Emergency

SHAY

I took a seat just as the men were downing their last sips of drinks. I glanced around, noticing that each man was as muscular as the next.

Suddenly, a man burst through the curtains, only to be stopped by two towering figures.

“Zane! We’re in deep trouble,” he gasped out.

Zane spun around and signaled for the men to release him. The man was drenched in sweat and sat down with a shaky sigh.

“What’s the problem, Michael?” Zane asked, his eyes scanning Michael’s body.

“The Knights! They’re here and they’re looking for you. I barely escaped them, but they left a message for you.”

He lifted his shirt to reveal a deep gash on his side, blood seeping out. “One of them managed to cut me as I was running away.”

Another man appeared out of nowhere, carrying bandages and medical supplies. I sprang up and rushed to Michael’s side, taking the supplies from the man. I began cleaning Michael’s wound.

I quickly cleaned the wound with gauze, then bandaged it up, applying pressure to stop the bleeding. Standing up, I looked at my hands, now stained with blood.

“That should hold you over until a doctor can see you. You’re going to need stitches.”

Michael was shaking, his eyes rolling back into his head before he collapsed onto the couch.

He was in shock. I grabbed a towel, wiped my hands, and laid him down on the couch, propping his feet up with pillows.

“Zane, we need a doctor here, like, now!” I said, pointing a bloodied finger at him.

He was already on the phone, and within minutes, a doctor rushed into the room. I stepped back, my hands trembling, as he took over.

“Hey,” Conner said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

He led me to the bathroom and followed me in. I finally noticed my clothes, now splattered with blood.

“How did you know how to do that?” he asked, nodding toward the door with a small smile.

“I was in nursing school for a few years but had to drop out when my mom got sick. I had to take care of her.”

He gave me a stern look. “Your family has money. Why didn’t your dad hire someone?”

“We don’t trust many people with her condition. She has brittle bone disease, and it got worse while I was in college. No one could touch her without breaking a bone.

“I was the only one who knew how to handle her properly. I still broke her bones, but she didn’t feel as bad when I did it compared to a stranger.”

I had just finished cleaning my hands when there was a knock on the door. Connor opened it slightly and took a bag from someone.

“Take a quick shower and change. Our guys are handling the gang situation, but hurry in case we need to leave.” He placed the bag on the counter and left.

I stripped and stepped into the shower, washing off the blood that covered my arms and legs.

The shower was stocked with men’s products, but I quickly shampooed my hair and body.

Once the water ran clear, I turned it off and dried off with a fluffy gold towel. I wrapped another towel around my hair.

There was a knock at the door just as I was slipping into the dress from the bag; it fit perfectly. ~How did he have this ready, and how did he know my size?~

I opened the door to find Conner waiting.

“We have to go now! They’re in the building and heading up. Zane is waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs.”

He glanced at my head and shook his head. “Leave the towel. We need to move.”

I unwrapped my hair. He tossed the towel on the floor and led me to a panel that he scanned with his palm. The wall behind the panel shifted, revealing a staircase.

Connor gently pulled on my arm, and we quickly descended the stairs. The wall slid back into place behind us, beeping as it closed.

“It’s secure. No one can get in this passageway,” he said.

I looked at him, remembering that Tony was guarding the curtains. “What about Tony?”

“He’s fine; we told him to leave as soon as we saw them on the floor. He took another stairwell to safety.”

“And everyone else on the floor?” I hoped Tammy wasn’t caught up in anything.

“Everyone’s getting out of the club; she went to your locker and got your keys to take your car home.”

We reached a large metal door at the bottom of the stairs. He placed his hand on another scanner, and the door beeped as it opened.

Zane was waiting there and pulled me into a tight hug.

“Good, you’re safe, my love. We need to leave now,” he said, his voice firm.

He led me to a secure garage filled with expensive cars. He pulled out a key with a remote, started a car, and opened the door for me.

“Can’t I just—”

He lifted me up and practically shoved me into the car. He quickly got in on the other side.

He pressed a button that opened a door to a ramp leading to an exit, then sped out of the garage. We emerged onto a busy street from a back alley.

Zane floored it as soon as he found a gap in the traffic, and that’s when I finally got a good look at the sleek black car.

“This is a nice car,” I said, running my fingers over the gold-plated dashboard.

Zane didn’t respond; he kept his eyes on the road, weaving through the thick traffic. Once we reached a quieter road, he pressed hard on the gas pedal.

As we sped down the road, a black SUV pulled out from a side street behind us.

“~Damn it!~ Conner, they’ve found me. I’m on Ellington Avenue, heading toward the warehouse,” Zane’s voice was tense as he spoke into the Bluetooth connected to Conner and Noah.

“We’re on it, boss!” Conner’s voice crackled through the speaker as we sped down the street.

Suddenly, bullets began to whiz past the car. I screamed, pulling my legs up to my chest. More black SUVs appeared in our rearview mirror.

“I need backup ~now~!” Zane’s voice was firm and commanding.

“We’ll be there in ten seconds, tops.”

Zane pushed the car to its limits, but the black SUVs behind us kept pace. The sound of bullets hitting the car made me glance around in panic.

“Don’t worry, the car’s bulletproof. The bullets will just bounce off,” Zane reassured me, glancing my way.

“But h-how are they keeping up with us?” I stammered, my body shaking. This was all so new and terrifying.

“They must have souped-up engines. This car is top-notch and fast, but they know that. If they’ve got engines designed to keep up with this one, that’s how they’re doing it.”

Suddenly, eight cars came barreling down the road, pulling up alongside the cars chasing us. My head was spinning as I looked behind us in the side-view mirror and out the back window.

“We’re here, boss. What’s the plan?” Noah’s voice was filled with anticipation.

“Take them out. Whoever survives, you know what to do until I can question them.”

“Hell yeah! Demolition derby, here we come!” Conner’s voice was filled with excitement.

Zane pushed the car even harder. The headlights behind us bobbed wildly and grew smaller as we sped down the road.

After a while, Zane slowed down, pressed a button, and turned onto a long, dark single-lane road.

We passed through a massive iron gate attached to a matching iron fence that ran the length of a vast yard and disappeared into a wooded area.

We drove through a forest and finally emerged in front of another enormous iron gate, big enough for a semi.

Zane punched some numbers into a keypad by the gate and nodded at the men standing at the guardhouse. They nodded back, automatic weapons in their hands.

We continued down a long driveway, veering left when it split. The other path was wider and disappeared over a hill.

We followed the smaller road, which led to a massive mansion. As I stared at the largest house I’d ever seen, Zane smiled at me.

“Like my house?” he asked, pulling into the circular driveway. It surrounded a massive fountain, which changed colors as the water spouted from a small house on top.

There were men everywhere, and I looked around nervously.

“What is this place? It’s like a fortress?” I asked, looking at Zane with panic in my eyes.

“This is my home. These men are here to protect me—and now you.”

He grinned as he opened the car door and then came around to my side, opening mine and extending his hand. I took it hesitantly.

A young teenager rushed out of the house toward us. “Your keys, sir?”

Zane handed him the keys and then helped me out, closing the door behind me. “He’s the son of a friend who works for me. He’s too young to do patrol, so I let him park the cars for us.”

He intertwined his fingers with mine and led me toward the largest front door I’d ever seen.

He placed his palm on a scanner, and the double doors opened into a breathtaking entrance.