Page 21 of Abe (Marked Skulls MC 3)
“Down!” Girth growled. The three of us ducked and I had my gun out in my hand before the next bullet sliced past us.
“We’re under fire!” Oz shouted.
“Stay fucking down!” Girth barked at us, while he crouched and moved forward; trying to go closer to the source of the shots. Girth started shooting, and we could hear his bullets bouncing off crates and walls and planks.
“Oz! Fuck!” I cursed, when I saw Oz following Girth in the dark. The more Girth fired, the more shots were being fired at us.
I’d promised Alexis that I would keep her brother safe, and now he was walking straight into a shootout.
I cursed some more under my breath before I followed them, hoping that Rodeo would have heard the shots too and he’d turn up here, giving us some much needed backup.
Girth and Oz were ahead of me, crouching and running ahead in the dark, shooting in the direction they thought the shots were coming from. None of us had located the source yet. It was obvious that the men shooting at us were on foot too and the closer we drew to them, the farther they backed from us.
“Oz, stay fucking down!” I shouted, but he wasn’t obeying my orders, he was following Girth but the difference between them was that Girth had several years of experience in shootouts and this was Oz’ first one.
Another bullet whizzed past me, narrowly missing my earlobe and I fired back with rage. I knew it was the Dark Legion, I could feel it in my bones. They’d got wind about this shipment and now they were here to fuck it up.
Oz and Girth kept running ahead of me, firing shots in the dark. We had no idea if we’d got anyone yet or not.
“Oz, stand down! Stand fucking down!” I raged at him. He was too close to getting himself fucking killed. Oz heard me this time, and he stopped in his tracks and turned to look in my direction. From the corner of my eye, I caught the movement.
I saw the silhouette of a man in the dark, several feet away from Oz, half hidden by a tower of fish crates. It was a split-second. I saw him aim his gun at Oz and I pulled the trigger. The bullet entered his left thigh and passed through and the fucker fell to the ground.
Oz looked more surprised rather than relieved. Girth growled, alerted by what had happened. He charged at the man who was now trying to drag himself away, still clutching his open wound.
“Dark Legion!” Girth shouted as he stood over him, with his gun pointed at the man’s head. Oz and I ran towards them. Behind us, I could hear Rodeo’s hurried footsteps.
“Let him go,” I said to Girth as I joined him. Girth was right, I recognized his patch.
“Get the fuck outta here, you filthy scum,” Girth growled at the guy, who started dragging himself away again.
“Why did you let him go?” Oz turned to me, his gun still dangling from his hand.
“Because I’m not ready to start a war yet,” I said, thumping Oz’ shoulder.
“What the fuck happened here?” Rodeo had run up to us, out of breath. He was looking at us, at the trail of blood on the ground in front of us. The Dark Legion fucker had disappeared into the dark by now, probably joined his group of pussy buddies who didn’t have it in them to keep up the fight they’d started.
“Nothing. Just some minor distraction. We should get back to the shipment,” I said, walking past Rodeo. I could hear him cursing under his breath but Girth and Oz joined me on either side now.
I could sense Oz looking at me. We both knew that I’d saved his life tonight.
“Abe, thanks man,” I heard him say. I looked at him and nodded.
“It was my pleasure,” I replied.
Chapter 22
Abe
Church was called early in the morning, so we could report with news. According to our brothers who were posted at the warehouse, there hadn’t been any trouble since we’d dropped off the shipment to them.
Oz looked tired as he stood behind me, we hadn’t slept all night. Girth and Rodeo were on either side while the rest of the MC were scattered around the bar. Lewis was at his usual spot, on a bar stool in front of the counter, shaking his head.
“There was trouble, of course there was,” he said.
“But we handled it and nobody got hurt,” I retorted and Lewis clucked his tongue.
“And what about the kid? How did he hold up?” Lewis asked and he was looking at Girth for his honest opinion.
“The kid did well, he is a better shot than we thought he would be. His reflexes are good and he didn’t hesitate,” Girth replied and Lewis nodded his head.
