Page 1 of Chill

Prologue.

Chill – Friday, 28th April.

“Get your damn head down.” Psych slapped me as a bullet whizzed past, and I grinned. “Fuckin’ lunatic!”

“Chill out, Veep,” I teased, although that had been a near miss. Rapid City was in the middle of a war not of its own making. Several thousand Venomous Fangs had descended on it, intending to take it over. And I mean literally taking it over. At first, their leader had wanted to take President of Rage MC, whether or not he was entitled to it. Now the fuckin’ maniac craved the entire city.

This wasn’t our war, but we were Rage allies, and they wouldn’t stand alone. Today Fury would claim RC; tomorrow he might look our way. Nope. Not happening. This asshole needed stopping.

It wasn’t just us and Rage fighting; the local Air Force was here, a PI firm, ex-Delta Force, other MCs, and many more. The prick in the White House had abandoned us, believing all reports to be fake and over-exaggerated.

Smoke drifted across RC, looking like a war-torn city in a faraway country. Yeah, we’d really blown this out of proportion—note my sarcasm.

Media helicopters flew around, filming the siege an American city was undergoing. It didn’t happen over here; it shouldn’t be fuckin’ happening, but it was.

My club was supporting the RCPD, who’d taken heavy losses. They’d called for aid, and we rode in like avenging angels.

I was teasing, but this situation was something I’d never encountered, nor would want to again. I’d seen nothing like this before. Some of my brothers had died—my brain acknowledged that, but I could not grieve. Not while the Fangs still fought us.

Ramirez corralled Ben, who’d finally removed the stick from his ass. The detective had gone full Rambo, and it was terrifying. But again, the two cops had lost family today. We weren’t the only ones, and the RCPD has been decimated. When the Fangs surrendered, Ben was only too willing to keep killing them.

No blame attached there. As RCPD covered the Fangs, the Unwanted Bastards moved forwards, ready to disarm them.

Out of the corner of my eye, a man walked slightly ahead of the rest. Inglorious watched him suspiciously, too.

“Hands up, asshole,” Inglorious ordered, keeping his gun focused on him.

“Yeah,” the guy replied with a grin.

“What ya smiling at? Move! Now!” Inglorious yelled.

Inglorious began retreating when a Fang appeared from the centre. The fucker held Inglorious’s horrified gaze and grinned.

Psych and I both fired, and a bullet took him straight through the head, but it didn’t matter. Psych shoved me away hard, terror and resignation crossing his face.

“Tell Nanci I love her.”

The world lit up in a bright white light, and I felt myself being thrown. There was no noise, just a sense of disbelief, and then I landed hard. Yellow light washed over me with a searing heat, and I thought I was being dragged to hell. Was this how my life ended? At least it was a good death.

At first, I felt nothing, unsure of what had happened. I lay there, blinking at the grey sky, seeing smoke spirals in the air and wondering if I’d died. The fucker had been holding a bomb with a dead man’s switch. We were screwed whether or not we shot him. The thought flitted through my mind and then fled.

Sound began rushing in—the roar of flames, screaming, shouting, car sirens rocked by the blast. Bomb. Yup. Bomb.

I turned my head. Psych lay next to me, his eyes wide open, his face with a deep laceration and a nasty graze on his cheek. He didn’t say a word. He never would again. His last action had been to save my sorry life.

I couldn’t move. Agony was slowly rushing through me. I wanted to hold Psych’s hand, let my brother know he wasn’t alone. I couldn’t. His arm was missing and a leg, both blown off by the explosion. Psych had turned his body as he pushed me away. My Veep had saved my worthless existence at the cost of his own life. A face bent over me; I held the horrified eyes of Ramirez.

“Chill’s alive!” he bellowed with such an agonised cry.

I didn’t need telling.

But the Unwanted Bastards had been too close to the blast; we were dead.

They carefully lifted me onto a backboard and moved me.

Sitting there in shock beside me were Inglorious and Razor. Hey. I wasn’t the only one breathing after all. Imagine that.

Chapter One.