Page 77 of Deadly Secrets

How can he be here standing? I saw that fucker shoot him three times.

“Dad…” Ryder says again in a pleading tone. “I need help, I can’t pull myself up.”

“Give me both of your hands,” I say and reach as far as I can into the window. From beside me I hear Remi ask for a gun and I break out into a cold sweat.

“You know how to use one?” I hear Stone ask.

“Yes,” she says just as Ryder latches onto both of my hands.

As I’m pulling him up, the door on the opposite side of the room opens and three men barge in. They take in the scene, drawing their guns and firing in our direction. Remi screams out at the noise, and I can see movement out of the corner of my eye as Brass and Havoc move her away from being hit by the wide shots. My right-hand releases Ryder and I reach for my 9mm on my hip. My son is yelling, terrified as the men come closer. I take aim, still holding one of his hands but miss when I have to dodge one of their shots. The last thing I want is for a stray bullet to hit him.

“Dad, please,” I hear Ryder begging over all the commotion and my heart is about to beat out of my chest. I’ve never had something so big on the line before.

The three men break off from each other as I’m scrambling to find a clear shot when a hard yank has my shoulder almost dislocated. The tight grip I have on my son is ripped away and I lose the connection.

“No!” I yell as I try to lurch forward, but I’m too big to progress any further. One of the men has a struggling Ryder in his arms and in front of his body as he backs towards the door.

This can’t be happening. He was just in my grip and now he’s being taken from me again.

I barrel roll out of the way as the other two men start firing their weapons in my direction. The shots stop coming and I sneak a small peek in the room only to find it empty. Banging my fist on the ground, I let out a yell from deep inside me.

Jumping up to my feet I start to look around for a way into the house and see Remi looking at me with horrified eyes.

“Where is he? What just happened?”

“They took him,” I confirm, still looking for a quick way in.

A large group of our brothers make their way to us as they shoot a path and clear the way.

“Remi.” Bulldog comes over, his voice soft and if we weren’t in this fucked up situation, I’d knock his ass out with the way he says her name. But I also know he’ll protect her with his life.

“Get her to the plane,” I demand as I start to calculate how much time we’ve got left before this place explodes.

“I’m not going anywhere without Ryder,” Remi hisses, her face growing serious and I see a determined fire rising up in her.

“I can’t get him without knowing you’re safe,” I declare. “Go with Bulldog and I’ll be right behind you.” I try to assure her.

She searches my eyes for a beat before nodding. “Bring him home safe after killing that asshole.”

“I will,” I vow, then lean over and capture her lips with mine. Even in all this chaos I can’t help but latch onto her. We’ve been through so much shit over the years and time can’t change the pull we have to each other. Pulling back, I look right at Bulldog. “Keep her safe,” I order.

“With my life, brother,” he tells me.

“We’ll cover you,” Stone says, knocking his best friend on the shoulder.

Taking up position, he uses several men to circle Remi and they set off towards the door that will lead out of the compound. Once we know she’s safe and out of the immediate harm we regroup.

“What’s the plan?” Brass asks as we slide around to the side of the main house into an alcove.

“To mow down every bastard in camo.” I pop a window open next to an air conditioning unit.

“If you can, use your blades to keep our positions quiet until we have no other choice,” Stone says as he checks behind the curtain in the room, finding it empty. With the new group joining us, we have ten to twelve brothers at our backs, with more coming up from all sides of the property. By this time all three groups should be here dwindling the cartel’s numbers.

Stomping boots can be heard inside the hall and all of our men immediately check their weapons and get ready.

Stone looks at his watch. “Got about fifteen minutes before we need to get our asses through that bunker.”

“Better stab and shoot fast then,” Brass says, cracking his neck and licking his lips.