Page 17

AJAX

I woke up and coughed as cold water hit my face. I heard someone cry. Then felt a throbbing pain in the back of my head, but I couldn't move when I tried to touch it. I was sitting, my wrists tied behind the back of a chair. The world around me was blurry for a moment, but my eyes adjusted to see the warehouse. The rows of bleachers and the boxing ring were empty. I could only guess it was just about dawn break.

Uno, a few feet away, dropped the empty bucket with a grin. "Wakey, Wakey asshole. Time to play."

I spit in his face and chuckled. I was a dead man, but I wasn't going to die without taking a few Death Angels to hell with me.

Uno swung, landing his fist on the left side of my jaw. I laughed again and spit blood next to his boot. "You hit like a girl."

He drew and swung again, as a girl screamed.

Mick!

My eyes turned away from the few Death Angels standing around to Mick, Lou, and Lindsey on my right. They were sitting in separate dog crates in nothing but their bras and underwear. The look of fear in my daughter's eyes and the woman I loved in tears had me roaring with so much rage and fear of losing them. I strained against the rope tied around my wrists.

Sheila, stood beside a tall man with long dark hair and a beard wearing Death Angels rags. The club president had his arm wrapped around her trembling shoulders. "You and your Berzerker assholes think you can just take what belongs to me and my club?"

"Just let them go, and we'll handle this the club way, you and Diezel," I said, hoping to convince Warlock.

He laughed, pulling a gun from inside his rags, putting the end of the barrel to Sheila's head. She went pale, her eyes glazing over with fear. "All of you Berzerkers will be picked off one by one until you're all dead."

The gunshot reverberated through the warehouse.

" Nooo! " I howled as blood and bits of Sheila's flesh and skull splattered all over Warlock.

Her lifeless body dropped to the dirt.

Mick, Lou, and Lindsey screamed in terror, then Warlock walked over to Lindsey's cage and pulled her out. He wrapped his arm around her neck and licked the side of her cheek. "Did you miss your Daddy Warlock, baby girl?"

Lindsey stood frozen, her eyes staring at me in shock.

I looked at Lou and saw the pain and fear in her eyes. My throat was dry, a pain throbbing in the center of my chest. I didn't fear death; I wouldn't die an old man. I'd crash my bike or lose a fight. But if Lou and Mick died, it would be unbearable to live.

"Don't be stupid, or those bitches are dead," Uno said, then went around behind me and untied my wrists.

I stood from the chair, wincing at the pain in my wrists from where the rope rubbed them raw. A dark-haired man the size of a bear appeared, walked up the steps, and climbed into the fighting ring. He was about as tall as Rubik, six-foot four, and just as wide at the shoulders, with hair all over his chest and arms. Brass knuckles on his right fist.

"This is Bull. He's our best fighter," Warlock said his hands groping poor Lindsey. "You're getting in the ring and fighting him. Then, before he bashes your head until you die, I'm going to make you watch me and my club fuck your Ole Lady and your kid."

Gritting my teeth, I climbed into the ring, pulled off my sweat jacket and t-shirt, and tossed it over the ropes. I planned to dance around the ring as long as possible, hoping Diezel and my Berzerker brothers would arrive soon, save Lindsey and my girls, and kill the Death Angels.

I patted the empty back pocket of my jeans, and Bull grinned, holding a switchblade in his left hand.

My switchblade.

Lou and Mick cried out as Bull rushed toward, grunting when he swung with the brass knuckles. But I quickly moved out of his way, raising my fists. This big slab of meat was slow and clumsy as he turned around and lunged for me again.

Sidestepping at the last moment, I landed a powerful sidekick on his lower back, sending him into the ropes. I rushed and jumped onto Bull's back, then wrapped my arms around his neck in a chokehold, growling as my teeth chomped down on his earlobe. He roared in pain as I tore the flesh and spit it out over the ropes. I flexed my arms, squeezing Bull's throat as hard as I could while he stumbled around, trying to throw me off. He did a half-flip, slamming himself backward on the floor, taking me down with him. I landed on my back; the air knocked out of me, and before I could catch my breath, Bull was on top of me, slamming the brass knuckles into the left side of my jaw. Everything around me blurred, and I tasted blood.

Agonizing pain seared my ribs and stomach as Bull stabbed me.

A loud gunshot rang out.

Blood sprayed. Flesh and bone splattered on my face as Bull's body fell limp on top of me.

Searing pain in my gut had my vision blurring, so I focused on what I could hear.

The thundering sound of motorcycle pipes.

Gunshots.

I was bleeding out. My vision fading.

Ajax!"

"Dad!"

My Berzerker brothers came to save my girls.

I could die now.

Darkness.