“I want my brother to be alive,” Armor roared. “I want him living, breathing, and standing right here next to me, but that shit’s not gonna happen because of you. You killed him!”
“And how do you know it was me who killed him?”
“I’d heard you were a smart guy, but clearly, I was misinformed.” Armor’s tone became tenacious as he informed me, “We had a tracker hidden in one of our gun crates. When we couldn’t reach Jackson, the device led us here. We might not know exactly what you did to him, but we know you were involved.”
As much as I wanted to tell the guy to fuck off, I didn’t have that luxury. His guy still had a gun to Gladys’s head, so I had to keep my anger in check. “We didn’t do anything you wouldn’t have done if you were in our shoes.”
“You don’t know what the fuck we’d do! You don’t know shit about my brothers or me.”
“I know you brought your brothers a long way to fight a war they have no business fighting,” I replied with no emotion.
“You killed our brother and stole our guns!”
“Your brother and his friends crossed a line they shouldn’t have, and they paid for it. End of story.”
He charged down the steps while one of his brothers kept the gun trained on Gladys. As soon as Armor approached, he reared his fist back and slammed it into my jaw, forcing my head to lob to the side. His tone was full of hurt and rage as he spat, “You sorry piece of shit!”
Engulfed in anger, Hawk lifted his weapon and was about to take his shot when I looked over to him and ordered, “Don’t.”
“That’s right,” Armor snickered. “Listen to your mighty president before your lady friend ends up with a bullet in her head.”
“What’s your plan here?” I growled.
“Well, let’s see ... First, I’m gonna kill you, and then your boys.” His sinister smile returned. “Maybe we’ll each take a turn with Granny B there and then burn this fucking place to the ground.” He nodded. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
I was beginning to wonder how the hell we were going to get out of this fucking mess when a thunderous explosion of gunfire erupted behind Armor. I glanced up and was surprised to find Ada standing at the edge of the porch with her double-barrel shotgun. She’d shot the man who’d had his gun positioned at Gladys’s head, and he was now lying lifeless on the ground at her feet.
With a cold, fierce look in her eye, she stepped forward and took aim at Armor. Her hair was up in one of her bonnets, and she was wearing a long nightgown, but she looked like a force to be reckoned with as she told him, “You’s best step away from my boy, or you’s gonna be next.”
Panic filled Armor’s eyes the second he realized he’d lost the upper hand. Not only was his guy down and no longer holding Gladys hostage, but Ada was about to fill him with holes. Not willing to give up, he raised his Glock, but I beat him to the punch and shot him before he got a chance to pull the trigger.
As soon as his body hit the ground, Ada cried out, “Ooo-wee, Viper! I’s thought he was gonna get ya for sure.”
“Goddamn it, Ada! Folks ten miles from here could’ve heard that damn shotgun!”
“Yeah, buts you’s alive, ain’t ya?”
“Get Gladys, and you two get in the damn house!” I ordered. “Don’t come out until we come and get you.”
“You’re welcome, you ol’ mean ass.”
She shook her head and continued grumbling under her breath, then took hold of Gladys’s arm and led her back into the house, locking the door behind them. Once I knew they were both out of harm’s way, I turned to Hawk and the others and said, “Let’s finish this!”
They all nodded, then followed as Hawk led us toward the east side of the lot where the others were holed up. As soon as the other Broken realized their president had fallen, they dropped for cover and tried to prepare for the onslaught, but it was too late. My boys were already in position and had gained the advantage.
In a matter of seconds, a full-on battle had emerged. Bullets started whipping past me, plowing into the concrete walls, but I was too cranked up on adrenaline to care. Like a man possessed, I continued to charge towards them, firing off round after round as I took out anyone who stood in my way.
With each body that dropped dead to the ground, I gained a sense of satisfaction. As far as I was concerned, if these assholes were stupid enough to think they could invade our territory and take us down, they had it coming.