Wild Blaze (11 page)

seventeen.

Brody stared at Gaige as the call
came in. When Gaige gave a quick nod, Brody was already on his motorcycle,
starting it. Gaige did the same and grabbed at Brody
’
s leather.

“
Bro,
he has her.
”

The words made Brody tense with
anger.

They all knew Lyle would grab
Heather and take her, that
’
s
why they were on the look out. Lyle wasn
’
t
dumb enough to trust her and just leave her. She was his insurance policy in
all this. Part of Brody had hoped Heather would end up in the hospital, safe
and sound.

But she wasn
’
t. She was in the passenger seat of Lyle
’
s car, scared to fucking death.
Because she didn
’
t know
about this part of the plan. Miller and Gaige demanded she not know so she
could play it with real fear. If not, Lyle would have killed her by now.

Brody and Gaige took off through
the parking lot. They cut onto the main road in Frelen and Gaige pointed when
he spotted the black car. Lyle was darting in and out of traffic, tires crying
out as he did so. The car was made for this kind of driving, but the other
people on the road weren
’
t.
All it would take was one person to suddenly turn left or right and cause a big
accident.

There was nothing that could be
done right now in Frelen. It all had to come to an end beyond the residential
and commercial part of town. And it was important for Lyle to get the clear
message before he met his death. Behind them, Brody looked and saw Griffin and
Jace catching up. Soon enough the traffic would thin out and Lyle would know he
was being followed. That was okay though, because the end result would be the
same. Lyle would watch his fucking shipment explode.

It made Brody grip the handlebars
tighter, throttle the motorcycle harder.

Once through the main part of
Frelen, the four motorcycles spread out. Jace and Brody were in the oncoming
lane of traffic. Griffin and Gaige in the right lane. The black car ahead
swerved to the left, then to the right, fixing itself.

Brody looked at Jace and nodded.

He knows.

The car sped up and the motorcycles
did the same. They were going to run him into a trap. It was that easy. Run him
right to the pickup truck. Then they
’
d
get Heather out of the damn car and to safety. Lyle would do his thing, trying
to be big and tough, and then Griffin would press a button and the truck would
explode.

There was a wide turn up ahead.
Brody throttled harder and started to take the lead. He cut into the right
lane, not wanting to run the risk of someone coming the opposite way and
crashing into him and Jace. They went around the bend and up ahead was the
black dot of something coming.

It
’
s the truck.

Lyle sped up some more and the
motorcycles weren
’
t going
to be able to keep up.

Brody tried to go faster but
quickly realized he wasn
’
t
alone. Griffin and Gaige came up on each side of him. Gaige was screaming
something and when Brody looked, he was pointing to the side of the road.

“
What
the fuck?
”
Brody screamed.

Gaige moved to the side of the
road. Griffin cut up and in front of Brody, almost clipping the front wheel of
Brody
’
s motorcycle. Brody
quickly hit the brakes and moved to the side of the road, the back tire of the
motorcycle cutting along the pavement and then dirt.

“
What
the fuck are we doing?
”
Brody yelled.

“
He
’
s not stopping,
”
Gaige said.
“
Time to do this right now. He
’
s not taking the lead in this.
”

“
What
the hell are you talking about, bro?
”
Brody asked.
“
He
’
s going to stop the truck.
”

“
He
’
s taking off,
”
Griffin said.
“
Okay? Look at him up there. If
he gets too close to the truck, I can
’
t
light it up then. Unless I take out the woman, too.
”

“
Just
end this shit,
”
Jace said.

Brody stepped off his motorcycle.
He made a line for Jace and both men readied for a fight.

“
Say
that again,
”
Brody said.

“
Cut
it out,
”
Gaige yelled.
“
Griffin
’
s right. We don
’
t
have time. We
’
re going to
creep up and Griffin
’
s
going to hit the switch.
”

“
What
if he kills her?
”
Brody
asked.
“
What if he freaks
out and
…”

“
I
’
m sorry, man,
”
Gaige said.
“
This has to end.
”

Brody wanted to argue, but he knew
better. Right now, there was someone he cared about in a car that could end up
hurt, or dead. He set his sights to his motorcycle and waited for Gaige to take
the lead again.

They were back on the road and up
ahead, the car looked so small and so far away. The truck was approaching and
while they all started to attempt to catch up, that wasn
’
t going to do a thing.

Griffin came up next to Brody and
gave the signal. He took out a small black box and showed it to Brody. All
Brody could do was look straight ahead. He had no control over anything right
now and he fucking hated it.

The truck suddenly exploded,
leaving the ground in a large fireball. Pieces of metal hit the ground, some
burning, some just rolling away.

The four motorcycles kept riding.
Brody watched and saw the black car turn, coming to a spinning halt. The car
was facing the motorcycles as they approached. Brody wanted to just fly up and
save Heather.

But he couldn
’
t do that. He had to play this
thing out right now. There was no choice. Everything to do with the fucking
plan was a mess. The truck was in flames, the drugs wasted. The message was
sent and clear. But now they had to take care of Lyle and save Heather.

Brody wondered if he was the only
one who gave a shit about saving Heather.

