Warlords MC: Book 4 – Deuce : Chapter 7

Deuce froze where he stood and then rushed to where the three of them were laying on the floor. He could see the blood on Luna’s side dripping as it pooled on the floor. He lifted her carefully up and off Charli and the baby.

Charli and Annabelle didn’t look hurt, just shaken but when he lifted Luna… she cried out. Then she hung limp in his grasp as she passed out. Deuce swung her up into his arms and carried her down the hall.

Looking rattled and upset, Charli and Annabelle followed them.

Deuce carried her to his room. In the last year or so since Ben died, the boys had remodeled the old farm house. They had redone the upstairs, so it contained four suites, each complete with its own bathroom. The downstairs had been redone with three complete suites and each of them had its own bath as well. The fourth suite on the main floor was used as a security room.

Joker glanced down at the bundle in Deuce’s arms and shook his head as he ducked into the security room.

Deuce pushed his way into his bedroom and went to lay her down on his bed.

Charli called out, “Don’t lay her down yet, let me get a towel so the blood won’t stain the comforter.” Charli set Annabelle down on the floor and rushed to the bathroom for some towels. She laid three of four towels over the spread.

Deuce laid her down and tore open Luna’s shirt, so he could at least see where the bullet had gone. He saw two open raw wounds, so he knew the bullet had gone all the way through her small body. It was some relief, but he still worried.

When Charli sat down on the other side of the bed, he looked up at her and asked, “Are you and Annabelle okay? Neither of you got hit?”

Charli shook her head. “I didn’t.” She turned and checked Annabelle. She didn’t see any blood on the little girl. “She’s good too.” She stared down at Luna. “For a moment, I didn’t know what the hell she was doing. Then I heard the shot…”

Deuce worked quickly and quietly as he tried to stem the flow of blood from the wound. The wound was in a good place as the bullet hadn’t hit any internal organs and the bullet had an entrance and an exit place, so it didn’t have to be dug out but Deuce knew from experience that it hurt like hell any time you took a bullet.

“I’ll go get the kit,” Charli said. “She’ll need the antibiotics as well as the wraps.”

Deuce gave her a nod and worked on Luna’s bleeding.

She seemed to be coming around. Her eyes fluttered open and she groaned as he pressed down on the wound to stop the flow of the blood.

“Hush baby, I got ya,” he whispered. “I got you now and I’m not letting go.”

She opened her eyes and stared at him steadily. “I might hold you to that. God, that hurts.” She groaned as he pressed down.

Deuce nodded. “Yeah, the human body isn’t supposed to be pierced like that.”

Charli came back, carrying a big medical kit. She set it on the bed beside Deuce and turned to pick up Annabelle. The little girl was sobbing in her arms and Charli was trying to soothe her.

Deuce applied a sterilizing swipe to her wound then tore open some gauze packages, applied some antibiotic cream and began dressing her wound. The bleeding had finally stopped. He helped her sit up and as he wound the tape around her side, she hissed.

He looked over at Charli. “Grab one of my t shirts, will you? I kinda tore up her shirt.”

Charli got up and went to his dresser. She picked one of his shirts and came back over to the bed. “You go wash your hands and I’ll help her change.”

Deuce got up and went to the bathroom.

Charli helped her change her shirt. When she pulled off the old shirt, she gasped as the scars on the other woman’s back but she didn’t say anything. She quickly pulled the shirt over Luna’s head and pulled it down to cover her.

Charli then got up when Deuce returned and going over to the other side of the bed, she picked Annabelle up to sit in a bedside chair. They both sat there and watched Luna.

Deuce stared at Luna for a moment then asked, “What happened out there?”

Luna shook her head slightly. “When King got so mad, I couldn’t take the heat from his eyes anymore.”

Deuce snorted. “Yeah, his glare could blind a person, all right.”

She sighed and went on, “I’ve always known my dad was a bastard but to do what he did with the vests and the guns for our troops? That was a little over the top even for him. I could understand King’s rage, so I looked away. That’s when I saw a thin red line. Following the line, I found it was on Annabelle’s chest. I didn’t have time to think, only react. I pushed them out of the way and then I knew nothing but pain and chaos.”

