Dead Man Walking (The Fallen Men #6) - Giana Darling Page 0,155

me as the cold press of a gun kissed my temple. “I swear to God, I’ll put you down where you stand if you try to assault any more of my men.”

I snarled. “Your operation is fucked. I need to get Bea out of here.”

“Officer Moore has her,” he said. “He’s taken her back to the department to keep her safe. The motherfucker in the clearing wasn’t the killer. Just a kid tied to a fucking stake and an older woman posing as Linley. She fired the gun, but the kid got shot in the crossfire.”

Winter settled in my bones, silent and deadly. “Radio Moore.”

“I just told you, he’s taken her to the PD.”

“Motherfuckin’ radio Moore!’ I snapped, done with this shit.

I kicked out, catching the cop in the leg so he stumbled, then swiftly turned to grab the gun in his hand, releasing the mag with a quick jerk of my wrist. It fell to the icy ground with a clatter. I used the barrel of the weapon as a handle and swung it at the cop. He grunted as it contacted his jaw.

“Priest!” Lion yelled, jogging toward me as more cops converged with their guns drawn.

The rest were in the clearing, an ambulance wailing in the distance, cops gathered around the fallen Bennet and the injured kid.

I stood in the semi-circle of men in blue, not breathing hard, just vibrating with coiled tension. I’d kill them all if they didn’t get me to Bea.

“Priest,” Lion barked, stepping through the ring to my side. “What the fuck?”

“They took Bea, they said,” I ground out. “Moore took Bea to the station. Call that motherfucker, I want Bea’s voice on the line.”

Lion’s eyes widened fractionally before he could curtail the expression. “I’m sure she’s fine, brother. Just a precaution to get her outta here when shit went down.”

“Call. Him.”

Lion didn’t hesitate again. He shouted for Hutchinson, who was running operations on this with the RCMP rep. Hutch took one look at my face and blanched before he called in to Moore.

No one answered.

Conviction settled over me like a heavy mantle.

I knew what had happened.

It was a trap.

Distract everyone so they could send in some fucked religious convert to take Bea away from me.

I knew it before Hutch tried again and then again. Before he called the PD and confirmed with the receptionist that Moore hadn’t arrived.

In truth, I’d known it in my bones when I woke up this morning.

“Priest,” Lion said through the muffled chaos of my own mind.

But I was done.

Done with the fucking pigs. Done with the rules. Done with everything.

This man wanted Bea?

He’d taken my woman from me? Torn my shadow from my side?

I was going to make him pay so painfully, he’d weep blood as he begged me for mercy.

“We’ll find her,” Hutch was saying.

The cops around me had dissipated, called to duty to find the girl they’d let go.

Hutch stepped closer to me.

A mistake.

I hauled him into my arms and snarled viciously into his face. “You did this, motherfucker. I told you all it was a dumb fuckin’ plan, and you were too convinced of your own invincibility. Wearin’ a badge doesn’t mean shit if you don’t protect the fuckin’ innocent, and Bea was the best of that. I’m done. I’m gettin’ her back before the motherfucker kills her, and I’m doin’ it my way. You try to stop me, I’ll end you too. You hear me?”

He swallowed thickly but held his hands up in surrender. “I hear you.”

I tossed him away without another thought, stalking to my bike parked at the side of the ride. Bea’s helmet was still attached to the seat. Fury crackled through me, searing my skin, burning the backs of my eyes.

I was alive, alive, alive with fury.

“Priest,” Lion called.

I revved the engine of my bike to drown him out.

“I’m here,” he persisted, raising his voice even louder as I spun out into the street. “You need me, I’m here.”

I didn’t respond as I gunned the bike down the road. This wasn’t cop business anymore. It was club business. Family business. My fucking business.

I wouldn’t stop until I had this motherfucker’s blood on my hands and down my fucking throat.

My entire shite life had prepared me for this moment. It gave me all the fucking hard-earned skills I needed to hunt him down and end him. It taught me to embrace the pain instead of succumbing to it.

All the horror of my life was worth it if it meant I’d get