Bounty:Fury Riders MC(39)

We ran silently to the clubhouse then, staying in the shadows along the  side of one of the abandoned buildings. Chip and one of the others were  dragging a Wolf to the side of the clubhouse. "A lookout," Chip panted.  The man now had a bullet hole in the middle of his forehead.



Chip looked shaken. I crouched down beside him and clamped a hand on his  shoulder. "You did a good job. It was either him or you."



"Yeah? You think so?" he asked. His voice was shaky. It was his first kill.



"For sure. These Wolves don't fuck around. He'd have killed you. I want  you to get home safe tonight." I patted him on the back, and we hurried  away from the clubhouse to wait for the okay from the explosives team.



Ralph sprinted to us, half-crouched. "Everything's set," he whispered.



I felt all eyes on me. "You don't have to do this," Frankie reminded me  for the hundredth time. "We can go in guns blazing. Wipe 'em all out.  Get her, get home in time for a drink and a blowjob."



"Who were you planning on sucking off?" Ralph whispered.



"Shut the fuck up."



I couldn't believe they were able to joke at a time like that, but I was  glad for it. It gave me a little more confidence. They had my back.



"Let's get synced up with the time. I don't wanna think I have more than  I have." I looked at my watch. It was three fifteen. "Okay. Fifteen  minutes from now."



"Got it," Ralph said. I heard a beep. The timer was starting.



I wished I had an extra minute to thank them, or give them some parting  thought, but it was too late. I turned and walked to the front door of  the Vicious Wolves' clubhouse instead, telling myself to be prepared for  whatever I found inside.





Chapter Twenty-Eight





When I stepped through the door, I wasn't noticed at first. Nobody heard me. They weren't very good at keeping a lookout.



The music was so loud I thought my ears would start bleeding. Heavy  metal, some eighties band. Typical. There had to be three dozen guys in  there, maybe more. No women. I was glad for that. I didn't want any  women to get caught up in the explosion.



The thought that I'd be killing them all went through my mind briefly.  Was this the right thing to do? It had to be. They would never leave us  alone. I remembered Harrison, and how crazy he was when I questioned him  at the safe house. They all had a little bit of that in them. They  didn't care about themselves, so they could be reckless and stop at  nothing.



All I had to do was look around to see how little they cared for themselves.



Just then, one of them looked up and saw me standing there. Suddenly  they all saw me, and all of them froze in place. They had no idea what  to do. Maybe they hadn't expected me yet, or maybe they hadn't expected  me to walk right through the door the way I had. York might have  overthought this one.



"You know why I'm here," I said. "Alexander wants to see me."



One of the guys at the table jumped up and ran through a door off to the  side. I stood still, sweeping the main room with my eyes. Where was  she? It was a huge room, but I couldn't see her anywhere. All I saw were  the sneers and smirks of the men around the table where a poker game  had been going on when I walked in. I felt like telling them all to bet  big and bluff big. It didn't matter. They wouldn't live long enough to  settle up. Whether or not I made it out in time, they wouldn't live to  see the morning.



They all looked hungry, in a way. Not physically hungry, even though  some of them were dangerously skinny. More like hungry inside. They  wanted something they couldn't have, maybe something they had never had.  They weren't like my men at all. My men weren't always the smartest or  the nicest-sometimes they were flat-out mean and stupid-but none of them  were desperate. That's what it was. Desperation. They might do  anything. I reminded myself of that. A desperate man can't be trusted.



The door opened again, and there was York. The look on his face was  priceless and disgusting at the same time. I knew he thought he had won,  and it pissed me off. Let him keep thinking it, I reminded myself.  Stall for a little time. Do what you have to do. Then get the hell out  of there. The clock was ticking.



"Frisk him," York said. Two of his guys walked to me and patted me down. I held my arms at my sides.         

     



 



"Clean," one of them said. It was true. I didn't have a gun or a knife on me.



