Page 69 of Griz Rides Tall

Griz popped the van into reverse and stomped on the gas, looking over his shoulder at the far end of the alley. A few more pistol shots popped off at them, but as the distance between their van and the enemy rapidly increased, the likelihood of Death’s Head scoring a hit dropped drastically.

“Their other guys could be at the far end of the alley,” Wyatt said though gritted teeth as he kept his hands clamped over his bleeding leg.

“I’m out of ammo!” Devil said, waving his empty pistol.

“Me too,” Pony said, discarding his rifle.

“Use the shotguns!” Griz said, still looking over his shoulder as he sped the van in reverse down the alley. “The ones Wyatt and I brought!”

The van flew at a reckless speed down the length of the alley, until it launched into the street with a metallic clatter of the undercarriage bottoming out. Griz spun the wheel to line up the front of the van with the street, popping it from Reverse into Drive, just as more gunfire came from the street behind them.

“Floor it, Griz!” Devil shouted, shooting one of the shotguns out of the back windows at their attackers. Pony did the same, blasting buckshot into the street behind them as fast as he could rack the slide on his shotgun.

Griz didn’t know if they hit anybody, but their shooting had the desired effect. It kept their attackers’ heads down long enough for the van to reach the closest intersection, and Griz spun the wheel hard, taking the van into a hard right turn in a squeal of tires.

Once they’d made the turn, they were out of the line of fire, and finally clear to haul ass out of the city. Griz didn’t stop until they made it back to their clubhouse.

19

Kate arrived shortly after they made it back to the clubhouse. They’d carried Wyatt in, despite his protests that he could walk, and sat him in one of the booths until Kate could arrive.

With her background and experience as an ER nurse practitioner, she was the best bet for handing his gunshot wound outside of a hospital. And while Griz was anxious to have her there to take care of his brother, he was equally anxious about how she was going to react to seeing that Wyatt had been shot.

She must’ve sorted out any emotions on the way over, because once she strode through the door with a small bag of gear under her arm, she was all business.

“What the hell happened, Griz?” she said.

“It went bad,” he said. “Wyatt got hit in the leg.”

“God. Put him at one of the tables, with his leg up on a chair.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier in a booth?” Devil said.

“No, I won’t be able to see. Or move around to get to the wound.”

“Right, right,” Devil said.

“Where’d this tourniquet come from?” Kate said, looking at the strap looped tightly around Wyatt’s leg.

“Pony,” Devil answered. “He, like, had one on him.”

“It’s a CAT tourniquet,” Pony said. “We used them all the time when I was still with the Rangers. I got into the habit of keeping one on me.”

“Well, I’m glad you did,” Kate said. “He would’ve lost a lot more blood without it.”

“I’m glad, too,” Wyatt said. “I like my blood to stay inside of me. When it comes time to patch you in, Pony, you get my vote.”

A few more members of the MC filtered in through the front door of the clubhouse. Word was circulating about their hit that had gone wrong and Wyatt’s taking a bullet in the leg, and now the entire MC was returning to the clubhouse piecemeal.

“Damn, man, what happened?” Jocko said, as they all tried to get close enough to get a good luck at Wyatt’s leg.

“All right, guys, clear out,” Kate said. “Give me some room, please.”

“All you guys hang out in the meeting room for now, okay?” Griz said, loudly enough to be heard over everyone. “Let’s not crowd Kate while she’s doing her thing.”

Everyone began to file out of the room, including Pony and Devil. Griz lingered, though. He couldn’t leave his brother’s side. He had to know what was going on.

Kate wasn’t saying much, though, mostly just examining the wound, probing it, shining a flashlight on it so that she could see it more completely. Her face was tight; Griz could tell that the professional in her was having an internal wrestling match with her emotions over seeing Wyatt hurt like this.