Free Mad Delights by Beth D. Carter

he stepped into the garage, and immediately saw the Shanks member tied to the same cherry picker that Cipher had been chained to not that long ago.
    “Where’s Mendoza?” Romeo demanded.
    The man threw up his chin. “If you’re gonna kill me like you did the others, do it quick.”
    “Others?” Romeo shook his head, perplexed. “What others?”
    The man looked between him and Dax. “The other Shanks you killed. Had to be you. Who else would do it?”
    Dax shook his head. “We didn’t kill anyone. We want Mendoza to ask if he killed one of our guys.”
    The man frowned. “You didn’t do it?”
    “Do what, for fuck’s sake?” Romeo bit out. The last thing he wanted to deal with right now was a runaround.
    “Last Saturday night, Mendoza was found strung up,” the man reported.
    Romeo glanced at Dax and saw the same type of apprehension on his friend’s face that raced through his guts. “Suicide?”
    The man snorted. “A big fucking knife stuck a note to his chest, so no, Mendoza didn’t hang himself.”
    “What did the note say?”
    “It said leave, or more will be hung out to dry.”
    “Fuck,” Boone muttered. His phone rang and he glanced at it, quickly turning away to answer the call.
    The Shank member looked between them. “You didn’t do it?”
    “No,” Romeo answered grimly. “One of our men was killed Saturday too. His body was cut up. The accompanying note told us to leave, or we’ll go in pieces.”
    The enormity of what was going on hit Romeo at that moment, and obviously, it did to the Shank member too, because he began struggling with the bonds that held him.
    “Let me go,” the man said frantically. “I have to get out of here.”
    Dax rested a hand on his shoulder. “Just calm down—”
    “No! Don’t you get it? The Shanks are gone!”
    Romeo narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”
    “Mendoza hasn’t been the only casualty. Yesterday someone…or some people…took out half of us. Slit their throats while they slept. Today, most of the ones who survived packed up and left. All that remained were me and four others.” He shook his head. “We thought it was you trying to run us out of town. Just let me go and I’ll get the fuck out of here, even with a bullet in my leg.”
    “Are you saying the Shanks are gone?”
    “Yeah, man.” The man visibly trembled. “You can have this fucking town.”
    “It wasn’t us,” Romeo stressed. Several possibilities raced through his mind, but the drug was making it difficult for him to focus on one train of thought.
    “Oh, yeah? Well, who else would fight over this town?”
    “Romeo,” Boone said grimly. All the men turned to him. “That was Hook. Something happened to the Whiskey Lick Her.”
    Dread washed through Romeo. He looked at each man before they raced from the garage to the front of the compound. Not now. The drug was really playing havoc with his head and all he wanted to do was lie down, but as he joined his men on the road, looking back toward the interstate, the strip of fire lighting up the dark sky made him realize he had a long fucking night ahead of him. He stood with his jaw hanging open for a few minutes, unable to comprehend what the hell was going on.
    Dax lay a hand on his arm. “What’s going on, Rome?”
    “I don’t know,” Romeo breathed. “We have to find out. Dax, Hawg, Burrito, you come with me. Boone, stay here. Organize everything for a lockdown.”
    “Wait,” Chloe said as she pushed through the assembled group of men. “You can’t ride with that arm.”
    He frowned at her. “I thought we made a deal for you to stay inside.”
    “I had my fingers crossed,” she replied blithely. “If you ride your motorcycle you could hurt yourself more and end up with permanent muscle damage.”
    Dax nudged his uninjured shoulder and gave him a surreptitious nod.
    “All right,” he groused. “You can drive me. I’ll meet the rest of you there.”
    All the men nodded. They jumped into action as