One That Got Away Read online

  “Right there, Saks.” Luke slid his boxer briefs back on and pulled his jeans quickly up his legs, careful of the bandage. His leg hadn’t been bothering him but now he could feel it. It had been a long day and he didn’t see any end to it yet. He belted his jeans and gave Emily a quick kiss.

  “Sweetheart, things are going to move quickly. Get ready to fly.”

  Emily redressed and ran her fingers through her hair. “I’m ready, Luke.”

  He nodded and walked into the living room. He limped slightly but at least he didn’t need his crutches. He hadn’t used them at all today. There were more important things than a cut. It would heal. A scar would remain, but the wound would heal.

  Saks leaned over the back of the couch and stared out to the street through the large curtained picture window.

  Luke joined him. “What do we have?”

  “See for yourself.”

  “Shit!” exclaimed Luke when he peered out cautiously onto the road.

  “What is it?” Emily said, alarmed by Luke’s reaction.

  “Gibs!” called Luke.

  “Yeah, Luke,” said Gibs.

  “You filled in Helen?”

  “Yeah, she’s putting some clothes together now.”

  “How’d it go?”

  “You know how they say you have a fifty percent chance of getting divorced?”

  “Yeah.”

  “For me the percentage went up a bit.”

  “I don’t blame her,” said Luke.

  “Luke,” said Emily more stridently, “what’s going on?”

  “We have visitors.”

  “Where,” said Emily, walking close to the window.

  Luke pulled her down on the couch.

  “There.”

  Emily glanced out the window but didn’t see anything but parked cars lining the opposite side of the street.

  “There’re just cars.”

  “Look again, see that old blue Cadillac?”

  “Yeah?”

  “The men inside don’t belong on this street.”

  “Who do you think it is?” said Saks.

  “Got to be Hombres. Rojos would be on their bikes.” Luke pulled out his wallet. “Saks, here’s my credit card. Take Helen up to Bradley, put her in the hotel there until we can get her on a flight out.”

  “Sure, boss.”

  “You stay with her, understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “Go. Now.”

  Saks nodded and stood.

  “Good luck, boss. Helen?” he called. “It’s time to take a ride.”

  Saks disappeared into the kitchen and Emily turned to Luke.

  “What’s going on? Please tell me.” She was terrified, trembling and shaking, her eyes wide.

  “It’s fucked up shit, Em. Our club president has been trying to do business with a local gang. Only in doing that he’s been trying to cut out the people who actually do business with that gang. To make things worse, the guy working with Aces, our president, well, it’s unsanctioned by his higher-ups. So we’ve got a bunch of pissed off gang bangers who think the Spawn are the cause of their troubles.”

  “I didn’t realize—”

  “Yeah,” said Luke, peering out the window again. “Neither did I until today. That’s what I get for not paying attention. So, I need to get us out of here before the shit gets deeper.”

  In the background a Harley rumbled to life. Emily swallowed hard, her problems with Evan seeming very small compared to what Luke faced. “How are you involved? Can you just tell them it wasn’t you?” She shrugged, confused. “What makes this your fight?”

  “Aces dragged Gibs into it. I think the fucker didn’t quite trust his new associate and sent Gibs in to do what Aces should have. My employee. My club. My fight.”

  The Harley’s engine roared and faded as it sped away.

  Gibs walked into the room, all color drained from his face. “Okay,” he said as calmly as if he took out the trash, “that’s done.”

  “Good,” said Luke.

  “What about her?” Gibs said, nodding at Emily.

  “I’m staying.” Emily set her feet apart, as if preparing to fight.

  “No. You’re not.” Luke avoided looking at her. “Gibs, pull your car out of the garage.”

  “Okay, Luke.”

  Emily gripped Luke’s arms. “Don’t send me away.”

  “You’ve got to go, babe. These fuckers don’t play. You don’t want to be here when this shit goes down. You can’t.”

  It hit her then that Luke’s life was in danger. Ice ran through her blood when she realized by the grim look on his face that he might not survive the night. She panicked then, thinking she might never see him again if she left him. The world slipped out of her control and the room spun. She fought the feeling. She could not lose it now.

  “Baby?” said Luke.

  Emily gasped, trying to steady herself. “This sucks. For ten years I’ve thought about nothing but you. I cried, Luke, more tears than I can count. And now when I have you again you want me to walk away?”

