Page 84 of Powerless
"Gunshot," Jandro said immediately, jumping to his feet.
"Where? Inside the gates?" Reaper growled, leaning over to reach underneath the couch.
"Guys, what’s—”
Pop! Pop!Two more shots fired.
"Stay here, Mari." Reaper pulled two handguns out from under the couch and tossed one of them to Jandro.
"Better yet, go inside," Jandro told me. "Get all the women and kids inside."
The music stopped and the mood shifted from celebratory to tense in an instant. Men pulled weapons from all kinds of hidden places and ushered their women toward the clubhouse.
"Wait a minute," Reaper squinted toward the front gate entrance. "Is that Gunner?"
"Gunner?" I went to go see but Jandro blocked with me his arm.
"Hang on, let's figure out what's going on."
"Hah!" Reaper called out with a huge grin on his face and set his gun down. "Look what the birdman dragged in!"
Hades went running down the street toward the main gate with Horus flying right above him. Cheers erupted from the men now raising their weapons in the air as they crowded around to hug the man coming up to the clubhouse.
"A party in my honor? You shouldn't have," the blond demon laughed as he and Reaper clapped an arm around each other.
"Welcome home, brother," Reaper playfully messed up his hair. "What'd you bring me?"
"I brought you nothing butthiswas whispering to a Razor Wire right outside the gate when I pulled up."
I only then realized he'd been dragging a man behind him, who left a long trail of blood on the street all the way up to the clubhouse patio.
"Oh my God," I whispered, bringing my hands to my mouth. He'd been shot in each leg and would bleed out without medical attention soon.
"Python," Reaper spat the man's name with disdain. "What were you telling the Razor Wire, huh? Details from our church meeting?"
"Reap...please..."
"Where is the Razor Wire?" Jandro asked.
"Dead," Gunner reported. "Shot him in the back. Another bike for you to part out, bro."
"Great," Jandro mumbled. “More work.”
Gunner's bright blue eyes focused on me for the first time and he shot me that dazzling smile I didn't realize I missed so much. "Hey, baby girl," he said softly.
"Hey, Gun," I returned.
"I asked you a question, you two-timing bag of shit!" Reaper grabbed the man's shirt and dragged him to the nearest fire pit. There he pushed Python's face next to the coals until he started screaming.
"The allies! I was telling him the other MCs we allied with and he was going to send it up to Tash. Reaper, I'm so sorry..."
"Well, even if Gunner wasn't the best shot on this side of the Mississippi," Reaper yanked him by the hair away from the fire. "You still would've been fucked, because I made those MC names up. I would've found you out sooner or later, you fucking bottom feeder. So congratulations, Python. You’ll be the first to find out what happens to those who betray the Steel Demons."
"Reaper." I stepped forward, saying his name loudly to make sure I got his attention.
"Yes, Mari?" he gave me a curious look in return.
"Do you need him alive? For the next day or whenever you deal out his punishment?”
