Free Reunion by Meli Raine Page B

Brujo says. “For something that is nothing, you seemed unusually interested. I don’t pay you to lie to me,” he snaps.
    I force my eyes open. Maybe I can scream again, or trip him, or—
    H is fine leather shoes pass inches from my face. He’s walking right toward Allie.
    No one stops him.
    No one can.
    He’s about to discover her and I can’t do anything.
    We’re both going to die and Mark and Chase will never know how hard we tried not to.
    Frenchie reaches into his back pocket and the glow of a phone catches my attention.
    “Shit. Gotta go upstairs. Some kind of fight outside in the parking lot.” He glares at the new guy. “You fucking Mephists were supposed to distract the damn cops, Loogie. Not screw up this operation.”
    Loogie. Now I know a name. Not that it’ll help. I feel like a battery losing its charge.
    “We’re cool,” Loogie says, patting Galt on the shoulder. “That fight was just for show. Got the cops off the trail of all this and kept that crazy DEA agent from making waves.”
    “He’s a fucking nutcase,” Galt mutters. “Took my kid away. Destroyed all we had at the Atlas compound last year.”
    “No shit. Drugged up my old lady and stuck her on a bike and—”
    “Are you three done playing the nostalgia game?” El Brujo snaps. “I don’t need any reminders of my losses last year.”
    “Losses?” Galt snorts. “You didn’t lose. You got a l l that cash and meth that Wakefield was storing in his garage and house.”
    Allie’s story about what happened to her last year runs faintly through my mind. Her stepfather owed El Brujo money. Sold her and her mother to him for a drug debt. After Allie escaped from the motorcycle club compound with Mark’s help, she was told by Mark she didn’t need to worry about El Brujo any more.
    “I lost what was mine,” El Brujo says. T he words ring out so loud, like the peal of a bell.
    No one says a word.
    “And I never,” El Brujo says softly, “give up getting what is mine.”
    ALLIE!  
    I scream her name in my head, hoping she is somehow backing up in the pipe, crawling backwards to the safety of Chase. Is she hearing this? I try to stand, but my body is broken. Frenchie may have snapped a bone. I can’t move. I have no defenses. My mind shakes like someone is trying to snap my head off.
    She can’t be caught.
    Frenchie stomps up the stairs, but stops halfway. Galt and Loogie walk closer to me, staring hard at El Brujo.
    He’s staring right back.
    My one good eye gives me a distorted view of the men. If the lights were off, I couldn’t see anything. My head pounds and I’m pretty sure I’m a few seconds away from passing out.
    El Brujo stomps over to the boxes on the shelving. He looks down at the smears and pools of blood on the ground, his nose wrinkling in distaste. His cologne tickles my nose and I sneeze.
    My vision goes white with agony.
    “ You’re wasting your time. Ain’t nothin’ over there but a bunch of dead rats,” Galt grumbles at El Brujo. He looks at Loogie and rolls his eyes.  
    I try to breathe. My nose is swollen. My mouth is so dry I start coughing. In my struggle to sit up I feel something like granite slide against granite in my shoulder. Like broken glass against broken glass. I give up.
    I give up forever.
    El Brujo gives Galt a look of pure hatred and storms over to where Allie is. By now, I hope she’s at least made her way far enough in the pipe to not be seen.
    Please be gone. Please be gone. Please be gone.
    A strangled cry comes out of the back of my throat, making me cough and hiss. I sound like someone who is dying. My breaths are agonal in my ears.
    El Brujo pushes the box aside. I can’t see Allie from here, nor can I see his face.
    But I can hear him clearly.
    “Oh, my,” he says, his voice like a Cheshire cat’s purr. “ Hello, my sweet Allie. It is so good to finally meet. It seems I always do get what I deserve. This will be so much fun.”  
    He reaches for her.

Chapter