Page 1 of Reaper Razed

Steel

There’s a screech of tyres outside. I jump up and run to the door, flinging myself down the stairs as the van pulls to a stop at the bottom. Dice is hanging half out of the window.

“Visitor for the barn!” He nods as he speeds off along the track.

I message Ares to let him know they’re back and heading to the barn. As I jog around the side of the clubhouse, he comes out the back door, followed by Priest and Roach.

Priest had been driving the town car, which had taken them to the event, then he had returned the car and headed back here to give us the lowdown on what had happened so far.

Pushing into the barn, Dice is getting some ropes and a chair sorted. I fling the back of the van open and freeze.

Bernie pushes me back and raises his finger to his lips. The judge is bound, gagged and blindfolded.

“Outside, now!” I snarl. I start pacing as soon as the barn doors shut. “Where the fuck is she?”

“We ran into a little… trouble. She stayed to cause a distraction so we could get the judge away, let’s get him strapped up, and we can head down to the club house, and I will fill you all in.”

“Make it quick, Bernie. I’m about to lose my fucking shit if I don’t get eyes on my wife in the next ten fucking minutes!” I turn on my heels and stomp back to the clubhouse.

I’m sitting at the bar when Bernie, Ares, Dice and Priest arrive. Obviously, they must have left Roach holding the fort, watching the judge. Without looking in their direction, I spit, “Someone better start talking and get me eyes on my wife before I lose it.”

“Tech room, we'll sort through it all in there,” Ares says as Dice rushes off ahead to power everything up. The screens flutter to life as we enter the room.

“Just gimme a sec. I’m gonna pull up all the footage we’ve been recording, and we can rewind it back from live. “Where were you at, Bernie?”

“Escape route three, fifth-floor balcony. We jumped onto the balcony of the next building as we got cornered by a… minor issue. Ray stayed to hold them off.”

There isn’t much space in the room, but I’m still managing to pace the fuck out of it. “What the fuck do you call a minor issue, Bernie?”

“There were eight guys, full tactical, who stormed the building, but Dice saw them first and informed us, and we made a clean getaway. Ray held them off, and she’s gonna circle back and meet us at Rendezvous Two, which is here.”

“You left her to fucking fend for herself with eight guys? Are you fucking kidding me, Bernie?”

“Woah! Woah!” Ares tries to calm the room, and by the room, I mean fucking me! It’s at this point I realise I’ve got Bernie round the throat against the door, taking a breath and relaxing my hand.

He reaches up and puts his hands on my shoulders. “Don’t worry, son, she’s got this.”

“Bernie, if anything happens to her, I’ll never forgive myself for letting her go.”

“Erm, guys… we may have a problem. I’ve searched all the surrounding cams, and they’ve all had the feeds cut. I’m rewinding the alley cam now…”

We all stop and just stare at the monitors, but there’s nothing. “Keep going. You’ve been back, what? An hour? Speed it up!” I spit at Dice, and he just nods.

The screen fuzzes and buzzes as he speeds it up. I'm really starting to panic now.

“That’s us all on the balcony,” Bernie points out. “There was a guy shouting from the hallway. I jumped, and she sent the judge after me, then went back after the guy… look.”

We all stare at the screen. We have just seen the two of them leap across. Well, the judge was thrown across unceremoniously and dragged back onto the balcony by Bernie, but Ray clearly went back inside after throwing him her shoes. A few frames later, we see her run, jump up onto the railing and leap…

We are surrounded by gasps at what we see. Ray leaps from the railing as a guy grabs for her, missing her, but manages to grab the bottom of the dress, causing her to swing around upside down and slam into the railings…

“Shit!”

“Motherfucker!”

“Hades!”

“Bastard!”

---