My office door slams open, and Joker comes running in, panting while trying to catch his breath.
“I’ve got something, Prez. The homeless guy who hangs out by The Gym, came to talk to me this morning. He saw Flame get taken, and you know how much Flame's tried to help the guy through the years, right? Well, the guy likes Flame, so he followed them. He managed it because they didn’t take Flame far; they couldn’t risk it. You know the warehouse at the end of the block from The Gym? The one that's been sitting empty for fucking ever? That's where they took him. The guy says he’s watched, and they haven’t brought Flame out. He's been waiting to spot one of us who he knows and trusts to tell us what he saw.”Joker rushes out.
“Good job, Joke. Get everyone who’s here into Church now; I’m not waiting around for everyone to arrive; whoever's here is who will be going.”I manage to get out, but I’m struggling.
This is it. We’ve got what we need to get him back home.
Joker nods his head and rushes out of the room.
I pick my phone up and dial Eagle. I know I'm not in the right state of mind to be planning this rescue mission; if it were anyone else, I'd be fine, but this is Flame. All I can think about is getting him back in my arms. Not giving a fuck how I achieve it.
“Prez.”Eagle says, as soon as he answers,
“We’ve got a location. Meet me in Church; we need a plan, and we need it now. Only the people who are here are going; I’m not waiting around. As soon as you’ve come up with a plan, we're out of here. I know I’m too close to this to come up with a viable plan, so I’m leaving that to you.”
I hang up, not waiting for his reply.
I don’t have time. I’ve got my man to save and bring home. Whoever's there holding him is going to wish they were never born. They'll be left alive for now, but they're really going to wish we'd just killed them. I'm going to personally make sure of that.
Within thirty minutes, everyone who's at The Clubhouse or could get back here quickly is in Church. Even the Prospects, which isn't the norm at all, but everyone needs to be aware of what's happening right now. Tech has his laptop out, getting the blueprints for the warehouse the homeless guy told us Flame is in. Eagle's talking quietly to Shadow. I have no idea what they're whispering about, but right now I can't focus on anything but Flame.
Once they’ve finished talking, Shadow comes over to me and gives me a quick hug before pulling back and telling me,“I’m going to go do some recon, see what we're dealing with. I’m taking Sniper with me.”I just nod my head. He shoots off, grabbing Sniper on his way out.
I understand why he's going; he's fucking good at blending in and finding out information without anyone ever realizing he was there. It's how he got the road name Shadow. Sniper, I get too; he's most likely going to be our cover when we go in. He's going to need to find the ideal place to set up that gives him the best advantage. He's lethal with his rifle, so I know we'll be good with him watching our backs.
Eagle glances at me, and I nod my head to let him know to begin."Right, as you’ve just all seen, Shadow and Sniper have left; they’re going to see what they can find at the warehouse. The rest of us are splitting into four teams. Team One will be with Wrath, Team Two will have me, Team Three Blade, and Team Four Rock.”Eagle informs everyone present.
He then signals Tech, who projects a document onto the wall that shows a list of who is on whose team. Smart idea; it saves him time from having to tell everyone when they can just look for themselves.
“As you can see, Piston and Ink will be staying outside with Doc, as both cover for Doc, who we're without a doubt going to need to tend to Flame; we can’t risk him getting hurt beforethat. They'll be in prime position to catch anyone who tries to get out and escape. We've got to be smart about this; no fucking around. Get in, get Flame, take out anyone who tries to stop us, and then get the fuck back here. Don't try to be a fucking hero; I don't want anyone dead today.”Eagle shouts.
Everyone roars and stomps their feet. Ready to do what they need to to get Flame home.
“Go get your shit together; we leave in an hour,”I say in a deadly calm voice.
I don’t feel calm at all, but I know my voice sounds like it because of the headspace I'm in. I’m close to becoming my namesake. Wrath. God help anyone who gets in my way.
∞∞∞
An hour later, we're all surrounding the warehouse. Sniper's set up across from us with a perfect view to have our backs. Shadow has stayed with him to play spotter, but not before relaying what he found. Flame's in there, and it looks like there are just a few minions inside. Claire isn’t here, which is too bad. I would've loved to get my hands on that bitch, but right now I don’t care that much that she’s not here; my main focus is to just get Flame.
Over the headset, I hear the countdown:“Three, two, one. GO!”Eagle shouts, and we're all off.
This is it. It's time to get my man and bring him home.
My team enters through the front doors of the warehouse, and there’s no one to stop us. Did she really not leave anyone here to protect the warehouse? Did she honestly think we wouldn’t find Flame? I have no idea, but fuck if it isn't good for us.
We make our way into the warehouse, and I can hear grunts just up ahead. It sounds like someone's taking a beating of some sort, but they aren't giving a reaction other than grunting from each hit. It's got to be Flame grunting. I know him well enough to know he'd never give these fuckers a reaction to anything they could do to him. He's too fucking stubborn for that. I look over my shoulder and nod at Joker, who's directly behind me. His brown eyes are narrowed in the direction of the grunts. We slowly approach where the sound is coming from and see an open door.
Looking inside, my blood runs cold. We’ve found Flame, but he's currently being fucking beaten and stabbed by two fucking thugs. He can literally do nothing to defend himself from the way they have him chained up. I don’t even think; I quickly take two shots, shooting them in their shoulders. They both stop attacking Flame, grunt, and grab their wounds. I'm going to kill them fucking slowly for this.
“Take them in,”I say in a deadly voice.
Joker and Ghost rush in and grab them before the fucking assholes can even think of trying to escape.
Running towards Flame, I can feel the tears pouring down my face. I honestly don’t care that my club members are seeing me so emotional; I can’t help my reaction to seeing the state Flame's in. He’s a mess; he’s covered in bruises, blood, and stab wounds. I don’t even know where I can touch him without inflicting pain. I grab my lockpick kit out of my pocket and quickly undo the chains holding him. He hasn’t said a word, and that’s worrying me at this point.
When I look at his face, I see why. He’s lost consciousness. I can see his chest moving up and down, so I know he’s breathing.
