Black Dogs Motorcycle Club: Full Series Box Set (21 page)

~ EIGHTEEN ~

For
a few seconds, Jase could only stare at his phone while the shock processed in
his brain. Everything else was faraway and muffled. Jase felt something inside
him awaken. It spread a new rage throughout his veins and suddenly he was aware
of everything in sharp, crystal detail.

Before he realized it, he had stalked
halfway across the clearing. Henry
’
s
arguments with the hostage-taker suddenly ceased as the men in the masks
shouted, questioning, hoisting their guns up in alarm. But Jase wasn’t after
them, not at that moment. Henry shouted his name but he didn’t turn, didn’t
even slow his pace.

Drake watched him approach like a deer
frozen in headlights. The cigarette in his lips fell to the ground as he tried
to get out a cry of fear, or surrender
—
Jase
didn’t care which.

Jase had a good four inches, and fifty
pounds, on Drake
’
s more slender
frame. With full force, he shoved his fists into Drake
’
s
chest and sent him flying into the dirt with both feet upended. Drake tried to
scramble away, but Jase was on him quickly. He lowered a rib-crushing knee into
Drake
’
s chest and pummeled his
face with punches. The second one shattered his sunglasses, cutting his face
and Jase
’
s knuckles, making
every hit a bloody mess.

The clearing erupted into confused chaos.
Henry and Beck rushed over, yelling Jase
’
s
name. The masked men yelled at each other, jumpy, waiting for orders.

Over the din, Jase heard one of them yell:
“We
’
re
made, let
’
s get the fuck out
of here!
”

“Trigger go!”
said
another.

Jase looked up and saw the masked men
retreating towards the first van. The second van
’
s
sliding door popped and began to open.

“
Get down!”
yelled Jase to Henry. He pulled his sidearm and started firing off shots at the
second van. Someone inside stopped the door halfway and tried to push it closed
again, shouting and cursing. Two of the masked men opened fire with their M5s,
and sent Jase scrambling off of Drake
’
s
beaten body to take cover behind his bike. He saw Henry and Beck hunkered down
on the side of the MC
’
s
van, guns out, trying to keep the gunmen in the second van from emerging. Jase
’
s
instincts had been right. They didn’t bring Maggie; they brought a kill squad.

“
Get the money, get the
money!
”

From the side of the rear tire, Jase
watched one of the mask men make a desperate sliding run for the bag of money
Henry had dropped. Jase wriggled onto his stomach and took a few clean shots at
the runner. One round pegged him in the carotid artery and the man dropped,
blood gushing out of his neck.

Reloaded, the masked men opened fire again
and pressed Jase down hard enough that he couldn’t come out from behind the
bike. One of them must have grabbed the money bag, because suddenly the rear
doors slammed shut and the van
’
s
engines roared up. On cue, all three of the Black Dogs came from around their
cover and began to open fire on the vans as they spun out in the clearing,
trying to escape.

Jase jumped to his feet and fired off the
rest of his mag as he followed the van on foot. He heard a few desperate pings
against the metal of the second van
’
s
body.

A motorcycle revved up behind him, and
Jase turned in time to see Henry speed by him, chasing the vans down. He came
up hard and fast on the second van, lagging behind almost four car-lengths on
the dirt road. Jase heard the pop of Henry
’
s
gun over the roaring engines, followed by the unmistakable blast of a tire
blowing out. He watched as the van began to fishtail, brakes squealing as
someone stomped them with a heavy, panicked foot. It swerved hard left into a
shallow embankment on the side of the country road, and then flipped twice
side-over-side with a cacophony of crushing metal and shattered glass. The
first van didn’t even slow, disappearing beyond the trees towards the highway.

Jase ran over to Beck, already on the
phone with the sheriff.
“
Out the way they
came. Money should be on them. We need troopers down here, too.
”
He hung up and looked at Jase.
“
What
the fuck happened?
”

His heart still racing, Jase
’
s
voice came out shaking with adrenaline.
“Drake. He
’
s
working with them.
”

“Oh Christ,”
said Beck. He
looked around Jase
’
s
shoulder to ensure Drake hadn’t moved from where Jase left him bloodied in the
dirt.
“
Pick
him up and get him in the van before the sheriff comes, we’ll deal with him.
”

“
I have to go after
Maggie,
”
said Jase.
“
Will
and Ghost are pinned down at those coordinates. That has to be their hideout. I
have to get there before
…”
He
didn’t finish.