“Well, I’m glad to hear that we won’t have to kick him out just yet,” Lewis said and I could sense Oz holding his head up proudly behind me. It was all he aspired to be.
“We should speak to the Garcia Brothers and let them know that everything has gone smoothly,” I said and Lewis looked at me sharply.
“Except that it didn’t,” he retorted and I clenched my jaws.
“We were expecting some retaliation from the other MCs and our expectations were met, but we handled it too,” I stated, standing my ground, watching Lewis as he shook his head.
“Yes, you should speak to our contact in the Garcia group and let them know that we won’t be taking on this deal,” Lewis said and he tapped the counter for a drink.
“That won’t be the best step right now, we’ve got our hands dirty already and we have proven that we can handle the brunt,” I said.
“Yeah, that’s because the whole fucking Dark Legion wasn’t up our asses this time. The next time, they’re not going to be so lenient about how many men they send to disrupt our business,” Lewis shouted, to shut me up and I had to clench my fists to stop myself from picking a fight.
“We can handle it,” it was Rodeo who spoke up and Lewis was just as shocked to hear his voice, as I was.
“Look how the tables have turned,” Lewis remarked and Rodeo took a step forward towards the older man.
“I was there, Lewis, I’m confident that we can handle it. Last night was a minor hiccup. If Abe is able to recruit more guys like this kid here, we’ll be up and ready for business in no time,” Rodeo defended our cause and I watched him, confused. I didn’t expect him to be on my side. Lewis glared at Rodeo and then at me.
“Whatever you’ve snuck into his drink, is working,” he told me.
“Rodeo is right. By the time of the next shipment, Oz will be better trained and hopefully, I’ll be able to recruit some more new prospects to our team,” I countered and Lewis shook his head.
“We are taking risks with these new prospects, getting them involved in our shit. Like this kid here, he has no experience, he doesn’t know us…how do you expect him to have our fucking back? One of you is going to get yourselves killed and I just can’t fucking afford that!” Lewis was barking and he jumped off the stool, with a tall glass of beer in his hand and he walked towards us.
“It was a good run. You’ve proven yourself, son, and now it’s time to just fucking let it go,” he said, plac
ing a hand on my shoulder. “Ever since Fred died, you guys have all been acting up,” he mumbled under his breath and turned away from us.
“Call the Garcia brothers and tell them the deal is off!” he said, as he walked towards the office at the back of the bar. “I can’t afford to lose any more of my men!” he added.
Lewis banged the door of his office shut behind him, and the rest of us relaxed.
“The deal is off? What now?” Oz was jumpy with the questions.
“What happened to you, brother?” I asked Rodeo, who was rubbing his hand over his face.
“You were right, we need to grow. I’m tired of this bullshit sitting around, collecting protection money from grocery shops and waiting for the Dark Legion to take shots at us,” Rodeo said.
Girth grunted in response.
“So what will we do? Lewis said that the deal is off?” Oz barraged us with questions again and we looked at his shiny excitable face. “Does that mean that I have to go too? I thought I did well last night?” he continued and I reached for his shoulder and squeezed.
“What you are going to do is go home to your sister and let us deal with this. Go on, go!” I barked at him. Oz looked dejected as he turned from us, but he obeyed my order this time and we watched him dragging his feet out of the bar.
“It’s like having an excitable squirrel around all the time,” Rodeo said and Girth grinned.
“Yeah, a very excited squirrel,” I said.
“Has his sister forgiven you for getting him involved in this shit?” Rodeo asked and I jerked my head to look at him. I hadn’t told any of my brothers or even Lila, about what was going on between Alexis and me, or who she was.
“Don’t look so surprised, man. I’m your best fucking friend. I figured it out,” Rodeo said and thumped my back. Girth was grinning too and I clenched my jaws. I hadn’t thought about Alexis for most of the night and now he’d reminded me.
“Yeah, she’s forgiven me. Let’s go call the Garcias,” I said and the three of us walked out of the bar together.
