Shooter (Burnout) (41 page)

“God damn it!” Chris roared at the ceiling.

Tex calmly slid his phone out of his pocket and fired off a text while Chris picked up a wrench and flung it at the wall. He finally turned toward the office and took a step toward it but Hawk slid off the bench and planted himself between the pissed off ex-Ranger and his wayward old lady.

“Nope,” Hawk declared, shaking his head. “Not yet.”

Chris stopped short and took a moment to get over the shock of one of his men routing him. “David,” Chris said quietly. “Do not put yourself between me and my woman.”

Hawk widened his stance. “Move me.”

Chris’s eyes lit with fury and he shot forward, hitting the big Sioux at his center of gravity like a freight train.

************************

Hugging herself around the middle, Hayley stood in the corner farthest from the door and listened to crash after crash outside in the garage. She was too terrified to go out there. She didn’t know who was fighting or why. She had heard the Buzzards leave, but maybe the President had stayed. Suddenly the door swung open and Tex sauntered into the room, closing it behind him. She peeked around him as he closed the door but couldn’t see anything. Tex shut the door and stalked over to Hayley. She flinched as he grabbed her backpack from her and opened it. He dumped the contents out on the desk. He studied the shoes and the scrubs intently, then rifled through her other clothes until he came up with the prepaid. He gave her a withering look and turned it on. He thumbed through the phone’s log, then turned it over, examining every inch of it.

“What-” she started to ask, but it came out cracked and too soft to be heard. “What’s going on?”

Tex continued to stare at her. “Hawk and Shooter are going at it.”

Hayley’s eyes widened. “What? Why?”

“I’m sure you’ve had occasion to notice the lieutenant has a nasty temper.”

Hayley looked from Tex to the door behind her. “He-” She swallowed convulsively. “He wouldn’t hurt me.” Such a thing did not sound like the Chris that she knew but she couldn’t deny the continual sounds of disaster raining down outside.

“Hurt you? No,” Tex stated. “He wouldn’t hurt you. Would he chain your ass to that chair until his shift’s over? Then take you home and chain you to a dining room chair to eat? Then chain your ass to the bed and fuck you stupid until all you remember is his name and that you belong to him? He might. It’s sure as fuck what I would do if you were mine and tried to sneak out of town.

“Right after I switched your ass so the sting of sitting down constantly reminded you of how badly you fucked up.” Hayley gaped at him. “Seeing you on the back of Prior’s bike was not a good thing, Hayley. Prior’s not like us. Not respectable. Doesn’t give a shit about what belongs where. If he wanted you, he’d have chained you to
his
bed. But instead he used you, and I’m not sure that’s much better.”

Hayley’s eyebrows knitted together. “Used me how?”

“Brought you back here. Now Shooter owes Jack. And that, Slick, is not a good thing, either.”

“What does that mean? Chris owing Jack. What would Jack want? What could Chris give him?”

Tex shrugged. “Could be anything. Money. Weapons Jack wouldn’t normally have access to.” He paused. “Shooter’s skill set.”

Hayley gasped. “He wouldn’t- he wouldn’t ask Chris to…kill anyone.”

“He might. The thing about Jack is, he’s always playing chess. That’s how he got to be President in the first place. Always two or three moves ahead of everybody else. A favor to Jack wouldn’t just be a favor. It’d have implications. Consequences. It’s a step closer to him getting what he’s wanted for years.”

Hayley was almost afraid to ask. “What does he want?” But she already knew.

“He wants Shooter, Slick. He always has, since they were kids. Jack always saw himself as VP and Chris as Prez. And it burned his ass something fierce when Shooter enlisted and left him behind. But now? Chris is our lieutenant. Always will be, whether we’re enlisted or not. Where he goes, we go. We’d follow him into Hell if we had to. If Shooter patches into the Buzzards, we patch in. All of us. To protect his ass. Even Doc and probably Easy, too, now that he’s not so sore-assed at us. Five ex-Army special operatives for the price of one.”

Hayley felt numb all the way to her toes and half walked, half stumbled to the office chair and sat down. “He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t get Chris to join just for pulling me off a bus.”

Tex sighed. “Two or three moves ahead, Hayley. Suppose he asks Chris to get him weapons? Or worse, take out an enemy of the MC. Then gets photos of it. Or video. Either Chris can go to prison or he can patch into the Buzzards. And I don’t think Chris is going to face 25 to life and leave you unprotected. Hell this way works out even better for Jack ‘cause he gets to stay Prez, leading Shooter around by the nose with evidence of a crime stashed away somewhere where we’ll never find it. And we wouldn’t even be able to take him out, ‘cause Jack’d have a contingency plan for that.

“Fuck, the man doesn’t piss without a contingency plan in place. Word is, even his boys don’t know
all
the ins and outs of the MC. So if there’s dissention in the ranks and they’ve a mind for mutiny, they’d lose his contacts and half the money he brings in through ‘em. Jack Prior is a devious motherfucker, and as if he wasn’t scary enough to look at, he’s also amazingly smart. Don’t let the GED fool you. The man is a fucking genius. I’m sure he’s had eyes on you the minute Shooter staked his claim. Probably got a contact at the bus station set to give him a ring if you showed up.”

Hayley sat down in the office chair and dropped her backpack on the desk. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

Tex’s face softened and he came away from the door to sit down on the couch situated across from her. “What happened, Hayley? Did you get scared? Did you just decide it wasn’t gonna work out? He doesn’t deserve a face to face conversation that you’re leaving?”