Deuce stared at her. “You saved both their lives. That bullet would have gone through Annabelle and it would’ve probably killed Charli too.”

Charli paled and hugged the little girl closer. For a moment, she couldn’t even speak but finally she whispered, “Thank you.”

“Any idea who might be out there?” Deuce asked Luna.

“Guthrie.” Luna sighed hard. Looking away, she told him, “The same man from this morning.”

“Why didn’t he go with your dad?” Deuce frowned.

“Dad probably told him to find me and finish it.” She swallowed hard. “Guthrie won’t stop until I’m dead or someone else stops him. He’s been trained and he’s ruthless.”

“That may be but he’s never been up against the Warlords before either,” Deuce stated firmly.

“How did he know where you were?” Charli asked.

“Good question.” The comment came from the doorway.

Ace and Shay stood there.

As they came into the room Ace nodded at her. “Do you have an answer?”

Luna leaned back against the pillows. She was tired and in pain. “He probably followed the truck. He saw us just before we turned the corner onto the main road this morning. He would have reported the truck to my dad and when they left in the helo, my dad would have radioed back when they passed it this morning. All Guthrie had to do was find it and track it.”

“Who exactly is this Guthrie anyway?” Ace asked.

Shay answered this, “His name is Arthur Guthrie and he’s a sniper. Whittaker vetted him carefully and brought him in for his personal security. He knows what he’s doing and now that he’s been given an order….she’s right, he won’t stop. He knows if he does, it’s his life for hers.”

“His life for hers?” Deuce asked.

“He isn’t the only assassin my dad has on his payroll.” Luna shook her head. “If Guthrie doesn’t get me, one of the others will. Dear ole’ dad will have put a price on my head now.” She looked up at Deuce. “He doesn’t take betrayal very well. He knows I’ll cooperate with you to bring him down.”

“What a bastard,” Charli muttered as she nuzzled Annabelle.

“That’s my father. A Prince he is not.” Luna snorted.

“We can’t pinpoint his location.” Ace shook his head.

“Look for a high place that gives him a wide target area and more cover,” Luna suggested. “Guthrie likes to look down on his target and he likes to watch his target fall. He’ll pick a place he thinks he can’t be found and not everyone remembers to look up. They always look at ground level.”

Charli looked over at her man. “The barn Truman. The second floor of the barn. There is an open door we used when we loaded hay up there. It hasn’t been used for that in a long time now, but the door is still there. We haven’t started redoing the barn yet, so it’s abandoned for now.”

Ace leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Thank you baby, King, and I will check it out from the roof. He won’t be expecting to find us there.” He turned to look at Luna and nodded. Then he left the room.

His and King’s footsteps echoed as they stomped up the steps and a few minutes later, they all heard more shots.

Annabelle began to cry at the sounds of the shots and Charli was trying to comfort her.

Luna looked over at the little girl and her heart broke. She was her mom all over again in Luna’s eyes. She began to hum the same tune that worked with Collette.

Annabelle stopped crying so hard as she laid her head down on Charli’s shoulder and listened to the tune. She still snuffled and hiccupped but she had stopped crying.

Deuce looked at Annabelle and over to Luna, then back to Charli. He was stunned. When the little girl fell asleep, he asked quietly, “How did you know that would work?”

Luna shrugged. “I didn’t but it always used to work with her mom when we were little.”

They all heard footsteps coming back down the steps and a moment later, King and Ace joined them. “How the hell did you know where he would be?” King growled.

Luna gazed up at the angry man glaring at her. “Guthrie liked to brag about his feats. He spent a lot of time following me around to keep an eye on me and he never shut up either. He thought he was impressing me, but all I wanted to do was gag at his bragging.” She looked over at Ace, who didn’t seem so hostile towards her now, like King was. “Did you get him?”

Ace shook his head. “No, he got away but now he’s wounded. He was out of our rifle range and we couldn’t bring him down.”

“Damn.” Luna swore. “That means he’ll be back when he’s patched up.”

“Not if we catch him first.” Duce growled.