Page 48 of Tanner (Dirty Misfits MC 5)
“Follow me!” Porter called out.
“Tanner!” Summer exclaimed.
I turned around and reached out for her, allowing our fingers to touch. “Go with Molly. I’ll be out there soon enough.”
The sound of her panicked voice was enough to enrage me, but watching my men scramble while we tried to locate the source of the fire pissed me off even more. This place was massive; the fire could’ve started anywhere. And the more the flames mounted out of sight, the more they crackled.
Even though we still couldn’t find them.
“Are all the girls out!?” Brooks yelled at the top of his lungs.
Finn came around the corner and gave us a thumbs up. “Just did a head count.”
Porter sighed. “Please tell me you found the source of the fire.”
And when he shook his head, I started looking around.
“We checked the kitchen?” I asked.
Cole dashed down the hallway. “Just checked. Not in there.”
I racked my brain. “What about the cellar? The two guys we’ve got down there. Think they might have something to do with this?”
Brooks marched past me. “Give me two minutes and I’ll have it figured out.”
Then, Archer yelled above all of our heads. “No need! Guys! I found the fire! Guys!”
We went rushing in his direction and peered out a window only to find that the cellar doors were ablaze with flames. My gut churned with a fury that threatened to blind me to my own rage, and I decided I’d had enough. I picked up the chair next to me and threw it through the window, shattering the glass before I lunged myself through the hole.
And when I tumbled toward the fiery cellar doors, I heard everyone else diving out behind me.
One by one, we fed extinguishers through the window. Then, we aimed it at the cellar doors. For all we knew, the fire was coming from below, which meant we had to get down there before the entire back part of the warehouse collapsed downward. The gushing of white mist flooded the doors, muting the fire enough for us to get down into the cellar itself.
And the smell of gasoline almost choked us out, even with the masks on.
“Retreat. Get out of here before this place blows!” Brooks exclaimed.
We backtracked up the steps just before an explosion in the cellar sent us all careening to the ground. And as we covered our heads, I peeked up and saw two very familiar faces staring back at me. With grins crooked against their bruised and battered faces, I scurried to my feet to try and get to them.
But the ringing in my ears and my head took me to my knees.
As I placed my forehead against the heated ground, I felt the footsteps of my brothers rumbling around me. I looked up and watched as Brooks and Porter dashed off toward the woods, probably to go try and kill the men that had set fire to our only remaining shelter. The ringing in my ears slowly died down and the whooshing sound of fire extinguishers quickly filled the empty space, causing me to crane my eyes over my shoulder.
Watching as the rest of my brothers tried desperately to put out the fire before it spread.
With my entire body aching and my mind still boggled, I pulled myself up from the ground. I scooped up my extinguisher and made my way back into the basement, tackling the massive flames that licked toward the ceiling of the cellar. I aimed things at the base of the flames, trying to smother them as I drew in steady, even breaths through my mask.
But when Brooks and Porter came back to help us, they didn’t have those two men in tow.
“What happened to the—”
Brooks cut me off with a look. “Let’s get this fire out first before we talk about anything else.”
“I can’t find Raven!” Finn exclaimed.
We all whipped around at the sound of his voice as Finn leapt down the stairs of the cellar.
“What the fuck did you just say!?” Brooks bellowed.
Finn ripped off his mask like an idiot. “I said, I can’t find Raven. I went to go get a headcount of everyone, and no one knows where she is.”
Brooks dropped his extinguisher. “I’ll go find her. She must still be—”
But I put my hand on his shoulder. “You stay here. This crew needs you. I’ll go.”
He shrugged me off. “She’s my family; my concern.”
“And you’re our president. You can’t go in there. If something happens, we still need you to dig us out of this mess.”
He glared at me. “And what am I supposed to tell Summer? And your daughter?”
I grinned. “You act like I’m not coming back out.”
I patted Brooks’ shoulder before I handed my extinguisher to Finn, then I headed up the steps. I wrapped around to the side of the warehouse and kicked open a door we had—at one point in time—welded shut. I marched up and down the hallways, calling out Raven’s name while trying to avoid as much smoke as I possibly could.
