Smolder: Trojans MC (71 page)

Chapter Forty-Four

“Holy shit, you are working with the cops,” Marco said. “You know there are people out there who think you’re innocent, right?” He shook his head in disgust and spit on the floor.

“You’re a fucking traitor, Falcon,” Rubio said shaking his head from side to side.

“I’m not saying it again, get on the ground!” Grace shouted taking a step towards the three men. “Don’t even think about it,” Grace said as Marco’s hand hovered over his gun. “Keep your hands up!”

Sirens echoed through the forest and the three men turned to look towards the clubhouse as the realization spread over their faces.

“Tell the men in there to surrender,” Falcon said to the boss, staring him right in the eye. “There’s no need for them to die needlessly.”

“They won’t be dying needlessly,” Ernie answered. His voice was low and dangerous and Falcon could see Ernie’s beady little eyes as he searched for some way out. “They’ll be dying for the Screaming Eagles; they’ll be fighting for their brothers and their loyalty. Don’t try to understand it, Falcon. You’re a traitor. You only think about yourself. Those men aren’t dying because of me. They’re dying because of you, because you’re a traitor and you sold them out.”

Falcon tightened his grip on the gun. He had the other man in his sights, the gun was aimed right at his chest. This could all be over so quickly, just a couple of pulls on the trigger and the boss would be done. But Falcon forced himself to relax. He didn’t want Ernie to die; he wanted Ernie to go to jail. He wanted that man to spend his life in a tiny cement box. Falcon wanted him to never see the sun again.

Grace and Falcon were staring down the other three, but no one was moving. This might not end as cleanly as Falcon had hoped. Without warning Ernie dodged right and hid behind Rubio’s bulk. Falcon aimed, but he didn’t want to hit Rubio to get at Ernie. He was trying to think about what to do next when Ernie suddenly pushed Rubio forward. Marco fired two shots that went wild as the larger man fell forward and Ernie raced from behind him. Falcon aimed and fired at Marco sinking two slugs in the other man’s chest. But while he was distracted Ernie had run towards Grace and tackled her to the ground.

Falcon spun around and aimed his gun at Ernie, but he was too late. Grace was on the ground staring at Ernie who had a gun pointed right at her face.

“Stop thinking you’re smarter than me!” Ernie screamed at Falcon, but his gun was still aimed at Grace. “You cannot beat me. You will not beat me, you stupid idiot!” Ernie was shaking all over his gun was rattling in his hands, but he was close enough to Grace that his aim didn’t matter.

Grace’s eyes flicked from Ernie to Falcon and he could see the fear in her eyes; she was trying to hide it, but her bright green eyes showed him everything.

“It’s over, Ernie,” Falcon said advancing on the other man. “The cops are coming; no one is getting out of here alive. They know about the bunker.”

Ernie’s head turned to Falcon’s and his eyes went wide. “You don’t know anything.”

“I know there’s a bunker door about two feet from where you’re standing and there are enough drugs and guns and evidence down there to take you out. I know and the cops know. It’s over.”

“I say when it’s over!” Ernie screamed. “Do you have any idea how much work and planning I’ve put into this. This is a lifetime of work and I’m not letting some foot soldier traitor take it all away from me!”

“This was never going to last,” Grace said. “Gangs never do. You’re long overdue for this and you know it. Just surrender and save the lives of your men.”

“Shut up!” Ernie said to her. “You think I care about the opinion of some pig who’s fucking a traitor? I can see the way the two of you look at each other. It’s disgusting, you should never mix business with pleasure you morons.” Ernie took a few deep breaths and he looked between Falcon and Grace.

“Let her go, Ernie. They’ll give you the chair if you shoot a cop,” Falcon warned.

Ernie nodded and he leered at Falcon, “You want her to live, Falcon? You get attached to this slut cop? You know she’s using you, right? You think you’re gonna be some hero? I know how the cops work. It’s one and done; they get everything they want and then they hang you out to dry.”

“What do you want, Ernie?” Falcon asked.

“I want you to take that gun you have in your hand, turn it to your face and fire.”

“What?” Falcon demanded.

“Kill yourself, Falcon. Right in front of me. Put that gun against your temple and pull the trigger. You end your life and she can keep hers. That seems like a fair trade to me.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Grace said.

“Do it, or I kill her.”

“How am I supposed to trust that you won’t shoot her after?” Falcon demanded.

“Falcon, don’t even think about it. It’s ridiculous,” Grace said.

“I give you my word,” Ernie said. “And you can trust me, Falcon. I’m not the traitor. You are.”

