8. Logan

8

LOGAN

Returning to the real world is a mindfuck after you've been in captivity for years. The slightest sounds and movements set you off. Everybody everywhere feels like a threat. You no longer trust your own judgment or perception of reality.

It all feels like some sort of simulation.

I don't adjust well. I'm aware of this from the moment I first set foot on club property and dozens of eyes flick toward me.

The dead man walking back into normal life.

So many things have changed since I was gone. So much that it's damn near impossible to process. Instead of trying to, I retreat to what I know, focusing on the only purpose my broken life has left: revenge.

The destruction of the man and his followers who did this to me.

The same people who still have captives they use and abuse… including the woman I promised would escape with me.

Everybody thinks I'm insane for how hard I push to put together a mission. They thirst for revenge after what's been done to me, but want to go about it smartly, strategically. Take their time so they can figure out who and what they're dealing with.

I allow for none of that, making it clear if they don't come along, I'm going alone. I'm taking out Abraham and the Chosen Saints as an army of one.

"We need time," my younger brother Mace says. "A plan to map out."

"We need to act," I snap. "Now."

"We'll send guys for recon?—"

"Now," I repeat coldly, sparing him no glance. "Tomorrow night or I go at it alone."

He scrubs at his jaw as if thinking of a new approach. "You just got back from an ordeal that would break most people?—"

"Save the psychobabble shit for somebody else. Either you come with me or you don't. Makes no difference to me. But they've got my wife—and a whole lot of other people captive—and I ain't moving on ‘til the score's settled."

If there's one thing about the Steel Kings that hasn't changed since I've been gone, it's that we operate as a pack. If one of us has a battle to fight, the rest of us do too.

The next night as I gear up to return to hell, they're falling in line for the mission. They're revving up their engines and riding out alongside me despite the fact that the general consensus is the opposite—they want to wait, but they know there's no talking me out of it.

I've got nothing else to lose. Nothing left to live for. Why not go in guns blazing?

Mace leads the operation. Cash and Silver serve as his right and left hands.

I'm like a ghost as we go in. I'm no longer my father's heir. I'm not the guy that leads. The future president of the club. That was me once, but not anymore.

The family is in the middle of a dinner when we barge through. We shout at them to put their hands in the air and lay down on the ground. It'll allow us to sort everybody out between believers and saints. I've made it clear to Mace and the others a lot of these people are captives just like me. Kidnapped and brought into this hell hole.

Some of the guards refuse to put down their rifles. Brody fires on us. Ozzie and Silver are ready and put a bullet in him first. The other guards retaliate, and soon the crack of gunfire fills the air.

Believers run, afraid for their lives. Some saints manage to escape, but others aren't so lucky, knocked down and run through by Cash or Big Eddie.

I move through the scene searching for two things.

Two people.

As we barged into the main house, the Leader fled the room. I've run up the stairs after him. I make it onto the second floor landing as he rounds the corner, clutching someone with him.

"Teysha!" I growl, following him into his bedroom.

"Come closer if you want me to slit her throat."

He's got Teysha in front of him like a shield. He backs up toward the balcony doors, pressing a steak knife to her throat.

"Real brave using her as a shield, you fucking coward."

"And you are so brave when you have a cadre of men backing you up, Believer Logan," he sneers.

"And you think you're so powerful when you've got brainwashed believers following you."

"That is because I am powerful, Believer Logan. I broke you, did I not? "

"You broke me. I kill you."

I raise my assault rifle to take aim, lining him up in my scope. A shot that's beyond risky with Teysha in his arms. One wrong move and she could be hit. One wrong move and he could slit her throat open. She recognizes this, quivering in his hold, her teary eyes pleading silently with me.

My chest pulls tight as my finger hovers over the trigger.

"Make your decision, Believer Logan. Quickly now," he taunts, grinning broadly. He takes a step back toward the balcony. "What is more important? An innocent life or your ego?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

He laughs. "You continue to prove why you will never prevail. You have no respect for those more powerful than you. Tonight may be a small win in your eyes, but you have no idea the extent of my wrath. You will soon find out!"

Teysha screams as he swipes at her neck with the knife, then quickly shoves her toward me.

For a wild second, panic detonates and I catch her in my arms convinced he's slit her throat. My gaze falls to the area, heart beating fast, to find no slash mark. No injury or damage at all except to the gold cross around his neck.

He was creating a distraction.

My head snaps up to find Abraham's used the last few seconds to hurl himself over the edge of the balcony. I rush toward the railing to locate him.

He's a blip in the dark, running straight for the tree line.

I open fire on him anyway before he disappears altogether into the night.

He's not the only one who gets away.

When it's all said and done, there's a handful of others like Mandy and Xavier that escaped. The majority were not so lucky, slaughtered on the spot like they deserved .

The believers we've rescued we drop off at the nearest hospital.

"What about her?" asks Ozzie, jutting his chin at Teysha. "We had her checked out at the hospital, but she didn't stay with the others. Is she coming with us?"

Teysha's passed out in the back of Silver's truck. At some point while waiting, she nodded off. I take a moment to realize I never considered what would come after. I never thought about what would happen once we made it out.

Opening the door to nudge her awake, I ask her what she wants. If she'd like to remain at the hospital where the other captives are being treated or if she wants to stay in the truck and come the rest of the way with us.

She blinks blearily at me, barely conscious. "I'll come with you… please…"

I give a tight nod and then shut the door to let her fall back asleep.

"She'll come with us to Pulsboro," I say. "For now. 'Til we get everything sorted."

"Makes sense. Isn't she Syd's friend too?"

I have no idea.

I don't know a thing about the woman other than her name and the gold cross she wears around her neck. The same gold cross Abraham slashed. But as I climb back onto the bike I'm riding on and take a look at her through the truck window, I spot the telltale signs of captivity. Even after her doctor's checkup. The vague bruises and nails caked with dirt. Worn clothes that you once filled out more.

Tonight's not the night to have all the answers. It's time to rest.