Hayley shook her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. “It wasn’t like that! I swear!”

*********************************

Chris headed for the office door. Both men were left looking a little worse for the wear with Chris having a cut above his eye and Hawk nursing some bruised ribs. Some of his anger had dissipated from the fight, which he realized was the point of the whole thing. Hawk was protecting Hayley from Chris’s wrath and even if Chris wasn’t sure he saw the need for it, he appreciated the man’s willingness to put himself out there for her. He was still pretty angry when he opened the door but whatever was left took an instant ice bath as he saw Hayley sobbing at the desk.

He was barely in the room before she launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his waist and crying into his chest. Chris sighed and wrapped his arms around her. Slick blubbered all over both of them, apologizing, and he was able to pick up words like “Buzzards” and “prison”. He looked over the top of her head at Tex. “What did you say to her?”

“Told her the truth.”

Chris scowled. “You shouldn’t have done that. You scared her.”

“She needs to know her fuck ups have serious consequences.”

Chris rested his jaw against the side of Slick’s head. “I can handle Jack Prior,” he told both of them.

“Well I hope so,” Tex replied. “Because I’m sure as shit not too fucking excited about being an assassin for a one percenter gang.”

Chris leveled a gaze at his former squad mate. “I will never let that happen.” His tone sounded confident and clear and it was easy to be swayed by his conviction. “I will end Prior myself before I let him have any of you.”

“What happens to her?”

“You take her for me if I can’t. Get her out of South Dakota. The Buzzard’s reach won’t extend very far without Prior. No one in the club can do what he does, and they won’t have access to his network to find her. Hawk’ll have his sister and her kids to take care of. Easy’s too green. Try to get Caleb to come with you rather than retaliating against the whole club, but you might not have much luck with that. You’re the one I trust her with the most.” Chris felt Hayley’s grip on him tighten. He ran his fingers through her hair. “We’re just talking worst case scenarios, baby. It won’t happen. What did Jack say to you?”

“Nothing. Just that he has eyes everywhere and that I belong to you. And that I don’t get to choose when to leave. But-”

“
Why
would you leave?” he demanded. “Why wouldn’t you talk to me? You’re not even taking all your shit,” he snapped, jerking his chin at the contents of the bag strewn on the table. “What the hell is going on, Hayley?”

“L.T.,” said Tex and tossed Chris the phone when he glanced over. “Memory’s wiped. Scratches on the back. She’s had it a while.”

Chris stared at the phone then leveled his gaze at her. “You lied to me.”

“I didn’t,” she argued. “I mean it was before I really knew you at all.”

“You’re hiding things from me. Lying to me. And now you’re sneaking out of town.”

“I- I left you a note.”

“A note. Really? A note. What did it say? ‘Dinner’s in the oven. Have a nice life.’? ”

“No! I just need to go away for a few days. Maybe a week. I was coming back!”

“You don’t get to make these decisions alone! We’re together now! You talk to me when something comes up and we come up with a plan, together. You need to get somewhere? You tell me and we go together. Are you sensing a fucking pattern here, Slick? You’re not alone anymore so stop acting like you are.”

“I want to know who she’s gonna play nurse for,” Tex drawled.

Chris looked at his friend. “What?”

Tex dug out the scrubs and the shoes underneath the other clothes and laid them out on top of the pile.

“My mom called. My dad’s in the hospital. He had a heart attack. They need me. So I thought I could get in to see him dressed like a nurse and maybe visit him a few times until they release him. No one would know I was family. I wouldn’t even go their house, just stay at a motel. Just for a few days. Just to help mom and see him through. That’s all.”

“And if it’s a set up?”

“How could it be? It’s a heart attack. It’s not like he was poisoned or anything. And like I said, no one would know I was family and-”

“He could be watching the room, Hayley! He could be waiting, hoping you show up!”

“It’s a crowded hospital!” she argued. “There are people everywhere! He couldn’t-”

“He could! All he needs is an empty room, a corner in the basement,
a fucking broom closet!
This is a bad plan, Hayley. The only people who know who you really are are your parents. And neither one of them is capable of protecting themselves. Especially not your father right now. What if he kills them first? Hell he could even make your father’s death look like a complication from his heart attack. No one would even be looking for a murderer! Then he could have hours with you, that’s if he can’t get you out of the hospital alive. Which I have no doubt he could. A service entrance, graveyard shift with minimal security, delivery truck. There are about a thousand ways to get an unconscious person out of a hospital without anyone knowing. Then he could keep you alive
indefinitely
, Hayley. You want to be his prisoner for months?
Years
?

Hayley’s shoulders shook as she started to cry. Chris’ anger dissipated rapidly. He hadn’t meant to scream at her like that, but Goddamn, the sight of her on Prior’s bike, the thought of her sneaking away and putting herself in danger. He definitely wasn’t able to handle all of that as calmly as he’d like. He grabbed her suddenly and yanked her into his arms.

“I’m sorry,” she sputtered.

“It’s alright,” he assured her. “Everything’s going to be alright.” He obviously wasn’t certain of that, since he had no control over Hayley’s father’s health. But he could for damn sure control everything else and make this operation as smooth and seamless as possible. “I’ll take care of it,” he told her. “We’ll go visit your folks. We’ll go right away. I’ll keep you safe.”