Page 102 of Catcher

“Shut up.”

Tears fill his eyes. “They really took her?”

“And now we’re taking you.”

He starts shaking. “They’ll kill me.”

“Probably.”

“Please—”

I get in his face. “My woman is tied up somewhere because of you. My child is in danger because of you. Your father’s on an operating table because of you.” He sobs once. I feel nothing. Or maybe I feel too much, and it all looks like nothing now.

“I don’t wanna die today, man,” he whispers.

I drag him toward the door. “Death is a simple price for your sister’s life. For the child she carries. Two for two. My life and your life for theirs.” He stumbles beside me, half dragged, half walking. “And you don’t get to choose who lives tonight,” I say, shoving him forward. “Because I choose them.”

Downstairs, the clubhouse goes quiet when I come through, dragging him. Ruby’s mother isn’t here. She’s at the hospital with her husband. Good. She shouldn’t see this. Robby sees the armed women, Pops with the rifle, the brothers waiting by the door, and whatever hope he had left dies right there in his eyes.

I throw him into the back of the van so hard he crashes into the metal floor. He groans before I slam the doors and lock them from the outside. Riggs, Wick, and Nova roll out first on bikes. I climb into the van and grip the wheel. Everest, Fender, and Kiwi line up behind me. The compound gates open, then we ride.

We roll out of the city and straight toward darkness. The van hums under me, heavy and steady, while Robby shifts in back and mutters prayers I don’t care enough to hear. Headlights cut through rain and night. Ahead, the brothers ride like shadows, red taillights glowing, cuts rippling in the wind. Behind me, more thunder. This might be my last ride with them. The thought comes quietly, not dramatic, just a fact.

I always figure if I go out, it’ll be bloody. Some alley, some back road, my hands dirty, my heart empty, nobody losing much sleep over it except maybe the men wearing the same patch and my family. I didn’t figure it would be like this, going to save a woman who gave me back my life, a baby I haven’t met yet, but already owns every beat of what’s left in my chest, brothers riding with me because they don’t know how not to.

Ruby makes me breathe again.

The Kings give me ground to stand on.

If tonight takes me, at least I got to feel alive before it does.

The city falls away behind us. Roads narrow, lights vanish. The old fertilizer plant sits off River Road like a corpse left to rot with broken silos, collapsed metal roofing, fencing peeled back, concrete buildings with black windows, and rust crawling over everything. The stench hits the second I step out of the van—decay, chemical rot, and old oil. Several vehicles sit near the center yard with their headlights off, dark shapes against darker structures. Men stand around them, armed and waiting.

Too many.

Doesn’t matter.

I open the back of the van and drag Robby out. He nearly folds.

“Walk.”

“I can’t.”

I slam him against the side panel hard enough to rattle the doors. “Grow some fucking balls.”

His eyes dart toward the men in the distance. “I don’t wanna die.”

We move forward after that, Riggs and Wick flanking me, Nova on the other side, the rest fanning out behind us.

The man who steps forward from the line looks exactly like the kind of bastard who mistakes flash for power. Tall, broad, blond hair slicked back, a suit too expensive and bright for mud and rust, a gold watch catching what little light the night gives up, and polished shoes already sinking into grime. He’s dressed like a man who needs the world to believe he owns it. Then he speaks, “Well…” he says smoothly, “… look at what the Kings dragged in.”

The voice from the video.

Cold rage slides through me so fast it feels clean. “Show me, Ruby.”

He smiles as though this is entertainment. “Demanding?”

“Show me she’s alive.” For a second, only the wind moves through the broken metal. Then one of the men near a shattered doorway turns and jerks someone forward.