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POP. POP.
More bullets.
“Put your guns down!” someone shouts from farther down the hill.
Sky and I are the first to turn around, just in time to see a large group of gunmen rushing to join us around the mausoleum.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Spike blurts out before turning his weapon on them, but Sky taps the barrel and forces him to put it down.
“Don’t,” he says. “We’re outnumbered.”
He sounds eerily calm. He’s looking at them as they come up the hill, yet his gaze also keeps wandering somewhere past the cemetery gates. Once I realize what it is that’s got Sky’s attention, I make a point of sounding the order for the whole club.
“Do as he says!”
I’m met with grumbling discontent, yet our guys know better than to disobey a direct order from one of us.
“Ariana!” Kendric grunts as he reaches her, quick to take her in his arms in a bid to keep her as safe as possible for what’s coming next.
“I take it Masterson failed to check in,” one of the surviving gunmen says as he retrieves his weapon from the ground. His colleagues do the same, trying not to look at their dead partner.
“Masterson isn’t checking in anywhere, ever again,” I reply.
Within seconds, we’re surrounded by the Black Hand. I can’t see all of them, but I am well aware that we are indeed outnumbered, just like Sky said. There must be at least thirty of them, and we know at least one of our men is down, his shoulder blown out. I can see the finish line for this whole debacle from where I’m standing, but the next few minutes will be crucial in how it all plays out.
27
Ariana
It’s like a nightmare that never ends.
With every step that I take closer to freedom, I’m equally closer to death. It’s a sick game of whack-a-mole, and my arms are getting tired. Adrenaline is the only thing that keeps me upright at this point. My breath is ragged. My heart is broken a million times over. For a moment, I felt safe again.
As soon as I saw Sky, Spike, Raylan, and the other MC members climbing up, their guns ready to blast these bastards out of this life, I dared hope we might survive this after all.
It only took a few seconds for fate to show me that it was anything but over.
The nightmare persists, and I am still in the middle of it. My unborn child and I, helpless and paralyzed, wrapped in Kendric’s strong arms, wondering if we were going to make it. I can’t move. I can only watch as the cabal’s army rises from the shadows—heavily armed black ops specialists, from what I can tell.
They move like panthers while the Steel Knights reluctantly put their weapons down. I’m not sure it was the right call, but then again, there are more of the Black Hand than there are Steel Knights. Sky is just trying to buy some time and hopefully secure the survival of at least some of us. But the stench of death and turmoil hangs heavily in the air tonight. I can’t see a way out anymore.
Somewhere beyond these tombstones, the city of Everton sleeps, tossing and turning and worrying about what tomorrow might bring. I’m not sure there is a tomorrow left for us, however.
“Masterson is dead,” one of the henchmen declares upon reaching the mausoleum. “We were the kill-switch.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re here,” the first gunman mutters, giving me a side-eye that’s brimming with contempt. “And so is our target.”
“What can we give you in exchange for letting Ariana go?” Sky asks, calmly holding his hands up while his eyes follow the first gunman like a hawk.
“Troy, just kill her and get it over with,” the second henchman says.
Troy rolls his eyes and lets a frustrated sigh leave his chest. “I am so fucking tired of this,” he mutters. “Had Masterson not been such an entitled asshole, none of us would be here tonight.”
“Let her live,” Sky insists. “We’ll give you whatever you want, including what we got out of Henry David’s safe. I’m sure there’s evidence there that your bosses would want to see disappear.”
Troy stills just as he begins to head my way. I know Kendric won’t let go of me, but that will only get the both of us killed. “Hold on, you got into his safe?” Troy asks, unable to hide his piqued interest.
“All three of them,” Sky replies.
