Jackal hid his smile when Penni kept him waiting. Finally, when he rocked nervously back and forth on his feet, as if he were about to piss himself, she spoke.
“Why should I? You didn’t care that you were leaving me to get raped and killed.”
“He would have killed me, too!” Sighing and turning away from Penni, Striker dropped the duffel bag in front of Hennessy. “It’s all there. We good?”
Hennessy used the same tactic that Penni had.
“Shit, Hennessy, let him go before he shits himself,” Jackal spoke in the growing silence.
“Apoc, check the bag.” Hennessy kept his hand on his weapon.
Apoc bent down, unzipping the bag, checking the contents, and then zipping the bag closed.
“It’s good. The same product we sent to sell.”
“You and Cruz take it to the car. Tia’s waiting by the food truck. I’ll see you back at the clubhouse.”
“Tia’s here?”
“Yes, if you hadn’t had your tongue down her throat”—Hennessy nodded at Penni—“she would have said hi.”
Tia was Hennessy’s cousin. Jackal had met her when she had turned eighteen and her parents had been murdered. He had found her a place to live in Queen City. Then, when Hennessy had left the Predators, she had left with him and DJ.
“We done?” Striker took a step backward.
“We’re done.”
Jackal kept his eyes on Striker as he walked away. Being an enforcer for the Predators had honed his skills over the years. The uneasy feeling traveling up his spine had him pulling out his Glock before Apoc fell to the dirt, staring up at the night sky.
Hennessy and their men pulled their weapons out as screams filled the night. The red-orange flames from the bonfire glowed across the bloodbath that had begun.
Jackal jumped on his motorcycle, his bike in the direction of the road. They had to get through a half-mile of gunfire to make it to safety.
15
“Get her out of here!” Hennessy yelled, running to the duffel bag Apoc had dropped.
Jackal saw Ice, Max, Stump, and Fade running toward Hennessy and his men as the Unjust Soldiers attacked.
“Hang on,” Jackal yelled back to Penni as he started his bike.
The Road Kingz began dropping like flies.
Dirt flew out when his back wheel spun in the loose soil.
Hennessy’s large body provided cover as one the Unjust Soldiers pointed his weapon at him. He had to get Penni out of here so Hennessy could focus on keeping himself and his men alive.
Hennessy saw the guns trained on him and tossed the duffle bag to Penni, who managed to catch it. She looped it through her arms, carrying it like a backpack.
“Shit.” Hennessy had put a bullseye on them.
Jackal sped through the fleeing bikers all trying to get on their bikes. He slowed his speed to miss a woman who was screaming hysterically. Another biker came out of nowhere, blocking the woman from getting killed. Turning his front wheel, he barely managed to avoid hitting the other bike. If the biker hadn’t blocked her, Jackal would have mowed her down and crashed his bike, hurting Penni.
The road was less than a foot away when Jackal spotted a break in the crowd big enough to get his bike through. He rode his bike through the opening in the rows of motorcycles that were at a standstill. The assholes were too fucking busy watching the gun fight to get out of danger.
His bike hit pavement, and he gunned his motor, following the line of red taillights leading toward town.
Penni loosened the tight hold she had on his waist, and Jackal released a sigh of relief that she was safe.
As they neared town, police cars and ambulances sped past them with lights flashing. He hoped Hennessy wasn’t one of the bikers who would need a ride to the local hospital.
Jackal parked his bike in front, rushing her into the hotel room then locking the door behind them. Looking out the window, he saw several bikers parking, but none of them seemed interested in them. Jackal bet most of them would just get their things and head out of town before the cops came back.
“Are we okay now?”
Jackal turned from the window at her shaky question.
“Yeah.” He pulled out his cell phone, pushing Hennessy’s number. When he didn’t answer, Jackal called Ice. The phone went to his messages. Shit. He was going to have to wait for one of them to call him.
Frustrated, he ran his fingers through his sweat and smoke-filled hair. “I need a shower.”
“Go ahead. If anyone knocks, I’ll let you know.”
Jackal stopped as he was about to go into the bathroom. Penni had taken a chair, staring at the door. She had handled what had happened better than most recruits would have. She had almost been killed; none of the bikers had given a shit that a woman was in their line of fire. Most recruits had returned to the clubhouse to get drunk or fuck any woman who spread their legs when shit had gone down badly. Hell, his own body was so filled with adrenaline he wanted to bust someone up or fuck. Penni looked as unruffled as if she had just been dealing with the hordes of teenagers she dealt with at concerts.