Page 18

Havoc

B efore leaving the cabin, we headed down to the basement. Most of the brothers left either a large duffle bag or footlocker with their sports gear there. Mace preferred a large duffle bag because he could loop his arms through the handles and carry it on his back. I preferred a generously sized footlocker because it could hold more. We went about gearing up as quickly as possible.

Riley loomed over my shoulder, watching me open mine. “Not you too?”

I glanced over my shoulder and grinned at her. “No way. I just store the gear for all my hobbies down here. Fortunately, that includes a rifle and two extra pistols that I usually use for target practice. I think I even have some spare ammo in here.”

She wrapped her arms around her stomach and stopped chewing on her lip long enough to say, “And let me guess, after what happened tonight with Slater, you decided it’s better to be safe than sorry. Am I right?”

“Yeah, that’s the mantra I live my life by. Being prepared has saved my ass more than once.”

“I just bet it has. You don’t seem like you’re a stranger to danger.”

“No sweetheart, I am most certainly not,” I murmured to her as I pulled out my rifle and handguns.

She watched curiously as I fished out all the things I felt I needed for this trek to the bunker. Not knowing what to expect, I prepared for everything.

I strapped my hunting knife to my right leg about six inches above my ankle and pulled my pants leg down to cover it. Then I slung my rifle over my shoulder and tucked one handgun in the back of my waistband and held the other out for Riley.

Her eyes got big, and she backed away. “I don’t know anything about guns.”

“You point and squeeze the trigger. This is a nine-millimeter Glock. It has a bit of a kick, so be prepared for that. Never draw your weapon unless you have to in order to save your own life or another person’s life. Keep the safety lock on and the muzzle pointed away from yourself and anything else you don’t want to kill. That’s the basics.”

“I don’t think me carrying a gun is a very good idea,” she stammered.

“Suit yourself,” I told her, thinking she was making a big mistake. I don’t normally foist badass weapons on innocent, unsuspecting women but I had a bad gut feeling about this situation. I reached down and pulled a sheathed knife from my stock of cool gear. Holding it out to her, I asked, “What about a blade?”

Her eyes shot up to mine and then back down to my humble offering. One shaking hand reached out to grasp the handle. I tugged the sheath, so the knife slid out. I watched her eyes crawl over every square inch, warming to the idea of carrying a weapon. I honestly thought she needed a means to protect herself, something to level the playing field if she was forced to face off against a larger and more experienced opponent, like Slater.

She eased it back into its leather housing and took it from my hands. “My grandfather and I used to practice with throwing knives. Blades don’t scare me, and I know how to use them safely.”

I reached out and gave her arm a squeeze. “Good. Don’t be afraid to use it if your back is against the wall.”

She gave me a stiff nod and handed it back. I clipped it to the waistband of her jeans. Another knot of tightness loosened in my chest. I asked her, “Are you ready for a night hike?”

“Not really, but it looks like I don’t have a choice.”

“Where’s that adventurous spirit you used to have?”

She perked up a little at being reminded of her own inner strength and bravery. “I think she’s waiting to jump back into action.”

Mace made a strange sound from the doorway. He’d always used sounds instead of words to get my attention, so I didn’t think much of it. When I glanced over at him, he made the gesture for let’s move out.

I guided Riley in front of me, telling her, “Stay between Mace and myself. Don’t step out of formation unless one of us tells you to.”

We walked out the back door of the basement to find a lone figure in the distance looking down on us. They were partway up the hill on the very path we needed to traverse. The moonlight was at their back, obscuring their features. My guard went up, especially when two more figures emerged from the trees, one on either side of the first.

Nine made a strange sound and went racing towards the middle figure. They moved back one leg in a traditional fighting stance. I didn’t know who they were, but fighting a huge animal that was part wolf and part some kind of large breed dog was a really dangerous thing to do. Mace surged forward after him, shouting, “Nine, don’t do that. You guys are gonna fucking kill each other one day.”

