Page 17

BOND

Jill’s warning came through, and I moved to stand in a better position to throw the spike strips to puncture the tyres; Cairo was standing opposite me in much the same position.

Soon we could hear the sound of the vehicles coming. The shouting and banging on the car roof made me roll my eyes. These are fucking idiots; if you’re going to attack someone, they should know you come in stealthy and quiet. Cairo was shaking his head, obviously thinking the same thing.

“These guys aren’t the brightest, are they?” Skinny mutters over comms.

“No, they aren’t,” Bull agrees. “Remember the puncture strips after the first vehicle; make sure you get the second and third vehicles. Blaze, get ready with that rocket; as soon as the second car stops, I want you to take out the first vehicle. Jill, Noni, and Roch, you take out as many as you can, and we’ll clean up the rest. I’m not worried about casualties. The whole lot are to be taken out; nobody’s leaving alive. We’re making a statement that nobody fucks with us.”

“Gotcha, Pres,” Blaze acknowledges.

The first vehicle drove into town, and the occupants went silent as they were greeted by a dead silent town, no lights on and the hotel in darkness.

In the quiet of the night, we heard one of the gang members say to the other, “I thought they were meant to be here tonight? What the fuck? This is a ghost town. Call Jason.”

They continued to drive slowly down the road, and I let them go past, then threw down my puncture strip for the next vehicle that hit it. They started cursing immediately as the vehicle jerked slightly before coming to a stop, the vehicle behind it in the same position after Cairo threw down his strip. We’re in the shadows just waiting for Blaze now, who doesn’t let us down, blowing up the first vehicle.

The shock wave caused windows to shatter and created absolute chaos as those in the second and third vehicles tried to reverse but got nowhere, not with the strips embedded in their tyres. Pulling a pin from a hand grenade, I threw it in the window of the second vehicle and dove for cover as that one blew up too, leaving only the third vehicle.

I can hear the rat-tat-tat of the women’s weapons as they take out whoever is still walking. Bull is in the thick of things with his preferred weapon of a knife as he picks off whoever the girls have missed. I can see Cairo fighting off someone and make my way over to give him a hand, not that he needs it.

The occupants of the third vehicle have started to shoot wildly at shadows. I pick them off one at a time until there’s only Jason left cowering in the back seat of the last vehicle. Cairo finishes off the guy he’s been fighting. Aiming my gun at Jason, I wait until everything is quiet again, the shots die down, and only the fire on the burnt-out vehicles lights up the area. When my brothers are done, we stand by the last vehicle looking at the snivelling weasel.

“Noni is staying here and calling Rogue. Roch and I are coming in,” Jill warns. “The fire on those cars you blew up needs to be put out, or your town’s going to burn down around you.”

“Shit, she’s right,” Cairo mutters, jogging away to collect the fire extinguishers we had stashed along the veranda outside each shop and bringing them back.

“Here,” he hands one to me and Blaze. I take it but look towards the snivelling toerag in the vehicle first.

“I’ve got him,” Bull assures me, going towards the vehicle and pulling Jason out, throwing him on the ground, jerking his arms behind his back, and tying him up.

Knowing my president has him in hand, I turn my attention to the burning vehicles and help Blaze and Cairo put them out. Hearing footsteps approach, we turn as one, guns in hand pointed in that direction as we wait to see who it is. My shoulders slump when a familiar female voice calls out, “Relax, guys, it’s just Roch and me.”

I’m not sure if I want Roch to see the carnage up close and personal, but from the way she hardly bats an eye at the dead bodies, I’m guessing it’s not the first time she’s seen one. My heart settles in my chest as she curls her arms around me in a hug, then starts running her hands over my body. “You’re okay,” she whispers.

“I’m fine,” I assure her. “Just a few scrapes and bruises.” Wrapping my hand around her neck, I take her lips in a hard kiss, pouring my relief that she’s okay into it. We’re broken apart by Jill’s frantic voice, “You got shot! How bad is it?”

Turning, I see Jill unstrapping Blaze from his vest and pulling it and his T-shirt off. I hiss in a breath as I see the blood on his side and the entry wound.

“I’m good, Jill,” he tries to reassure her. Jill looks at him in disbelief, her gold eyes flashing. She turns him, and I know he’s not good because there’s no exit point.

“Oh, fuck, the bullet’s still in there,” Jill whispers, pulling her phone from her pocket and trying to catch Blaze as his legs collapse under him.

“Take this fuckhead,” Bull says, thrusting a tied and gagged Jason to his knees in front of me and hurrying towards Blaze.

“That’s not good,” Rochelle says softly, then turns her attention to Jason and kicks him in the back. “You motherfucking bastard. You should have let me go; Blaze better not die.” She kicks him again, vibrating with a combination of fury and worry.