He needed to do something, but what? He needed to get Grace out of this alive and unharmed, but how? Suddenly Falcon wished he were smarter. He wished he was the kind of guy who could twist words around to convince people to do something or be the kind of guy who could come up with some out of left field solution.

But Grace was that guy, or girl. Her plan with the pigeons had been genius and Falcon could never have thought of anything like that. He wasn’t the smart guy or the clever guy. So who was he? He was the guy who won the weekly fights, but he couldn’t punch Ernie. He could shoot him, though. His mind sped through the various permutations of his idea in seconds. It might work, it might not. He needed to shoot Ernie, but not kill him. He needed to shoot Ernie, without Ernie shooting Grace. He needed to do a lot of things all at once and he needed to do it now. He stared at Ernie and watched him.

“What are you waiting for, you coward? You really want her to die for you?”

It happened in a split second, Ernie gestured only slightly with his gun, but it was enough. He moved the gun off of Grace’s head for one second and in that one second Falcon shot, hitting Ernie right in the center of his right foot.

The man screamed and toppled over and Grace sprang up, grabbing his gun and pointing at him as he writhed on the ground, holding his foot in his hand.

“Are you all right?” Falcon asked Grace as he ran up to her.

“I’m fine,” she said, holding her gun on Ernie. “Cuff him,” she said. Falcon grabbed her handcuffs from her back pocket and wrenched the boss’ arms behind his back and cuffed him.

“Let me go! Fight me like a man! I will not be taken alive. Falcon, you coward! I’ll get you! You can never run from me. I am everywhere.”

“Let’s see you be everywhere from a prison cell with all your men locked up with you,” Falcon said as he hauled the boss to his feet. The other man limped on his shot foot, but he was able to stand and Falcon pulled him out of the ruins and towards the sound of sirens at the clubhouse.

Grace was behind him, but the trees were blocking everything. They couldn't see anything, but soon, they could hear it. The sound of loud popping noises and screaming overpowered the sirens. It had turned into a firefight at the clubhouse.

Falcon hurried down the path, dragging Ernie behind him as the other man cursed and insulted him. But Falcon wasn’t listening. The trees in front of him were thick and he knew they would be up until the driveway. Above him he saw the chain that went across the path and he tossed Ernie over it and jumped the chain, picking up his boss and running towards the sounds of gunfire with Grace hot on his heels.

Chapter Forty-Five

The parking lot in front of him was filled with police cars and big, black SWAT vans. Falcon took one step into the parking lot and was immediately pushed back into the woods as bullets struck the ground right in front of his feet. He jerked back into the woods pulling the boss with him.

“We need some cover here!” Grace shouted into the fray. There were two officers taking cover behind a cop car and they nodded at Grace. In a minute they created cover and Grace and Falcon and Ernie ran across the parking lot and hid with the other officers behind the bullet-ridden police car.

It was chaos in the lot. He could see the bodies of dead Screaming Eagles in front of the clubhouse. Injured cops were being led into waiting ambulances as more arrived to take the injured. A small fire had broken out in the dumpster. It was loud with bullets and screaming and sirens and it showed no signs of abating.

“Put them in a car and get them out of here!” Grace shouted to her partner. Mike grabbed Ernie by the arm, but Falcon stopped.

“I’m not going with him,” Falcon said to Grace. “I’m staying here and finishing this.”

“Falcon, you can’t,” Grace said. “You’re still injured and you’re not a cop. You need to go back to the precinct.”

“No,” Falcon said. “I’m finishing this.”

“They’ll be looking for you, Falcon. They’ll be aiming for you. This is way too dangerous. Please just go with Mike.”

“I know my way around that clubhouse better than anyone,” Falcon said. “I can help you and I’m not done yet.”

Finally, Grace nodded at him and Mike hauled Ernie off and Falcon watched as Ernie was put into the back of a police cruiser. He couldn’t believe it. It had actually happened, he had arrested Ernie, and now it was time to get the rest of them.

“Okay,” Falcon said quickly. “There’s another exit out the back, but that’s it. No tunnels or anything like that. Most of them will be clustered in the bar itself, but it’s dangerous to move through the front door. To the left and the right are barracks where men can wait and slaughter anyone who goes through. They’ve created a bottleneck and you have to move past that to get inside. So how do we move in?”

