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Credence shook his head, tugging the collar of his shirt up over his nose and mouth.
“I don’t have answers for you, brother. Vlad and Crash took over the watch for me an hour ago. I tried to get some shut eye. The next thing I knew, my room was lit up like the Fourth of July.”
Liss stumbled out of the bedroom, coughing as she tugged her boots on. I hooked an arm around her and tucked her into my side. Her brother was out there, waiting to grab her as soon as she showed her face. With the clubhouse burning down around us, we didn’t have a choice. Either we roasted alive in here like barbecue, or we escaped the clubhouse and walked right into Coleman’s trap.
I tightened my grip on my Glock.
“I’m waiting, Big G!” Coleman shouted. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
The building groaned. The ceiling crackled. Liss glanced up at me through the haze, her beautiful brown eyes rimmed with red, because of tears or smoke I couldn’t tell. As long as I had breath in my body, I would do everything I could to protect this woman.
“Lead the way, Credence,” I said.
Liss and I followed him through the clubhouse. As we made our way into the main bar area, I could make out figures among the smoke, beating back the flames, but it was a losing battle. I hugged Liss tight, attempting to shield her from the heat as fire slithered up the walls and blackened the ceiling.
“Everybody out!” I bellowed over the roar of the fire. “And stay sharp. We’ve got company.”
If we had any chance in hell of surviving this, we had to stick together. I did a headcount as everyone filed by on their way through the door—Baby Doll, Gatling, Tex, Hot Shot. Crash and Vlad were nowhere in sight, but they’d been on watch, so they probably weren’t in the building. In the back of my mind, I worried something had happened to them since they didn’t raise the alarm.
Kingpin wasn’t among the group either, and that nagged at me. We needed our President, our leader.
To my right, a ceiling beam crumpled and hit the floor in a shower of cinders and sparks.
There was no time to search for Kingpin. We had to get out or die trying.
I grasped Liss’s hand and pulled her out the door with me. Cool night air washed over us after the relentless heat of the fire. I gulped in a deep, clean breath.
“At last,” Coleman said. “The gang’s all here.”
In the wan glow of the street light, Kingpin knelt on the pavement with his hands behind his head. Coleman stood over him, aiming a pistol at Kingpin’s temple. Crash huddled on the floor a few feet away, clutching his head as blood streamed through his fingers.
The other Blackjacks formed a semi-circle around Coleman like wolves waiting to attack. A horde of junkies shifted restless behind him, some armed with Molotov cocktails. Others held an array of weapons—from baseball bats and crowbars, to pistols. Fifteen of them against our eleven.
In the diner, Coleman had been outnumbered, three to one.
Now we were the ones with the odds against us.
“Let him go, son,” Blackbeard growled. “This is a mistake you won’t be able to come back from.”
“Shut up,” Coleman snapped. He flicked his gaze toward me. “You have my sister. I want her back.”
Liss shivered. She was only wearing a tank top instead of her customary layers. Now that we were away from the fire’s heat, the chill of the night was more prominent. I rubbed her arm and squeezed her tighter.
“Liss isn’t going anywhere with you,” I said.
Coleman sucked his teeth in frustration.
“You don’t get it, dumbass. I will execute your motherfucking President if you don’t do as I say. You’re not the one holding all the cards here. I am. I have the power. Not you. Now, hand over my goddamn sister!”
My gaze settled on Kingpin. He gave the slightest shake of his head.
Don’t do it. Don’t cave to this bastard.
Easy for him to say. I was faced with an impossible choice.
Surrender my President and the leader of our club—our family.
Or surrender the woman I loved.
