Page 51 of Avenging Devil: Part 2

Chapter Sixteen

Grumbler

We’d been getting ready to go when my fuckin’ leg had let me down. Four hours of riding yesterday had proved too much for me. I’d ignored the pain, but when I tried to get on my bike, I kicked up the stand and my right leg had folded, bringing the heavy motorcycle down on top of me.

Frustrated I was delaying my brothers, I’d waved their help off, but they’d lifted the bike off of me.

“Go.” I was mad as hell, but if I tried to follow, I’d hold them up. They’ve got too much to do without watching out for an old codger like me.

Angry with myself, and decidedly acting like my name, I stayed in the truck with Gears and the prospects, with nothing to do but watch the action playing out on the screens.

They had three drones flying around feeding back information. The Utah crew seemed a well-oiled operation, and seeing they knew what they were doing and how to feed information to Swift and the teams, I had little to do but grumble that I’d been left behind.

“Hey, Grumbler. You see that?” Gears suddenly asks. He’s hovering a drone over the body of Saffie lying on the ground.

But as I stare where he’s pointing, I see Saffie is moving again. This time, the two dogs are moving with her. Belgian Malinois if I’m not mistaken—one a rich fawn and the other a deep mahogany.

“They’re sticking with her,” he points out needlessly. “Clever girl. If she gets up and runs, they might bring her down.”

The drone is no longer above her, but is hovering high above, sending back scenes from the clubhouse, but in the periphery, I can still see her.

Gears is already talking into a microphone.

“Got any men who can go give cover to the woman?”

“I’ll go.” I make the decision fast. “She knows me.”

“I can spare Buzz, he’s in my second line.”

“Joker’s there too.”

I’m already on my feet, offering up silent thanks to Drummer and Demon. Outside I get on my slightly scratched bike, this time raising the stand more carefully. With determination driving me, I head down to the edge of the compound Saffie’s making for.

Two bikes have made it ahead of me and two Devils have already dismounted. I wave Joker and Buzzard on, favouring my worthless piece of shit leg as I try to catch up.

The two men spare a glance for me, then break away, cutting a hole in the fence, then pushing through, rush ahead, rifles guiding their way to protect her flanks.

Four explosions go off simultaneously. I can see Saffie roll and look back. For a moment, she stays hugged to the ground, then as the bullets start to rain down, taking out Wolves who have flooded out from the clubhouse, she gets to her feet and starts running. I watch the dogs, taking careful aim with my gun, but I’ll be fucked, they’re not giving chase, just loping alongside her.

Joker and Buzzard are out to her side waving her on. Both brothers keep looking around, ready and poised to take out anyone who’s a threat to her.

The sensible girl is running for the tree line, and, without knowing it, directly toward me.

She needs to see someone she knows. Without hesitation, I push myself through the broken strands of wire to meet her. She recognises me when she’s close enough and when we meet—me at a stumbling run, her at a more respectable pace—she throws herself into my arms.

“You’re okay,” I tell her. “We’ve got you. You’re safe.” I’m elated she’s alive. For a moment, I had really thought she was dead. That’s half of our mission completed, now we’ve just got to save her old man.

Saffie sobs, “Grumbler, they’ve got Niran.”

I know. I offer some platitudes, then hearing a warning growl, eye her companions and ask, “Can you get those fuckin’ dogs to stand down?”

She draws in a shuddering breath, then looks down uneasily. “I don’t know.”

Gingerly, I reach out my hand. The fucking dogs growl at me.

“K-9, Fang,” she says hesitantly. “Stop. He’s a friend. Sit. Stay.”

“Hey,” Joker appears, approaching cautiously. He’s aiming his gun the dogs’ way who for the moment have obeyed her, and now have their asses on the ground. Their eyes, though, they’re alert, and their bodies vibrate in readiness. “Get her back behind the fence, Grumbler.”

---