Rust: A Bad Boy Romance (Courage MC) (30 page)

I
kissed
her and promised to myself that it would be the last time I left like this. It was Hell on a woman not to know where her man was, and whether or not he was safe. And I had to respect her feelings. But now? Now was time to get my revenge on some assholes who have no manners.

I picked my woman up and kissed her passionately. “Don't leave me alone. Come back to me.” she said.

“I'll always come back to you. I swear it.” I said. And with that, we were off. Bruce and I jumped on our bikes and headed in the direction of the truck of drugs.

A
fter some time of riding
, we broke off of the highway to get back on our feet for a minute or two. We had been in the blazing sun for what seemed like hours now and I was getting tired. “How far are we?” I asked. My face felt as if it were on fire. Maybe I wasn't really ready for this yet. Still, I was stuck. There was no going back now.

“What’s wrong?” Bruce asked me.

“Nothin’. Just want to make sure everything is in order. Explain the plan to me again, boss.” I said, taking a big gulp of water while I leaned against the hot metal of my bike.

“We made it.” he said, pointing to the burning horizon. “You see that building, just around the bend there? That’s where they’re doing the deal. We gotta keep it simple and easy. We ambush them and take the drugs. No questions ask. If anyone disagrees with our methods, it’s sayonara.” He kept his hand on his hip, right where his gun lay holstered.

“I thought we were trying to find where they were hiding Luke? You’re doing this just for the damn drugs?” I said, giving Bruce an odd look.

He waved me away. “Yeah, yeah. Of course I’m in it to find Luke. Shit, man, you really think I don’t care about you? I’m gonna’ find Luke and I’m gonna watch you kill the son of a bitch. But a kilo of coke ain’t bad either, right? Don’t worry, we’ll take the driver and get answers from him. That I promise you.”

“Well let’s get to it then.” I said. We parked our bikes in a parking lot off to the side and walked a mile in the right direction. When we got near the old abandoned area, we ducked behind a wall and sat waiting. Sure enough, two trucks arrived and a total of four armed men got out. The cartel. Shit, this was gonna be a tough one.

“Time to put our masks on.” Bruce whispered. I grabbed my black bandana and wrapped it around my scarred face. I laughed to myself. When your face was this cut up, it was pretty damn obvious who you were. Still, I had a feelin’ none of these guys would live to tell the tale of Avery any time soon.

“Alright. Ready?” he asked me. I grabbed my pistol and armed it, taking the safety off.

“Ready as I ever will be.” I said.

He pressed his forehead against mine and put his hand on my shoulder. “No matter what happens, you always meant the world to me, Avery. We’re brothers in arms and it has always been us against the world. From the day you got that Courage fever, I knew you were somethin’ special. It’s time to prove yourself once again. Hell, it’s time prove myself.” I nodded, heart racing fast and heavy. “Alright. On my count. 3-2-1 … Go!”

We split into two directions. I went left, while he went right. Within a few short seconds, we had them surrounded. “DROP YOUR WEAPONS!” We both screamed, shooting near their feet. The men fell to the floor, with their hands above their heads.

I walked up to them, kicking their guns away from their bodies. “That’s right. Nice and easy.” I said. “We’re not here for your lives, so if you follow our rules and do what we say, you’ll be fine. Got it?” The men nodded their heads, though I could tell they didn’t want to comply one bit.

Bruce laughed out loud, practically bragging about our ambush. “Hey, look at ‘em! They’re shaking like a couple o’ girls!”

“Come on, Let’s get the shit and go.” I warned Bruce. He always did this kind of shit, but I was a little more cautious about my heists. Time was always of the essence. If you found yourself at the scene for too long, things went badly.

Bruce ignored me and kept prodding the guys. “Hey, got a cigarette?” he asked one of the cartel members. He shook his head as if to say no. He was clearly too scared to even utter any words.

I hit Bruce’s shoulder and said, “Let’s fucking go.” Bruce conceded and stepped inside the truck, counting the kilo of cocaine. I stood off to the side as guard. “No funny business.” I said to them.

The driver shook his head, looking pretty pissed off at us. “You guys from Courage?” he asked me.

