned. Her eyes are wide, her face red. But I see her patting the snow around her searching for something. Then in a series of lightning-fast moves, she stabs him in the throat four times. Blood pours from Felipe, dripping down on her, but all I can think is she’s alive.
Seconds feel like minutes as Felipe hovers over her, his eyes wide with the knowledge he’s about to die.
Ignoring the agonizing pain, I hobble over to her, dragging my injured leg. I kick Felipe off her, nailing him as hard as I can with my steel-toed riding boots. Pain fires up my body, making me gasp for air.
I swear I hear his skull crack, but I know he’s already dead.
Then I fall to my knees next to Cat, ignoring the blistering pain that ricochets up my leg. I pull her to me, hiding her face against my chest as my brothers take care of the other men.
“I’m here. I got you.”
“I wanted to kill Perrito,” she gasps in-between deep breaths of air.
“King,” I yell, when he’s finally subdued Perrito on the ground. “Let Cat.”
He knows what I mean, and Bates and King drag Perrito to his knees in front of her. “Do it well for both of us, sweetheart,” King instructs.