“Go,”
said Beck with a pat on
his shoulder.
“We’ll
be right behind you.
”

While Jase revved up his bike, Beck moved
the MC
’
s van to the site of the
crash. He and Henry waited like vultures in case any of them survived it and
tried to make a break before the sheriff arrived. Jase slowed his bike down as
he approached, but Henry only shook his head wildly and waved for Jase to move
on. Jase gave a confirming salute before he lay on the throttle and tore up the
dirt road towards the highway.

Jase followed the coordinates Will and
Ghost had been checking out and found they led to an old industrial facility in
the hills just off the interstate, tucked in a gully with steep faces on three
sides. The main building was a monstrous thing of dusty concrete and faded
paint. Two relocatable trailers sat on its perimeters, windows broken out,
shingles flapping in the breeze. He didn’t see a single car or person roaming
around outside.

Jase wheeled his bike as close as he dared
to one of the relocatable trailers before shutting it down and continuing on
foot. His stomach went cold when he realized he didn’t hear the sounds of
gunfire which had been on the other end of Will
’
s
call.

Weapon out, Jase sneaked around the first
trailer. He saw no movement. The second trailer was offset and too far over
open ground to make a run for safely. Instead Jase crept for a small one-car
maintenance garage. As he approached he saw movement within and decided to go
in hot.

Jase plunged into the garage with his
weapon raised and found two similar 9mms pointed in his own face. Behind them
were Will and Ghost, eyes wild, but alive.

“Jase!”
said Will and lowered his
gun with a deep exhale.
“
Fuck, I was hoping
it was one of you when that bike came up the canyon.
”

“
Things have gone to shit
real fast,
”
said Jase.

“
We wouldn’t know anything
about that,
”
said Ghost with a
sardonic laugh. The pale, bald-headed rookie showed a lot of promise for the MC
—
mostly
due to his skilled applications of violence. Will accepted but didn’t enjoy
battle; Ghost couldn’t
stop smiling.
“
You
have any extra ammo on you?
”

He handed them both two mags from the six
he had brought from his saddle bag.
“
Did
you both just threaten me with empty guns?
”
said
Jase. 

Ghost just chuckled to himself and
reloaded.

“
Are you the only one
coming?
”
said Will.

“Calvary's
on the way. The
drop went bad after your call. One van is down, the other was making a run for
it. They didn’t have Maggie with them. She has to be here,
”
said Jase.
“
Have
you had eyes on her?
”

“
No, but there is only one
working entrance to that big building, and thank Christ for that. It
’s
the only reason we didn’t
get flanked,
”
said Will.
“
We
rode up and there was nothing
—
no
cars, no guards. We thought we had the wrong place, or maybe they had moved
shop. We got inside about a hundred feet and someone saw our cuts and called
out for Drake.
”

Jase
’
s
teeth ground in anger.
“
They were waiting
for that little prick to come back. No wonder they’ve had the drop on us at
every turn. Drake has known where to find Maggie since she got here.
”

“
Bet our little wheeler
and dealer was going to get a sweet cut of that ransom,
”
said Ghost.

“
Well, the dude who
spotted us inside was just as shocked as we were
—
at
least enough that we got off a few shots and made it out of the building. Then
shit just
… got crazy.”
Will
shook his head and reloaded his gun.

“
Had us pinned for a bit
behind some dumpsters by that other trailer,
”
said
Ghost with a point.
“
Dudes only ever
came out of that door, so it left us room to retreat. They holed up back inside
after.
”

“
How many?
”

“
I only counted four that
came out after us,
”
said
Ghost.

“
By now they might know
the drop is fucked and try to leave. If the first van lost the cops, though,
they would be on their way here with more gunmen,
”
said
Jase.
“
We
should go in now while there
’
s
a chance we can overtake them. We have to get Maggie out of there.
”

“
Waiting only gives them
time to plan for us,
”
said
Ghost.
“I
’
m
in, let
’
s do this.
”

Will nodded, determined.
“On
your lead, Jase.”

Thirty seconds later, Jase directed them
out of the maintenance garage and off to different positions behind cover to
make a staggered move on the factory door. The last twenty feet, with no
structures to hide behind, had to be sprinted in the open.

Once all three of them gathered up at the
door, Will said,
“
The pathways
around the machinery are narrow and straight. At ten o
’
clock
high there’s a foreman
’
s
office that overlooks the floor, someone on the stairs there spotted us.
”

“
We didn’t get to scout right,
but there
’
s some kind of
storage rooms back there. Gunmen definitely came from that direction, so
something
’
s back there,
”
said Ghost.