Josie runs past me towards Bull and Blaze with a medical bag. Jill is on the phone to whom I’m assuming is Jett.

“GSW to the side, no exit wound; he’s struggling to breathe. It slipped past his vest. Yes, Josie is working on him now. How soon can you get here?” she’s demanding to know. She listens to something he says, then in a softer voice says, “He can’t die, Jett.”

Blaze was so wrong about how Jill feels about him. Makes me wonder what’s holding her back.

She hands her phone to Josie, who listens to whatever Jett is saying, answering his questions. They must agree on something, but as it’s all clinical jabber, I have no idea. Josie ends the call and hands the phone back to Jill.

“Let’s get him to the clinic. I’ll stabilise him and get him on a drip. Jett is coming in with a team. Bull, can you get to the airfield and pick them up?”

I’m torn; I want to help my brothers but can’t leave Rochelle alone with Jason, even if he’s restrained.

Jill stalks over to me, anger blazing in her eyes. It’s not the first time I’ve seen anger like that in one of our women, so I know whoever it’s aimed at is in for a huge amount of hurt, “Go help them get him into the clinic. Roch and I have this piece of shit. You and Cairo will have to clean up the vehicles, but we’ll deal with the bodies. I have family coming in with Jett to give us a hand.”

Turning towards Rochelle, she pushes me gently towards Blaze, “Help your brothers, then come and help here.”

Kissing her forehead before I turn and walk towards Bull, I wonder where the hell Cairo’s disappeared to. Ignoring the muffled cries of pain from behind me as Jill loses her temper on Jason, I’m thinking he’s regretting everything he’s ever done.

Bull’s got a stretcher ready, and on three, we pick Blaze up and put him on it. My brother isn’t looking good; his face is pale, and his lips have a blue tinge to them.

“Fuck,” I mutter, picking up the poles and hustling with Bull towards the veterinary clinic. Once we have him on the table, Skinny takes over from me as Josie barks orders at him. It’s not the first time they’ve had to work together, and I know it’s best to leave them to it because we have other work to do, but it’s hard to leave a brother not knowing if it’s the last time I’ll see him.

“Come on,” Bull clasps my shoulder and pushes me towards the door, “we have work to do.”

When we get back to where the women are waiting, I see Cairo with them, and behind him is one of the tow trucks; at least now I know where he disappeared to.

On the ground in front of Jill is a bloody and beaten Jason. Jill has blood flecked on her face and her fists.

Rochelle comes straight to me, and I wrap my arm around her.

“Is he going to be okay?” Cairo wants to know. Bull hesitates, glancing at Jill before answering. “I don’t know, brother. Josie and Skinny are going to stabilise him until Jett can get here. We’ll know more then. In the meantime, can you clear up here while I go to the airfield to pick them up?”

Jill looks up at his comment, “I have family coming in to help with the bodies. You’ll know some of them.”

Bull tilts his chin at Jill, “Thanks, Jill. I’m going to check on Noni, then I’m leaving.”

Cairo waves him off, “Go. We’ve got this, Pres.”

Looking around at the destruction we’ve got to clean up, tiredness washes over me. All this for drugs and a man who can’t understand that no means no and that you can’t own people. Jason groans at my feet, and I kick him, “Fucking arsehole. All this for drugs and not understanding that people can’t be owned.” I kick him once more for good measure, then turn to Cairo, Jill, and Rochelle. “Let’s get the bodies piled up over there; there’s a ground sheet in the office of the garage. Cairo can start towing the vehicles to the yard, and we’ll crush them down. Once the street is clear, hopefully by then Jill’s people will be here, and we’ll deal with the bodies and this fuckhead.” I kick Jason again before asking, “Does that sound like a plan to everyone?”

Rochelle and Cairo nod. Jill answers, “Sounds good to me. Let’s tie this piece of shit up to that grating and get to it.”

Cairo and I grab Jason and tie him to the grating in front of one of the shops, then get to helping the women drag bodies onto the tarpaulin. Noni joined us halfway through clean-up, not saying anything, just getting stuck in with the rest of us. We’d heard a plane land followed by a helicopter about ten minutes ago, so we weren’t surprised when Bull pulled up at the clinic and bodies piled out, hurrying into the clinic.

“Keep me updated; I’ll be back to finish helping as soon as I find out what’s going on,” Noni asks us, hurrying to the clinic.

She blows past a group of people who seem to appear out of the shadows, giving them a quick wave and greeting. There were three men and a woman. Two of the men we immediately recognised, and the other two we could see straight away were family to Jill just from their looks, and she threw herself into the arms of the male as soon as he appeared and burst into tears.

