Page 117 of Collide

Danny was a traitorous bastard.

“They’re on Bridge Street, I think they’ve stopped,” Hendrix chimed inand I turned the wheel again to head in that direction. Bridge Street wasn’t far, maybe a little over a minute away.

“I’m tracking him too. I don’t know where the fuck he is going,” Milesreplied.

“He’s got Riley,” I said, saying out loud the words that had beenplaguing me since Frank had first uttered them.

Stunned silence filled the car before there was a loud thud thatsounded very much like Miles had just punched his wheel.

“Fuck!” he hissed. “Fuck, Kai. I didn’t know. I….fuck, I’ve just spokento him.”

I maneuvered the car onto the other side of the road to overtake alorry, cars heading towards us honking at me to get the fuck out of the way.

“Explain,” I snapped, losing my composure. I never fell apart insituations like this, I always kept a cool head. But that was before I had something precious to lose.

“I tried to phone you, but you didn’t answer. I was so angry with him, Ididn’t even know I was ringing him until he answered. I swear, Kai, I didn’t know he had Riley with him.”

“What did he say?” I said through gritted teeth. My hand ached fromgripping the wheel so tight and I itched to shed blood. Danny’s blood in particular.

“He denied it. Said he didn’t know what the hell I was on about andthen the line went dead.”

“Not like he’d say anything else,” Hendrix added, unhelpfully.“They’ve stopped, the tracker isn’t moving. They’re at the top of Bridge Street, junction with York Road.”

“I’m turning onto Bridge Street now,” Miles confirmed. “Kai, I think….Ithink something might have happened, there was a loud bang before the line went dead. It didn’t sound good.”

My heart stopped in my chest, fear suffocating me. I floored the gas,needing to get to where they were stationary on the map Hendrix was showing me.My whole body shook with a mix of rage and trepidation. If Riley washurt, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop myself from killing Danny on the spot.

“Oh shit,” Miles' voice came through in almost a whisper and my gutlurched out of my throat.

Whatever he was seeing wasn’t going to be good.

I didn’t need to ask what was happening. I spun the car onto BridgeStreet to come face to face with the devastation.

Up ahead, Danny’s Audi was on the roof, and an abandoned van witha smashed up front end was stopped nearby, smoke coming from the engine. From the van, at least ten men, all armed with guns and wearing balaclavas were creeping up on the wreckage of the Audi.

People were running on the street, looks of horror on their faces asthey watched the scene unfold and tried to find somewhere to take cover. I slammed on the brakes next to Miles’ car, he had already got out with his own weapon in hand.

Hendrix chucked a gun at me which I grabbed with one hand, despitehaving two strapped to me, and I launched myself out of the car with Hendrix and Frank behind me.

Thanks to the positioning of the van and the screams and chaossurrounding us with the people on the street, we were able to fire off a few rounds and take down two of the balaclava men before they even noticed we were there, but at the sound of our weapons firing, the remaining men turned and started firing towards us.

The four of us broke apart, ducking for cover behind parked cars.Shots were fired in all directions and the screams around us got louder as people rushed to take cover inside restaurants and shops. I fired off a couple of shots, hitting two of the cunts directly in the head who were firing back at me and watching with sick pleasure as they fell to the floor.

My attention caught on one of the cunts who was crouching down bythe side of the Audi, arms stretched out to reach inside. I glanced over at Frank, Hendrix, and Miles, the three of them popping off rounds, engaged in a battle with the masked men.

My vision became tunneled, focusing only on the Audi where I hopedRiley was. Deciding the three of them had it in hand, I ran towards the Audi, firing a bullet straight into the heart of one of the men who turned his gun on me as I darted between parked vehicles to get to the overturned car.

The bastard who was crouched down hadn’t heard me coming, toofixated on pulling a lifeless Riley from the car. Fury like I’d never felt before burned through me, I had never been this enraged, not even when I was told the news about Theo.

Riley’s eyes were closed and her body was limp, her shoulder pokingout at a funny angle, and blood pouring from a gash in her head.I wasn’t a religious man, far from it. But at that moment, I offered up aprayer, asking for her not to be dead. I didn’t deserve to be given anything, but Riley had her whole life ahead of her and she was such a good, pure soul. She didn’t deserve this life I had dragged her into.

The masked man tugged her the rest of the way out of the car,oblivious to the gunfight going on around him or the fact he was about to die. I grabbed his head from behind and slammed my fist into his jaw.He immediately dropped Riley and I winced at seeing her limp bodycrumple to the ground. But in my rage, all I could think about was ending the life of the prick who dared to put his hands on my girl.

He tried to stand up, but my punch had dazed him and I took theopportunity to pounce on him. I grabbed his head once again, only this time, instead of using my fists to do the damage, I smashed his head against the concrete again and again and again, letting him feel the full force of my wrath until there was nothing left other than a bloody mess.

His face was unrecognizable, and as he choked on his own bloodand took his last breath, I dragged his dead body away so I could get to Riley.I reached out and touched her delicate throat with two fingers, almostcrying aloud with relief when I felt a pulse. As gently as possible, I lifted her into my arms. Her eyes fluttered but they looked empty like she wasn’t really seeing me.

“Danny…..took…Angel,” she stuttered before her eyes closed again.

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