Page 44 of Venom's Sting
Siege goes ramrod straight. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“Amy went there to search for her mom.”
Dan gasps, “You don’t have very good control of your woman.”
Siege grumbles, “Who the fuck does. They’ve got a head start on us and know the area better. We need to get moving if we’re going to save both of them.”
I don’t even come clean about my mom heading out there to help her, ‘cause my club brothers will lose their fucking minds. I walk over to my bike, luckily it escaped the flying debris. But suddenly there’s the distinctive sound of a chopper closing in on our location. I can see it in the distance. “Fuck, the cops must have heard the explosion! How are we gonna get to Amy now? If they’ve got the helo, then we can’t give them the slip.”
I’m only confused for a second though because Rage comes running out of the gaping hole in our clubhouse and throws my body armor at me, I see he’s also carrying my gun lockbox.
“Gear up. I got us a ride to that fucking ranch. With any luck we can get there first because my friend’s chopper will travel as the crow flies, but they have to travel on the road.
Siege asks, “How many will the chopper hold?”
Rage fastens his bulletproof vest, “Three, not including the pilot. It’s an medivac chopper. They have room for one patient and two medics.”
Rigs pulls out his weapon and puts in a fresh clip. “I’m taking that third seat.”
Dan objects, “No. You should take me. I know the property like the back of my hand. I won’t stop until we find Carol. She’s a nice lady and worth risking my life to save.”
I jerk my chin at him. “You’ve got two minutes to gear up.”
Siege removes his bulletproof vest and hands it over to Dan, who has no clue in the world how to put it on. Siege and Rigs help him and then Rigs gives up his holster and handgun, handing it to me. “Sorry, I’m out of extra clips.”
I don’t take my eyes off that chopper as it lands. “It’s fine, I’ve got extra in my kit bag.”
Watching us gear up, Dan says, “Do I not get a gun?”
I stare at him for a long minute, dude seriously thinks we’d trust him with a weapon. He might profess innocence, but I’m not trusting him with a loaded gun. I glance at my club brothers over my shoulder, “It would be mighty nice if we could get a ride out after we fight off the assholes and save the womenfolk.”
Siege says “We’ll be right behind you. Zen sent everyone the coordinates.”
When we climb into the chopper, Rage high fives the pilot and we settle down and strap in. That’s when I tell Rage the bad news. I have to shout to be heard over the whirl of the blades. “My mom went out to the ranch to help Amy find her mother. Just thought you should know.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he screams back.
We get a warning from the pilot through our headsets, “Calm the fuck down or I’m dumping the lot of you.”
We shut the fuck up after that, but I can see that my Rage is spitting mad about my maman being involved. He’s white knuckling the armrests so bad I think he might pop a vein. I look out the window at the white, fluffy clouds hanging in the bluesky and think about the reality of possibly losing my mom and the woman I’ve fallen hard and fast for, in one fell swoop. I pull myself together though, my mom is tough. From what I know of Amy, she is too, but my maman can kick serious butt.
Chapter 16
Amy
We pull up at the mill and at first, I’m disappointed because there are no vehicles or indication that anyone has been there in ages. I jump out of the car and take my axe because unlike the farmhouse, this mill is in a state of disrepair. The door’s been boarded up, but my trusty axe will make short work of the decaying, dried-out wood.
I watch Meli squat down and look at the ground. She motions me over to look at what she’s found. It’s tire tracks and footsteps that lead away from the mill and off to the side.
“What do you think it means,” I ask.
She brings one finger to her lips, shushing me. My mouth snaps shut immediately. I feel stupid for not thinking that my grandfather could have left one or more of his men here to guard my mother.
Meli pulls out her gun and holds it with both hands pointed towards the ground as she starts following the footprints. I remember her saying that her deceased husband taught her to track and shoot. Those skills were coming in handy now because she looks as practiced as any cop in the police dramas on TV. I stay close and alert for danger. Meli is wearing black pants, a black turtleneck and has her light brown hair pulled into a severe knot at the back of her neck. Her black knee-high riding boots with a flat heel, polishes off her outfit and provides good traction on the uneven ground. If I’m being honest, the black monochromatic color of her clothing makes her look a bit likea cat burglar. I don’t say that of course because she already shushed me once.
I keep looking around, trying to see if there’s an old cabin or barn that we’re missing. These footprints are leading somewhere after all. I see movement in the bushes nearby and stop in my tracks to see what it is. A squirrel goes scurrying past with nary a pause.
When I turn around, Meli has surged ahead and is squatting down again. I hurry forward, worrying that she lost their trail. When I come up behind her, I realize she didn’t lose anything. She found something. It looks like a root cellar or some such structure. She scrambles down the embankment, presses her back to the wall beside the door and gestures for me to call out to my mom.