17
Gideon
“What’s going on?”Mercy asked, leaning forward from the backseat. “Why are we headed for the shopping strip?” Kaige was sitting next to her, his face caught in silent fury.
“The Storm’s men have launched attacks on several Noble properties throughout the city and the Bend,” Wylder said, his gaze intent on the road as he wove in and out of traffic. His irritation was only evident from the tightness of his grip on the wheel.
“Several—all at once?”
I nodded, tracking incoming text reports from Noble men scattered across the county. “It seems to be some sort of divide and conquer strategy. Thankfully with Ezra’s permission for us to call on all the Noble forces, I don’t think they’re going to manage the conquering part.”
“At most places,” Wylder put in. “Xavier himself and the largest bunch of men have turned up at the old furniture store where we stashed the rest of the Glory and all the extra weapons we stole from them. He must have figured out it was important after we started giving out Glory to screw over his previous plan. He’s trying to turn the tables on us—but no way in hell are we going to let him.”
“There were guards already there, weren’t there?” Mercy said, her dark eyes flashing with anger.
“There were five on the premises when the attack started,” I said, confirming the data on the screen in front of me. “Unfortunately, a couple of them were shot in the initial skirmish—at least one fatally. The other men inside have managed to keep the building secure, but Xavier and his people have surrounded the place. The Nobles may not be able to hold them off much longer.”
“We’ve called in reinforcements, and they’ll follow us as soon as they can,” Wylder said. “Unfortunately, a lot of them have gotten tied up in the other attacks. But I want to take this prick down myself. We’ll give them something to worry about other than their little siege. How many Claws were you able to round up?”
Mercy glanced through the back window at the car following us. “We only had four who could come right away, but I told Jenner to put out a wider call. I’m not sure how far off the others are. How many people does Xavier have with him?”
I grimaced. “I don’t have a clear report. The men at the factory haven’t had a whole lot of time to chat. It sounds like quite a few.”
And there were only eight of us to go up against them so far. Well, seven, really, when you considered that I wasn’t going to contribute much other than sorting through the incoming data and filling Wylder in. I didn’t even have the benefit of the full computer array in my van, since we hadn’t made it back to the Noble mansion before we’d gotten the call about the attacks.
My stomach twisted. Ever since I’d told Wylder I’d be staying with him when he set off to deal with Xavier, there’d been a pang in the back of my head, like the start of a throbbing headache. Images of my last encounter with the psychopath flashed through my mind.
The last time I’d been close to Xavier, he’d nearly killed me. Hecouldhave killed me—I was just lucky he’d decided to wait and use me as bait. Who knew if I’d survive this time?
But I couldn’t let my nerves get the better of me. We were down one man with Rowan in the hospital. Everyone had to pull their weight. I couldn’t hide away in my office while my brothers-in-arms and my woman did all the fighting for me. Maybe I’d get the chance to take a shot or two that could help turn the tide.
We turned the corner, and Wylder eased to a stop. My heart sank.
It was a hell of a lot more than twenty men. Cars were parked all over the street from halfway down the block to the next corner, surrounding the old store and cutting off the flow of traffic. The Storm’s men were hustling between the vehicles or staked out behind them, some taking shots at the second-floor windows that our men were using as a vantage point. At least one of our people was around at the back too, shooting anyone who tried to get to the back door.
Thankfully, the store’s windows had already been boarded up. But the front and back doors wouldn’t withstand a steady barrage if Xavier sent enough people in that the guards couldn’t pick them all off.
The menace himself was standing on the roof of one of the cars near the back of the horde, apparently unconcerned about the possibility that anyone might shoothim. “Just you wait,” he was hollering at the Noble men inside. “As soon as we get in there, we’re going to chop you up like chicken liver. Why don’t you make a run for it now?”
A bunch of men were hauling something out of one of the other vehicles, a large SUV. I squinted at it, and my pulse hiccupped.
“They’ve got explosives,” I said, pointing. “They’re going to blast the doors in—maybe bring the whole building down.” I wouldn’t put it past Xavier to care more about making surewedidn’t have the drugs and weapons than getting them back for himself.
“Shit.” Wylder pushed open his door. “We’d better deal with this fast, then. We can at least cover the front of the building so they can’t bring the bombs close enough.” He glanced at me. “You stay in the car, but keep the window down in case you pick up on anything you need to give us a shout about.”
I tipped my head in acknowledgment, my gut full of a queasy mix of relief… and shame at the fact that I was relieved. But the relief part flooded me even more sharply when Xavier’s head swung toward us.
A savage grin stretched across his face. Wylder’s hand whipped up with his pistol, but the shot that would have hit Xavier smack in the face missed as the giant leapt down from the car at the same moment. He sauntered closer to us, moving between the cars so he could keep us in view with his body almost entirely shielded.
My heart thumped faster at the sight of him looming closer, some part of me clenching up with the urge to flee, to put as much distance between him and me as I could. I clamped down on that impulse, forcing myself to breathe slowly and evenly like I did when my lungs acted up.
This must be similar to how Mercy felt when she was trapped in a tight space—this irrational panic. Except it wasn’t totally irrational, was it? We were both reacting to a reminder of a situation that’d been quite literally life-threatening.
Mercy, Kaige, and the four Claws men who’d joined us had gotten out too. They stuck close to our cars and a couple other vehicles belonging to regular citizens that were parked along this stretch of sidewalk. There was an empty space of maybe thirty feet between the horde of Storm vehicles and ours. I didn’t think Xavier would risk trying to cross it, opening himself up to our fire. But we couldn’t dash across it to get to the building without getting picked off by his men either.
As I’d expected, Xavier stopped before he passed the last of his vehicles. He leaned his massive arms on the top of the car, still grinning but tensed to duck if anyone aimed their gun at him. Wylder glanced past him and motioned to the Claws men. They opened fire on a few men who’d made a dash for the entrance with the explosives, and the bunch fell back.
“Look who’s shown up,” Xavier said in a drawl. “Why am I not surprised? The scared little kitten, the second-rate heir, and even the mouse who hides behind his computer screens most of the time.” His gaze narrowed in on me, and my heart outright lurched. “I missed getting to snap your neck last time. Wouldn’t want to lose the opportunity again.”