Chapter Eleven

Ringo

The second I shut off my bike, I heard the sharp whistle, faint with distance. Had I been three seconds later, I'd have missed it. My head snapped in the direction of the noise. Then there was a gunshot. A scream. Then nothing.

"Rocket!"

"Go, Ringo!" Dom sounded as panicked as I felt. "Get to my daughter!"

I knew Dom would order others to go with me, but I wasn't waiting. If Calista hadn't gotten to the safe room, if some bastard had shot her…

I'd been through hell before I came to Grim Road. I'd tortured, been tortured. I'd fought for my life and the lives of my team. I'd lived with monsters only to kill them when they least expected it. Never once had I truly felt fear. Not like I felt now.

I was on my bike, full throttle. Straight back to Calista. My woman.

Soon after, I spotted Redwood and two women on the ground in front of the house. As I got closer, I realized it was Apple and Calista. I couldn't tell which one of them was hurt, but I didn't miss the gun in Redwood's hand. Especially when he raised it to point at the women on the ground.

"Redwood!"

I was afraid he might shoot the women, but he turned and fired at me twice. I felt the wind from the first bullet whiz past my face. The second one kissed my cheek with a fiery tongue.

I grunted, jerking and nearly laying the bike down as I sped toward them. I heard Calista scream as Redwood turned back to the women. There was movement in front of Redwood. Calista and Apple struggled with something, then Calista launched herself at Redwood.

"Calista!" It only took seconds to reach her, but it felt like an eternity. It was like everything was happening in slow motion and I was slogging through quicksand.

I was almost there, tensing to spring and tackle the son of bitch to the ground when Redwood fell. Calista was on top of him with what looked like a chef's knife. She screamed like a fucking banshee, driving the knife into his chest over and over. Apple crawled away from Calista and Redwood, but not to get to safety. She saw the gun and made a grab for it, rolling toward me.

"Take that motherfucker out, Ringo!" Her demand was growled through clenched teeth.

I snagged the gun from her. "Calista! Roll!"

I must have put enough command in my voice to penetrate because Calista didn't hesitate to do what I said. The second she was away, I skidded to my knees beside Redwood, the barrel of my gun against his forehead. Calista's knife was still sticking out of his chest and the man was bleeding like a stuck pig. Blood bubbled from his lips and nose with every breath.

"You fuckin' piece of fuckin' shit." I snarled at the man. "You were my brother."

Redwood snorted, spraying blood over my face. I spat back at him, digging the gun into his skin harder. He just gave me an evil smile. "I'm not the only one, Ringo. Dom and Rocket… are crazy to think… you've not got… enemies… here…" He was struggling with each word, and I knew he wouldn't last long.

I pulled the knife from his chest slowly, taking great pleasure with every wince from the fucker. I put it to his throat. "Tell me who else, Redwood."

He laughed. "Go fuck yourself, Ringo."

"You first." Very slowly and deliberately, I cut his throat. When the blood started flowing from one side of his neck as I severed his external jugular, Redwood whimpered, clamping his hand to the blood pouring from the vein. I kept going, inch by slow inch.

"Ringo?" He gasped, a look of surprise on his face. I paused, raising my eyebrow. When he sucked in a breath but said nothing else, I shrugged. Then continued cutting, slicing through his trachea to the other external jugular vein. He gurgled a couple more times, gripping my vest with his bloody hand. Blood flowed freely into the grass and gravel, staining our home with the blood of our own.

I stood, tossing the knife to the ground as I turned to find Calista. She was huddled beside Apple, her shirt off and bunched in her hand where she pressed it to Apple's chest.

For her part, Apple appeared calm, but in pain. No doubt every single breath hurt. She met my gaze. "Will you get Lemon for me, please, Ringo?"

I nodded, pulling out my phone and calling Rocket. He answered on the first ring.

"What happened?"

"Redwood's dead. Apple's been shot. Don't know how bad, but we need Bullet."

There was a murmur of voices, then Rocket was back. "He's on the way. Lemon too."

"Good. She asked for her sister. Did you find anything on your end?"

"Dom found evidence someone was on the west side just beyond the boundary. That's what triggered Crush's proximity alert. Whoever it was is long gone."

