Page 53 of Shadow Strike
“And it was so damn easy because they know now what a scumbag you are.”
“You manipulated them!Same as you’re manipulating her.”Ryder’s gaze flicked to Regan, dismissive and cruel.“Henry Hill’s daughter.Your father would be ashamed of you, chasing after trash like that.”
CB’s jaw tightened, but his voice stayed even.“My father was friends with Henry, and he knows Regan and her mom are good people.Leave Regan out of this.”
“She put herself in it.Her and that podcast.”Ryder took a step closer.Denny moved with him, flanking wide, positioning himself to cut off any retreat toward the bar.“You know what I think?I think you’ve forgotten where you come from.Forgotten what loyalty to me means.”
“I know exactly what it means.That’s why I’m standing here.”
Ryder’s hand moved.
Regan saw the gun before her mind fully registered what it was—black metal catching the single light as Ryder drew it from his waistband and leveled it at her chest.
“Then let’s see how much she means to you.”
Everything happened at once.
CB lunged sideways, putting his body between her and the barrel.Ryder’s finger squeezed the trigger.The shot cracked through the night air, impossibly loud, and CB jerked backward.
Regan screamed.
CB didn’t go down.He staggered, one hand pressing against his left side where blood began spreading through his shirt.Then he was moving—so fast for his size—and charging Ryder before the man could fire again.
They collided hard.The gun flew from Ryder’s grip, skittering across the gravel into the darkness.CB drove his shoulder into Ryder’s midsection and took him to the ground.Fists and elbows flew, accompanied by grunts of pain as they rolled across the ground.
Regan started toward them, desperate to help, but hands grabbed her from behind.
Denny.
His arms locked around her torso, lifting her off her feet.“Going somewhere?”
The smell of him—cigarettes and sweat—triggered a flash of the previous assault.The fear, the helplessness, his weight pinning her.For one terrible second, she was back there, frozen and unable to fight.
Then the fear ignited into rage.
She still had her handheld recorder in her pocket.She’d been using it to make notes all day, thinking about what to do next since the Outlaws investigation was in the FBI’s hands.Her fingers closed around it as Denny dragged her backward.
Regan drove her elbow into his ribs.When his grip loosened, she twisted, pulled the recorder free, and swung it directly into his face.
The crack of plastic against cartilage was deeply satisfying.
Denny howled, releasing her as both hands flew to his nose.Blood poured between his fingers, nearly black in the dim light as he bent over.
Regan kicked him in the shin for good measure, then spun back toward CB.
He had Ryder pinned on the ground, one knee in the man’s back, twisting his arm at an angle that made Ryder cry out.But CB was bleeding badly—the left side of his shirt was soaked, and his movements were slower than they should have been.
“Stay down,” CB growled.
Ryder struggled, trying to buck him off.“You’re going to regret this.Both of you.I’ll burn everything you?—”
“Enough.”
The voice came from the darkness beyond the parking lot.
Regan turned, heart hammering, and watched as figures emerged from the tree line.Outlaws.A dozen of them, maybe more, stepping into the light with their cuts visible and their faces grim.
She recognized some of them from today—the gray-haired man who’d laughed at CB’s joke, Pete who’d worked her grill, others who’d left generous tips and called goodbyes as they headed out.Mixed among them were other faces, men and women she didn’t know but who moved with the same quiet authority.