“Stay the fuck down and keep your mouth shut.” I said.

“Yeah, I bet you are. You’re all gonna pay for what you did to Bobby.” He said through gritted teeth. “Luke’s going to put a bullet through your thick fucking skulls.”

“That’s it.” I said, putting the barrel of my gun to his head. “You want to die? Is that it?”

Bruce laughed. “I counted it. It’s all there. Good shit too! Let’s move. Get the driver. We’ll need him.”

“Get up.” I said. The man remained still, in defiance of my orders. “I said get up!” I fired a bullet into the dirt next to his head. That got him running. Within an instant, he was tied up and screaming in the semi, while we drove off into the distance. We made sure to tie the cartel members up as well.

“HAHA!” Bruce screamed into the wind as we drove nearly 80 mph. We’d later send new Courage recruits to pick up the bikes, but I couldn’t help but feel bad for leaving my old ride there all alone for such a long time. “WE DID IT!” Bruce was celebratin’.

As for me, the job wasn’t over until Luke’s blood spilled onto this earth. I kept my hands steady on the wheel and looked forward. I never looked back.

I
t all sunk
in on me fast. I was alone now. The barricades of the compound shut and I slowly saw the love of my life disappear, once again, from me. Avery was such a wild spirit – he had to go where he was called to. But, as a woman, I still worried for him.

I was safe here, though. There were armed guards silently waiting for any outside activity. Their eyes were on the scope of their guns, watching every rattlesnake or scorpion that moved by the compound. And all was desolate outside. The cold desert air at night simply wisped around my body. It was a lonely touch compared to Avery’s strong hands and mechanic scent.

I closed my eyes and hoped for the best. Of course, that’s when I felt the familiar feeling of greasy fingers wrap around my mouth. I tried to scream, but no sound came out. “Shh.” The voice whispered.

Bobby…

The sound of bullets whizzing by echoed all around us and, very quickly, the guards were lying against the desert floor, blood leaking from their bodies. A whole crew popped up around us, wearing camouflage and desert-colors. Some even tied pieces of cactus around their body armor, to give an added veil of invisibility.

“Hello, my pretty little flower.” he said, practically drooling.

He let go of my mouth. “No.” I whispered. “How? You … they sent you to prison!” I cried.

“That’s the thing. You can’t lock up ol’ Bobby Farole.” he laughed. “Boys! Take her out of my sight. We’re goin’ south!”

“Where are you taking me!” I screamed. “AVERY!”

“No use in screamin’, darlin’. No one can hear you. All of the guards are dead. Soon, Avery and Bruce will be buried alongside of ‘em. Oh, I can’t wait for that!” He cracked his knuckles and lit up a cigar. The flame against his face cast an evil shadow across the whole compound.

“You bastard! You’ll never win. You know why?” I spit in his face, kicking at his large body.

“And why is that?” he laughed. “Looks to me like I always win.”

“Darkness never wins. It only makes itself known. Then the light consumes it. You better be ready, because when Courage finds you, it’ll pulverize your very being. You prick.”

He slapped my face and I instantly fell to the floor. I wiped a drop of blood from my lip and looked at him angrily. “You’ll pay for that.” I said. I wasn’t going to take shit from a grease ball like him.

“Maybe I will. Then again, maybe I won’t. I was born into this world to die, darlin’. So your display of anger don’t mean shit to me. I’m going to have my showdown with Avery and I’m gonna win. And when I do, I’m going to make you mine. All. Mine.”

“You disgust me!” I backed into a corner, holding my head in my hands. I felt like I was going crazy. My whole life was quickly swallowed up by Bobby Farole. I went from pop star to victim in a blink of an eye.

“I disgust you? Good. The world disgusts me. You disgust me. Your celebrity life, the pretty people, all of the fake charms of the world disgusts me! You live your lives like pain doesn’t exist. You forget the people suffering in the world. You disregard people like me. And you force the rejects of the world to a life of crime and punishment. It’s a never ending cycle of hurt and pain, and guess who gets the blame? People like me. Well, now I wield the gun. Now you all gotta listen to me.” He licked his lips, “I’m going to make an alter for you. And when we’re standing there together, arm in arm, I’m gonna force Avery to watch as you whisper the words ‘I do.” He laughed and picked me up by my hair.

