“Do you want to wait in the car with your brother?” I ask Ruby. Jameson volunteered to keep watch out here when the doc said she wasn’t coming in.
“No, I’m not leaving your side.” She shakes her head, placing her hand over my heart. “We finish this together like we planned.” She nods.
“Then let’s go before we miss all the fun.” Lily points to Loki and Koyn already breaching the entrance.
“Is there any point in asking you not to go in?” Jameson asks his sisters.
“No,” Lily answers for them, getting out of the car.
Popping the trunk, I offer Ruby a handgun from the selection stashed in there and snort when Lily helps herself to an assault rifle. “It’s bigger than you,” I point out.
“I can handle it.” She smirks.
“Stay behind me, okay? Don’t do anything reckless. This should be quick and painless.”
“I bet that’s what you say to all the girls,” Lily taunts.
“I hope not.” Ruby knocks me with her hip. It makes me breathe a little easier hearing her joking with her sister.
A couple shots fire out, echoing in the cavernous factory. “Let’s go,” Lily says, giddily worried she’s missing the fun.
Entering through the front door, a sea of brothers span out, checking every nook, door, and hiding spot. I lead myself, the girls, and a couple brothers, including Rage, through to where the meat locker is. “Empty.” Voices ring out, clearing the rooms.
“What’s that?” Rage asks, jerking his gun toward the giant freezer taking up the entire back wall.
“Fallaci’s torture room,” I grunt.
“Stay back.” Rage warns the girls. With a few hand movements, he points to the door then himself. I aim my gun at the door as he opens it but nothing is waiting behind it.
Stepping inside, I grip the handle of my gun, the pad of my finger caressing the trigger when Idiot comes into view. He’s sitting, holding a young boy in his lap, maybe fifteen years old.
“He killed him.” The choked croak is small from his voice.
“I don’t care,” I tell him honestly.
“Where are Fisher and his men?” Rage growls, coming in behind me.
“There are only three of them left. They took off on foot,” Idiot offers up. “I did it to save him.” He closes his eyes for a second. “You understand, right?” he asks, looking directly up at me.
Aiming my weapon at him, I say, “No,” and pop a slug into his eye socket.
“They’re running on foot,” Rage shouts through the factory. “We want Fisher alive. Kill the others.”
“Look what I found,” Halo says, waltzing up to me. He tosses my cut to me. “Back where it belongs.”
It’s crazy how naked you can feel not wearing your cut. This thing is part of my identity. I thought for sure that little cunt would have destroyed it.
“Put it on,” Ruby encourages, taking my gun from me so I can slip the cut into place. My stomach pulls tight, pain causing nausea and a little light-headedness. I’ve undone all the doctor’s good work tonight.
“It looks good,” Ruby sighs, stroking the road name sitting proudly on my chest with her fingertips.
Gunshots fire outside in the distance, drawing our attention. Dashing for the fire exit, I push out into the night air.
“Found a snake in the grass,” Loki announces, dragging a bleeding Fisher by the collar of his cut from the darkness of the bushes bordering the car lot.
We have him.
“Are there any more out there?” Rage asks, scanning the darkness.
“We killed three and took this piece of shit alive, barely. He was hiding in the long grass like some pussy.”
“Fuck you.” Fisher spits blood at Loki’s feet.
“What? No dinner first?” Loki mocks him, tossing him in my direction. I catch him around the neck before he can fall. My palms close around the base, squeezing his jugular. I want to watch his eyes pop from his sockets as he chokes to death. His face reddens, eyes widening, hands batting at my forearms for freedom. He’s weak in comparison, and I relish in that fact.
“Carnage, we need information first,” Rage bellows. I don’t want to stop. All I can think about is this prick thinking he has so sort of claim to my woman. He took her from me.
“Carnage,” Rage tries again, but it’s Ruby’s voice that penetrates the haze of darkness seeping out of me.
“Ez, let him go,” she whispers, placing a hand on my arm.
Releasing the little cunt, I exhale a breath and pull my woman into my arms.
Coughing and spluttering, Fisher stumbles on his feet. “I knew you had a soft spot for me,” he heaves out, winking at Ruby. Before I can move to knock him out, Lily clocks him with the butt of her gun, putting him out cold.
Fisher’s blood drips from a slash on his cheek, courtesy of Lily’s gun. His are arms pulled tight behind his back, tied to a chair in the middle of the factory. Most of the brothers, barring Koyn, Loki, Copper, and Rage, have returned to the clubhouse. There’s a shit load of clean-up that needs their focus before we can start putting things back together and moving forward from this mess.