Reaper's Stand(91)

“So we’re wheels up just after ten tonight,” Hunter said. “It’s a cargo plane, and things are all smoothed out with the shipping company. The pilot’s a friend of mine and he’s solid. When we land, we’ll have brothers there to meet us and we’ll bring our own hardware. Sound good to everyone?”

The room filled with grunts and nods of approval.

“Thanks for settin’ all of this up,” I told him.

“No prob,” Hunter replied, glancing toward the man sitting next to him, who rolled his eyes. “I made Skid do most of the work, anyway. I suppose now it’s time to talk about your woman?”

“It’s complicated,” I admitted. “Not sure what to do. Long story short, she got manipulated by the cartel. Nate Evans may or may not have planned to set her up, but when the opportunity showed itself, he took it. Guess he was f*ckin’ her cousin—the one who lived with her—and probably filling her head with all kinds of bullshit. Then he gave her money to run off down south, where the kid’s mom happens to be shacked up with Gerardo Medina.”

Hunter gave a low whistle.

“Damn, bitch aims high.”

“No shit,” I agreed. “Now he’s livin’ the high life while his wife stays tucked away in Mexico. Anyway, when Jess went down, Medina took her and used her to control London. Guess they cut off the girl’s finger while she watched, and London lost it. We knew somethin’ was up, so we put a man on her, and some cameras out at my place. Then shit escalated and Puck found a loaded gun in her purse. He took her ammo and gave me a heads-up. We waited until she made her move before we took her down. Wanted to see how far she’d go.”

Silence filled the room.

“Any particular reason she’s still alive?” Hunter finally asked.

“She didn’t want to do it,” Gage said, his voice thoughtful. “She hates that f*cker Evans more than we do, which is sayin’ somethin’. Went after him with a two-by-four. Says she wants to help us take down the cartel, and she’s definitely got the motivation. We’re the only shot she has to save the kid at this point.”

Hunter smirked at me, and I saw the mocking laughter in his eyes. He knew I’d fallen for her, I knew I’d fallen for her, and now I had to kill her or look weak in the eyes of the Devil’s Jacks.

Goddammit.

The wail of sirens filled the air, and I cocked my head. The walls in here were solid as f*ck—hearing them so loud meant they had to be close. Cops? Shit. We had two goddamned prisoners in this barn, and about a hundred guns of one kind or another.

Not good.

Puck burst into the room, and for once he wasn’t calm and collected.

“You guys gotta get down here, fast,” he said. “Pic, your daughter’s in the backyard and I think she’s bleedin’ out. London’s with her, guess she called the ambulance. We got EMTs and firefighters all over the place.”


Hunter almost knocked me over, he was out of the room so fast. I was on his heels, tearing down the stairs and out into the backyard.

Oh, shit, Heather murmured in my head. That’s our baby …

What I saw nearly killed me.

It’s probably no surprise to hear I’ve ended more than one person’s life—I had a pretty good idea what it looked like when someone lost too much blood to live. That much blood and more coated Em’s lower body, and the blanket she’d been lying on was soaked with it, too.

Hunter stood over her—frozen—as two EMTs worked frantically.

London stood to the side, her eyes full of despair. A distant part of me noted that she was covered in blood, too. It ran down her head and into her face. It even dripped off her arms—looked like her clothes had been … shredded?

Fucked-up shit, and my baby girl was in the middle of it.

For an instant I was almost thankful Heather was dead, because if she was still here, she’d tear the skin right off my body for letting this happen. Whatever the hell this was. Looked like the blood was comin’ from between Em’s legs, and that was a bad f*ckin’ sign for my grandbaby.

I’m so goddamned sorry, Heather.

Hunter turned on London, grabbing her arms and shaking her violently.

“What the f*ck did you do to her? I’ll f*cking kill you for this, bitch!”

Skid, Gage, and Horse leapt into action, pulling him off and dragging him halfway across the lawn before the cop had time to do much more than blink.

“What’s going on?” I asked one of the EMTs, my stomach sinking. I’d never dreamed London could be a threat to Em—was she behind this? Fuck. What the hell had I done, bringing her here?

“Looks like a miscarriage,” the man said, catching my eyes. “You a family member?”

“I’m her dad.”

“You need to follow us to the hospital,” he said. “This is serious—she’s lost a lot of blood. I don’t know what the hell’s going on around here, but time to cut the drama because your kid needs you. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Christ. I hated this helpless feeling. It took forever for them to load Em—looked like she was dying, and there wasn’t a f*ckin’ thing I could do to help. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the firefighters checking out London. She didn’t look so good, either. I glanced up at the carriage house, finding the remains of the second-story window. She’d obviously smashed it out and then dropped down into the bushes. There were broken leaves and sticks everywhere.