Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
He's not getting away this time.
Our steps echo down the hall, getting to the other stairwell just in time to hear the outside door slam. A moment later, we're out. Grimm storms past us into the alley between this building and the next. “Tanner! You fucking asshole!” he roars.
We take off after him, chasing him around the corner into another alley that runs along the backs of the buildings. Someone fires a shot, and we speed up.
Grimm’s right ahead of us now, and we catch a glimpse of Tanner up ahead, making a wrong turn.
Maybe he knew this neighborhood at some point, but he's been gone for years and some of us still live here. And the alley he just threw himself into is a dead end.
For him, literally.
Grimm gets there first. I hear a gunshot, and we round the corner to the sight of them in the middle of a struggle. Grimm’s gotten in close and he’s driving his fist into Tanner’s gut, over and over.
“I supported you. Trusted you. And this is the shit you pull? Fuck you, Tanner!”
“Don’t kill him,” Dragon growls. “It’s not your woman he tried to fucking blow up.”
Tanner gets in a lucky hit that knocks Grimm sideways, and then he’s pointing his gun at us. He knows he’s done. I can see it on his face. No matter what the fuck else happens, his life is about to end between two moldy brick walls, in a dead end alley where no one’s gonna remember him.
His eyes are wild. “Not a fucking step closer.” His shooting hand’s unsteady.
“Two of us, one of you,” Dragon growls. “How lucky do you feel?”
He shoots and we throw ourselves to the side. Easy miss. I draw my piece as I roll and fire. Tanner’s shoulder is knocked back, and then the rest of him follows, tumbling backwards into a pile of garbage bags. His gun rattles on the broken asphalt, coming to rest against the brick wall. Dragon puts his foot on it, pinning it to the ground.
“Now what, Tanner? Looks like you're fucked.”
He pushes himself up to sit, then grabs his side, trying to stem the blood that's oozing through his T-shirt, spreading slow enough that it's gonna be a while before he bleeds out. I'm tempted to just sit here and wait, so I can watch the exact moment his light flickers out.
Grimm spits as he pushes himself to his feet. “Motherfucker.”
By then Dragon’s close enough to Tanner to kick him in the side. He grunts and hisses in pain. “You made a mistake betraying Chafik. You made another mistake when you came for the Outlaw Sons. But the real mistake? That was coming for our woman.” He kicks again, followed by another pained grunt. “No wonder they kicked you out. You're a fucking idiot.”
“Don't care,” Tanner wheezes. “In a second your whole club's going up in the air, along with your precious slut of a girlfriend. Brag all you fucking want. I'm dead anyway, but you're not getting your club back, and you sure as fuck aren't getting your girl back unless you’re into puzzles.”
“I wouldn't fucking bet on that,” Skyhigh's voice comes from behind us, his voice quiet and deadly.
Fuck, I've never felt relief like I do right now. “Willow?”
“She's with Paige, Jess and Bonnie. I promised her I'd bring all three of us back safe, so I'm just gonna fucking assume that you're all more or less intact.”
I work my shoulder to check. “Good enough.”
Dragon just nods.
Skyhigh pushes his way past us, right up until he's standing over Tanner. He pulls something out of his jacket. “You left some of these back at your house. I feel like there's a kind of poetic fucking justice in that.”
Tanner's eyes widen as he sees the grenade that Skyhigh is casually tossing and catching, tossing and catching.
“Yeah, what'd you think? I'd just beat you up a little? Break your face and send you on your way? Clean shot to the forehead, maybe? At least make it easy?” Fuck, even at his worst, I've never heard Skyhigh's voice so ugly. Darker than a fucking storm cloud and deadlier than a knife to the throat. Is this what he was like on deployment? He hates talking about that shit, but right now he's leaning into it hard.
Tanner pales as Skyhigh crouches next to him. Suddenly, quick as lightning, he punches Tanner in the face. And when Tanner screams, Skyhigh rams the grenade so hard and deep into Tanner's mouth that I hear the teeth snap from back here. I wince. Only thing sticking out of Tanner's bloody, ruined mouth is the fucking pin.
“Run, boys,” Skyhigh says calmly while Tanner's screams are muffled around the grenade. Grimm’s already moving, having figured it out.
Fuck.
Me and Dragon hightail it out of the alley, chased by Skyhigh. He shoves us from behind so we round the corner faster, throwing himself after us.