Just then he got close enough to take a running jump onto the poor hapless soul. My hand automatically went up to Riley’s eyes because I didn’t want her to see the heroic animal she’d recently fed treats to, ripping out someone’s throat. I knew he would kill if he felt we were under threat. He killed and ate his own fresh meat, after all.

Nine landed on the person, but instead of attacking each other, the person threw their arms around him and took Nine down to the ground by rolling sideways, landing on top of him. They grappled a bit, and it took me far too long to realize they weren’t really fighting—they were play fighting. The person lost their footing and they both came rolling down the hill and right past Mace, who had to jump aside to get out of their way. The two of them landed nearly at our feet.

I looked down into Alicia’s flushed face. Nine was climbing all over her, licking her face. “ Ay dios mío ! Get off me, Nine,” she said with exasperation. Trying her best to push him off, she grumbled, “Nine always takes things too far. He doesn’t know his own strength.”

I yelled, “Mace, come get your old lady. She shouldn’t be here.”

Then I bent down and offered her my hand. She took it and quickly pulled herself up to a standing position. “ Gracias , Havoc. Thanks for the save.”

“No problem.” Before I could explain that she needed to get back home, Mace made it back down the hill.

“I told him to stop. But you know, when it comes to you, he never listens.” Mace kept looking her over, touching her and looking for injuries. “Are you okay? Did the big brute hurt you?”

She shoved his hands away, before pulling him down for a lingering kiss. “You know that he didn’t.”

I sensed movement and discovered that Mace’s cousins were almost right on top of us. That made sense. His family would never allow her to be out in the wilds late at night by herself. I jerked my chin at them. “Edward, Marcus. How’s it hanging?”

Edward answered because Marcus was the quiet one. “I should be sleeping, but we were told to get our asses out here because you were in trouble, and we were the closest.”

“Now, I know Storm didn’t call you two. He said he’s sending prospects.”

Edward shrugged. “Our tribal elders know everything. The eagles are their eyes and the forest creatures are their ears.”

I frowned at him, almost forgetting that he liked to lean into his native heritage a bit too hard. I sighed, “Wish I had some eyes and ears in the forest about now.”

Glancing from me to Riley and back again, Edward stated irritably, “Just tell us what’s going on, paleface.”

Mace’s hand shot out to thump his cousin’s shoulder, almost knocking him sideways. “Stop being a prick. I’m telling your wife you said that, by the way.”

Edward frowned at him. “I was just joking around. There’s no need to get my woman involved. You know how she is.”

Mace flicked Edward’s chest with the back of his fingers and asked, “You mean decent? Yeah, I know exactly how aggravated she gets with your ridiculous bullshit sometimes.”

Marcus finally spoke, “Edward has a twisted sense of humor. He apologizes. Now, tell us what’s going on.”

Mace took point on this one. “Havoc’s lady is being stalked by a dirty cop.”

Edward said testily, “Is there any other kind?”

“Shut up and let me finish,” Mace told him. “Anyway, the asshole showed up here and Havoc kicked his ass.”

For some reason Riley felt the need to interject. “Nine helped, ‘cause he’s a good boy.” She even managed to change into her dog-talking baby voice, making Nine come and jump on her. I went ahead and took a minute to introduce her to everyone.

“Anyway, we’re heading to the bunker until the club can sort out the legal ramifications of giving a duly appointed officer of the law a good beatdown.” Glancing from one cousin to another, he added, “We’re gonna patrol the outside of the bunker in case they show back up.”

Turning to Alicia, he frowned. “I’m not even gonna ask why you decided to tag along, and where’s Huri Junior?”

She grinned unrepentantly at him. “You’re the one who taught me to shoot, fight, and track. It’s downright silly to train me up and expect me to sit at home like a good little wife, our son is with his grandmother. Your mom says ‘Hi’.”

Before Mace could reply, I said, “Riley and I are moving out now. If you want to come, you’re welcome, but we can’t waste any more time here.”

