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We were all untied, we were free! Except for the four dozen or so armed men who wanted me dead and out of the way, that is.
All we really had to do was get through the bikers, go outside, steal a car, and drive to the OPP detachment in Casselman—when we had no idea where we were.
Well, since there was no alternative, we would just find a way. Even if my leg was asleep from hip to toes.
I hadn’t noticed the garage door behind us, so it startled the stuffing right out of me when it noisily cranked open. A gray van pulled in and parked as soon as it cleared the door. The door rumbled back down, leaving bikers at both front and back of us. We were surrounded.
The four men glanced at us as they walked up to the front to see the boss. We only saw them from behind and it was not a reassuring sight. revealed The black handles of guns showed above their belts and tattoos covered their arms. One bald guy had them covering his head and neck, too.
Carl was back by his motorcycle, arguing with a bear in a leather vest. The man had gray, bushy hair springing out from under his bandanna like a drunk badger. His beard was a bit whiter than his hair but was much the same. It cascaded over his chest almost to his elbows. You would think that he would be blinded by it blowing into his face while driving his motorcycle.
He was barrel chested with short but sturdy legs. A bear or maybe a troll. The three Billy Goats gruff kind, eating goats whole. Not the cute rainbow haired type. Rough. Scary, even.
Carl met his eyes and gestured back. Trouble in paradise? Could this fight distract everyone enough to let us sneak out the back?
I tapped Luci’s arm and nodded my head at the growing crowd surrounding Carl.
She nodded, and I glanced around to see if anyone was still watching us. Only Romeo remained close by, and he was staring at the growing crowd and chewing his lip.
You could see the moment he made a decision. He scurried closer to me and whispered something about taking a chance now and not waiting for someone. I think.
Just so you know, things would have gone so much better if I’d listened to him before agreeing.
I told Luci we were going to make a break for it, and Romeo would cover for us. She turned and whispered to Jaqi, who nodded at me.
The plan was approved, now to put it into action.
I heard Carl’s voice rise but couldn’t catch the words over the crowd yelling. It looked like someone was taking bets. Was it like a schoolyard fight?
I’d put money on the bear and pay to see Carl beat up.
And while everyone’s attention was on them, we tried to ease our way out. Have you ever sat on cold concrete for hours and then tried to sneak? Impossible.
I stood up with my weight on my left leg. We all grabbed hands to run but my right leg had no feeling whatsoever and fell out from under me.
We all fell to the floor and froze.
The voices died down just as the bear loudly proclaimed that if she ain’t your girlfriend, you kill her.
They all turned to look at us as Romeo hurried to grab my arm. “Why didn’t you wait like I told you?” He growled at us.
Pulling me to my feet, he tried to push me back to the crates. Of, course my leg was still numb, and I fell again. I was gasping in pain, tears pricking my eyes.
Carl walked up to us as Romeo dragged me to my feet again.
He had his handgun out and pointed at me. My mouth dried, he looked so serious. I heard Jaqi gasp behind me.
Everything ran in slow motion, Romeo holding his hand out to stop Carl, the crowd of bikers heading toward us, even sounds distorted.
The only thing normal, and I use that word loosely, was Carl. His eyes narrowed, giving his crinkles at their corners a totally different effect than usual. His full mouth was grim, pressed into a line.
Then he smiled at me, and I felt better. He was not really going to shoot me.
But then why was he still raising the gun?
“Sorry, Vee. I really did like you. You’ve got attitude.”
“You killed Keith. What about Harvey? Or he just missing?
He just shook his head, but I kept pushing. “Why not tell us? If my curiosity is literally the death of me, why not satisfy it?”
He chuckled softly, “I do admire your spirit, Vee.” The gun never moved. “I killed Keith because he was getting careless, starting to smoke and snort everything that passed through his hands. And not paying for it. He claimed it was quality control.”
I nodded like that was the most reasonable thing I’d ever heard. Maybe it wasn’t too late for whoever Romeo was waiting on.
“Harvey just went to his sister’s so don’t worry about him. He got the message about trying to cheat us. Especially after you found the coke he was holding back on us.”
I nodded again, grimacing. That sounded like the end of this conversation, and my leg was starting to spasm as blood-flow returned.
***
“YOU ARE A TERRIBLE boyfriend. I’m sorry I let you buy me lunch.”
He chuckled at me and raised the gun to point at my head.
I turned toward the girls. If I would die, I wanted my last sight to be them. I mouthed, “I love you,” and two things happened simultaneously.
Carl fired the gun. My leg spasmed painfully, and I fell. The girls screamed, and Romeo fell to the floor.
