I look over at Bowie, whose face is also a mask of determination, but his eyes slide to mine, and I can see the confusion clearly enough. We’ve never heard of a club allowing women to be patched members. This is some weird shit, but I guess we’ll see what happens.
We run around the side of the clubhouse and join the fray of the others, all battling the Russian soldiers and Misfits. I rush forward, slamming the butt of my gun into the side of one of the soldiers’ heads, making him fall to the ground. I fire a shot to kill him and keep on moving.
“Yahooooo!” I hear Taz scream over the fray, rushing forward to take on two soldiers hand-to-hand instead of just shooting them.
“And you all say I’m fucking crazy,” Rogue snarls as he kills a couple more men rushing toward us.
“Why do you think we call him Taz?” Jaguar calls out as he drives a knife through one of the soldiers’ throats, letting him fall to the ground to die choking on his own blood. The man doesn’t even stop, just keeps on going.
I don’t know how long the entire battle goes, but suddenly, everything stops, and we’re surrounded by nothing but bodies. I look around, taking a quick count of my brothers. I don’t see anyone on the ground, and a rush of relief washes over me. Some are bleeding, others are just covered in sweat, dirt, and what I hope is not their blood.
Bullet, Sniper, and another giant of a man that boasts the name Vulture on his cut, have Arson and Whiskey on their knees, hands behind their heads. Vulture stands sentry while Bullet and Sniper back away, looking around wildly.
“Cryos, update!” Bullet barks. Then, for good measure, he delivers a swift kick to Arson’s side, making the man grunt and curl forward. Arson bares his teeth at Bullet, but Bullet ignores him.
“Still no sign of Nikolai,” Cryos replies grimly. “But I don’t see anyone on the cameras.”
“What about Silver, Cobra, and Crook?” I demand. “Where the fuck are they, Cryos?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they ran,” Cryos suggests irritably. “I can only look at shit so fast when I’m the only one in here.”
There. There’s something in his tone. Something that most might miss, but I’ve worked around him enough, I know when the fucker is lying. Something isn’t right here.
“Where the fuck is Glitch?” I hear someone bark, and I look to see Code looking around wildly. “Motherfucker, I’m going to kick her ass this time.”
Wait, Glitch is a woman? There’s another one running around here?
“She’s going to be the one kicking your ass when she hears what you’ve said,” Taz snickers. “Dude, like we told Razor, they’re not wearing your patch. They’re wearing ours. She and Karissa know what they’re doing, so that means right now she’s not your Old Lady either.”
“Fuck you, Taz,” Code snaps, and Razor nods. “Fucking find them before one of them gets hurt.”
“You know, your faith in us is so touching, caveman,” a feminine voice gripes, drawing our attention. I stare in shock as I watch a tiny woman with dark purple hair walk out, gun tight to Nikolai’s spine. But that’s not the only surprising thing. Anotherwoman with dark brownish-red hair, whom I take to be Karissa, walks down, her own gun pressed tight to Nikolai’s temple, and then Rose and Thea follow them out, guns trained on Cobra and Crow. Behind them emerges the man who went after Karissa in the first place, his gun on the back of Silver’s head.
“What the fuck?” Sniper barks.
“Woman, your fucking ass is cooked.” Bullet seethes, stepping forward. The only thing that keeps me from losing my mind is realizing that Avery and the kids aren’t out here.
“Why doesn’t it surprise me that the women have to save the day once again?” Karissa asks mildly.
“Hey, I helped,” Warg protests.
“You want a treat?” the purple-haired woman quips. I finally see that her name is Glitch, which means she must be Code’s Old Lady. I glance at him and see that his face is stormy as he watches her.
“Excuse me, but how the hell is it fair that you offered him a treat for doing a good job?” Taz demands, affronted. “Or did you not notice all the hard work the rest of us did? That I did?”
“Jesus Christ, shut the hell up,” the Dragons’ President, Savage, barks in annoyance.
“What? It’s true.” Taz pouts.
“On your knees, big guy,” Glitch orders Nikolai when they get down to where Arson and Whiskey are positioned. Nikolai doesn’t move, he stares straight ahead. Tension builds, and we all move forward. I don’t trust that motherfucker, and I know how fast he can move. Glitch sighs, and before any of us can predict what’s about to happen, she slams her foot into the back of his knee, making him stagger, and the moment he starts to go down, she slams the gun on the back of his head, making him grunt and fall to his knees. “Good try,” she tells him. “Don’t think I didn’t notice how you were about to try and reach for that secret gun, or try to take me down. Taz, get the gun.”
“Oh, goody,” Taz preens, skipping forward. Yes, actual skipping. I glance at my brothers, and their expressions mirror mine. Disbelief. Then I look at the Dragons, and theirs is more acceptance, and the Devil’s Predators just seem unaffected. Guess they’re used to it. Taz makes a giant production of going through the man’s clothing, yanking his shirt out, taking a knife to the seam of his pants to pull out a hidden blade, and then finally to his suit jacket, where a gun, a couple of magazines, and even a few syringes are hidden. “Dude, someone’s looking for a good time.” Taz laughs, grabbing it all up. “All you had to do was ask nicely, and we could have had our date without all this fanfare. Then again, you were probably thinking you’d actually get to use these. Not as good as they claim, are you? Taken down by a bunch of women. Bet that must eat at you, huh? Personally, I think it’s great. Girl power and all that. Or wasn’t it you that got thwarted by a woman before? Ms. Athena over here, she’s just finishing up the job she started.”
Nikolai’s expression finally shows a subtle difference as he looks at Taz. Fury rages there. Oh, looks like Taz has finally gotten under the ice giant’s skin. Guess the mention of not being as good as he thinks, or that Thea stopped him last time is enough to piss him off. Good. We can use that.
Crook and Cobra fall to their knees with Silver on the other side of Nikolai, and Glitch and Karissa step back. Thea and Rose do the same and are immediately being shoved behind their men. Sniper glares back at Thea, and Bullet simply ignores Rose when she makes a sound of annoyance.
Those two really are in trouble.
