“Thank you. If you give me your number, I’ll call you when the ring arrives.”
“I’ll be in town tomorrow. I’ll just stop in,” he said, refusing to give his number.
“Very well. I’ll look forward to seeing you then.” Smilingly, she came out from behind the counter to walk him to the door. “Thank you. Your wife is going to be ecstatic with your choice.”
Reaper rudely went out the door, ignoring her spiel, trying to hurry back to Ginny when three black Escalades sped past on the street. The dark tint made it impossible to see inside, but that wasn’t what drew his attention—it was how fast they were traveling on the main street of the tiny town.
“Wow,” the saleswoman said. “I’m surprised Greer hasn’t caught them.”
Striding out to the sidewalk, Reaper noted their direction. When he saw the brake lights flashing as they turned the corner, Reaper was already moving to Viper’s SUV.
“Fuck me.” Since he’d been in the store, there were new cars parked in front and back, so close to his vehicle that there was no way to get out unless he used Viper’s car as a battering ram.
Not wanting to lose precious minutes—if his bumpers became hung up on the other cars—he took off at a run. Taking out his phone, he called Knox. “Get to Dalton’s house,” Reaper ordered.
“I can’t. I’m ten minutes away. My deputy is missing—”
“Call Shade,” Reaper cut him off. “Tell him to send everyone to Dalton’s house. Now!”
Kicking his feet faster, Reaper shoved his phone in his pocket. Running across the street, he dodged around Mick as he was putting a sign in the diner’s window. Straining his body to move faster, Reaper reached to his back, taking out his gun.
“Fuck,” he swore when an older woman came out onto the sidewalk with two leashed yapping dogs. Unless he slowed, he was going to mow the old woman down.
Spotting him, the woman froze like a deer caught in headlights.
Veering to the left, Reaper strained to give a burst of speed to jump over the two dogs, nearly busting a nut when one of the dogs rose up on its hind legs to snap at him. Landing on the concrete, Reaper sprinted forward, coming to the end of the street. Veering left, he took off at a mad dash toward Dalton and T.A.’s house.
Reaper was running so fast that he didn’t think he could run any faster—until he heard a series of pops fill the air.
“Shit.” Crossing the street, he put himself on the same side as Dalton’s house. Jumping over a low hedge, he ran across one lawn, then had to take another leap over another hedge before he was at the house next-door to Dalton’s.
Taking cover behind a tree, Reaper fired off a shot at a man standing behind the passenger door of one of the Escalades parked behind Sex Piston’s car.
Sex Piston, Killyama, and Fat Louise were hunkered down in front of Sex Piston’s car in front of the garage. Killyama had a gun and was returning fire at the two Escalades that had parked catty-corner, providing a shield to the men who were shooting at the women.
Satisfied the fucker who he shot was down for the count, Reaper took out his phone to call Dalton.
Hearing the click of the phone being answered, Reaper didn’t time to listen to the greeting. “Open your garage enough to let the women slide under. I’ll provide cover.”
Seeing an opportunity to take out another fucker who had raised his head over the engine block, Reaper made the shot as the garage door started raising high enough for the women to slip through.
“Go!” Reaper yelled.
Fat Louise went first, with Sex Piston going under after her.
Reaper had to contain himself from shouting at Sex Piston when she crawled back out to reach for the pizza box that was laying on the driveway before slipping back under the garage door.
Killyama made no move to follow the other two women.
He was ready to lose his shit. The only thing calming his impeding tirade was seeing Drake and King take positions behind the house across the street.
“Killyama, go!” Reaper shot again, taking down one of the shooters from the second Escalade.
“You go!” she yelled back. “I’m not—”
Reaper jerked his head back behind the tree when he saw a gun pointed in his direction from behind the Escalade in the driveway.
“Get your ass in the garage, or I’m coming over there and throwing your ass in there!” he roared.
King and Drake provided a volley of bullets, giving Killyama time to escape, which she refused to take.
Sticking his head out long enough to get a visual, he saw one of the men break cover to get away from where King was firing. Reaper nabbed him as soon as he came out from behind the vehicle.
Looking back at the house, he saw Dalton slide under the garage door with a gun in his hand. From his angry expression, he was telling Killyama the same thing he had.
Finally, Killyama angrily slid under the garage door as Dalton and his eyes met. Then Reaper heard the garage door going down.
Dalton lifted four fingers, then pointed to his side, indicting the number of men he couldn’t see. He lifted his hand two more times, indicating to Gavin there was a total of twelve men.
The roar of motorcycles and sirens coming down the street had the men scattering into neighboring yards. Raising his hand so Viper would sight him behind the tree two houses away, Reaper went back to firing as one of the gunmen tried to make a dash for the tree across the street. Reaper neatly shot him in the back of his head.
Viper, Cash, and Shade formed a sideways line with their bikes with the other Last Riders following suit behind them, preventing the Escalades from leaving—unless they plowed down fifteen bikes. Reaper could hear Viper issuing commands from where he stood behind the tree.
“Nuts to Bolts behind the Dodge,” Viper ordered.
The Last Riders left their bikes to sprint toward a Dodge minivan. In groups of three, the men crouched together, with Cash and Viper standing on opposite sides near the taillights.
“Train, go!” Viper sent off a volley of bullets.
Train and two of the men on his line took off running toward Dalton’s house. The three men who crouched behind Train’s line moved forward, as did the men behind them, all in unison. When Train’s foot hit the doorstep, the door opened, giving them entry into the house.
Reaper steadied his hand, firing as he ran to Sex Piston’s car to hunker down next to Dalton. He no longer had to keep his focus on the house with Train, Moon, and Rider inside with the women.
“Puck, get ready!” Viper yelled right before Knox drove the sheriff’s Bronco onto the sidewalk on the other side of the Dodge.
“Puck, go.” Viper sent another volley of bullets to cover Puck, Jesus, and Razer. Staying behind the Bronco, they were able to fire at the remaining gunmen using the Escalade as cover.
Reaper saw two of the perps taking off toward Dalton’s neighbor. Both of them started firing at will.
“Fuck.” Swearing, Reaper saw the two men run inside the house where earlier he’d seen a woman getting her mail.
“Cover me,” Reaper told Dalton as he rose from the front of the car, taking off toward the side yard. Keeping low, Reaper went to the window at the side of the house. He raised his head slightly and saw the woman and a man standing in the dining room. Lowering his head, he made his way to the back door, finding it locked. “Why can’t just one fucking time something be fucking easy?”