Mike counted the rooms off quietly in this head. One. Two. Three. He could feel his pulse quicken. He checked the window. The room was empty, but the bathroom door was open.
Mike opened the door quietly, keeping the handle turned when he shut it to avoid the door clicking when he closed it.
He set the rifle on the bed and motioned for Tom to do the same. The sound of the urine hitting the toilet was followed by the groan of relief. Mike put his back to the wall just outside the door, and when the biker came out Mike covered his mouth and held him in a headlock.
“Grab the zip ties out of my bag,” Mike said.
Tom pulled two zip ties and grabbed the biker’s legs, taking a boot to the face in the process but eventually tying him up.
Mike replaced his hand with the biker’s bandana, shoved it in his mouth, then zip-tied his hands behind his back.
The biker squirmed on the bed, struggling to free himself. Sweat dripped from the tip of Mike’s nose as he pulled a blade from his belt. He could see the whites of the biker’s eyes stare at the sharp edge of steal in his hand.
Mike brought the knife to the biker’s throat. The edge dug into his skin, drawing blood that trickled beneath his shirt and onto the bed.
“The girls you were talking to your friend about earlier. Where are they?” Mike asked.
What came out of the biker’s mouth was “duck you,” but Mike figured that wasn’t what he meant.
He slammed the knife into the biker’s calf. The blood oozed from the gash as Mike kept pressure on the blade, digging it deeper into the flesh. The biker thrashed on the bed, screaming into the bandana.
“Where is she?” Mike asked.
The gurgling sound of blood and the cutting of meat followed every twist of the knife Mike gave. He could feel the blade scrape along the bone. The biker’s body jerked and convulsed.
“Harrifs ahffice. Harrifs ahffice,” the biker said.
Mike slammed the butt of his rifle into the biker’s forehead, knocking him unconscious.
“Let’s go,” Mike said.
Mike hurried down the steps and crouched behind a car on the street. He looked up at the second floor of the Laundromat, waving his arms trying to get Fay’s, Clarence’s, and Ulysses’s attention.
He saw Fay wave back, and he pointed down the street toward the sheriff’s office. She gave a thumbs-up in response.
“They’ll have guards inside. We’re not detaining this time. You shoot to kill, got it?” Mike said.
“Got it,” Tom said.
Mike was alert. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. His daughter was alive, and he was less than sixty feet away from getting her out.
Then, when Frankie came out of his room and saw Mike and Tom running across the courtyard, everything started to move in slow motion.
“Hey!” Frankie shouted.
Frankie started screaming for everyone to get out of bed. Mike pulled the pistol from his side and fired in Frankie’s direction. When he did, he could hear his sniper team open fire from their position.
Mike kicked down the sheriff’s door, poised to shoot with his finger on the trigger.
Through his sights, he could see Jake with a knife to Kalen’s throat, using her as a human shield. His daughter’s face was bruised and cut. Her right eye was completely swollen shut.
“I knew someone would come for them,” Jake said.
Mike kept his finger on the trigger. He might be able to get a shot off, but it would be risky. Jake had Kalen close. There wasn’t a lot of room for error.
“Let her go,” Mike said.
“I don’t think so. You put your gun down, or I slit her throat right here.”
Mike took a step forward, and Jake dug the blade deeper into Kalen’s skin, making her tense up.
“I’m not bluffing. I killed everyone in this town. One more dead bitch is no skin off my back,” Jake said. “Put the gun down.”
It would only be a matter of time before more bikers came rushing in and put a bullet in Mike’s back, which did Kalen zero good. If he was captured, at least he could be here with her. That was something… for now.
Mike took his finger off the trigger. He lowered the rifle and disarmed himself of all guns, knives, and ammunition.
“Your friend too,” Jake said.
Tom lowered his rifle and put his hands in the air.
“Let’s take a walk,” Jake said.
Ulysses took the first shot, aiming for Frankie, who was running after Mike. He missed only by a few inches, but it was enough to give Frankie time to duck for cover. The next biker who came into Ulysses’s cross hairs wasn’t as lucky.
Fay opened fire on a group running into the courtyard, ducking behind a cluster of stone statues, which she redecorated with some .223 ammo.
Clarence concentrated on the top floor, for any bikers rushing out. He managed to pick one off, before the other realized where the shooting was coming from.
They were in a good position. Any biker who came out of his room was met with a hail of gunfire.
Ulysses was the first to stop firing when he saw Mike with his hands in the air. Kalen was being dragged behind him with a knife to her throat.
“Fay,” Ulysses said.
She stopped shooting. Clarence did as well. Fay glanced through the sights. Jake’s shoulder was in her cross hairs.
“I think I have a shot,” Fay said.
“No, it’s too close,” Clarence said.
Fay took the rifle off the windowpane and ducked behind the wall.
“Hello, friends,” Jake said.
His voice echoed in the street, hanging in the night air.
“What do you want?” Ulysses asked.
“I want you to come down here, guns and hands in the air, and join us,” Jake said.
“We’ve got a good bead on you from up here, so why don’t we do this? You let our people go, we leave, and no one else dies,” Ulysses said.
“No,” Jake said.
Jake pulled a pistol from the back of his shirt and aimed at Tom’s head. A shot rang out and bits of blood, bone, and brain matter exploded out the side of Tom’s temple. Tom’s body hit the floor, and Jake pointed the pistol at Kalen’s head.
“You come down now, or I continue my new paint job of Main Street with your people’s blood,” Jake said.
Ulysses motioned for Fay to creep back from the windows where they couldn’t be seen. Clarence did the same. His voice was a whisper when he spoke.
“I’m going down. You two head back to the cabin and warn the others. Take them to that farm if you have to, but don’t let any of them come into town.”
“Ulysses, if you go down there, they’ll kill you, Mike, and Kalen,” Fay said.
“I can’t let you go down there alone, Ulysses,” Clarence said.
“They’ll kill them anyway if I don’t go down there. If they think one of us got away that means they still might keep us for leverage. They don’t know how many people we have.”
“Ulysses, I don’t like this,” Fay said.
“Just go. Hurry!”
Fay disappeared behind the stores and kept low in the tall grass until Ulysses couldn’t see her anymore.
“I’m with you. Us old guys have to stick together,” Clarence said.
When the two came out front, they both kept their hands in the air. Two bikers patted them down then threw their arms behind their backs.
Frankie had Kalen, and another biker had Mike. Jake walked up to Ulysses and Clarence smiling.
“Where’s your other friend?” Jake asked.
“It was just the two of us up there,” Clarence said.
Jake brought his pistol up to Clarence’s forehead.
“Never play poker, old timer. You’d lose every hand,” Jake said.