I guess that’s four things. Five if you count the explosion at the front of the building. Six with the bikers racing for their crates of guns and hiding behind them.
Seven with the gunfight that broke out? But the timing was an issue with that one. It took several moments to get really moving.
By that time, the noise was deafening and definitely scaring fudge double-dip out of us. Carl’s pride in the soundproofing had been definitely misplaced.
We crawled over to Romeo, who bled from a bullet hole in the upper right side of chest. Good thing he was taller than me, or he might have gotten shot in the head.
As it was, he was bleeding a lot, and a gurgling seemed to come from his chest. I stripped off my pure cotton blouse and folded it. Jaqi pressed it against Romeo’s chest while speaking to him in Mohawk. He managed to nod, so I was hopeful he’d survive.
I nodded at the van parked at the rear of the building. Luci looked for a moment, then grinned. It was a sad grin, but I’d take it.
She whispered to Jaqi, and we started dragging Romeo to the van. We could hide behind it, and if it was unlocked, we could hide in it.
We were very lucky—for people about to die in a biker turf war, anyway. The second group must be after the drugs and guns, and hopefully didn’t even know we were here.
If we were careful and timed it just right, we might manage to escape into the woods.
Luci reached the gray van first, reaching up from the floor to try the door. It opened and she smiled at us. Looking remarkably like an inchworm, Lucia wriggled up into the van and opened the sliding door on the far side from the firefight. Which was still going on, interrupted by the occasional scream or unnerving thud. There was so much yelling, I had no idea who was winning.
We carefully levered Romeo into the rear of the van and laid him across the longest seat, right in the back.
He was way too pale and his breathing was strained, though that might have been from Jaqi pressing hard on his chest wound.
My leg had settled down, though my hip still hurt like the dickens. I’d be glad when it healed and I could run.
A bullet smashed through the side window and we all ducked, one of us with a little screech. All I’ll say is that it wasn’t me.
After what seemed like forever, the gun fire died down, or at least it slowed down. My ears were ringing, and I thought I heard a familiar voice yell for everyone to drop their weapons. I guess the fear had addled my brain. There was no way that was Miko.
Brain-addled or not, I’d get us the heck out of here. I peered at the steering wheel from between the front seats.
It was a miracle. The keys were sitting on the driver’s seat. So, I slid myself up and over, blinked tears of pain from my eyes like a superhero, and started the van.
I heard a yell, but turned the wheel sharply and drove through the back of the building. People jumped out of the way, some shot at us, and I just hit the gas. We drove out through the garage door. And I mean through—we smashed the door like the Kool-Aid ™ guy through a school wall. I turned a hard right around the building and raced for the front.
And nearly ran over a bunch of cops! Miko stood there with a bullhorn, shouting instructions at the bikers who were reaching for the sky.
Miko had come for us.
Warmth flooded my chest until Jaqi made a strange noise in the back. Romeo was pale and still.
An OPP officer jumped in front of us, pointing his gun right at me, but I could see an ambulance parked just down the gravel road and drove for it.
The officer leaped out of the way and then fired at the back of the van.
I slewed to a stop on the gravel, yelling at the cowering EMTs that there was a serious gunshot wound in the back. Lucia threw open the side door and moved out of the way.
The EMT closest to us jumped in with his magic box of supplies, and the second one motioned for us to get out. So we did.
That was when I saw Mrs. Carlisle standing beside Miko and threatening a couple of bikers with a shotgun.
The fight seemed to be over, and an OPP officer started toward us. It was Poodle-hair guy... White. So that meant that Phelps was likely here too. It was a family reunion.
If only there were martinis.
And I wasn’t standing around in my bra being eaten alive by mosquitos.
***
THINGS WERE STILL DICEY with Romeo, but he made it to surgery, so we had guarded hope he’d be okay. The bikers had been taken away in a seemingly endless parade of police cars and an ambulance or three.
We’d been checked over and except for my hip, were declared in good health. Apparently falling onto concrete on a newly fused hip is bad. After the EMTs were done with us, Phelps and White needed to take our statements.
I had a few statements for them alright.
Much later we were allowed to leave. I was hungry, thirsty, and a bit dopey from the morphine the EMT gave me for pain.
I couldn’t get what happened that day straight in my head. Why were the Carlisles there, where did Miko come from? Was his partner hiding around here somewhere?
And most importantly, where was Victor?
None of my questions were answered to my satisfaction, since I fell asleep within seconds of the ambulance getting onto a paved road. Miko claimed that he had tried to explain everything, but he couldn’t be heard over the snoring.
That meant that one of the EMTs must have fallen asleep on duty, as ladies don’t snore.