Page 47 of Stand: Part One

Silence followed as everyone waited for an answer on what the fuck he was thinking coming here like this.

“You fucking know why!” he shouted back, the anger in his voice wild and unrestrained. “Give him up already!”

I shook my head, scowling at my brother for causing this goddamn mess. “Never gonna happen, Matt.”

“Then I’ll end you both!” he roared, reaching over the bar and firing.

I felt a spray of something wet splash against the side of my face as more gunfire ensued. Jolting to my left, I saw red beginning to pool into Daniel’s shirt.

“Fuck,” I growled, reaching for him to quickly find the source of the bleeding. “Where are you hit?” With Luis and Theo returning fire over us and bullets flying everywhere, I couldn’t hear shit.

“My chest,” Daniel groaned, a tight grimace across his face.

Fuck!

Yanking off his jacket, I ripped the tear of his shirt so I could see the entry wound but found no exit wound. Bundling his jacket, I pressed it against his chest as tight as I could.

“Fuck!” Daniel roared as he lifted his Glock and started immediately shooting around the table.

“Stop!” I shouted, grabbing his hand to lower his gun. “Hold this before you bleed to death, you fucking moron.”

He groaned as he reached up with his other hand to press the jacket against his wound. He wasn’t much good in this fight now. We needed to get him to Sid before he bled out, but we weren’t going anywhere with bullets spraying all over the place.

The heavy metal barrier bolted to the underside of the table wasn’t strong enough to hold back this much gunfire. We needed to move quickly before its integrity gave out.

I pulled out my phone and texted Scott the code for immediate backup. I’d sent him on a nearby errand earlier, but he knew he was always on call, and he was always eager to engage.

Pocketing my phone, I peeked out from the table and fired three quick headshots, dropping three of Matt’s gunmen. Two more of ours hit the floor, evening the numbers on each side. But if we didn’t get out of this position, none of it would matter.

“Luis, we need to move now!” I shouted through the chaos as splinters of the table shattered around us.

“Agreed,” he snarled, taking out another one of Matt’s men. He glanced behind him, nodding behind the booth. “If we can get over the booth, there’s a back exit! But it’s on the other side of the room!”

Fuck.

“You and Theo take the table! I’ve got Daniel!”

Grabbing my brother around the waist, I pulled him up while Theo and Luis lifted the table to keep us covered.

“I’m not a fucking invalid, Darren,” Daniel growled at me.

“Shut up.”

I tossed his ass over the booth just as I felt a piercing sting tear right through my side. Ducking behind the booth, Theo and Luis followed, dropping the table behind them. Staying low, I peered around the side of the booth to find the rest of our guards had scattered throughout the room.

“We need to fucking end this before there’s nothing left of my club,” Theo growled, raising his arm to fire three more shots and ducking back down.

“What we need to do is end Matt right here, right now,” Daniel grumbled as he slumped against the back of the booth. Shit.

“Is this seriously going to be the cost of doing business with you two?” Luis shouted angrily as he reloaded his gun.

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t act like this isn’t par for the course, Luis. You were involved in your own shoot-out just last week.”

He grumbled under his breath as he turned back around to continue firing, but his agitation was just as valid as mine.

I wanted to avoid this, but after tonight, I knew I could no longer wait for Matt’s sanity to return. But I had one last shot to change his mind. One last ace in the hole. I pulled out my phone and sent Matt his final chance to back down.

With a slight break in the gunfire, I shouted Matt’s last hope of survival.