I hurried down the fire escape and landed in a crouch, quickly adjusting my rifle for ground firing, as I lined up my shot at Knox again. I couldn’t leave until I knew Scott was out of the woods.
In the few seconds that it’d taken me to switch positions, Knox had lowered the gun. He stood barking at his boys, gesticulating wildly for them to take the hell off.
But as Knox’s guys hurried to their bikes, a voice rang out, one that stopped me dead in my tracks.
“Contain them!”
I watched, my heart leaping into my throat, as a very familiar figure hopped out of one of the Iron Kings MC trucks.
Jesus fucking Christ. No!
Deviant gave her a chin lift. They’d planned this? Together? Behind mine and Scott’s backs? How the hell?
With Deviant’s orders, the boys formed an obstructing line in front of the bikes, blocking off the Rogues from escaping.
The sirens were piercing through the area, coming ever closer.
Every instinct in my body usually had me running like hell by now.
But it was all being transcended by my love and worry for one woman.
Instead of turning and running from the law, I ran toward the proverbial fire.
I was fast by most men’s standards, but in those moments, I ran faster than I ever had.
I couldn’t get there fast enough.
By the time I skidded to a stop right in the thick of it, my lungs were burning from the extreme overexertion. All I could manage to choke out was one word.
“Ashley.”
30
~Ashley~
HE LOOKED PISSED.
More than that, actually.
There was something odd in his eyes, something I wasn’t used to seeing at all.
Fear.
He was terrified for me.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he demanded, his gaze darting frantically all around, his locked and loaded sniper rifle at the ready, moving in a rapid arc around me, covering me.
It was chaos all around us. The Rogues were running every which way. Iron Kings stood, their guns drawn, blocking the way to the assholes’ bikes, so some of them were trying to find another escape route on foot. They weren’t going to have much luck. Our boys knew what they were doing.
“Finn!” I snapped, in an effort to snap him out of his state of hypervigilance.
His gaze locked with mine, his eyes wild.
I reached out and cupped his cheek. “Baby, you need to go. Now. The Feds will be here any moment. Cops wouldn’t cut it for these assholes. They’re wanted for so many despicable crimes. I handed all the evidence Jesse had compiled over to them in exchange for immunity for all of Iron Kings.”
“You did this?”
I merely nodded. I couldn’t waste time getting into it with him now, not with the Feds so close. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do the same for you. You’re a ghost. No one’s supposed to know you’re alive. It’s better that way for you, because I really don’t think they’d pardon—” I stopped short at the pain lancing across his features. “You know what I mean.”
I tapped his shoulder when he didn’t say another word or make a move to run like hell.
He was still covering me. It seemed to be his only focus.
I slapped his arm, jolting his attention back to me. “I get that this is how you have to do things when you’re in the field on a hard mission, but I need you to hear my words, baby.”
He cocked an eyebrow.
Relief filled me as I realized I had some of his attention now. I squeezed his hand, my eyes boring into his, needing to ram it home to him. “I can’t lose you. Not to anyone, or anything. Please.”
“I can’t leave you here in the thick of it. I can’t.”
I shook my head, imploring him, “Run. Like. Hell.”
It looked like he was about to fight me some more.
But then a large hand landed on his shoulder from behind. My dad rounded him, coming to stand before us. “I’ve got her, Finn. Go, brother.”
“You knew about this, too?” Finn demanded.
My dad gave me a look. “No fucking clue.”
“It was a good plan,” I argued.
“The danger’s way too much, Ash.”
“Sorry to interrupt this sickening family reunion, but this shit is over with right the hell now.”
I spun to see Knox Price with half a dozen of his guys at his back, the most dedicated ones, clearly, because they were the only ones not fighting against the Iron Kings club members to get to their bikes and take off like bats out of hell.
The worst part, though, was the .45 he had aimed my way.
If he missed, or couldn’t get off a shot, there were six more pistols at the ready flanking him.
“The Feds will be here any second,” I warned him.
“The shit they’ve got on me, taking your life won’t make a bit of difference, little bitch.”
Finn growled and stepped into my path, blocking my body completely with his.
His sudden move had Knox reacting, firing off a shot.
I screamed when I heard Finn grunt and stumble back into me, blood spurting as a bullet tore through his arm, forcing him to drop his rifle.
“This is why I can’t let my guard down,” Finn admonished me through gritted teeth against the pain.
“Baby!” I cried.
I reacted without thinking, snatching up Finn’s rifle, then firing a shot off at Knox.
Blood spurted from his arm. I’d shot him exactly where he’d shot Finn.
“Shit, Ash,” my dad exclaimed, quickly ushering us behind the cover of a truck, just before Knox’s dedicated followers retaliated with a hail of bullets.
“Let me see,” my dad called over the sound of gunfire.
It started to let up quickly and I wagered that our boys had interfered and defended us. They wouldn’t let my dad take heat like that.
Despite that, my dad wasn’t taking any chances. He gestured at the sniper rifle I was still holding like a security blanket. “Stand watch for a few seconds.” I nodded, trying
