Crash (Black Ice MC Novella Book 2) (12 page)

“No, that was Rattler cover up.
 
They must’ve moved the body.
 
I never told the Feds I did that.
 
I never told them about any of the stuff we’ve been up to.”

“You
have
been talking to the cops!” yelled Mercer.
 
“Give me a reason why we shouldn’t blow your fucking head off right now!”

They all heard it at once.
 
The sound of motorcycles coming down the street.
 
They stopped arguing immediately and looked out the windows.
 
There were four bikes outside the clubhouse.
 

“Looks like the Rattlers found out we raided their supply depot,” said Doc grimly.
 
He grabbed an automatic weapon, loaded a clip, and cocked the gun.
 
“We’re ready for them.”

Mercer turned to Danni.
 
“The back.
 
Get out now.”

She nodded, then ran through the main room and into the storage and garage area in the back.
 
When reached the rear door, she unlocked it and threw it open.
 
There were three more Rattlers waiting for someone to come out.
 
As they grabbed their guns, she shut the door quickly and relocked it.
 
She heard gunfire outside and the sound of bullets hitting the exterior wall.
 
Danni ran back to the main room.

“No good.
 
They’re in the back, too.
 
Three more of them.”

Mercer swore.
 
He grabbed a handgun, checked the clip and handed it to Danni.
 

“I’m sorry.
 
You shouldn’t be here for this, but there’s no other way.”

Danni nodded and took the gun.

Several shots rang out.
 
The windows were busted and holes were punched in the door.
 
Everyone dove to the floor.
 
Mercer pulled Danni down and lay on top of her until the shooting stopped.

Cruz grabbed his own gun. Mercer said, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m going to shoot back, what the fuck do you think I’m doing?
 
Jesus, I saved your life.
 
I saved Danni’s life.
 
I didn’t give the cops shit.
 
If I had, you’d be in jail instead of getting shot at right now.”

Doc slid over.
 
“We don’t have a choice.
 
We’re outnumbered.
 
We need all the guns we got.”

“Fine,” said Mercer, “But when all this is done, you are out of here.”

“Let’s just survive this first,” said Cruz.

More bullets came through the shattered windows.
 
Red and Cruz took the brand new table, turned it on its side, and got behind it.
 
Mercer and Danni took cover behind the kitchen island.
 

“They can’t shoot this much without the cops showing up,” shouted Red over the sound of bullets smashing glass.
 
“We can wait this out, then claim to be innocent bystanders when they get here.”

“They’re not coming,” said Cruz.
 
“Cops are in the Rattlers’ pocket.
 
That’s why they get away with so much.
 
That’s why the cops beat up Mercer.
 
Rattlers can do anything and the cops’ll just sweep it under the rug.”

“Then it’s up to us,” said Doc, as he crawled on his belly to the broken window.
 
Taking a quick peek, he saw one of the bikes had taken a stray bullet and was leaking gasoline.
 
He stuffed a rag into a liquor bottle and lit the rag.
 
He tossed the Molotov cocktail out the window.
 
It hit a bike and Doc covered his head.
 
They heard shouts and then an explosion.
 

Doc peered out the window.
 
“Got a couple of bikes, but just one of them is down.”

Mercer grabbed two automatics and crawled to the window himself.
 
He handed one to Doc.
 
On the count of three, they popped up and fired out the window.
 
They fired for five seconds, then dropped back down as more bullets hit the side of the building.

Doc looked over the window again, then yelled, “Take cover!”

They dove away from the door as an explosion blasted the door out of the frame, taking a large chunk of the wall with it.
 
Mercer’s ears were ringing so much, he didn’t hear the motorcycle come through the door.
 
The rider was in fast, spraying bullets around the room, not aiming, just wanting to hit as much as possible in the hopes of taking out one or two of them.

Red popped up and put five bullets in him.
 
He fell off the bike and it crashed to the floor.

“That’s two down,” said Cruz.
 
“Only five more.”

“Great,” said Red, sarcastically.

The bullets stopped and a voice came from outside.
 
Mercer took a quick look and saw it was Fixer.

“This is how it’s going down,” Fixer called.
 
“You come out right now and we let you walk.
 
You leave this town and never come back.”

“Seems like assholes are always saying that to me,” Mercer said.
 
He turned to Doc.
 
“No way he’s letting us out of here alive.”

“Would you do anything different if he was?” asked Doc.

“Hell, no.”

Another grenade came through the hole in the wall.
 
Mercer yelled for everyone to get behind something.
 
He dove over the couch and was tossed against the wall by the force from the blast, knocking the air out of him.
 

He slowly got up.
 
His vision was blurry and he was having trouble getting to his feet.
 
As he struggled to get up, he saw two Rattlers rush the club.
 
They had guns drawn and were heading towards the spot where Danni had dived before the blast.
 
Mercer tried to get his gun raised, but he was moving too slowly.
 
Then he saw Cruz jump up and shoot both Rattlers multiple times.
 
They fell to the ground.

Mercer got up and stumbled to the door.
 
He saw the remaining three running towards the club.
 