  “That’s right, baby. Because life would mean shit if something happened to you.”

  “Don’t you get it? I feel the same way about you.”

  Luke leaned his forehead against hers. “I know.”

  Gibs burst into the room. “I was trying to get my bike moved when they pulled up. Fuck, Luke. The cops are here!”

  “What!” Luke pulled aside the window’s heavy curtains and saw two cruisers pulling up to the curb outside the house.

  “Emily. You have to go. Now.”

  Emily looked at Luke, and her head spun as her breathing hitched. She didn’t know if she could stand, let alone walk. She tried to say something when the sound of heavy pounding on the front door filled the room.

  Luke nodded to Gibs. “Answer it.”

  Gibs walked to the front door and pulled it open to find two officers with guns drawn.

  “Put your hands behind your head and get down on the floor,” one of the officers spit out.

  The older man did as he was told. “Mind telling me what this is about?”

  “Shut up.”

  “No. This is my home. Tell me what this is about.”

  “Kidnapping,” spit the other cop. “Where is she?”

  “Kidnapping?” squeaked Emily. She found her feet and stood, turning to face the cops. “Who?”

  “Are you Emily Dougherty?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you.”

  “What! Did you happen to get that from Evan Waters?”

  The two cops looked at each other confirming Emily’s suspicions. “Oh, for heaven’s sakes!” she exploded. “And how did you find me? Eh?”

  The cops stood mute and Emily realized that something was rotten.

  “Did he pull some GPS shit on my phone? Did he?”

  “So you’re not here against your will?”

  Luke pulled Emily against him. “Go with them, Em,” he whispered in her ear. “Let them get you out of here. Please. For all our sakes.”

  “No,” she said firmly.

  Luke pushed her away. “Please officers, Take this crazy bitch off my hands. She keeps following me everywhere.”

  “Luke?!” protested Emily.

  “That’s right, officer,” said Gibs, playing Luke’s hand. “She’s trespassing on my property. Forced her way in here. She ain’t right. She out on bond for some shit.”

  “Gibs!”

  “Yeah,” said Luke. “You should take her to her parents’ house. They’ll keep an eye on her. It’s eighteen oh two Faraway Court in Walkerville.”

  “We’ll take her down to the station and call her parents. That is, if you’re pressing charges.”

  “I am,” said Gibs.

  “No!” screamed Emily. This could not be happening!

  “Come along, Miss. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

  “Luke!” appealed Emily. He couldn’t do this to her. He couldn’t have the
police haul her away.

  The guttural roar of motorcycles split the air and Luke dove for the curtains once again.

  “Fuck,” he swore softly. “Rojos.”

  “Officers,” said Gibs. “Can I get up from the floor now?”

  An officer nodded and Gibs stood.

  “Please, officers,” said Luke, refusing to look at Emily, knowing her expression would break him. “Get that crazy bitch out of here.”

  “I’ll need information to make a report,” said one officer.

  “We’ll follow you down and make it at the police station,” said Luke. “We’ve got company and we need to tell them to come back another time.”

  The officer looked at Luke doubtfully but put Emily’s hands behind her back and zip tied them.

  “Don’t do this, please,” begged Emily.

  The officer pulled her to the door. “Let’s go. Into the patrol car.”

  At that moment three motor bikes stopped in front of Gibs’ house. Each rider wore denim cuts and red bandanas on their heads.

  “These your friends?” said one cop doubtfully.

  Luke stood and pushed by Emily and her cop escort onto the front lawn. Gibs followed him.

  “What’re you doing here, man?” Luke hissed. “Did you send those assholes to watch me?” He pointed to the blue Cadillac.

  “What of it, ‘omes?” said one of them.

  “Not a good time.” Luke jerked his head towards the two cops.

  “Yeah. It ain’t a good sign you talking to the cops.”

  “Has nothing to do with you or me, Sal,” said Luke.

  “Hard to tell, ese. You know that. In fact, I’m tired of your games.” With that the man on the bike raised his hand, which was curled around a pistol.

  “Gun!” shouted one of the cops. The cop who had his hand on Emily’s arm shoved her back into the house, and they both pointed their weapons at the biker.

  Emily dashed back to the picture window, her heart pounding. She pushed aside the curtains with her head to watch the frozen tableau before her. Luke had his hands raised and Emily could hear him speaking to the biker who threatened him because the front door was still open.