I led Riley onto the path and began our upward ascent into the darkness with only a flashlight shining the way through the dense foliage. She was careful about watching her footing and avoided stumbling over tree roots and branches. I vaguely heard the others following behind. Mace’s cousins spread out about ten yards on either side of us and slowly pulled ahead to scout the area. I didn’t expect them to find any trouble in the forest at this hour, but it never hurt to be vigilant.

I jerked my chin up the hill and added, “We need to keep moving. The path dwindles out in about a quarter of a mile. But don’t worry, I can find the bunker blindfolded.”

Riley immediately followed my lead.

Once he saw we were all moving in the same direction, Nine surged ahead to lead the way. He padded along on all fours, stopping occasionally to sniff something on the wind or to run his nose along the ground. We’d taken him with us to the bunker many times, which explained why he was confident enough to lead rather than stay by Mace’s side.

I slowed my pace to keep Riley at my side, occasionally wrapping my arm around her waist when she stumbled. Hiking rough terrain after dark might have been something Mace and I did for sport. But I could tell Riley wasn’t thrilled to be doing it tonight. Of course, Mace and I knew this area like the back of our hands. We had spent a lot of time at the cabin and in the surrounding areas. And together we had mapped pretty much every hidden trail for miles in every direction. Riley seemed to sense that she was safe in our keeping, even in this really unusual situation.

I was proud of Riley. She sucked it up and was making good time without a single complaint. She wasn’t even winded by the physical exertion. She’d make a great old lady for a man like me. Any fool could see Riley was something special. In my eyes, she was determined, brave and resilient.

I asked, “Are you okay, sweetheart? We’re a little over halfway there.”

She nodded, glancing over to catch my eye. “Yeah, I’m fine. I like to hike. I’ve just never done it at night. It’s a little anxiety-producing, especially after running into the bears. I just hope we don’t end up being jumped by cougars or coyotes.”

I chuckled because I could tell by the tone of her voice she was joking. “I can’t make any promises, but I gotta say the chances are remote.”

She gave me a reluctant smile. “This is a pristine area, thick with foliage. The parts I’ve seen have been absolutely beautiful. I’d love to hike this area in the daylight.”

“That can be easily arranged once we’ve dealt with the danger. This is a remote area that butts up against a national forest on one side and native tribal lands on the other side. That means we don’t see much foot traffic in this area.”

Mace called out from behind. “It’s the perfect place to hide a bunker.”

I shot him a feral grin, ‘cause my club brother was not wrong about that. “Mace is right, of course. I don’t think anyone has ever stumbled upon our hidden location. It’s fairly remote in relation to the national forest. Mace’s tribe has an ancient burial ground on the far edge of our property. They usually don’t go much further than that, although they’re certainly welcome.”

“It would be amazing to visit the burial grounds one day. I’ve always been fascinated by historical sites.”

Edward’s voice rang out from the left. “Not gonna happen, it’s off limits to outsiders.”

Mace’s cousin could be an obnoxious prick when he wanted to be. But he was trustworthy, and we’d had each other’s backs several times over the years. Therefore, I chose to just ignore his antics tonight. Instead of engaging with him, I quickly filled Riley in on why we wouldn’t be visiting the native burial grounds. “I think it’s been designated as a protected site.”

“I see. Well, I’m glad they managed to hang onto their sacred ancestral lands.”

We continued chatting, mostly about how beautiful the waterfall was that we had visited together. I thought Riley just wanted to take her mind off everything again. She tended to use pleasant conversation to manage her stress, and I was totally there for it.

Eventually, we crested the ridge. Mace was squatting down at the hatch, dusting leaves and debris off with his hands. Somewhere along the line, Hacker had added one of his biometric locks. Mace placed his fingers on the scanning plate, and we immediately heard a click as the locking mechanism released. He tried to tug the huge metal door open, but it wouldn’t budge. I added my hands to the effort, and it was stuck tight.

Edward approached, frowning. “What’s the problem?”

Mace huffed out an exasperated breath and told his cousin, “Either the lock isn’t releasing all the way or the hinge has rusted into place.”

“Either way, we’re gonna have to use the back entrance. Once we’re inside, I can assess the situation better and decide what we need to do in order to get it fixed.”

