Page 44 of Last One Standing (Saint Brothers #5)

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

ANGEL

I watched Shep fall to the ground beside me. He had a bulletproof vest on, but that had surely knocked the wind out of him. We had to get this shit show outside. Close quarters wasn’t going to work—not to mention, we had zero cover here.

I’d suspected this turnout to be possible, but our hope had been to be out of the diner and then for Noel to use the drone to blow it up with all these fuckers inside.

Gabe grabbed Shep by the collar and was dragging him out when a bullet whizzed by my head. I turned and shot, hitting the guy square in the forehead.

“Get outside!” I shouted to Gabe, Four, and Nick.

A piercing burn cut across my leg, and I hissed. We were sitting ducks here.

“Wild shots!” Nick yelled.

We shot blindly at everything and anything to cause chaos so we could rush out the front door. If we could get to the van we’d be protected, and Noel could destroy the diner.

Shep was on his feet again, and we raced for the van. The sound of motorcycles roaring to life meant we wouldn’t get everyone.

“Noel, now!”

I opened the van, we jumped in, Gabe at the wheel. We backed out just as the drone above the diner released a projectile. The van rocked with the explosion, but Gabe was able to get us away, and we avoided getting toppled.

Through the window I saw several bikes following behind us and one SUV. We hadn’t gotten everyone.

“Noel, keep eyes on the bikes and vehicle. We’re coming your way. Come in behind them.”

“Got it. How’s Shep?” Noel asked.

“I’m fine,” Shep grunted. “Gonna have a hell of a bruise.”

“Fucking Christ, babe!” JJ’s voice came through. “I was about to charge out of the van and run there. I want to fuck up that blond bitch?—”

“Okay, let’s keep the line clear.” Noel chuckled.

“Once we have them boxed in, we’ll shoot from our position. Noel, get that drone to fire on the SUV first. Do what you can on your end. We need them out before we get to the highway.”

“We see you,” Mason announced.

We sped past them, and I watched through the window as they flanked the caravan of bikes and one lone SUV. I didn’t see Brick in the group, but that didn’t mean he was dead.

“Ready?” I asked Noel.

“Yeah. On three. One, two, three.”

I pushed the window by me open and aimed. Noel’s drone was going to focus on the SUV. I was able to take two Kings out before the rest of the MC even got a shot off.

“Stay low!” I yelled to the others.

Four ignored me, because he was in kill mode for sure. He practically crawled over me, took a quick peek out the window, and eerily grinned at me. It was unsettling.

A beat later he moved up, and five shots rang out.

“Kings are down,” he announced.

“Holy fuck!” Noel laughed through the speaker. “You wiped them out.”

“SUV?” I asked, damn glad Four was on our side.

A loud explosion rattled the van. “Got the SUV,” Noel answered.

“We need to return to the diner,” Nick said. “Make sure we got everyone.”

“What? No!” Kona’s voice was wonderful to hear even though it was angry.

“We have to, Kona.” I sighed, readying for an argument, but he surprised me.

“I know, but I hate it.”

“Me too.”

Gabe spun the van around, and we drove back the way we came, Noel behind us. It didn’t take long to get to the diner, and it was ablaze with glass and debris everywhere. We could easily see body parts, which wasn’t pleasant.

“Drive to the rear lot,” I instructed Noel. “We’ll watch the front.”

“On it.”

“There’s no way we can figure out if Brick or Colette are in this with the fire going.” Nick was glaring out the passenger window. “I mean, she wore red, but with all this fire it likely burned away.”

The sound of sirens in the distance ended our perusal of the site and we left. This hadn’t gone as we’d hoped, but we were all walking away while the others had serious losses on their side.

We were five minutes from the house when a call came through from Matt. Gabe put it on speaker.

“What’s up?”

“Phoenix is calling Noel, but about a minute ago three SUVs and six motorcycles arrived at the end of the driveway. None are entering the property.”

“Colette and Brick?” Four asked.

“I can’t tell. None of the people in the SUVs are getting out, and the bikers are blocked by the vehicles, so I can’t see.”

“Colette was hell-bent on killing us and the MC. Why are they there together?” Nick sounded as frustrated as I felt.

“Babe, I don’t know. Do you want me to go and ask?” Matt was sarcastic, and it added a little levity.

“Okay, Matt. If we can get them on the property, we can light them up.” I noticed we’d turned on our street. “Colette knows it’s dangerous—likely warned the Kings.”

“So they’re working together now?” Matt wondered aloud.

“For now, maybe.” Ahead I saw the vehicles and bikes.

“What’s the plan?” Noel obviously had finished talking with Phoenix since his voice came through our speaker.

“Talking didn’t get us anywhere.” Four snorted.

I was about to speak when, from the side of the SUV, a large man was dragging another man by the hair.

“Shit, that’s Brick!” Kona gasped.

“An offering?” Shep shrugged. “I mean, I’ll take it, but I think if we let any of these guys leave, we’re causing ourselves future problems.”

He was right. “Let me just go out. If it falls to shit, drive through these motherfuckers.”

“Angel!” Kona shouted. “Why are you the one always offering yourself up to be killed?”

“Kona, please stay in the van with Noel and the others. Watch my six—I trust you.”

There was a silence, and I thought he wouldn’t say anything more. But he did.

“I love you, Angel. And you have to live so you can say it back to me.”

My heart thudded almost painfully in my chest. “Kona…”

“No! You get out of this and then tell me.”

I nodded, and realizing he couldn’t see me, I answered. “Okay.”

I faced Gabe, Four, Nick, and Shep. “Cover me.”

“Always,” they responded in unison, which would almost have been comical if the situation wasn’t so dire.

When I stepped out, the passenger door of one of the SUVs opened and Colette exited. Her red suit was a little dirty and her hair slightly disheveled, but she still appeared more put together than anyone else.

“If you fucking think I’m going to listen or believe anything you say, you’re a crazier bitch than I thought.” That was how I greeted her.

She laughed. “No, you’d be dead right now if you were an idiot.” She motioned to Brick. “I know a strong adversary, one that could be beneficial to my growing business.”

She wanted to work with us. Yeah, she was insane.

“You’re giving us Brick as a peace offering?”

She shrugged. “Call it an advance.”

“You fucking whore!” Brick yelled, only to earn a punch to the head from the man holding him.

I glanced at the other bikers. Tank was there, but he wasn’t giving anything away about what was happening.

“So I kill Brick, and then what?”

She smirked. “Then we sit and talk about how we’ll make a lot of money together.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, unsure how to proceed here. If I shot at her and Brick, I’d go down in a heartbeat. But…I looked at Tank again.

“You’d work with my brothers and the MC together?”

Tank’s jaw tightened. He didn’t like that idea either, and when she responded, “Yes,” I saw the unrest in the other Kings.

“I see.”

“I knew you’d agree this is the best ending to this mess.” She motioned to Brick. “So, get on with it already.”

I walked over to Brick and lifted the muzzle of my gun to his forehead, He glared at me as if he could light me on fire with his gaze.

“It was always going to end like this for you.”

“She’ll kill you,” he growled.

“Maybe.”

“You’ll be her pet. How pathetic, she’ll have you on a leash and every night you’ll fuck my sloppy seconds.”

“I’m done with you.” I squeezed the trigger and his blood sprayed forward, covering my chest.

His body slumped, and the man who was holding him ungracefully dropped him.

“Great.” Colette clapped. “Now we can get down to business.”

I raised my revolver to her. “I don’t think you thought any of this out very well.”

“You shoot me; you’ll fall with me.”

I chuckled. “I don’t think I will.” And with that, I let my bullet fly.