Salvation (17 page)

Chapter Thirty

Luna woke to Declan’s ringing SAT phone. He answered it with a curt hello, listened and then hung up without saying anything further. He put the phone down and glanced over at her.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“We need to go into the main compound. We can’t go through the tunnels for all of it, but the guards said that the riots are over.”

“They were shooting people last night,” she said, wanting Declan to say no, that she’d been wrong, that it had all been a dream.

Instead, he nodded tightly.

“Why? This is paradise. People are just having fun here.”

“People are scared, Luna. They’re scared everywhere, because they know there’s really no such thing as paradise,” Declan told her. “Grab your bag. We’ve got to go.”

“I don’t think I want to.” Because as much as she’d been dying for the outside world and fresh air, no matter how dark it was again, she knew what she’d see and smell. Bodies. Blood. It was a battlefield up there, and until it was all cleaned up, staying down here and pretending sounded just fine to her. More than.

“Got to. I’ve been summoned to Keller’s.”

“Nothing from Bishop?” she asked.

“Not yet. But now that the riots stopped, he’ll be able to get back here,” he told her.

She wasn’t ready to stop believing that. Not yet.

That got her up and pulling on her clothes. She washed quickly, and then she followed Declan, climbing up the stairs behind him, reluctantly. He opened the hatch and the cold darkness hit her first. She wasn’t sure why, after all this time, she still expected a burst of sunlight when she came out of the dark underground, but she did.

Naive, stupid, and maybe a little hopeful.

As she and Declan threaded through the grass—she let him take the lead on that because she wasn’t looking down—he suddenly stopped cold. Turned her sideways before she could ask him what was wrong and then she saw it, the big golden orb in the sky. And it was rising.

* * *

Before Bishop could back away from Rebel’s truck, he heard the rumble of motorcycles. And he was fine—hidden—until the goddamned sun rose and they spotted him easily from the road.

The sun was the most beautiful thing Bishop had seen since Luna. He couldn’t tear his eyes from it, just stood there, basking in the sunshine, wondering what kind of sign this was.

He had no doubt the LoV had taken Rebel. Whether he was alive or not...he wasn’t going to find out by trying to run.

Because he’d stopped running a hell of a long time ago.

When he looked down from the sun, he blinked and stared. Ten feet in front of him, waiting patiently, was a fuckload of LoV—thirty plus and they circled him. He could fight until he went down. Ultimately, that would be the choice he’d take—because being their prisoner, getting taken to their MC, meant nothing but pain and torture. They’d keep him alive just so he’d suffer. And Bishop wasn’t going to live like that.

“Wouldn’t try to escape, Bishop,” the LoV named Chi told him. Chi was second in command. Ocho’s youngest brother. Ocho’s oldest was president of the LoV, a man rarely seen.

Ocho had been killed when Bishop and Mathias had killed Victor and rescued Jessa. And the LoV no doubt knew that from Keller. And even if they didn’t, they weren’t on good terms with Defiance.

Or Keller.

So yeah, Bishop was screwed no matter which way he cut it. That didn’t mean he was giving up, because he never fucking did that. “I’m right here, Chi. What the fuck’s going on? Now you need an army against one?”

“For you, yeah,” Chi said. Bishop guessed he should be flattered. “We’ve got your boy with us. Found his truck crashed. He’s alive, for now. Won’t be if you don’t join us.”

Another LoV added, “Besides, you can’t fight us all.”

“Sure I can.” He shrugged. “How do I know Rebel’s alive?”

Chi motioned to one of the guys who stood closest to the car. He opened the trunk and Rebel turned over and groaned. God, he looked fucking awful.

“Great. So I come with you so you can kill us both?” Bishop asked.

“Going to sell out your Defiance buddies?”

“I’m not Defiance,” Bishop told them. “I’m Keller’s for the year.”

“Yeah, we know. Listen, you come with us, we’ll get him the medical help he needs. You don’t...he’s not making the drive back to the MC.”

“You gonna ask Keller for ransom?” Bishop asked.

“We’ll think about it.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of,” Bishop muttered, thinking about the paper Luna had rescued from Victor’s car. Smart of the LoV to execute their plan during a storm. He cursed himself for not thinking it could happen as he put his two weapons and a knife down on the ground. He had more hidden on him, but whether or not they searched him thoroughly was the question.

“On the ground. Face down, hands behind your head,” Chi ordered and Bishop fought a smile. Fuckers were scared of him. And that’s the way it should be.

He’d never leave Rebel in their hands. He’d never forgive himself, and Luna wouldn’t forgive him either.

* * *

Declan’s hand stayed firmly on Luna’s biceps, but he too was mesmerized by the sun.

“Did the storm do this?” she whispered almost reverently.

“Maybe.”