Alicia rubbed her arms briskly. “Then let’s get going. I’m getting cold.”

“Thought you’d never want to see this place again,” Mace said to his old lady. He and Alicia had hidden out here for a few days last year when the cartel, and the man she thought was her father were after them.

She gave him a wink, “It wasn’t all bad.”

“Aw, you say the sweetest things, darlin’.” Mace stood up and put his arm around her, using his other hand to cup her cheek. “Alright, baby. We’ll make it quick.”

“It might be an underground crypt, but at least it’s cozy. I’m eager to get the heat started so we can get warm.”

Riley spoke up, “I second that motion.”

We started moving around the ridgeline. Mace and his cousins pulled ahead again, but Nine hung back, sticking close to Alicia.

Once again, when we caught up with Mace, he was squatting down, looking through a pair of binoculars that he wore folded up on his belt.

I came up behind him and asked, “What do you see, brother?”

He came to his feet, clicked his binoculars closed, and grinned. “Not a damn thing.”

“I wouldn’t think so at this hour of the night.”

He chuckled, “Better safe than sorry. You never know when a stray hunter, bear, or wolf is going to decide that stone platform in front of the back entrance is a good place to take up residence.”

“True. Let’s hope we don’t end up with another nasty surprise when we get down there.”

We trudged down a small slope, stepping on twigs, tree roots, and pine needles. The entrance was slightly overgrown because we only came here occasionally and were used to accessing it from the top hatch.

Mace and I got busy cutting away the overgrowth with our hunting knives. From the look of this entrance, you’d think no one had been here for years, but I knew one of the brothers brought his old lady here a month or so ago. Slowly, a jagged opening in the rock face came into view. We slipped into the opening one by one. Then we were faced with concrete, steel, and another locked metal door. Behind the door, I grasped for the light switch and flipped it on. LED lights flickered to life, sending a soft glow over a messy foyer. Boxes of supplies were stacked haphazardly in the small room.

Walking to the back of the foyer, I pushed the secondary door open and turned on the lights in the large sitting room.

“Does every bunker have three doors?” Riley asked, as she looked around the room.

“No. The crazy fucker who built this place was obsessed with doors and locks. I guess that was to be expected, since he turned out to be a serial killer. He even had a room with multiple cells where he kept the women he abducted. That was before my time with the club, but I remember something about how he got into a wrangle with his brother over what he was doing here, and the brother ended up killing him. Nasty business, all of it.”

“How did your club end up with the property?”

“We helped the brother track him down, and after being forced to take his own brother out, he didn’t want any part of what his brother had going on here. Storm took it off his hands for a tidy sum. And just like that, what had once been a place where women came to die became a safe house. It’s a shelter of last resort for use when danger threatens our club brothers and their families.”

“How does such a remote location have electricity?”

Edward walked by and grumbled, “It used to be off grid, with only solar panels to power everything. But my tribal elders joined the Dark Slayers in routing electricity from the electrical substation on our lands to this shelter. Together we dug almost a thousand feet by hand in order to lay underground power lines, dropped a private well and installed a sewer system. Now, our families are welcomed in the event of disaster as well.”

“That’s a clever bit of teamwork,” Riley replied warmly.

Edward rolled his eyes. “Yes, we’re all nothing if not clever around these parts.”

Marcus fast-walked past us, saying over his shoulder, “It was fucking exhausting, that’s what it was.” Gesturing to towards the utility room, he announced, “I’m going to turn on the heat. We need to get the chill off the rooms and get some air circulating.”

Hauling in a deep breath, I almost gagged at the lungful of stuffy air. “That’s a great idea, Marcus. The air fuckin’ sucks. It’s not only stale, but musty too.” I told him.

“It’s breathable,” Mace said as he knelt to pet Nine.

Alicia flung herself down on the oversized sofa and said, “Speak for yourself. It smells like fry bread and old socks in here.”

Mace’s old lady wasn’t wrong about that, I thought to myself. I called out to Marcus, “We’ve got a big box of extra air filters back there.”