Page 54 of Shadow Strike
One of them walked straight to Denny, who was still clutching his ruined nose, and forced him to his knees with a hand on his shoulder.“Stay put.”
Another approached CB and Ryder, but didn’t interfere.Just stood there, a silent witness to Ryder’s defeat.
A car pulled into the lot.An old sedan, moving slowly, headlights cutting through the gathered crowd.
It stopped, and the passenger door opened.
Wade Briggs.
He emerged slowly, one hand gripping the door frame.The driver—Jimmy from the other night—hurried around from the front end to help him, but Wade waved him off after a few steps.His left leg dragged slightly as he walked with a cane, his left arm stiff at his side, but he moved under his own power, his jaw set with determination.
The Outlaws parted for him.
Wade stopped a few feet from where CB held Ryder pinned to the ground.He looked down at his nephew, and a mix of disappointment and sorrow passed over his face.
“Let him up,” Wade said.
CB hesitated, then released Ryder’s arm and stepped back, keeping himself between Ryder and Regan.Blood dripped from his fingers onto the gravel.
Ryder scrambled to his feet, his face a mask of rage.He brushed dirt from his shirt and glared at CB with a confident smile.“At least someone around here is thinking straight.”
Wade jutted his chin at CB.“You hurt?”
CB barely glanced at his blood-stained shirt.“I’ll live.”
“Ryder shot him,” Regan said, her voice echoing around the lot.
Murmurs and head shakes followed.
Wade narrowed his eyes at his nephew.“How could you betray me, Ryder?”
The smile fell off Ryder’s face.“I would never betray you, Uncle Wade.”
Wade shook his head.“I know exactly what you’ve done.”
Jimmy hooked his thumbs through his belt loops, his voice low and dangerous.“And he told the rest of us.That’s not right, Ryder.We’ve looked the other way about a lot of stuff, but this?”He wasn’t as big or broad as Wade or CB, but the hair on Regan’s neck stood up when he continued.“This will not be tolerated.”
Ryder snorted a small laugh and glanced at CB.“Of course, you’d turn Wade and the others against me, too.”Blood dribbled down his chin from his split lip.He wiped at it with the back of his hand and spat more onto the ground.“Clive Briggs, the golden boy.Walks back into the gang after deserting us, and everyone’s bowing to him.”
“We’re not bowing to anyone,” Jimmy said, voice still hard and edged with deep-seated anger.“And we’re no longer tolerating you, regardless of your ties to the Briggs family.”
Around the lot, the others were nodding.Ryder frowned.“Uncle Wade, there’s been some mistake.CB attacked me.He’s been working against the family?—”
Wade adjusted his stance.“I heard the recording.”
Ryder’s mouth snapped shut.He flicked his gaze to CB, back to Wade.“What recording?”
“My son recorded your conversation at the campground.”He emphasizedmy son, and Regan saw CB straighten slightly.“He played it for me this morning.”
Ryder’s tan skin paled, sickly in the dim light.He shot another scathing look at CB.“You didwhat?”
CB returned the look with calm detachment.“My specialty in the Rangers was intelligence gathering.When surveilling the enemy, I learned to record everything.”
Ryder’s mouth opened, closed.
Wade’s voice was slow, deliberate, each word costing him effort.“I didn’t want to believe it.Told myself there had to be an explanation.”He paused, his chest rising and falling.“Then word went around the call tree about the cease and desist letter.How you were ignoring it and coming here to physically harm Regan.I get here, and what do I find?My son is bleeding because you shot him.”
Ryder shifted from one foot to the other.“I was just trying to protect the organization.CB’s the one who?—”