It was only then she tore her eyes from the horizon and froze next to him. A cry escaped her mouth even though she clamped her hand over it, mainly to keep from screaming. Because from the amount of bodies that appeared scattered on the ground, there might not be anyone left here in Keller’s world. Except for her and Declan and Keller.

“Jesus Christ,” Declan muttered next to her. “Never seen anything like this.”

There were hundreds of bodies. She recognized a lot of them from around the compound. They’d all been gunned down. This was enough to give her nightmares for the rest of her life, and she was already having them at a good clip.

She forced herself to look away and scan the rest of the area. There were no tanks, no soldiers...

Except for the people underground, there was no one left.

“Luna, come on. Walk with me. Look at the horizon—at the sun and concentrate on what that means, okay?” Declan told her.

She tried to, watched it hanging lazily up over the horizon, like it was saying,
oh shit sorry
,
did I oversleep?

She felt the warmth caress her face, although the rest of her body was shivering violently. She couldn’t help but tear her eyes away from the sun to glance at the bodies again. She recognized a few faces simply from having stayed there close to three weeks.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” she whispered urgently.

“We’re going to safer ground. Come on—the guards are waiting.” He had her by the elbow now, urging her forward. “Don’t look down.”

But he did, enough to guide her so she wasn’t stepping on anyone. She was aware of the eerie silence, smelled the metallic tang of blood and gunpowder. The scent of gasoline was in the air.

If it wasn’t for the bodies, the compound looked the way it did most days, the soft sheen of light from the overheads, lit by generators on a rolling basis. Keller’s men surrounding his place.

Kammy was standing with several guards waiting for them once they went down the ladder.

“Are you both okay?” she asked now, concern in her eyes. Zara came forward too, put a hand on Luna’s pulse.

“Hon, a pill or a stiff drink?” she asked. “Or both.”

“Start with a drink,” she said.

Zara poured her a shot of whiskey and she downed it quickly and handed it back for another. She heard Declan’s and Kammy’s voices—urgent and raised and she said, “I thought it was a storm.”

“It was. That’s how it began and then...” Zara said quietly, then paused. “From what I can piece together, the LoV decided to riot. Waiting for the storm meant the guards were in lockdown.”

Luna nodded, wrapped her arms around herself. They hadn’t asked about Bishop, so she assumed Declan told them he’d gone out in this.

“They’re going to sweep the compound. Kammy wanted everyone to be brought in here while that happened,” Zara explained.

“What about Keller?” Luna asked. Zara turned her head to look toward Kammy and Declan, and Declan said grimly, “Keller’s gone.”

Chapter Thirty-One

When Bishop was shoved into the trunk next to Rebel, he listened to the LoV up front, but they were too busy celebrating to give away any intel.

“They fucked up the compound,” Rebel whispered against his ear. “There’s some new boss in town. Fletcher.”

“Figured.”

“Why are you here?”

“Declan and Luna sent me.”

Rebel cursed. “Didn’t have to listen.”

“I know.”

“I think they have Keller too. Gonna turn him over to Fletcher. Figure the place’ll go down the tubes without Keller’s connections,” Rebel shared, his voice raw with pain.

“They’ll have to kill him before he shares.”

“You and I know that.” Rebel sucked in a pained breath. “Got a grenade. They didn’t search me after they dragged me out of my wreck.”

“Keep it.”

“For when we’re desperate? You tell me when that is, okay?”

“Anything else?”

“Coupla knives.”

“Me too. They don’t search well.”

“Defiance will come. When I don’t check in.”

Depending on the roads, that could take a while. “I sent out a call to the main MC—I don’t know if they heard it or not. Doesn’t matter—I’ll make sure you see a doctor.”

“Christ, Bishop...you should’ve just fucking run away.”

“Never. I don’t run, Rebel. Neither do you.”

In the dark they were both far too used to, the men made their plans for the best as they prepared for the worst.

Mathias

I drove the van, Caspar next to me, other Defiance members in the back, with more trailing with bikes. We’d left some Kill Devils at Defiance and we were meeting the MC members holed up at the new locale.

They’d be a complete surprise. But who knew how much damage had been done. Caspar couldn’t get through to Keller’s until just before we left. He spoke to a woman named Kammy, Keller’s version of an old lady, who said that the compound had been hit last night—and not just by the storm.

I slammed my hand against the steering wheel. I’d been trying not to regret Bishop’s decision but right about now...

“What? He wouldn’t have kept you there together,” Caspar reminded me.

“No. But Luna and Rebel wouldn’t have had a reason to run.”

“Always gonna be regrets, brother,” Caspar said.

I put on “Enter Sandman” and I tried to feel Bishop. I still could, although it was red—angry—and faint. We didn’t have much time left.

