Page 100 of Shadow's Surrender
In the middle of the road, a twenty-inch tire iron lay on the asphalt. Shadow grimaced when he bent down to pick it up.I’m gonna beat the shit outta the fuckers with this!Strewn around the area were bits and pieces of his cell phone and sunglasses.
“Do you need us to do anything?” the woman asked as she walked toward him.
“Yeah. I need to borrow your phone—mine’s busted up.” Shadow gazed down the road again, then over to the right from where the men had approached. “Did you see where the fuckers went?”
“They took off running past that building”—the man pointed to Scarlett’s place—“then they got inside a car. It looked like a Mercedes or BMW.”
“Color?” The rage inside him intensified.
“Not sure—rust or brown maybe.”
“No, Jim, it was burgundy, or it could’ve been red. It’s dark out so the color could be off, but it’s in the red family for sure,” the woman said.
“Great, thanks.” Shadow took the phone she offered to him.
“We should call the police. This was a criminal act—an assault,” Jim said, anger punctuating his voice.
“No badges,” Shadow said as he plugged in Smokey’s number.
“You don’t want them to get away with this,” the woman said.
“Lynn, leave it alone. If he doesn’t want the police involved it’s his business.” The man came over to her and held her hand.
Shadow nodded at them. “I appreciate your help, but I’ll take care of this in my own way. There’s no fuckin’ way I’m letting those bastards get away with what they did,” he said turning his back and walking away, out of hearing distance.
“Hello?” Suspicion laced Smokey’s voice.
“Hey, it’s me. My phone got busted because some fuckers threw a tire iron at my bike.”
“What the fuck?” Anger replaced wariness. “Do you know who the assholes are?”
“I got an idea.”
“Did you get hurt?”
“Not really. Road rash—the shit that happens when you wipe out. I’m just glad I wasn’t going too fast. I knew something was off. Fuck! I should’ve gone by my gut.”
“I’ll get some of the brothers to come with me. Where are you?”
“I’m at 1238 Greenwood Boulevard. A couple stopped to help me out—I’m using the woman’s phone.”
“How’s your bike?”
“It doesn’t look so good. It crashed into a parked car. That’s gonna be a fuckin’ pain in the ass. I’ll leave a note and have them call me at work. I’m so fuckin’ pissed!”
“You got every right to be. I’m pissed too. Okay—so we’re on our way. In a while, dude.”
Shadow glanced over at the couple. “I need to make one more call,” he said in a loud voice. They nodded and he tapped in Scarlett’s number.
“Hello?” Her voice softened his rage a little.
“Hey, darlin’,” he replied.
“Why are you calling me from a different number?”
“I’m using someone’s phone. I got into an accident.” He heard her gasp. “Don’t freak out, babe. I’m all right.”
“Are you sure? Oh God, I can’t believe this. Where are you?”