“We take out the wall,” Grace said. “We take out the front wall and create two points of entry with men standing in the back. The road is closed in either direction. We’ll get them all.” She started barking orders into her radio and Falcon ducked as a sudden barrage of bullets came out at them. Those poor Screaming Eagles, they were fighting for a losing cause. They were going to die in there and they didn’t deserve this.

“Let me talk to them,” Falcon said grabbing Grace by the arm and spinning her around.

“What?”

“Let me talk to them, let me give them the option of surrender. Promise me you’ll be lenient if they surrender.”

“All right,” Grace said. “But they’ll still face charges.”

“All right,” Falcon said.

He took a deep breath as he peered over at the clubhouse. He was ducked behind a police car, but he could see men in the clubhouse moving behind the windows. Grace came back and handed him the bullhorn and Falcon stood and pushed the trigger-like button.

A loud screech echoed out around the suddenly silent parking lot. Falcon was acutely aware that every eye was on him, everyone was waiting to hear what he would say. “You’re surrounded,” he said into the bullhorn. “There’s no way out. The cops are coming in and they don’t care how many of you are going to die. They’re taking the clubhouse out, but you don’t have to go down with it. This isn’t about you; it’s about Ernie. He was the one who planned everything and he was the one who got rich from your work and sacrifice. You’ve given him enough; don’t give him your lives. If you come out now, you won’t be shot and the police have promised to be lenient to those who surrender. You have your whole lives in front of you; you don’t have to die today.”

He put the bullhorn down and waited and for a moment, but nothing happened. He felt like a fool, he would be the only one to surrender. But then, the front door pushed open and six, then ten men came out with their hands up. They threw down their guns and were quickly pulled behind the lines.

It had been a distraction, too. While he had been speaking members of the SWAT team decked out in green cameo had crawled through the undergrowth and planted dynamite at the base of the building. They waited, but no one else came out. They waited more, but there was nothing. The explosives have been set; there was no need to wait now.

Everyone got into position and Falcon stood next to Grace; his gun was loaded and he had strapped on a bulletproof vest. Together Falcon and Grace moved with the second wave of SWAT team members flowing into the building.

Inside it was a smoky, hazy mess. There were overturned tables and chairs and broken furniture and a small fire blazed in one corner. Falcon hardly recognized the place. The SWAT team had taken care of the guards by the door, but now there was a contingent behind the bar determined to die in a firefight.

Falcon and Grace took cover behind a table and then moved to the far wall. They thought they were safe, they thought the last hold-outs were behind the wall, but they had been wrong. The Screaming Eagles had a second wave planned, as well. Members had been waiting upstairs and then they ran down the stairs and poured into the clubhouse. Suddenly there was a wall of very angry bikers between Grace and Falcon and the rest of the police.

Falcon pulled Grace down behind a table and threw himself on top of her as bullets whizzed past them. Then, as one, they moved. Falcon rolled over and Grace came up ready to shoot and she took out two Screaming Eagles and Falcon got the third.

A fourth came running over and aimed a kick at Grace who tried to block it, but he was fast and she yelled out as the kick connected with her ribs. Falcon’s clip was empty and he charged at the other man, knocking him over and hitting him in the forehead with his gun. He was out and Falcon turned to see Grace punching at another Screaming Eagle who managed to hit her right in her left eye, but Grace used it as an opportunity to uppercut him and then slam his head into her knee.

Heaving and out of breath Falcon turned, his fists clenched, looking to see who would be next. But it was over. The SWAT team had taken everyone out and someone was spraying down the fire in the corner. The men and women who had lived were lined up on the ground as they were quickly cuffed and taken out to the paddy wagon.

“We did it,” he said turning to face her.

She nodded up at him as she holstered her gun. “Good job,” she said.

He could see a smear of blood underneath her eye and he knew she would have a terrible bruise there come morning. But she was alive and she would be fine soon enough and that was all that mattered.

“You, too,” Falcon replied. He pointed to his own eye and said, “Nice shiner.”

She smiled and shook her head as they looked around the rapidly clearing room. It was over. Finally, and once and for all, it was over. And Falcon wasn’t a victim and he wasn’t going to jail. He had looked out for himself and for the first time he had come out on top.

It was the best day of his life, but it was the worst, too. This was it. Falcon Marks was done. His last act was taking down his former gang. It wasn’t too bad of a way to go out. He looked over at Grace who was watching prisoners as they were brought into the paddy wagon. Their eyes met over the carnage and she smiled at him and he smiled back. She was sweaty, there was a smear of dirt across her forehead, her arms were crossed, and she looked beautiful. It wasn’t bad that he was spending his last day as Falcon Marks with her.