"So, the great Vince Baldoni is here. Finally paying us a visit after all this time. What an honor."



The guys laughed. I gritted my teeth, wondering how long this would have to last before I could get to Erica and run.



"Where is she?" I asked, ignoring the jeers around me.



"Who's that? Your little girlfriend? I gotta hand it to you, Baldoni, you know how to pick 'em. She's sweet."



The men laughed again, knowingly this time. My blood boiled. If they had touched her …



"She's in there." He jerked his head toward the room he'd come from. "A  little tied up at the moment, but pretty much the way you left her. Calm  yourself down."



"She comes out. Now. That was the deal."



"Who said?"



"You did. If I came in and turned myself over to you, you would let her go."



"No. I said she would die if you didn't. I never said I'd let her go if  you did." He laughed, and the Wolves joined him. They reminded me of a  pack of hyenas, mindlessly laughing. "No, she stays. She's what you  might call the spoils of war."



"She has nothing to do with the war." Shit, how much time did I have? I  hadn't planned on this stupid word play with him. I wanted her out of  there. If he didn't let her go, I'd have to free her myself.



"You know, Baldoni, that shows how much you know. You were never meant  to lead. Hey, it's not an insult. Some men just aren't suited to it.  You're a thinker. A pretty boy. Leave the tough stuff to the real men.  It's for the best that you hand the club over. The best for everyone."  The Wolves nodded along with his words.



I couldn't let him get to me. His words meant nothing. He was only  throwing them around because he was a coward. All he had were words and a  bunch of mindless apes to do his dirty work. They weren't like the Fury  Riders, which was why the two MCs would never work together. For us, it  was family. We worked as a team.



I thought we had, at least.



"I'm here to do what you wanted, just like you asked. I'd like to have a  minute alone with you so that we can talk a few things over." I knew he  would jump at the chance, but I pretended to think he wouldn't.



"A minute alone? Sounds interesting."



I'm sure it does. I'm sure you would love the chance to take your time while killing me, you psycho bastard.



"Your office? Assuming you have an office?"



He scowled. "That's where I was when you came in, Baldoni. This way." He  stepped backward through the doorway. I followed him. Three of his men  moved toward me like they planned to follow.



"I said alone." I looked at York. He waved them away.



Once we were in the room outside his office, I saw her. They had tied  her to a chair, wrists and ankles, with a gag in her mouth. I groaned  inside, doing everything I could to hold myself back from going to her.



She struggled when she saw me, like she was trying to warn me. I held up  my hand, just high enough for her to see it, trying to signal her to be  calm. There was nothing she had to warn me about that I wasn't already  aware of. In fact, I knew more than she did. I hoped I could get this  done quickly enough.



"Couldn't you have left her somewhere nicer?" I asked, looking around in  disgust. "Or do you not have anything nicer than this? I mean, that  makes sense."



"Enough bullshit. This way." He motioned for me to follow him. His  office was a little room just off the one we stood in. The walls were  covered in pinup photos from Playboy and other magazines. Very classy  stuff. The desk was old and scratched. There were no windows. It stank  of cigarettes and sweat. I hated thinking of York in my chair, at my  clubhouse.



This was it. Just him and me. I closed the door behind us. My palms were  sweating, but not out of fear. More out of anticipation. I couldn't  wait to see him die, but it had to be fast. I felt a clock ticking in my  head. I knew the C-4 was ready to go-Ralph had never once let me down. I  needed us clear of the building before that happened.



"So, what is it you need to talk to me about?" he asked, sitting on the  edge of his desk with his arms crossed. He sounded bored, but I could  hear a little bit of excitement in his voice. Like a kid who knew he was  finally going to get what he wanted for Christmas. Or so he thought.



"I wanted us to get a few things straight," I said. He looked down at  the floor, and I took the opportunity to check my watch. I had ten  minutes. The whole charade outside had only taken five. Plenty of time. I  relaxed a little.