Outlaw's Promise(88)

But the battle was starting to turn. We’d taken them by surprise but now they were regrouping. I winced as I saw a bullet graze Mac’s shoulder. Then Hunter went down, clubbed over the head with a cattle prod.

“Go help them,” Annabelle said.

My eyes snapped to her. No! I’d finally gotten her back. I wasn’t going to leave her again.

“Go! Just give me the keys. I can make it.”

I glared at her, torn. She needed me. They needed me.

Annabelle looked up at me and gave me a brave nod.

I passed the keys through the bars. “I’ll meet you outside,” I told her. “By the cattle shed. Thirty fuckin’ seconds.”#p#分页标题#e#

She nodded. “Thirty fucking seconds.” She squeezed my fingers and then she was off, crawling down the pipe.

I turned towards the battle just as Viking staggered and fell. My friends. My club.

I put my head down and ran to help them.





60





Annabelle





Cautious elation had pushed back the worst effects of the drug. He’s alive! And all I had to do was get out and we’d be together again.

I crawled like all the hounds of hell were after me. When I reached the grate, I peeked up through it cautiously but it was still clear. I slid the cover off, climbed out and, for the first time in what felt like hours, I could stand up straight.

The exit was just a few feet away, behind a stack of boxes. I ran over to it, legs aching and cramping from all the crawling. I started trying each key on the key ring. It can’t be this easy, I thought. But the third key turned and the door swung open, cool night air sweeping in.

I staggered back a little, almost hitting the boxes. It was night? I’d lost all sense of time. I’d been in the slaughterhouse more than twenty-four hours.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped out and pushed the door mostly closed behind me. It was like slipping into a cool, calming bath. After the endless brightness of the slaughterhouse, the moonlit night was a blessed relief. I hadn’t realized how much my eyes had been aching...or how much they wanted to close. Now that I was safe, the adrenaline was fading and the drug was winning. All I wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep.

And soon I would. I was home free. I could see the cattle shed Carrick had mentioned: all I had to do was stumble down the hill and hide behind it. I could see the MC’s bikes parked by the side of the road: the whole club must be here! And I could hear the distant wail of sirens. They were still a long way away, but they were coming. Volos and his men were going to jail.

I was about to step away when I heard Volos’s voice from inside. I froze instantly. The door was still open a crack and I could see him talking to one of his guys in suits.

“It’s going south,” Volos told the guy. “The cops are coming. We can make this look like it was all the MC but not if those women are around to give statements. Get rid of them, fast.”

They both marched off in opposite directions. I stood there with my heart thumping in my chest. My head was swimmy and I knew I was minutes from passing out. I was in no shape to help anyone. But that guy was going to murder Cassie and the other six. And there was no way to warn Carrick.

I looked down the hill towards the safety of the cattle shed.

Then I inched open the door and crept back inside.





61





Annabelle





I skulked along the very back of the slaughterhouse, staying as low as I could. My legs kept wobbling and I had to clutch at the wall to stay upright: I was only staying conscious by sheer force of will, now. The fight was raging at the other end of the massive room: I could see Carrick whirling and punching, plowing through guards like they were toy soldiers. As I watched, he pulled Viking back to his feet. Mac had his teeth gritted in pain, clutching at his wounded shoulder, and Hunter was bleeding from the scalp. But now that Carrick was back, things seemed to be turning in their favor.

Ahead of me, I could see the guy in a suit. His attention was on the battle and then, as he neared the stalls, he took out his gun and checked it. My stomach twisted. Checking he has seven bullets.

I looked around wildly for a solution. I couldn’t get to the women before he did. I couldn’t fight him: he had a gun and he was way bigger than me. Shit! He’d reached Cassie’s stall. She saw the gun and shrank back against the far wall.#p#分页标题#e#

There was a fire extinguisher on the wall next to me. Through the haze of the drug, my mind did its thing: I saw pressures and forces, the deadly speed a screwdriver could fly out of the nozzle if I could adjust the valves—

Only there was no time. The guy raised his gun. I frowned in drugged desperation. What would Carrick do?!