Page 82 of Tico

“Wire, how are we looking for timing?”I ask and after a few seconds, he responds.

“Wait for my signal, they’re almost in position.”

“You should have fucking obeyed me, bitch. Now you’re going to pay.”

My blood runs cold at Jerry’s hard, emotionless voice and I narrow my eyes.

“No more waiting.”

Rounding the corner, my vision turns red when I see Jerry holding a gun to Ember’s forehead. I raise my gun and fire. Behind me, I hearmis hermanos(my brothers) firing off their own rounds while being cautious of the captives, who thankfully are mostly huddled into corners or under beds.

“Ah!” Jerry cries out as my bullet slams into his shoulder.

He falls off Ember and I turn, shooting again and hitting Rocco’s shoulder, who is standing over Lucian. He falls, clutching his shoulder as he glares at me, pointing at me.

“Kill him!” he yells right as Lucian rips his arms from behind his back and raises a gun to Rocco’s head.

“If anyone moves a muscle, Rocco dies.”

The Chrome Vipers and Oasis fuckers all hesitate, but withmis hermanos(my brothers) and Weber’s men all aiming our guns at them, they lower their weapons, dropping them to the floor.

My gaze locks on Ember, who had at some point grabbed someone’s gun and is pointing it at Jerry while her boot is stepping on his injured shoulder, making him wince in pain. It’s only then that I see the red running down her left arm and I quickly cross the room to her.

“Ember.” I pull her into my arms and hear her take a shuddery breath.

“I knew you’d come, Diego,” she whispers and I feel her body tremble against me.

“I’ll always come for you, Vicious.”

Pulling back, I look at her arm, relieved when I see that they’re just grazes. “Chief!” I call out and he’s quickly at my side, getting to work on her arm.

I turn, looking down at Jerry who is fighting the sedative with everything he has. Ember takes her foot off Jerry and I swiftly take her place, stepping on his injured shoulder while crouching down, aiming my gun at his face. Around me, the Fedsare gathering up the rest of the Chrome Vipers and Oasis men, handcuffing them and leading them out of the room.

“So, you’re thegüevón(asshole) who thought he could kidnap my Ol’ Lady and sell her.” I make a tsking sound as I lean harder on his shoulder and get out my brass knuckles. “That was a fucking dumb idea,güevón(asshole). Now, your ass is mine,” I seethe and swing, hitting him in the temple and knocking him out.

“This will do for now until I can properly clean it,” Chief says. “But so far, it doesn’t look like you’ll need stitches.”

Suddenly, Ember straightens and looks around. “Lena!” she calls out and then rushes towards a group of women.

One of them breaks away, sobbing as she clings to Ember. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but I don’t approach, not wanting to intrude. When they pull away, both women wipe tears from their eyes and Ember turns to me.

“Lena’s coming back with us. She was in the cell next to me. She was kidnapped almost a month ago from Sheboygan Falls.”

I look closer at her and then her face clicks in my memory. “You’re one of the ones they kidnapped from across the street from our bar. Our cameras caught it, but we couldn’t find you afterwards.”

Lena nods. “I was walking home from work when they grabbed me. I’d almost given up hope of being rescued until Ember came.”

Ember hugs her again and then bends down, picking up a set of keys off the floor.

“Let’s get the rest of them freed.”

Chief and I follow her around the room—me not ready to take my eyes off her while Chief quietly asks each woman if they have immediate medical needs. Other than minor scratches, they don’t seem to have any major injuries. Thank fuck.

“W-Where will we go?” one of the women asks as she huddles on one of the nearby bunk beds.

Weber steps up beside me. “If you don’t have family that you’d like to be reunited with, there is a battered spouses and children center in Wisconsin that has room if you want to go there. It is MC protected and it is also a place I can personally vouch for—I’ve been there several times and I know the founders,” he says and the woman’s eyes lock on his FBI badge hanging off his belt. “Otherwise, we can find you a different shelter if you would prefer.”

She wets her lips as she looks around at the other women who have gathered nearby, listening in. “About half of us were born into this.” She pauses and looks back at Weber. “This other club, are they good men? They won’t hurt us?”