Page 23 of Bride for the Bikers

Where’s Carnell and his people?

“Finish them,” my father yells, walking out the door while even more of his men pile in.

“Get her out of here!” Shadow yells. The three of them form a semi-circle around me as Outlaw cuts through the rope holding me to the chair.

“Harper, stay down!” growls Lightning as he fires his gun. The shot hits a guard who Thunder grabs and sends reeling into more of my father’s men.

They don't need to tell me twice. I'm already out of the chair when he yells, setting a course for the next room that has a back door. It's awkward with my hands still partly bound, but I keep my head down and do my best. Heavy footprints sound behind me, and I pray they're on my side.

A bullet hits the wall near my shoulder, throwing me off balance as I shy away from it.

“Don't stop,” snaps Outlaw, right behind me. Thank God.

But I’m not moving fast enough. Outlaw's strong hands go around my waist and he half pulls, half carries me. Just as wereach the door, he stiffens, sudden surprise in his expression. He grips the door handle and leans all his weight on it as he coughs.

“What happened?”

“Keep going,” he bites out. There's a hole torn through his biker vest, and crimson blood is spreading across the white t-shirt underneath.

“Outlaw!”

14

LIGHTNING

Fuck!

Motherfucker! I knew we couldn’t trust that cop.

With Shadow on our six, and Outlaw hooked over our shoulders, me and Thunder burst out the back into the construction site. Everything is chaos. Mesner is long gone, and his people are either fleeing like rats off a sinking ship, or exchanging fire with what must be the few people Carnell left behind. Probably to make sure we didn’t walk away either. A helicopter passes overhead.

I knew this could go south, I just had no idea how south it would go. “Hang in there. You hear me?”

Outlaw grunts, sounding fucking annoyed, which is a good sign. If he's got the energy to be angry, we have time to plug the hole.

At least I fucking hope so.

“That way!” Shadow snarls, pointing to the metal skeleton of a high rise waiting for construction to resume.

Harper is doing her best to keep up, running for all she’s worth with her hands tied. She’s struggling, but there’s no way to stop and help without leaving us all sitting ducks.

“What the fuck just happened?” Thunder rumbles as we duck behind the base of a crane. “Did Carnell order that idiot to open fire?”

“No fucking idea, doesn't fucking matter.” Shadow takes advantage of the cover to pull out a knife and slice Harper free. She slumps down, ripping out her gag and gasping for air. The shooting seems to be over, but with our luck, Mesner's men are out there waiting to pick us off. Or maybe Carnell’s. Fuck, why not both?

The loud rumble of the helicopter passes right over our heads again, shaking the whole fucking place and kicking up dirt. We huddle low, hoping the fuckers didn't see us. Whoever it is, they can’t be trusted. The sound recedes as the helicopter moves on.

“Okay. Go quick, get inside and don't give ‘em anything easy to aim at.” Shadow gives us a chance to nod our agreement, and then we run across the construction site, exposing ourselves as we cross the open lot.

For the first time all day, something goes right. Either everyone’s packed it in and gone home, or they’re too busy killing each other to notice us. No shots are fired, no alarms raised. On a day like this, that's a fucking blessing.

Outlaw groans.

“Hang in there, you dumb fuck,” my twin growls. He must really be worried, because normally that level of annoyance is saved for me. “If we all make it through this I’m fucking kick your ass.”

“Follow me,” Shadow says, leading us deeper into the forest of metal girders, half-finished concrete walls and scaffolding.

There’s an industrial looking door with a couple metal chairs set up outside it and a jar half filled with water and cigarette butts. He pushes it open, and using our phones for light, we see a big, unfinished room that looks like they are using it as a break room and to store random tools. There’s a couple temporary metal lights strung up, and thank fucking God someone’s still paying the power bill because they actually work.

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