DARK FALL(56)

Strokner smiled. He produced his cell and handed it to Miller. “This is one of your guys. He’s in there right now.”

“Fuck,” Gaige said.

Erik inched forward and looked.

Sure enough, it was a bad looking guy. A sly smile on his face and a noticeable scar on his cheek. It wasn’t the guy with the scar on his neck, but this one had something to do with it too.

“He goes by Mr. Arengson,” Strokner said. “Very powerful man. He makes a ton of money and he won't let anyone get in his way of that.”

“Is he alone?” Gaige asked.

“Nobody is alone. You have to figure the rest out. I’ve gotten the approval to get you guys in there. You walk in, hang to the left.” Strokner looked at Kaity. “Sweetheart, you go straight down to the floor. You’re fighting first.”

“Wait, what?” Erik asked.

“We can’t have that,” Miller said.

“Can’t help it. New person fights first.”

“Oh fuck,” Nate whispered.

“Then we spread out and move fast,” Miller said.

Strokner took his cell back and the SUV started to move. Miller leaned against his motorcycle. He looked around the lot. Erik scanned the lot too, trying to come up with a plan.

“We should move the motorcycles out of here. Then when we make the kill, we flee. I don’t know if they would try to lock this place down. Or if they ever had problems before.” Erik pointed to a spot that seemed hidden. “Right there nobody will see the rides. When we run, we hop on and fucking roll.”

“I like that,” Shay said. “Doesn’t help us once we’re in there.”

“Once we’re in there, I can’t be held responsible for anything,” Miller said. “We just have to move fast. Everyone has a weapon. Make the kill and keep moving. We have until the end of the fight to get out of there.”

“With Kaity,” Erik said.

Erik saw the look in Miller’s eyes. Kaity had now become sacrificial. Erik shook his head. There was no way he was going to leave without Kaity. The silence that followed was uncomfortable. Miller adverted his eyes to look at the building.

Erik understood it. This was about the MC. This was about revenge. What it wasn’t about was falling in love or playing the tough, romantic guy. This wasn’t some dumb chick flick. This was real life. The men inside this building were rich and powerful. One of the men had a direct hand in the bombing that almost took Erik’s life.

“Let’s move,” Erik finally said. “I can’t wait around. Maybe we can get in there and get lucky.”

They walked across the lot to the side door of the warehouse. Two men stood with their arms folded, another with a notebook. Before the man could speak a word, Strokner appeared from nowhere and explained they were all there for the fight. The man wrote down Kaity’s name and Miller gave the man a wad of cash.

Then they were let inside.

The warehouse was massive and everyone's voices bounced off the tall walls and high ceilings. There were small platforms built around the center of the floor, which was nothing but hard concrete. One good punch or one hard fall could end a fight in a matter of seconds.

Erik roughly estimated there to be about a hundred men. In the middle of the floor he counted eight women. Some were tall and dark. Some were short. The women for the most part were simply beautiful. They were just like the relievers back at the clubhouse, just trying to earn their way into the comfort of protection and money. The difference was that these businessmen had to pay for protection while the MC was the protection.

“Split this up,” Gaige said.

He started to spout off orders as to who went where. Erik held Kaity’s hand tight. He thought about calling this off. It suddenly didn’t seem right to do to her. She had proven enough already, right?

Erik looked down at Kaity and she looked scared to death.

“Fuck,” he whispered.

“Gentlemen!” a voice yelled.

Strokner stood just a few feet away with a cigar in his mouth.

“We’re busy here,” Miller said.

Strokner lit the cigar, puffed on it, and stepped close to the group. “I have some information for you.”

“What’s that?” Erik asked.

“Your friend, Mr. Arengson is right on the other side of the warehouse. And he’s not alone…”

Strokner smiled.

Erik broke his hold on Kaity’s hand and went forward, pushing into the crowd to get a look across the warehouse. Right there on the other side stood two men. Even from the distance it was easy to see the scar on his cheek. When the other man turned his head, he revealed a scar on his neck.

These were the guys… the guys who almost killed me… the motherfuckers that started this war… the guys who made death feel so easy to me… the guys who left me scarred and wanting to swallow a bullet…