Chapter Thirty-Nine

Flame

I'm definitely on the mend; I feel so much more like myself. Don"t get me wrong, I"m nowhere near 100%, but I'm certainly stronger. I can actually move around without pain for the first time since I was hurt. It"s a huge fucking relief. Sitting here in the Common Room, I do feel utterly useless, though. I"m an Enforcer who can"t fucking enforce right now. There is no way Wrath will allow me until I"m back to 100%. It"s not helping that I know something is going down; I can feel it in the air, and I may have noticed Eagle, Blade, and Shadow hightail it from the direction of Wrath"s office. I"m sure someone will come and tell me what"s going on soon, but I fucking hate waiting. I should be there with them, not stuck here healing.

Ink comes into the room, scanning around until his eyes land on me. As soon as we make eye contact, I can tell I was right—something"s going down. His eyes are hard and serious, before he can make his way over to me, I get up and start walking to him.

"What"s happening, Ink?"I ask as I reach him.

"We"ve got eyes on Claire."He whispers to me, obviously not wanting to be overheard.

"What"s the plan?"I ask enthusiastically.

"Not here; come with me."He says turning and starting to walk back down the corridor where all the offices are located.

To my surprise, we don"t go to Wrath"s office; we go to his. Unlocking the door, he opens it and walks in, with me following behind him. We both take seats in front of his desk.

"Lash got eyes on her, and Tech"s tracking them using his system. It was decided a small team would go after her once they had a stationary location to hit."Ink starts to explain, and I"m worried; things like this can always end badly, and I have no idea who's part of the team.

"Who"s going after her?" I ask and wait, holding my breath, hoping Wrath hasn"t gone. I don"t want him out there without me at his back. Not when he"s a target.

"Eagle, Blade, Shadow, Sniper, Ghost, and Lash. Wrath's staying here and running the op with Tech from the cave."

I release the breath I was holding, feeling nothing but relief.

"Smart team, they all have certain skills that will do well in getting Claire and her being none the wiser to what"s about to happen,"I say with confidence.

"Yep, I agree, and we didn"t want to risk sending more than one of her main targets after her. You were always out because you're recovering from your injuries and out of Shadow and Wrath; Shadow has the best skill set."Ink stops talking when an alarm starts blaring through the clubhouse.

What the fuck? That"s the breach alarm.

Oh fuck! We"re under attack. We both rush to our feet and run towards Tech"s cave to find out what the fuck is going on. The door"s already open, and we can hear Tech giving a rundown on what"s happening to Wrath, Piston, and Rock.

"The main gate was breached roughly five minutes ago; from the cameras, I can see it looks like three SUVs full of men are getting ready to enter The Clubhouse. They"ve split into three teams. Five men in each team, all moving to one of the entrances. They"ll be inside within the next five minutes. There"s no time to plan; we"ve just got to defend. I"ve just checked the gate cameras. Pete was the Prospect manning the gate, and he sounded the alarm. He's alive, but injured. It looks like he was shot in the shoulder. There were too many of them for him to do anything about."

"Thanks Tech. Everyone go and get a fucking weapon. It"s time to defend our home. Shoot to kill. I don't care about keeping them alive; I care about keeping everyone here alive. GO!"Wrath shouts.

As he goes to leave, I grab his arm, stopping him.

"You need to stay here with Tech; we've got guys out there going after Claire; you need to make sure they"re safe. Tech can't be fully focused on that mission now; he"s got to focus here too. Let us do our thing here, please."I beg him.

Looking at me for a few seconds, he nods his head. Quickly kissing him, trying to convey how much I love him, just in case it"s the last time I ever get to do so, I turn around and leave.

Walking to The Common Room, where I'm sure most people will be after the alarm sounded, I shut down my emotions and feelings. There's no time for that now; right now, I need to be the Enforcer of Devil's Inferno and protect our home. Entering, I see all the brothers spread out around the room, weapons in hand. I don"t think I"ve ever been happier that we all carry guns and have licenses to do so.

"I need at least five of you to go cover the back entrance, then I need the same at the side entrance. We'll be breached shortly, move now and make sure you shoot to kill. Piston, you lead one team; Ink, you lead the other."I shout into the room.

Everyone takes off to do what I say. I don"t have time to mess around; I need everyone moving and fast.

