Free as a Jailbird

Chapter 56

The color of the clouds that evening reflect the feelings that swirl within me; gray, shadowed and soaked with fear just about ready to explode. I swing my leg off Todd's bike and shake my hair out of the helmet. The ocean blows sea-spray over me, as if warning me to stay away. I know a battle is looming on the horizon.

I turn and peer over my shoulder at the crews that stand behind me. Todd is wearing his usual stony, knowing stare. He crosses his arms over Mercy's handlebars. Billy lights up a cigarette, draws a shaky breath in and hands it to Connor, who shakes his head and turns off his bike. He's looking around as if expecting us to be ambushed by Garcia's men. He's more nervous than even Mickey, who is patting down his leather jacket in search of some weed to mellow him down. It helps, believe it or not. Donatello, Li and Sam have their arms crossed, waiting apprehensively.

Jez, Aysha, Crunch and the rest of the East crew – six in total – are with us.

I don't know why they came. After I spoke with Todd this afternoon, I didn't expect to get a call back from even Connor, let alone the East crew. Todd told me it was Mercy's return that brought them together. An alliance formed. They still don't trust me and they're not here to save my ass, or my cop ex-boyfriend's either. They're here to get revenge on Mercy and stop Garcia. And I'm happy to have the back up.

"What's the plan, Knight?" asks Connor.

I look down the long dock at each bay. We've parked our bikes as far from Bay 5 as possible around the side of a warehouse that belongs to Yergen Industrial. There are no cop cars. We're an hour early and it's very near dark. A chill wind whips over us.

"The plan," I say and turn to the crew, "is to stay in the shadows until it's absolutely necessary and to protect the cops."

There are grumbles and protests all around. I knew there would be. Todd looks at me and shakes his head. Connor actually laughs.

"We didn't come here to play babysitter to the guys who make our lives a living hell," Conner snaps.

"Yeah? What about Garcia? What good does he do for your lives?"

"Let's just kill him and bolt," says Sam.

Aysha and Mickey agree.

"We have to be smart about this." Todd throws his cigarette on the ground. "Knight's right – we wait in silence until things get messy."

I nod my thanks to him. He gives me a wink. Why Todd isn't the leader of the Southbend bikers is beyond me. He'd bring their reputation back up to its peak again.

We lock up our bikes and grab our weapons from under the seats. I strap my gun in and that's when Todd comes up to me and lowers his voice so only I can hear, gazing out at the dark waters.

"You're going to kill him, right?"

I straighten my jacket and brush the hair out of my eyes. "It's my job."

He reaches down to the back of his bike and that's when I see a large, black case strapped to the rack. He unzips the top of it to reveal a slick, black scope attached to the barrel of an M-16 sniper rifle.

"Jess," he sighs. "I won't be able to protect you. I gotta protect my crew. So take this, find a place you're comfortable and shoot the bastard. But wait for the right moment. Then you run, okay?"

I smile up at him, at his shadowed eyes and pursed lips. I curl my hand into a fist and punch him lightly on the chest.

"You know me, Todd. I can take care of myself."

His mouth doesn't move but I can see the smile in his eyes. Maybe its pride as well, I can't tell in the twilight. Then I take the sniper and swing it over my shoulder.

Wemarch toward the bay, slinking in the shadows.