Heavenly Hacked (Reckless Bastards MC 5)

“When you do, I’ll be ready to listen.” Cross stood tall among us, carrying himself apart from us. Not on purpose but as the leader he was responsible for everything and everyone. The burden hung heaviest on him but he never complained.

We spent a few hours dicking around at a casino while a couple prospects watched the van filled with guns and after a few cups of coffee, we were all back on the road. The drive wasn’t long, about six hours and it was nice to just let my bike go for a while. Not that my mind was clear at all, it wasn’t. I couldn’t stop thinking of all the things that could go wrong for me. The Club. Vivi.

Even as the road became a blur as I rode behind Cross and right beside Max, my mind wouldn’t shut the fuck up. Vivi was in real danger and there was a good chance I’d be too deep in club shit to protect her. I hoped it didn’t come to that. I really fucking did.

But we were close to home which meant I would soon have Vivi in my arms. In my bed.

Lights flashed behind us, drawing my attention. In the mirror I could only see Savior’s lights flashing, a sign that something was wrong. I raised a hand to let him know I saw him and then I moved closer to Max to get his attention. “Something’s up!”

He nodded and fell back, leaving me to pull up beside Cross to let him know we had trouble. But the moment our front wheels aligned a bullet whizzed by my head. The sound was unmistakable, even through the muffled noise of my helmet and the engine revving at close to eighty miles an hour. “Shots?”

I nodded and pulled back again, reaching for my own firearm. It could be dangerous, carrying a firearm over state lines but we had an out of the way spot where we met with our contact so if cops came sniffing around it would be because someone had dropped the dime on us. And that only made me think about Rizzoli and those feds. Something still didn’t feel right about that but now wasn’t the time to wonder.

Another bullet flew by but this time the source was clear. The shooter was behind us. There was a curve up ahead which could give us time to put some distance between us, or it could slow us down and sign our death warrants.

“Gun it,” I yelled to Cross while I pulled off the to the side of the road and dismounted. Max stayed right with me, finding cover behind a boulder as Savior hung back and positioned himself behind the fucking lowrider and the two bikes behind it, which put him between the van with our shipment of guns and those assholes.

“Ready?” Max’s deadly serious expression lit with awareness, with that focus all former servicemembers got when the game was back on. Shoulders squared, Max pulled a handgun from his holster and dropped down on knee.

“Fuck yeah.” I leaned on the other side of my bike, using the seat to line up my shots as I heard the bikes approaching. “You take the first fucker and I’ll handle the second.”

Max nodded and turned his focus to the road. I hated to say it, but this reminded me of my days in the military in the best way possible. Honing in on a target with razor sharp focus, letting nothing else distract you. Not thoughts of home nor gray-eyed girls. Not the fly buzzing around your ear nor the glint of sun doing its best to blind you. The only thing that mattered was the target. Whether ten feet or a thousand feet, the target was the priority.

The roar of the bike engine purred and whined as they rounded the bend, gunning it to catch up with the bikes they expected to see. The sound of Max’s shot pierced the air, followed seconds later by mine. Both bikes went down, sending the riders skidding across the pavement.

Savior pulled up the rear, making room for our guys to pass unharmed before doubling back to the assholes laid out on the asphalt. Max stood and drew closer to the other one and I had his six, sweeping the landscape in search of more shooters while keeping an eye on the felled drivers.

“What do you see?”

“Roadkill p

ieces of shit,” Savior said, spitting on the one closest to him. “What were you hoping to accomplish asshole?”

“Max?” I shouted.

“Same,” he called out with a grunt and a second later a shot rang out. “Son of a bitch! That fucker shot me.”

My feet were on the move, drawing closer to Max who stood with one hand cupping his shoulder. “Talk to me, Max.”

“I’m fine, the fucking thing just grazed me. Surprised me is all.”

Savior rushed over and kicked the guy’s handgun off into the weeds by the side of the road and then kicked the asshole in the gut for good measure.

I pulled up the sleeve of Max’s shirt just to be sure it was just a flesh wound and it was, but that was too close. Too fucking close. Kneeling down by the dick licker, I stared at him, my gun pointed to his head. “What the fuck is this about?”

The jackass grinned. “Payback’s a bitch.”

“That would be you, pussy. Are you going to make me ask you again or are we gonna be adults about this?”

“Fuck. You.” He laughed and I joined in, realizing the absurdity of the moment while I was in it. I stuck my finger behind his ear, a move I learned in the military.

“Ow, you motherfucker! Goddamn piece of shit!”

“That pain you feel right now, that’s my finger.” He panted and squirmed but the pain was too intense for him to truly fight back. “But you see when I do that,” I applied more pressure and his body sagged in relief. “The pain goes away but just imagine how it’ll feel when I release that spot.”

His eyes went wide, his breaths were even shallower. “Fuck, man! I don’t know.”

“That’s not good enough.” I let the pressure go and he howled in pain. “See? Now tell me why the fuck you’re shooting at us.”