"Probably because he was alerted we were on to him."

"What?" The president's voice was suddenly sharp and angry. Even more so than he was when we first took off after an intruder into our territory.

"Redwood shot Apple. Calista stabbed Redwood. I cut his fuckin' throat. He said he wasn't the only one. Not the only enemy we have here."

"You believe him?"

"Above my pay grade. My gut says he's lying, but I'm not willing to take that chance."

"Byte and Crush have it. They'll get to the bottom of this, and they'll get to the bottom of it soon." The barely controlled rage in Rocket's voice was very clear. I wasn't sure I'd ever heard my president this angry. There was a pause, and I knew what was coming next. "Why'd you kill Redwood?"

"You mean besides because he shot Apple and had turned back to either finish her off or shoot Calista?"

"Yeah, Ringo," Rocket snapped. "Other than that."

"He was dead anyway. Calista didn't fuck around with him. Stabbed him at least five or six times with a fucking big-ass sharp knife. He was dying anyway. I didn't want her to be the one to kill him."

Rocket was silent and I could almost see him scrubbing a hand over his face. "Yeah. Sorry, brother."

As I finished the call with Rocket, a big-ass SUV skidded to a halt in front of the house. Bullet jumped out of the passenger's side while Leather and Falcon exited the driver's side. Leather driving, Falcon in the back seat with a long backboard.

Bullet took a quick look at Apple before putting her on the narrow board Falcon laid beside her.

"Get her to the truck. I need to look Calista over."

"I'm fine. Not a scratch," Calista assured him. "I promise."

"Not even a tiny scratch?" Bullet gave her a stern look.

"No. I swear."

Bullet gave me a hard look. "You make sure."

"Don't worry. Take care of Apple. If I need you, I'll bring Calista to your clinic."

"I'll let you know if I need to get her to a hospital."

"What do you mean if?" Calista got to her feet, even though I tried to keep her on the ground. "There is no if ! She's been fucking shot !"

Bullet gave her a tight smile. I knew the other man wanted to get Apple to his clinic so he could properly assess the damage, but he also took time to reassure my woman her friend would be seen to properly.

"I swear to you, Calista. I won't take a chance with Apple's life. Besides the fact Lemon would kill me, I'd never deny anyone care who needed it. Especially one of our women."

"How would you explain this?" I knew Bullet would have trouble with an extensive gunshot wound if he had to take her to the hospital. Even he took her to his old hospital where he could still get things done off the books, stuff like that was required to be reported.

He shrugged. "We'll figure that out if it comes to it. But I truly think Apple will be fine here. I don't think it's as bad as it looks."

That seemed to put Calista at ease because she let me pick her up to carry her inside the house. Before I took her inside, though, I wanted her to see that Apple wouldn't be alone. I saw Lemon approach as Falcon and Leather carried Apple on the board to the SUV and loaded her into the back.

Lemon got there right before they got her inside the truck and hurried in that direction. She stopped briefly to punt Redwood in the head with her booted foot before climbing in with her sister.

"I need to go with Apple," Calista said shakily. "I don't want her to be alone if Lemon needs to leave."

"We'll go in a minute. Just let me look you over first. Besides, do you honestly think Lemon is going to leave her sister?"

"No," she said. Calista buried her face in my chest and cried. "This is my fault." Her voice was muffled, but I heard her clearly.

"Hey. No," I said firmly, sitting on the couch in the living room. Thankfully, everyone else was in the panic room, and I could take a few moments with Calista to calm her fears and maybe look her over quickly. "This isn't your fault."

"I brought these people straight to your door! I don't know how they found me, but none of this would have happened if I hadn't come here! Redwood said he was taking me back to Borris."

"You did what you had to do to survive. Redwood was already here. If this hadn't flushed him out, something else would have. None of this is on you." I gripped her chin and turned her face up to mine. "You get me? That motherfucker Illivitch's gonna fuckin' die, though."

She nodded. "Yes. Please." Then she wrapped her arms around my neck and cried silently against my skin.

I only hoped Dom didn't find Illivitch before I did. This was one kill I desperately wanted.