"The rest of us will be staying here and covering the front. Anyone who isn"t a brother needs to get behind the bar and stay down. We don"t need anyone shot."I say as I notice some bunnies in the corner of the room. To my absolute horror, I see Blaze shoving Cam behind the bar too. I can't think about the fact that my son is in this room right now. I need to focus on taking these guys out and keeping us all alive. If I focus on Cam, I"m not going to be able to do what I need to.

As soon as everyone who needs to be is behind the bar, the front doors crash open. The five men enter the room, shooting. We all take cover where we can, while returning fire. I"m behind one of the table booths with a great view of the five attackers. Aiming for the one closest to me, who"s shooting towards Rock, I fire a single shot, hitting him center mass. Immediately, he drops to the floor, dropping his weapon in the process. As I"m looking for my next target, I see two of the other men are also down, both with shots straight between their eyes. Nice. That leaves only two to go out of this group.

Targeting the guy who"s wildly shooting around the room, he"s not actually aiming for any of us; he"s just trying to get lucky and hit as many of us as possible. I fire twice in quick concession. My first shot hits his right shoulder, immediately causing him to drop his weapon. My second shot hits him in the neck. It looks like I hit his carotid artery with the way blood is spurting from his neck.

As I"m watching him fall, I hear Rock shouting, "Come out; all your friends are down. There"s nowhere for you to go."

Standing from behind the booth, I walk into the center of the room next to Rock. I"m not worried about being shot now; there"s only one left, and he"s clearly hiding.

"Where is he?"I whisper to Rock, not wanting whoever this guy is to overhear us.

"Behind the table, right by the entrance,"Rock whispers back while pointing.

"You go left; I"ll go right,"I tell him.

He nods, and we both start walking to where this guy"s hiding.

Reaching his hiding spot, we crouch down, so there"s less chance of him shooting one of us. We wait. I think we both have a feeling that whoever this guy is, he"s going to try and shoot his way out of here. Less than a minute later, he proves us right. Popping his head up, his gun trained forward, not looking left or right at where me and Rock are. We both must have the same thought as we both fire into the guy, hitting his shoulders. His gun drops. Standing, we make our way over to him. Kicking his gun away, I grab the arm closest to me and pull him out. We can"t see who he is because his face is covered.

Bending down, I remove his mask, and staring back at me is the Police Chief.

"Did you not learn your lesson before?"I ask him.

"We left you alive, and this is what we get in return. You come in here with a fucking goon squad and start shooting up our home, where we have women and children."My voice is slowly getting louder as I talk.

"You all deserve to die; you"re the reason my brother"s dead. You"re all just worthless criminals; the world would be better off without you." He says back, his eyes filled with defiance.

"No. We are all law-abiding citizens, Chief. Your brother died because of his actions."

Shaking my head at him, I step away.

"What are we going to do with him, Flame?"Joker asks me.

"Tie him up. We aren"t going to hide what happened here today. We"re going to expose the Police Chief; it"s the only choice we have."I say as I turn to leave, but stop remembering that my son is behind the bar.

"CAM!"I loudly shout and wait with a bated breath.

"I'm all good, Papa. I"ll stay here with Grandfather. Love you."He shouts back at me.

Relief courses through my body, knowing my son is safe and unharmed.

"I love you too,"I reply, and then I actually turn and leave the room this time.

I can"t hear shooting anywhere else, so I"m assuming everyone did their job. Walking towards Tech"s cave to talk to Wrath, I notice Ink and Piston coming towards me.

"All clear."They both speak at once.

"Good, I"m going to go talk to Wrath. The Police Chief was with the guys who hit The Common Room. He"s still alive, but we're going to have to report this. Can you guys check everyone for injuries, please, and make sure they get taken care of?"

Nodding yes, they take off for The Common Room, where I'm guessing they also sent the rest of the men who were with them.

Entering Tech"s cave, I see Wrath smiling, but it"s not a happy smile. It's sinister. I"m guessing they have Claire.

"Wrath, we need to call the police. I don"t know how much you saw from here with everything else going on, but the Police Chief was with one of the groups. He"s still alive. We"ve got him tied up in the Common Room. We can"t hide what happened with him being here." I tell him seriously before he can speak.

Nodding, he puts up his finger to wait a moment and pulls out his phone, holding it up to his ear.