“NO!” I screamed.

“It’s time, bitch. Let’s go.” Suddenly all was black. A bag was thrown over my head and I was quickly thrown on the back of a motorcycle, lost to Bobby’s army of goons. I prayed for Avery, but there was only the sound of the cold desert air.

All was lost to the arid landscape.

“
W
here is he
?” I screamed, fists bloody and face red, ready to burst.

“Settle down, give the man some air for a second.” Bruce warned. We had been wailin’ on him for nearly an hour now and he looked about ready to pass out on us.

“I’ll fuckin’ kill him. I swear it. I’ll kill him and his whole family.” I said, purely out of anger.

“I don’t know nothin’!” the man said, spitting chunks of teeth and blood onto the pavement.

Bruce pulled me aside and whispered, “Come on, man. You’re getting too personal with this shit. I get it, trust me. But you ain’t gonna’ find any answers by killin’ the guy.”

I nodded. “I know, I know. I’m sorry, Bruce. I’m just worked up now. I need to find him. If I don’t, he’ll get us. He’ll take us all down.

“Listen to me.” He said, pointing his finger in my face. “Ain’t no one gonna take down Courage. Our oath is sacred, hear me?”

“Alright. I’ll give him 10 minutes.” I reluctantly said.

Bruce laughed and shook his head as if I were crazy. Well maybe I was crazy, but I was justified for being that way.

I walked back into the room and took a deep breath. “Look, brother,” I began, “this ain’t about you. It’s about Luke and Bobby only. I don’t want to hurt you any more than I already have, okay? You know that, don’t you? But I’m under strict orders to slam this fist here into your cheek there. That is, until you’re ready to tell me where Luke is.” No one could say I didn’t give him fair warning.

He spit in my face and said angrily, “I don’t need to give you shit. Pussy.” Now that was the word that did the trick. It sent my blood boiling, causing me to explode into a fit of rage.

“You son of a bitch! Look at me!” I grabbed his head and forced him to look into my eyes. “Do you see my face? Do you see what he did to me? He kidnapped my girl, tried to destroy my life; all for what? Pride? We’re going to find him with or without you. If you wanna live then start talking!”

Unfortunately for him, he kept his little mouth shut. “What should I do?” I jokingly asked Bruce. It was a little routine we played, as if we were two dumb cops who had never done this before. Too bad we were pretty damn experienced at this sort of thing.

“Well, I don’t know. Maybe we ought to let him go.” he smiled. That made the guy’s face light up a bit.

“Nah, we can’t just let him go. Not without a little souvenir.” I said.

“Souvenir? Like what?”

“Well, I’ve grown so fond of the guy. I think I’d like to keep something of his. For memory’s sake.” I winked.

“Maybe you should take one of his pretty teeth. They’re nice and shiny.” he said, grabbing a pair of pliers. The guy nearly fell back onto the pavement. He was that terrified. Still, he hadn’t given us Luke’s whereabouts yet. Funny thing was, we would have let him go if he did. That’s really all it took to please us.

“Look, guys. C’mon.” He said, squirming in his seat.

I grabbed the next best thing to my fist: my hammer. “No. I want something better than an old tooth. How ‘bout one of his bones?” I asked.

“Well,” Bruce began, “a bone would be hard to extract from the tissue, but we could try our best.”

“Oh, I like the sound of that!” I cried out. I swung the hammer back, ready to hit him with all the force I had. It was justified. It was for Hope.

“WAIT!” he screamed, tears rolling down his cheeks. He looked pathetic. “Alright, I’m fucking sorry, okay? I’ll tell you everything!”

I dropped the hammer. “Everything?”

“Yes! Just don’t extract my bones. You gotta promise me that, man. I just drive for Bobby. I didn’t plan any of this shit.”

“We’ll see about that.” I said. “Go on. Tell us what you know.”

“Bobby never went to prison.” he said.