The car suddenly made its move. The
back wheels spun and screamed as the car started to turn. It spun around and
tried to take off.

“
Fuck!
”
Gaige yelled.

He took out a gun and shot at the
car.

“
Not
Heather!
”
Brody growled.

Gaige shot two more times. One of
the back tires exploded and the car spun again. This time it went off the road
and echoed with the crunch of metal as it rolled once and came to its final
stop.

“
No,
”
Brody said.
“
No, no, no
…”

He rode past the wreckage of the
blown up truck and got off his motorcycle before it came to a complete halt.
The motorcycle rolled and fell to the ground. Before Brody could take two
steps, Lyle climbed from the car. He had a gun in his hand and pointed it at
Brody.

Brody drew his weapon.

It was on now. Brody wasn
’
t going to back down.

“
Everyone
wait a fucking second,
”
another voice yelled.

It was Gaige.

Soon there was four men wearing
Back Down Devil patches, all standing with guns pointed at Lyle.

But Lyle had the trump card in all
this.

He still had Heather. And she hadn
’
t moved or made a sound. The
front of the car was facing the opposite way, so Brody couldn
’
t even see if she was alive.

“
What
did you do?
”
Lyle asked.

“
We
blew up your shit,
”
Brody
said.
“
Now give me Heather
and let
’
s end this.
”

“
That
was
…
important to me.
”

“
Sorry
to hear that,
”
Gaige said.
“
We don
’
t allow drugs in our town.
”

“
But
you want this whore?
”
Lyle
asked.
“
You know what she
did for me? All those deals
…”

“
None
of that matters,
”
Brody
said.

“
Oh,
so pussy makes everything okay. You fucked her, didn
’
t you? You let her go wild on you? That
’
s good. Hope you enjoyed it. She
’
s dead.
”

Brody lunged forward, expecting a
bullet to eat through his flesh. Instead, Lyle moved the gun and pointed it
into the car. He smiled and Brody froze, putting his hands up.

“
Easy,
”
Brody said.
“
Is she okay?
”

“
She
’
s alive right now,
”
Lyle said.
“
Not for long though. I
’
m going to put a fucking bullet
in her skull. Then we
’
ll
see how tough you are.
”

“
You
don
’
t know what you
’
re doing,
”
Brody said.
“
You
don
’
t know who we are. What
we
’
re capable of.
”

“
And
here I am, the one with a gun pointed at the woman you so desperately care
about. What is it? Because she
’
s
hurt? Sad? Because I taught her a few lessons? You think you can save her. She
’
s gone, man. She
’
s gone. Now let me do what I
have to do here.
”

“
What
’
s that?
”
Brody asked.

“
I
need a ride out of here. I
’
ll
take one of your motorcycles. But I
’
m
taking her with me.
”

“
Fuck
you, you
’
re not,
”
Brody said.

“
Then
she dies
…”

Lyle turned his head and Brody
lunged forward again.

A gun went off, the shot echoing
like a crack of thunder. Brody lost his balance and got ready to shoot Lyle
right between the eyes. But he didn
’
t
have a chance to do that. Like a flower blooming on his chest, blood seeped
everywhere on Lyle
’
s shirt
as he stumbled back, dropped his gun, and collapsed to the ground.

Brody looked back and Jace nodded.

“
Gone,
brother,
”
Jace said.
“
Go save your woman now.
”

__

It all moved so fast. Riding in the
car with Lyle felt like speeding toward certain death. The way he yelled, the
way he threatened Heather again and again, she kept herself composed by hoping
when it was time to finally die, it would be fast and without pain.

When the truck exploded, Lyle
turned his head and looked her dead in the eyes.

“
What
did you fucking do to me?
”

His voice was icy venom, his eyes
like a wounded predator desperate for one last attack. Right then Heather
figured he was going to kill her.

But he didn
’
t.

He cut the wheel, spun around, and
faced the oncoming traffic of four motorcycles. Four guys from Back Down Devil.
One of the guys being Brody. That was the only glimmer of hope Heather had in
the entire ordeal.

“
I
’
m taking them into a trap,
”
Lyle said.
“
I
’
m
taking them right out of Frelen. And you
’
re
going to kill them.
”

“
What
are you talking about?
”
Heather asked.

“
I
’
m taking them through an ambush
of my guys. Nobody needs to know about the truck yet. I
’
ll use what I can until I have to kill you and make
a run for it. But you
’
re
going to call my guys and make the kill.
”
Lyle laughed. It was sick, maniacal, sad.
“
Hold
on tight, whore.
”

Lyle hit the gas pedal and the car
spun around again. Heather screamed and then felt something like a thud and
then a second one. Maybe a third, she wasn
’
t
sure, because the car quickly lost control. It was like watching the world
ripping to the left, then to the right. Finally, the world cut hard to the left
and the car rolled.

That was the last thing Heather
remembered seeing.

There was the sound of metal
twisting and crunching. Then silence. A little hissing sound and nothing more.

Lyle groaned and got out of the
car.

Heather came and went from the
darkness to some sound. She swore she heard Brody
’
s
voice but wasn
’
t completely
sure of it. There was yelling, arguing, talking.