Page 69 of Outlaws' Single Mom
“Look.” Lash points through the door and across the foyer behind the door, through another glass door, is Logan. He waves, the helmet in one hand and his phone in the other. He puts his hand against the window on the other side at us, like he's wondering why the fuck we're not coming through the door.
I call Logan and he answers, watching me through the glass. “Hey buddy. We're trying to get in. Just give us a little bit, okay?”
“Two… four…” he scrunches his face up like he's trying to remember. “Five… eight!” I swear his proud grin is so bright it's gonna light us up. I try it, and the little light turns green.
“Good work, little man.” I tell him through the phone.
“Smart fucking kid,” Stiff says in appreciation.
But the code doesn't get us through the next door, which needs a key card. The inside has a push bar that probably unlocks the door, but there's no way we're gonna be able to get Logan to make that happen. He can barely reach it. I try it on the off chance it opens, but no chance.
“Time to do it the hard way?” Lash pats the grip of his gun in his belt.
“Yeah.” I look through the window at our little hero. “Logan, buddy, you're going to need to go far from the door, okay? Get behind something and cover your ears. We're gonna break it.”
The sight of Logan's eyes going huge as I say it would be comical if this wasn't so fucking serious. Then he scrambles away like we're not gonna wait for him to be safe. He disappears around a corner.
“Okay, buddy, you ready?”
No answer. Hopefully that just means he's covering his ears. “Go.”
Two sharp cracks of Lash's pistol shatters the glass. If there's anyone left who doesn't know we're here, they've gotta be deaf. Stiff reaches through the gap and pulls the push bar towards us and the door comes open. I step through, followed by Lash and then Stiff, all of us with guns drawn. Almost immediately, Logan peeks out, looking more excited than anything.
I look around and lead Logan to a dusty old bathroom at the end of the hall. “I want you to stay inhere until we come and get you, okay? We’re gonna go get your mom, and then we’ll come to you and everyone gets to go home.”
“Promise?”
“Yeah, we fucking promise. And bikers keep their promises, right?”
He nods.
Once Logan is safe, we start the hunt. “Hey! Fucknut! We're looking for ya!”
“He doesn't have the balls to face us,” Lash adds, looking around like an eagle scouting for prey. “They shriveled up when he decided he needed a woman and a fucking kid to hide behind.”
Don't think he's gonna get drawn out that easy, but anything to unsettle him as we move deeper and deeper into the office. Turns out to be easier than I expected. As we move around a corner, there he is, holding Dakota in front of him like a shield, his gun pressed right up against her temple. She whimpers, and the sound makes me wanna rip Dillard limb from fucking limb with my bare hands.
“I'd rather hide behind a woman and live than die, like you three fucks will.” He sneers. “You even raisethose guns, and she’s dead. Jesus Christ, you assholes don’t know when to quit. Put the guns down on the floor. Now. Or I fucking kill her.”
“You kill her, and we will fucking tear you apart. You won't leave this place alive.” Stiff's voice is icier than the Arctic.
“Right, like you would pat me on the head and let me go if I don’t.”
Lash’s smile is razor sharp. “There are a lot of ways to die, man. Some of them are easier than others.”
“None of you would dare take a shot. That’s the problem with getting attached. It makes you weak.” He flexes his arm, tugging Dakota against him and cutting off her air supply just long enough to make her cough. I'm gonna fucking kill him. I don't care how, but he's already on borrowed time.
“Logan?” Dakota gets out when the cough passes.
“He's safe,” I say with all the confidence in the world.
She nods quickly, just barely, with the little range of motion she's got. “If anything happens to me.”
“It fucking won’t,” I snap.
“If it does.Take care of Logan for me, okay? I trust you to make good decisions for him.”
“Oh my God,” Dillard whines. “Blah blah blah. Just back off already. Get out of the fucking building and maybe I won’t blow her head off.”
