My dad nodded. “Yeah, we have Red tailing him right now, but we’re waiting for you and Abel to scoophimup.”
I slapped my dad on the shoulder. “Thanks,man.”
Abel came striding out of the front doors of the hospital. “Ready to blow this popsiclestand?”
We all followed him and piled into his old white Ford as he let the throaty diesel engine roartolife.
“We’re just waiting on your signal boss.” My dad glanced back at me from the passenger’s seat. “Didn’t want to take this one away from you andRyder.”
“This one is for the kid and me to take care of solo guys.” Abel looked into the rearview mirror. “Ryder, you doin’ allright,son?”
“Yeah, I am hanging in there. I just want to make this son of a bitch fucking pay for what he did and almost did to Raine.” My palms got clammy and my heart was pounding out of my chest, rage just boiling up from the pit of my belly. There was no way I was going to let someone get away with treating the love of my life like a fuckinghooker.
Abel smiled. “Oh, don’t you worry, that fucker will pay tenfold for what he did. We just have to be a littlepatient.”
* * *
After Abeland I talked with the guys and came up with a game plan, we laid low until nightfall. All I wanted to do was be near Raine, but Abel was worried the Sinners would try to retaliate at the hospital and the last thing either of us wanted was to put her in any more danger than she wasalreadyin.
“Your old man will keep a good eye on her, and Crickett just brought Collinovertoo.”
I flicked my cigarette butt onto the ground, blowing out my last drag into the still night air. “Yeah, I know, but you know how it is. If I am not there to protect her, something could gowrong.”
Abel put his hand on my shoulder. “Sometimes you just have to learn to trust the other people in her life, son.” He winked, taking a long pull out of his fifth of Wild Turkey before passing it over to me. “You ready to getthisdude?”
I nodded, wiping the sweet whiskey off my lips with my new leather jacket sleeve. “I have never been more ready to fuck someone up in myentirelife.”
“That’s thespirit.”
Abel made a call over to Jesse, who had been tailing our guy for the past few hours. Once we had a location, Abel and I were in his truck and ready to go douchebaghunting.
It only took us twenty minutes to get to the Sinners’hideout.
“I’m counting three guards.” My low voice felt strained as I tried to keep my anger in check. My instincts were telling me to go in there guns blazing and just take them all out in one fell swoop, but the more rational side of me knew Abel’s plan was going to be way moreeffective.
With the truck in park, Abel started to trot to the front porch. I had never been in a situation like this with Abel, but the way he moved and executed everything was so clean and perfect. His gun fired two shots and mine one, and within seconds the three lookouts were dead as doorknobs, falling to the ground with fatal headwounds.
Glancing back at me, Abel smiled. “You’re a prettygoodshot.”
I slapped him on the shoulder. “I learned fromthebest.”
Briefly my mind tripped back to Abel and my dad teaching me everything there was to know about guns right after I first came to Vilas. They really had taken me in right away, into a family I’d never thoughtexisted.
“Ready?” Abel’s hand gripped thefrontdoor.
With one swift nod, the front door opened and we unleashed a hellfire of bullets into the one-room cabin. Our AK-47s rang out into the darkness, destroying the entire room. We took a step in, realizing our guy wasn’t anywhere to befound.
“What is this place?” I asked Abel as we slowly lookedaround.
“It’s their hideout for deliveries and shit, has been foryears.”
I heard some thudding, like someone sprinting up the stairs. “There has to be acellar.”
Before I could even finish the sentence, Abel and I were bolting out the back door to see our guy hightailing it for the woods. Abel took three shots, hitting the guy three times intheleg.
“Try to run now, fucker,” Abel yelled as we made our way up to him. With a gun trained on us, we casually walked toward him with our assault rifles, thirsty for more blood. “I wouldn’t even think aboutthat,son.”
Abel kicked his handgun away from us as I hogtied the jerk while he screamed, pleaded, and tried to spitonus.