He took a wild shot and managed to hit one in the chest.
 
Fixer returned fire and Mercer heard someone call out behind him.
 

Cruz was on the floor, bleeding from his shoulder.
 
The blood spread quickly and Mercer thought it had hit an artery.
 
A shoulder wound could be easy to deal with if the bullet passed through, but if hit bone and bounced around inside Cruz’s chest, he was done for.
 

Danni kneeled on the floor and put Cruz’s head in her lap.
 
Mercer didn’t like the sight of that, but held his tongue.
 
He reached under Cruz and found the exit wound, which meant the bullet passed through.
 
With some bandages and some time, Cruz would most likely be OK.

Mercer got up and joined Doc and Red.
 
They were on either side of the door.
 
Mercer looked outside, but saw no one.
 
The last two Rattlers had decided to call off their rush.
 
Black Ice had won… for now.
 
Mercer let out a long breath.
 
It seemed like he had been holding his breath since the attack began.

“They gone?” asked Red.

“Looks like it.
 
For now, at least.”

They went back inside the clubhouse.
 
Cruz was on his feet, but resting against the upturned table.

“Can you ride?” Mercer asked him.

“Yeah.”

“Then you’re with me.
 
Doc, Red, start cleaning up this mess and see what you can do about patching the hole in the wall.”

“Wait, where are you going?” said Danni.
 
“A lot of people died here.
 
God damn grenades went off and blew a hole in the side of the building.
 
Are you sure the cops aren’t coming?”

“We need to find Fixer,” said Mercer.

“As long as they think the Rattlers won the fight, the cops won’t get involved, but they won’t stay gone for long,” said Cruz.
 
“I have an idea that’ll get us out of this.”

He took off his shirt and grabbed a bottle of whiskey, pouring it on his wound.
 
He winced and grabbed a bandage.
 
It was a sloppy job, but it stopped the bleeding.
 
Cruz wrapped his arm and pulled his bloody shirt back on.

Mercer and Cruz left the shattered remains of the clubhouse and rode to Cruz’s apartment.
 
They moved quickly but cautiously, in case Fixer was planning another attack.
 
Once at his building, they made their way up the steps and inside.

“We’re going to have a long talk about your loyalty,” said Mercer.
 
“You helped us out today, but I won’t forget that you talked to the feds.”

“Mercer, we can talk loyalty all day long if you want.
 
You have to give to get.”

Mercer put his hand out, stopping Cruz in his tracks.
 

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You.
 
You come back here to get the club going, but you don’t follow any of the rules.
 
You bark orders at us, but you were never elected president.
 
You expect us to follow you, but you’ve shown us nothing in return.”

“I was here long before you.
 
I have a right to give orders.”

“Bullshit,” said Cruz, going into the kitchen.
 
“Doc was here longer than you and he’s not pushing people around.
 
No one voted for you.
 
You get the patch, I’ll respect the rank, but until then, you need to remember we’re all in this together.
 
This is what I was looking for.”

Cruz had opened a vent and pulled out a small flash drive, similar to the one Mercer had delivered to Billings.

“I was talking to the feds because I got busted for possession back in California.
 
I was out on parole, but I wasn’t allowed to leave the state.
 
I needed to leave for a lot of reasons, but mostly I needed to get away from the MC I was in and get away from the ghost of my father.
 
The FBI came and told me they suspected corruption in the police department of Rawlins.
 
They said if I worked with them, I could leave California and come here.”

“And that meant ratting us out.”

“No it meant spying on the Rattlers.
 
FBI wanted me to join the Rattlers.
 
Get in good with them and give them dirt, but I couldn’t.
 
They wouldn’t let me in.
 
Then I got a call from my Uncle Larry asking to join Black Ice in Rawlins.
 
I couldn’t believe it, what were the chances.
 
So I told the FBI I would spy on the Rattlers, just in a different way.
 
So I followed them around and snapped pictures of everything they did.”

“That’s why you were always around when you needed to be.
 
When Danni and I were attacked.
 
You weren’t following us, you were following them.”

Cruz nodded.
 
“There’s over a hundred pictures here.
 
Pictures that show the Rattlers paying off cops, the mayor, even pictures of them committing murder.
 
I give this to the feds and they bust this place wide open.”

“Then, when elections are held, we make sure the people that get elected are on our side,” said Mercer.

Cruz smiled.
 
“You want to talk about my loyalty some more?”

“It’s a good plan,” said Mercer.
 
“You were right about him.”

“Yeah, looks like it,” said Danni.
 
“So you sent the pictures?”

They were in the blown-out remains of the clubhouse.
 
The entire place was a wreck.
 
All their hard work over the past weeks was gone.
 
The windows were blown out, bullet holes riddled the walls, and a big hole gaped in the side of the building.

They were talking, trying to figure out where they stood.
 
It had been a long road, and both of them knew that there was lot that needed fixing, but they were there together.

“Cruz handed them over this morning.  From what he said the feds are getting ready to arrest the chief of police and the mayor this afternoon.  It’s going to be crazy around here, but when everything settles Black Ice will be here and everyone will know we aren’t going anywhere.”