Page 77 of Grim

Chapter 25

Grim

The Saints tore into the lot at full throttle, engines screaming, headlights cutting through smoke that hadn’t been there when they left. The air tasted wrong — burnt, metallic, thick enough to choke on.

Stone’s bike skidded to a stop, gravel spraying. “Shut it down,” he barked, already ripping off his helmet.

Grim’s heart hammered against his ribs. The clubhouse door hung off its hinges. Windows were blown out. Smoke curled from the shattered frame in dark, rolling waves. Bullet holes pocked the siding like a swarm had torn through it.

Havoc’s voice cracked. “Ledger said breach… but this—”

Rook didn’t wait. He sprinted toward the entrance. “Switchblade! Brick! Ledger!”

Fish swept the perimeter, eyes sharp, jaw locked. “Multiple entry points hit. They knew exactly where to strike.”

But Grim was already moving.

He ran for the door, boots pounding over broken glass, smoke clawing at his lungs. Every breath burned. Every step felt too slow.

“Sophia!” he roared, voice tearing out of him. “Sophia!”

The ruined hallway swallowed the sound.

He rounded the corner just as Brick and Ledger stumbled out of the safe room, coughing, covered in soot and dust. Brick’s arm bled freely. Ledger’s glasses were cracked, his tablet clutched to his chest like he’d crawled through fire to keep it safe.

Brick’s voice shook. “They took her.”

The world stopped.

Grim’s heart slammed once, hard, then seemed to forget how to beat.

Ledger swallowed, voice shaking. “Reapers. They hit us fast. Switchblade tried to protect her. He—he didn’t make it.”

Grim staggered, breath ripping out of him like a wound. His knees nearly buckled.

Behind them, Vandal stumbled out, soot-covered, shaking, eyes wild. “They blew the gate before I could radio it in…there were too many of them.”

The words barely registered through the roaring in Grim’s ears.

Stone stepped into the hall. Havoc and Rook flanked him, both breathing hard, both taking in the destruction with growing fury.

“Grim—” Stone started.

But Ledger suddenly froze.

His tablet, cracked and smeared with soot, buzzed in his hand.

He looked down.

His face drained of color.

“Fuck,” he whispered. “I’ve got footage. Internal cams auto-backed to the tablet before the system fried.”

Grim’s head snapped toward him. “Show me.”

Ledger hesitated for a fraction of a second, then tapped the screen.

The hallway fell silent except for the distant crackle of fire, a low and hungry sound that seemed to breathe with the ruined building.