Page 27 of Hell & Back

Before Chris could reply, the sound of gunshots and breaking glass cut him off. They all dove to the floor to take cover, bullets digging into the wall above the display case where they’d just been standing. The hail of bullets didn’t last long. The silence that followed the shooting was almost more deafening.

“Everyone all right?” Race asked from his position on the floor. It seemed he wasn’t the only one that was reluctant to raise their heads and check things out.

“I’m getting sick and tired of people trying to burn down or shoot up my place,” Chris growled, raising to his hands and knees.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!They could hear more shots ring out from a little farther down the street.

“Bellamy!” Race jumped up and ran for the door, the glass now shot out of it. Chris was hot on his heels. It vaguely registered that Jackson and Dagger were running out the back door. They would take the alley and come into Bling from the back in case whoever was shooting thought to use the alley as an escape route.

Race peeked his head around the door frame for more Phantoms that might be waiting outside Ink Envy to see if they could pick one of them off and didn’t see any. Not seeing anyone in front of Bling, he gave Chris the signal to go. He took off at a run, the sound of Chris’s boots pounding behind him.

Coming up on his old lady’s shop, he found all the front display windows and door glass had been shot out and was lying on the ground like shining diamonds. He pulled his gun from the back of his jeans and aimed it toward the interior while Chris made sure no one circled back and tried to takethem out. The broken glass crunched beneath his boots as he entered. He motioned for Chris to take one side of the store while he searched the other. They met up at the head of the hall. “Anything?” he asked Chris.

“No. Nothing.”

At least there weren’t any customers in the store getting caught in the spray of bullets. He nodded his head and eased his way down the hall. The tightness in his chest eased when he heard Bellamy’s raised voice coming from the back.

Race didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at what he saw. Bellamy was standing over a man with her gun pointed at his back. She stood with her high-heeled shoes planted shoulder-width apart, her arms fully extended, no sign that she was injured or afraid. She looked like a complete bad ass despite her pregnancy belly. He slipped his gun in the waist band of his jeans and thought he might need to thank her brother, Preacher, again for teaching her how to handle a gun and seeing to it that she was proficient and confident enough to use it. Belatedly, he noticed her Grandma Martha was waving a broom over the downed man’s head and Cathy had a spray bottle aimed at his face. He raised his brows in question at his brothers who’d entered through the back door. From the splintered door frame, it looked as if the asshole on the floor had kicked it in.

“Calliope! Where’s Calliope?” Jackson shouted.

“Here. We’re here.” She stepped out of the break room, gently bouncing a crying Harper against her chest. Jackson stepped over the downed man and pulled them both into his arms. He held them tight, like he was never letting them go and dropped a kiss on Harper’s head, then a quick one to Calliope’s lips. He dropped his forehead to hers and whispered words meant only for his wife.

“Bleach,” Dagger filled him in on what Cathy had in the spray bottle. Of course, leave it to Dagger, he pulled his phone out and started taking a few pictures of the scene before them.

“Baby, you can put the gun down now.” He gently pushed her gun down and away from the fucker on the floor. After she relaxed her stance and loosely held the gun toward the floor, she turned to tell him, “I shot him in the shoulder. I thought you might want to question him about where they took Darren.”

“Good thinking, baby. ’Preciate you didn’t kill him.” He kissed the top of her head and hugged her as tight as her belly would allow. “You can stand down now, ladies. We got this.” He took a good look at Martha and Cathy and asked, “Anyone hurt?”

“No. We’re good,” Cathy replied and lowered her weapon.

“Luckily, we were in the break room getting coffee when this asshole kicked in the door and tried to sneak down the hall,” Martha added.

“You did real good, ladies,” Dagger complimented them on a job well done. Race hated that they’d been forced to deal with any of this.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “As much as I hate to say it, call your brother and let him know you and Martha are okay before he sends an army to Redemption.” Preacher had eyes on his sister and grandmother at all times since things with the Phantoms heated up. He had no doubt he was getting the lowdown even as Race was trying to sort things out. Speaking of sorting things out, he needed to get a move on before the police showed up to check things out.

“Sorry, baby, but I’m going to have to take your car. Dagger and Jackson, load this asshole into the back of Bellamy’s car. Take him out to the cabin while Chris and I deal with the police.”

Dagger’s phone started to ring. He pulled it back out of his pocket and put it to his ear. “Hey, Ginny girl. What?” His eyes flew to Race’s. “I’m on my way.”

“What is it?” Dread filled Race’s chest.

“Ginny’s shop got shot up.” His wife owned a hair salon on the other side of town.

“Go. I’ll get Maverick to meet you.” Dagger pocketed his phone and ran out the front door to get to his bike. “Jackson, I got Calliope. After I help you load this asshole, you take dumb fuck here, then swing by and get Trick to help transport this piece of shit. I’ll get the women to the clubhouse,” Race instructed. “Chris, go back to your shop and wait for the police. Try and draw them to you first and keep them there as long as you can so we can load this piece of shit up.”

“You got it.” Chris nodded his head and took off out the back door. He’d enter his own business through the back and run out the front to catch the police before they could catch them with the Phantom at Bling.

“We locking down?” Jackson asked.

“For now, we need to.” Race didn’t have enough men to cover everything that needed covered. He’d meant to reach out to Chance of the Black Horsemen, a support club to the Sons, and see if he could spare some men to come help out, but shit just kept happening. If Chance was unable to send any, he’d have to reach out to Preacher, and Race would rather have his dick pierced with a dull needle than ask for his help.

He dropped to his haunches to get a better look at the man who’d been stupid enough to target his old lady. “You fucked up coming after our women.” The Phantom sneered through bloody teeth and laughed.

The sounds of sirens coming nearer lit a fire under both his and Jackson’s asses. “Baby, can you pull your car closer?”

Bellamy hurried to her car and backed as close to the back door as she could get. She left it running and hopped out to go back inside. Race and Jackson unceremoniously tossed him in the back. “We’re getting some goddamn answers out of you,motherfucker.” He reared back and punched him in the jaw with enough force to knock him out.

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