I held up the flashlight.
“What are you going to do with that?” Trent asked. “Tell scary stories?”
Yeah, me and Trent had a big love-hate thing going on for years now. His old lady tried to kill me. That’s a whole other story though.
“Asshole, watch,” I said.
I turned the flashlight back on and tossed it out to the road. It started to roll, shining its light in the direction of where the bullets were coming from. Guns started to go off again and I jumped up.
I saw the silhouette of a man rushing down the middle of the damn road. Trev and Trent stood up next to me and we all opened fire. The dumb prick had no idea what was about to hit him. He stumbled and fell forward, hitting the pavement hard.
I again had the sense of something behind me.
This time when I turned, it wasn’t one of my brothers in the club.
It was the enemy.
He swung his gun, cracking me against my jaw.
Not quite a knockout shot, but damn close enough.
**
I reached for the bag of cash with the darkness spinning around in my head. I heard the scuffle all around me. Trent took a step back and tripped over me and into my ride. He let out a slew of fucks as he crashed to the ground. That left Prez vulnerable. He was the most valuable person to attack or kidnap so I had to move fast.
I ripped open the bag of cash and tipped it, letting some of the piles fall out. A quick glance to my right allowed me to assess that there were two people standing there. One had a gun pointed right at Trev’s heart. The other was a couple feet back, probably making sure we didn’t have an ambush of our own.
“What the fuck do you want?” Trev asked.
I wasn’t going to let them talk. I didn’t do the negotiation part of war. To me, it was simple. It was basic survival. There’s one piece of meat left to eat and two men staring at it. Maybe the honest man would cut it in half. Not me. I’d kill for that last piece of meat.
Survival of the fittest? Fuck that.
It was about survival of the one who could pull the trigger first.
I lunged forward and hit the first guy in the gut. My grappling skills allowed me to pull him to the ground in seconds. He smashed his gun off the back of my skull a few times but I was in a power position and tore the gun out of his hand and tossed it aside. Two quick punches had the guy desperate to cover his face. Well, the fucker already had his face covered. He and the other guy were wearing black masks over their faces.
“Enough!” someone yelled.
Next thing I knew, I was kicking back and trying to get to my feet. The other guy had a gun out. So did Trent and Trev.
The cash was spread all over the side of the road.
It was a simple distraction and I wanted to see if that’s what these pricks were here for.
“Give us that fucking money,” the guy I had hit said.
They weren’t here for the money. This was our problem. Fuck.
“No,” Trent said.
The second guy pulled out a grenade. He pulled the pin and stood there defiantly.
“Do it,” I said. “Right now. Put that fucking thing down and see what happens.”
“Jesus Christ,” the first guy said.
“Drop your weapons,” the other guy said.
I looked at Trev and he nodded. I had to take my orders, even if I fucking hated doing it. We all put our weapons down and stood there. The first guy started to crawl toward the cash and I had to make my move. I swung my foot and kicked the guy in the face. I grabbed the bag of cash - or what was still in the bag - and I started to run.
The second guy threw the grenade. It went over my head and I heard it ping off the ground. My instinct kicked in again and I darted to the left. I dove forward to the side of road as it exploded.
Talk about bringing back some fucking memories.
My eardrums felt like they were being ripped out of my head. There was then a lingering buzzing sound, not quite like a ringing but a heavy buzzing. I remembered one time over in the desert there was a bomb that went off so loud I couldn’t hear for a few hours. Just looking around at the destruction without being able to have sound to the sight.
I got up to my knees and started to stand, the bag in my hand.
I felt someone touch my shoulder and I quickly threw an elbow, already deep in fight mode.
I spun, tossing the bag behind me. My fist started to lurch forward when I realized it was Trent. He had a hand out, his other hand covering his face where I had elbowed him.
Trev appeared a second later. “Stand down, Duke!”
The sound of motorcycles kicked up in the distance and quickly faded.
“Ah, shit,” Trent yelled. “What the fuck was that about?”
“Where’s the cash?” Trev asked.
“Behind me, Prez. I got it. I saved it.”
“Christ,” Trev said.
I pointed back to the road where one of the bodies lay. I grabbed the bag of cash again and we all ran to the guy we had shot. He was still face down, definitely long gone from this world. Trent rolled the guy to his back and crouched, ripping up the black mask.
“Motherfuckers,” Trent said.