* * *

Declan and Kammy were past the point of trying to hide anything from her. For a few minutes, she watched them talking about gathering the guards and locking down the tubes before turning back to Luna and the subject at hand.

“Keller’s definitely been kidnapped by the LoV,” Kammy confirmed.

“You’ve gotten a ransom demand?” Luna asked.

“Two in the last hour,” Kammy said and Zara nodded in confirmation.

“You sure he’s not pulling a stunt, hiding on purpose while he’s exterminated his own compound?” she demanded.

Declan shook his head. “If he went into hiding at the request of the military, I’d have been briefed. Because it’s up to me to deal with this place in his absence. And collect. And I can’t do it alone. The government needs our contacts.”

“He’s right,” Kammy said. “I know it’s easy to think the worst of him, but he’s the one who got rid of the LoV when they proved to be unstable.”

Luna couldn’t argue with that. “So what happens now?”

“Declan inherits Keller’s contacts,” Kammy said. “He’s in charge until we get Keller back. And we are getting him back.”

Her voice was fierce and Luna couldn’t blame her. “I need Bishop back too.”

Rebel’s name remained unspoken, but Declan nodded in agreement at the name she didn’t say out loud. “Agreed,” he said. “I’m going after them myself.”

“You can’t,” Kammy said. “This compound needs you, dammit. We’ll send guards.”

While Luna tried to wrap her mind around how important Declan must be to this compound, above all the other guards and assassins here, she added, “I’ll call Defiance.”

“Comms are still down, but I think Bishop tried to let them know what was happening,” Declan said. He pulled out his SAT phone. “I’ve been hearing tapping all morning from this.”

She took it and listened. “Morse code.”

“You know Morse code?” Declan asked.

“I can’t translate it, but I know that’s how Bishop and Mathias spoke over phones, or when they had to communicate without anyone knowing.”

God, that made her feel better. But the fact that the LoV might perceive Bishop as the reason they were cut off...”I have something to show you,” she blurted out. She went into her bag and pulled the paper out of the book. “I found this with some others in Victor’s car. I gave everything to Keller except this. I figure, since he signed it, he must know about it.”

Declan cursed. “Kammy, can you get me two contracts?”

She nodded and did so efficiently, going into another room and returning with the papers Declan requested. He put all three down with the signatures showing.

“That’s not Keller’s signature,” Luna breathed, because the difference was immediate.

“Keller doesn’t sign contracts with the LoV. This had to be Victor’s contract. The LoV decided to use it, even though they didn’t know for sure if they had Keller’s backing or not.”

“So Victor planned the extermination of his own people?” Luna asked.

“He thought Keller put too much time and effort into the compound—those are the fights I heard. It’s why Keller’s always wanted me in charge,” Declan explained and Kammy added, “And that, I have in writing.”

“So the LoV wanted to decimate what Keller loved. Maybe make his suppliers think his place was too unstable?” Luna asked. “Because I think that’s really stupid.”

“And that’s why we’re not working with the LoV any longer,” Declan said.

Kammy turned to take a phone call and said, “Declan, it’s the military contact. This wasn’t them—they want to know if you need backup.”

Declan stared at her. “Tell them to send a team to guard the perimeters. Don’t tell them Keller’s missing.”

Kammy nodded, uncovered the phone from where she’d pressed her hand against it so no one would hear what Declan was telling her and she relayed his information. Then she listened, nodded and hung up. “They’ll be here in within the next four hours.”

Declan said, “I think it’s worth calling in Defiance for backup. Let the military guard the shipments as they’re coming in. Or the reverse. All I know is that we need to get Keller back. I’m waiting for a negotiation to start. They wouldn’t kill him.”

“Unless there’s another game in town,” Luna said quietly.

“I guess we’re going to find out,” Declan said tightly.

“Then let’s go break him out. Forget negotiating,” Luna bit out fiercely, revenge burning a hole inside of her.

“We could ask the military to exterminate the LoV,” Kammy said.

“Or we can do it the dirty, old-fashioned way, break him out and take out some LoV assholes along the way,” Declan said. “I’d rather not have the military know Keller’s gone. Who knows what the fuck they’d do to the rest of this place. Luna, take the SAT—I’ll team you with Louis. He knows code. Tell Defiance what’s happening.”

“I can do that,” Luna told him. “But I’m going with you.”

“Ah, honey, no,” Zara started but Luna stood her ground stubbornly.

“You promised Bishop you wouldn’t leave me. So don’t.”

“He’s going to kill me,” Declan said.

“Not if I kill him first,” Luna said. “I can drive, leave you free for weapons. I can be a distraction. I’ll stay in the trunk. I don’t care—I can’t wait here and do nothing.”

Declan stared at her for a long moment then said, “Louis, come on. We need you to help Luna while we drive.”