Page 42 of Sly (Dragon Riders MC 5)
My nostrils flared with every lungful of air I drew. My chest heaved with the need for rest as my legs pumped as quickly as I’d ever pumped them before. Branches connected against my face. Thorns tore at my bare arms. My entire body stung and burned as I leapt over rotting stumps and avoided ditches at all costs.
Until the officers’ footsteps were so far behind me that I had time to look around.
“Come on, come on. There has to be something,” I growled.
Then, I spotted it. A small embankment covered in leaves. I sprinted over to the small hill and slid down it before tucking myself underneath some brush. I tossed dead leaves and dirt over myself to mask my sweaty scent and anything else they could possibly use to identify me. And as worms wiggled all over my bare back, I steadied my breathing.
Before silencing it altogether.
“Where did he go!?”
“How the hell did you lose him? What the fuck were you thinking?”
“He was moving for something. I know he was about to draw a knife on us.”
“He didn’t have a fucking weapon on his person when we arrested him, you dumbass!”
“Hey, I saved your life back there.”
“Yeah, and now you’re going to be the one to save our asses with the boss.”
“That jerk-off has to be here somewhere. Keep looking.”
The agents bickered and walked around me as I held my breath. My lungs burned and my eyes watered, but I forced myself to lay low. I forced myself not to hop out and break their necks with my own two hands. All I needed was for them to canvas the area and leave.
Then, I could emerge and get my ass back to the bar.
I wasn’t sure how long I laid there or how many fucking bugs crawled all over my body in the process, but eventually the agents backtracked. They cursed at one another and talked into radios as they backtracked through the woods, headed for their SUV no doubt. But even ten minutes after I couldn't hear them any longer, I still forced myself to wait.
Until I was absolutely sure the coast was clear.
“Holy fuck!” I exclaimed.
I shot up from the dirt and the leaves and shook myself off. I ran my hand through my hair and felt a beetle crawling around, trying to make a small home for itself. I bent forward and shook out my hair before taking my pants off and fluffing them out. Watching as dirt and ants and all sorts of debris scattered into the wind.
Then, with the howling of the wind through the trees masking my footsteps, I tried to walk my ass out of the woods.
“I’m gonna die out here,” I murmured to myself.
Somehow, I managed to get back to the main road. Then, it was simply a matter of flagging down a cab. We didn’t have many of those in upstate New York. Especially in the smaller towns like the one we lived in. But I managed to come across an off-duty cab driver that was more than willing to take me back to my place so I could snatch up my bike.
For three times the usual cost of travel.
Still, it struck me as odd that no one was at my apartment. And I mean, no one. No officers collecting evidence. No outside workers hauling my shit out of my apartment to use to collect DNA or something like that. There was no one there as my apartment door sat wide open for the world.
As if my shit didn’t matter to anyone.
“Tara?” I asked.
I knew better than to think she was here. But it was worth a shot.
“I’m coming for you, beautiful. Just hang tight,” I whispered.
When I walked into my apartment, the damn thing looked like it had been tossed by looters. Shit was everywhere, and when my eyes fell onto Tara’s clothes, my blood boiled. They didn’t even let her put her fucking clothes on!? Was she just in the back of some cop cruiser-SUV-thing butt-ass naked!?
Wait, my sheet is missing.
Why the fuck was my sheet missing?
“Fuck!” I roared.
I marched into my bathroom and stripped myself down. I took the quickest shower of my life before throwing on the first clothes I pulled out of my drawers and searched around for my shit. I grabbed my go bag that I always kept packed and made sure I had my wallet and keys. Then, I looked over at my phone and snatched it up.
Before taking the battery pack out.
I dipped down and reached my arm beneath my bed, pulling out a small fire-proof, water-proof lock box. I rotated the small dials until the numbers popped up in the right order, then the top flew open. I dug everything out and shoved it in all of my remaining pockets. My fake passport, wads of cash, my fake identification. Even the burner phone I kept in here for emergency purposes. It was pre-programmed with all of the numbers of the guys. And in the event of a raid just like this one, we were all supposed to get to our phones and send out a mass message to everyone to let the guys know we were all right.