Bruce let out a loud howling cackle. “Okay, so the guy wants to make some shit up. Grab the hammer and finish this guy off. I’m getting real bored of this messin’ around!”

“No, no! I’m telling you the truth!” he cried, trembling against the rope around his body.

“Quit playin’ your games. We ain’t interested in them.” I said, kneeling down in front of him.

“Look, man. I got kids. Two of them.” he said.

“I’m listening. Go on, brother.” I said, showing a tinge of mercy.

“Man, this shit is all corrupt. Police down here are owned by Bobby’s men now. You didn’t know that? The old Police Chief had a stroke not too long ago. Bobby got lucky, you know? A new regime meant new business deals, and this new Chief wasn’t someone to turn down a cold hard million. So Bobby organized it so that they’d make a lot of money together. That’s why he was let out in the first place. All they had to do was get the Chief’s signature and support and, boom, he was a free man.”

I looked down at the concrete. Well, I’ll be damned. I knew Bobby’s crew pulled a lot of weight around these parts. But I didn’t know they had the chief under their thumb now. That wasn’t such a good thing in my book. It meant more hoops to jump through. Then again, if Bobby were to, say, disappear or vanish, maybe we could get him on our side. I looked at Bruce and he simply nodded, as if he were thinking the same thing as me.

“So what happened last week?” I asked him. “They just take him in and let him out the back door?”

I placed a warm towel soaked in water on his face to soak up the blood and alleviate some of his pain. He started talking more now. “It ain’t that easy. Keep in mind, I only know what I hear, but my guess is that they moved that cocaine, transferred the money to the Police Department, and let him out after some questioning. Shit, for all I know, they could have planted that shit on someone else. Some fella’ in the streets in the ghetto. They do that shit all the time.”

He was right, of course. The police were about as corrupt as we were. Maybe more so. The difference was, we admitted we were criminals. The cops hid face and lied to the public about their dealings. It was a wicked world we lived in, and those are just a fraction of the games that were played. I assumed it went all the way up -- right up to the President of the United States. The bikers were just the scapegoats. It was easy to blame a scarred up mess of a man like me. And it was even easier to throw blame at a young man in the ghetto, forced to sell the drugs to feed his family. The whole thing smelled of corruption.

“Yeah, I was wonderin’ where they got all their new uniforms from. Seemed like something wasn’t right.” Bruce said to himself.

“Where are they? Where are Luke and Bobby hiding?” I asked him.

“You really don’t know?” He asked me. “Honestly?”

“I wouldn’t be wasting my god damn time if I did.” I muttered, leaning back on the dusty wall.

“They’re in the place most dear to your heart.” he laughed, spitting more chunks of blood and teeth out onto the ground.

“Enough with the riddles, Shakespeare. Give us the coordinates or we bury you alive. Your kids can find you for all I care.” Bruce said, lighting up another cigarette.

The man laughed and shook his head. “They told me you’d kill me. But they forced me to do this job. They said it was ‘either us killin’ you now, or them killing you later.’ And now here I am, tied to a fucking chair in the middle of the desert. They’re in your old home, Avery. They’ve been there for days now. They knew you’d ambush this drug deal and take me hostage. But most importantly, they knew you’d leave Hope back at the hideout. They’re going to ambush your whole crew. And when they do, they’re going to take Hope and execute her, right in the house of your childhood memories.”

“Bruce.” I whispered. “He knows who we are. He knows my name.” I was spinning with rage and confusion. Hope. I let you down again. “FUCK!” I screamed, slamming the hammer against the concrete wall. Shards of the material flew around me.

“Avery, we need to get the fuck out of here! LET’S GO!” he screamed, running out the door.

“Hey, what about me? You gotta let me go!” the man cried out.

“Here’s a knife. Cut yourself free.” I said, catching up to Bruce. The sun was setting in the horizon. The open road stretched before us. This was it. Judgment day.

Luke. Bobby. I know you’re out there. And when I find you, I’m going to tear you to pieces. I’m going to burn your crew to the ground. No one will remember your name. The Darkhorse MC will be swallowed up by Courage.

It’s go time. Time to suit up.