“Where the hell did you all come from?” Cairo wonders, holding out his hand to Rory and then Sean Whyte. They laugh and pull us into back-slapping hugs.

“Jaq dropped us off,” Sean answers him.

“It’s good to see you,” I say, tugging Rochelle closer to me. “Roch, we were with this lot in Afghanistan for a little while. Sean, Rory, this is my Old Lady, Rochelle.”

“Nice to meet you, sorry it’s under these circumstances,” Rory replies before turning towards the woman who was rubbing a hand over Jill’s still-heaving shoulders. “That’s Amy—she’s mine and Sean’s. That’s Joel over there; his wife is Julie, and she’s in with Jett, Hannah, and Cassie. Jill is Joel and Amy’s youngest sister.”

We greeted everyone before explaining what we were doing.

“Have you got a backhoe?” Sean asks.

“Yeah,” I reply, “and we’ve got a bunch of trees that need planting as windbreaks over the road near where the campsite will be going.”

Rory claps his hands, “Well, let’s get to it! Sean, Joel, Amy, and I can do that for you if one of you comes and shows us where the trees are and where the trees are to be planted.”

“I’ll go with you,” Cairo replies, “Let me get the vehicles towed first.”

“What about him?” Joel wants to know, nodding towards the sniffling Jason.

“Oh, he’s mine and he’s croc food. He doesn’t deserve a burial,” Jill answers, all traces of tears gone from her face.

“I’ll take you to the boats,” Rochelle offers up gleefully. Up until now, she’d been quiet, working with the rest of us but not saying much. I’d wondered if it was all too much for her, but at the glee in her voice, I was guessing that it wasn’t bothering her.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” I say, going over to Jason. I untie him, pick him up, and throw him over my shoulder in a fireman’s lift. “Lead the way, ladies.”

It doesn’t take long to get to the boats, and I toss Jason on the floor of the nearest one as Jill and Rochelle get in. Untying the boat, I jump in as Jill starts it up and reverses slowly out into the river.

“How far out are we going?” I ask.

Rochelle and Jill exchange a look, “About two kilometres, we don’t want to feed the crocs too close to the hotel. You don’t want them to get used to being able to feed here, or you’re going to have problems. The farther away, the better.”

Jason was sobbing behind his gag, his eyes wild as he looked around the boat for a way to escape. Rochelle must have realised the same thing because she squats down next to him and pushes his head back so that he can look at her as she speaks to him, “Stop looking for an escape, Jason; there’s nowhere to go. I want you to think on something, though, as you take your last breath. This would have been avoided if you’d left me alone. Now you’ve lost everything, and don’t think what’s left of the gang is going to come looking for you because Dindi is already taking over and will be running it from now on.” She flicks his forehead and tells him again, “It’s not nice being on the other side of torture, is it? I hope you’re remembering every last one of those women that you hurt and killed. Jill’s going to make you hurt. Seems fitting that you’re taken out by a woman after all the ones you’ve hurt.” Thinking she’s finished, I hold my hand out to help her back up, but she hits him with one last thing before she’s done. “Oh, and Jared was killed by Dindi. I found that out last night when I got information for the MC on you. Thought you’d want to know that you were weakened from the inside.” Taking my hand, she allows me to pull her up.

Jill cuts the boat engine, motioning towards the riverbank. “This is a good place.” Along the bank, there are several eyes reflected in the moonlight, and I can just make out the shapes of crocodiles in the dim light.

“How do you want to do this?” I ask Jill.

“Stand him up on that side of the boat, I’ll take care of the rest,” she replied. Grabbing him by his arms, I lift him when he starts to buck and squirm. Jill hits him on the temple with the back of a knife, dazing him enough for him to slump in my hold.

“This will be quick, so be ready,” she warns. Going to his side, she slits deep enough across his stomach that his entrails spill out. There’s splashing coming from the bank, and I know the crocs have smelt the blood and are sliding into the water. He comes awake with a muffled scream that’s silenced as she slices her knife across his throat, then cuts his arms free and pulls the gag off his mouth. “Let him go,” she orders me. Letting him go, he slips over the side of the boat and disappears into the water that starts to swirl as a croc bites onto him and takes him into a death roll.

“Hope he spends an eternity in hell,” Rochelle whispers quietly from beside me. Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I pull her close to me as we watch the roiling water start to smooth back out.

“He will,” Jill replies. “Bond, can you take us home? I want to check on Blaze.”

“Of course,” I answer. Kissing Rochelle on the forehead, I let her go, smiling as she hugs Jill.

“Come,” she urges her into a seat. “Let’s get you home.”

For tonight at least, the threat had gone. We’d have to see if it stayed that way. Starting the boat, I turned it around and took us home.