  “Not your best move, dude,” warned Luke. “Drive off. Even if you shoot me, these cops will pop one in you.”

  The biker mumbled something, and then Gibs shouted, “Luke! Watch out!”

  With horror Emily watched as three men poked their heads up in the Cadillac and pointed guns at the bikers. Gibs jumped in front of Luke as the men in the Cadillac fired at the bikers. Gibs fell, grunting. The man speaking to Luke fell off his bike. Luke fell to the ground.

  “Luke!” Emily screamed, but it did no good. Luke lay on top of Gibs, holding the man’s head. The other two bikers shot into the Cadillac.

  Pop. Pop. Pop.

  The air was filled with the furtive sound of gunfire. In the rain of bullets, the cops fired, hitting one of the other bikers. One, in the driver’s seat in the Cadillac, leaned out of the window, his face a red mass of blood.

  One of the cops spoke frantically into his shoulder radio calling for back-up.

  “Shots fired. Shots fired,” he spat into the mike urgently.

  Emily had one thought. Luke. He lay on Gibs. His faced was contorted with pain.

  Gibs lay under him, unmoving.

  The last biker tore down the street and suddenly everything was quiet.

  Too quiet.

  Emily gasped at the savage scene. Two of the bikers were dead, their bikes toppled on top of them. The three men in the Cadillac were motionless.

  Luke slowly got to his knees, his face contorted in grief. Gibs remained unmoving and that’s when Emily realized Gibs was dead.

  “Fuckers!” yelled Luke down the street. “You damn motherfuckers!”

  “Get on the ground,” screamed one of the cops.

  “Fuck you! Fuck you!”

  “Down on the ground!”

  The commands of the cop were drowned in screaming sirens coming toward the scene of destruction. Emily got off the couch and ran past the cops toward Luke, but one of the cops caught her and held her back. “Luke!” she called.

  He sunk to his knees laying his forehead on Gibs’ chest.

  The cop that held Emily pushed her down the walkway toward his car while the other one moved cautiously toward Luke, as if he was the criminal.

  “Luke!” Emily cried as tears streamed down her face.

  The cop put her in his patrol car locking her in the back seat. The other policeman attempted to get Luke to move away from Gibs, but Luke shook him off.

  Police cars and ambulances stopped in the street with their lights flashing. Paramedics moved through the scene checking the downed men, and police stood talking in groups with each other. Emily wondered why they weren’t doing anything. Just as she thought that, one uniformed man went to speak to the two cops on the scene.

  Finally, at the urging of some of the newer cops and the paramedics that arrived, Luke stood. One of the newer cops took him aside to ask questions, but it was apparent Luke wasn’t talking. Plain-clothes cops pulled up behind the black and whites and milled around asking questions. Finally, one went to Luke asking questions with his hands animated. He stepped in aggressively toward him.

  Emily watched all this in a state of shock. She’d never seen a real-life scene of death and destruction, and it seemed to her the cops around her were equally confused.

  Finally, one of the plain-clothes cops pulled open the patrol car door and Emily heard the voices around her. “What happened here, Miss?”

  But Emily was drawn to Luke and what he was yelling.

  “Fuck you, Anglotti. Where were you five fucking minutes ago?”

  “Mr. Wade, if you don’t cooperate, I’ll arrest you for obstruction.”

  “Go right ahead, asshole. On the advice of my lawyer I’m staying silent. And I want to speak to him too.”

  “Come on then,” said Anglotti. He pushed Luke to face away from him then pulled Luke’s hands together to handcuff him.

  Suddenly a black SUV drove up on the lawn from the side, knocking down a portion of the white picket fence. Two men jumped out, ran over to Luke and flashed some badges at Anglotti.

  “Let go of him. We’re taking him now.”

  “You can’t do that. He’s a material witness at the very least.”

  “Not anymore. Come on, Raymond. In the van. We’ve got to get you out of here before news cameras show up. We can’t risk it.”

  Luke’s eyes, filled with pain and anger, met Emily’s, then turned away as the two men escorted Luke into the SUV.

  She watched in complete shock as it pulled away. Her mind filled with more questions than answers.

  Who were those men? What the hell was going on?

  Why had they called him Raymond? Where were they taking him?

  Would she ever see the man she loved again? Or had fate and circumstances taken him away from her this time forever?

  THE END

  One That Came Back - Coming October 2015