The crash of metal and squealing tires a symphony to Onyx’s ears as he and others unloaded on the tires of the other trucks and SUVs. Sending those vehicles into their own tailspins.
Onyx’s eyes trained on the van as he watched Topaz, Cass, Bounty and Brick tumble out, ready to for this fight.
“We fight, don’t use the guns unless absolutely necessary,” Hollywood commanded. “I don’t have time for the paperwork.”
A few dozen men were crawling out of disabled vehicles reminding him of roaches. They were heavily manned and it was going to take every member of the MC to stand up to them.
Onyx didn’t wait to be approached, rushing forward his fist found the first man he came to... square in the face. Hearing the satisfactory crunch of bones being broken. Fights broke out all around him and he didn’t stop either. He hammered the man in the face so many times; he wondered why the man didn’t drop to the ground.
The man swung low and hit him in the cracked ribs. He howled in pain, but the adrenaline rushing through every part of him tried to take control and stop the ass beating. A scream tore through the night and he knew immediately it was Topaz. He turned just in time to see her swing a crowbar and hit a man about to cheap shot him from the back in the nuts.
But what happened next, Onyx had no way of explaining. He was taken off guard as his leg swept from underneath him and he suddenly found himself on the ground with a gun pointed at his head.
The man he had been fighting now stood over him. “Don’t move or I’ll blow off your monkey face!” the man shouted at him.
“Take it easy man. You want to settle this like men do. Put away the gun.” Onyx tried to reason with him, his hands up in surrender even if that was the last thing he was thinking of doing.
“They call me The Carpenter and I take no hostages,” the man yelled. “You fuckers blew up a few buildings, but you’ll never get rid of us.”
Several from the MC had gotten men downed and tied up. They stood there facing him and the man who had the gun to his head.
“I’m going to take my men out of here. Untie everybody or I shoot your nigger in the head,” Carpenter threatened.
Red pulled out a gun and held it out. “You have several guns trained at your head. Not all of them you can see, trust me. We’ve been gentle up to now. But know if you shoot my brother Onyx, we will do more than shoot you and yours.”
“I don’t believe you. You can’t shoot us and try and get rid of all our bodies. It’s too many,” Carpenter taunted.
The men of the MC let out a round of laughter, though even if they killed the man, it would come at Onyx’s death, and he was not in the mood for that. Not like this. Not at this man’s hands.
Onyx glanced over and saw Topaz standing next to Roadkill. The worried frown on her face had him hurting even worse, that he had gotten himself in such a perilous situation. It was then he saw her eyes were down by his leg. His left leg and he knew how he got down so easily and why he didn’t really feel it until it was too late. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t get up without reattaching his leg. The helplessness he understood, but for the first time he was feeling loss. Loss for something he never really experienced. The year he wasted not pushing to find out her pain, her reason for being so angry with him. Now there was the girls she teased him about and the son she promised him. All gone and the loss was crushing against his very soul. Making it hard to breathe.
Red’s threat only came to fruition if he was dead. Not today. Not today. He’s had two other attacks on his life based on nothing but the color of his skin. The third would be the last in one way or another. As he watched Topaz’s worried brow—he prayed this time it would end in his favor.
The world spun and Topaz couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Onyx on the ground, his leg askew, with a man named Carpenter holding a gun to his head. She refused to lose Onyx, but she had to think fast.
Every man and woman was wound tight. Sudden movements could spell disaster and still she knew in the back of the van there were more explosives. If she could somehow create a distraction, maybe Onyx would survive. Creeping her way over to the van, she quickly grabbed the backpack and continued to make her way toward one of the vehicles owned by ACT UP.
“What you don’t understand Carpenter,” Red explained, his voice thankfully holding everyone’s attention. “We have a lot of land and have been looking to buy butchering equipment. I don’t like to break the law, but I also have my own set of laws. As do my men.”
Topaz peered around the van to see the man’s hand trembling with the gun still pointed at Onyx’s head.
“About the only way you’ll live is if you drop the weapon and walk away,” Red advised him. “Find a new place to spew your hatred. I’m sure you won’t have a hard time, but if you see the patch that says Steel, walk away. Yeah, you’re everywhere, but so—are—we.”
Topaz’s hands trembled and she centered herself. Calling on Dell to get her mind right as she summoned a memory of Dell banging a pot and singing The Devil Went Down to Georgia at the top of her lungs while Topaz was trying to assemble a fuse. Topaz now
