The skulls wrapped up their meeting. "Just got off the phone with Kyle and he's agreed to the terms." "He'll have his lawyer draw up the paperwork." "We'll set up a meeting early next week." Priest informed everyone.
"The lumber yard is going to be great for us," Ice said as his phone started ringing. "Sheriff Ford...wait...what!?" "Is she hurt?" "Is she alright?" Ice asked in a panic, scrambling for the keys to his Harley.
"What's going on?" Axle asked. Ice had to put himself together. "There was an explosion at Plush."
Axle's heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. "Can't get Blake or Maddox to pick up their phones," Capone said, rushing outside with the others. Memories of when Charlie was attacked by Montoya and her kidnapping at Cathedral started flooding his memories. He didn't want to go through this again.
Axle gripped the handle of his bike as he sped through town. The skulls weaved their bikes through traffic, trying to get to Plush as fast as they could, but in one piece.
Fire trucks, police vehicles, and multiple ambulances could be seen as they approached the building. Coming to a screeching halt, Axle leaped off his bike, running towards the ambulances.
"Charlie!" He yelled, going from one ambulance to another. The others began calling out for their ol'ladies, too. "Harper!" "Piper!" "Willow!" The men screamed. "Kate!" Capone yelled, knowing that she had been there, too.
"Oh baby!" Axle sighed in relief when he saw Charlie inside one of the ambulances getting checked out by the paramedics. He rushed towards her, but one of the paramedic's stretched out his hand to stop him.
"I'm sorry, sir, she passed out due to shock." "We've sedated her and are taking her to St. Dominic's." The paramedic informed him. Axle wanted to reach inside and caress her hand for comfort. It crushed him to see her hurt. Charlie had cuts and abrasions on her body, and a gash on her forehead.
"I just need to see her!" Axle pleaded. "You can meet us at St. Dominic's, but we must go, sir," The paramedic expressed, closing the back door, and then getting into the driver's seat before driving off.
He saw the other ambulances driving off, too. "How's Charlie?" Hawk asked, tapping Axle on the shoulder. "She has cuts and bruises; they're taking her to St. Dominic's." He answered. "How's everyone? What's going on?"
Hawk guided Axle towards the others where Sheriff Ford was explaining what happened. Priest started briefing Axle on everyone. "It's bad, Axle, really bad."
Axle pinched the bridge of his nose waiting for the details they were about to tell him. "Harper suffered a dislocated shoulder and possible broken ribs." "Piper has an ugly gash to the back of her head, probably debris from the blast."
Axle raked his hands down his face in disbelief. "Kate has a broken leg and burns on her back," Capone chimed in. "Blake has a compound fracture on his left leg and mangled left hand." He added. Axle noticed that no word was said about Maddox or Willow. He saw Ink crying on Tank's shoulder.
As if knowing what Axle was going to ask next, Priest cut in. "Maddox and Willow are still inside."
"From what we've gathered so far, it seems as though Maddox and Willow were closest to the blast," Sheriff Ford began explaining, "Rescue squad is inside trying to locate them now."
"Is this a search and rescue?" "Or a search and recovery?" Axle asked. The others looked at Sheriff Ford scared of what his answer might say. "I'm not sure to be honest." "No matter what, we'll find them." He said before walking towards one of the firemen.
"Ice, Bas, Hawk, Capone, and I will head to St. Dominic's to check on our girls and Blake." "Priest, Tank, and the Unholy will stay here with Ink." "Spook, I need you to go back to Cathedral and tap into any nearby CCTV and cameras from neighboring businesses right before the blast." Axle instructed.
Axle walks over to Ink. "How are you holding up?"
Ink's face was wet with tears. "I can't lose her, man." "I just can't." He mumbled, his voice trembling with fear. Axle squeezed Ink's shoulder. "Don't think like that, she's alive, and she'll be cussing your ass out in no time."
Ink chuckled slightly knowing Axle was right. "My girl does have a sailor's mouth that's for sure." He sighs heavily. "I asked her to marry me, but she said no." He laughed, recalling the memory.
Axle scrunched his face confused.
"Willow was afraid, if we got married, things would change between us." "She got it in her head that we wouldn't be 'us' anymore if we got married." "I tried to convince her that would never happen, that we would still be 'us'." "I love her, Axle." "I'm marrying her, even if it's from a hospital bed, I'm fucking marrying her." Ink testified.
"And we'll be right there with you, brother," Axle assured him. "Some of us are heading to St. Dominic's to check on our girls and Blake." "You good?"
Ink nodded. "I'm good, man."
Axle and some of the skulls rode off towards St. Dominic's.
*******
"Do you have any idea what happened?" Priest asked Sheriff Ford. "A lady walking her dog right before the blast mentioned seeing a white van peel off from down the street." He answered.
"A white van, did she say anything else?" The Unholy followed up. "Luther!" Sheriff Ford called his deputy over. "Yeah, boss." Deputy Roman answered. "The dog lady from earlier, what else did she say about the white van she saw?"
Deputy Roman took out a small notepad from his shirt pocket. He flipped through a few pages before he found his notes about the blast. "Yeah, she said it was a construction van, Baker & Sons."
"Wait...are you sure?" Priest asked for clarification. Deputy Roman nodded. Priest looked over at the Unholy. "I'm on it," He stated as he pulled out his phone and called Arnie.
"Did the lady see the drivers?" Tank asked. "No, she just noticed the van." "But you all are doing renovation's right, so the van wouldn't be unusual." Deputy Roman pointed out.
Priest knew Deputy Roman had a point, but something wasn't right about all this. He called Capone.
"Yeah, what's up?" Capone answered.
"When you left Plush this afternoon, was Arnie and his crew still there?" Priest asked.
"No, they left about an hour before I did, why?" He asked.
"Nothing right now, I'll keep you posted," Priest answered, then hung up.
"Capone said Arnie and his crew left an hour before he did," Priest informs them. "If they were already gone, then who the hell was in the van?" Ink asked, approaching after getting himself together.
"It wasn't Arnie or anyone from his crew," Answered the Unholy as he got off the phone with the short-pudgy man, "My gut tells me this was Beast."
"Fuck!" Priest screamed.
"Hey, we found them!" Yelled one of the fire rescue members. Paramedics rushed two gurneys towards the front area waiting. The first team was carrying Willow who was lying motionless on a yellow springboard.
"Willow!" Ink cried, running up to her. "Oh baby, what did they do to you?"
"Sir, please move, she's in critical condition and needs to get to the hospital now," The paramedic anxiously said. They put her in the back of the ambulance.
"Go with them, Ink, don't worry about your bike." Priest said. Ink quickly hopped in the back of the ambulance.
The second fire rescue team came out with Maddox's body. One of the fire rescue men shook his head. "I'm sorry, he didn't make it."
"God damn it!" Tank screamed, picking up some debris and throwing it.
*******
Just as Axle and the others arrive at St. Dominic's, he gets a call from Priest about Maddox. He let out a shaky breath as his fist tightened. "What is it?" Capone asked, noticing Axle's uneasy state. "They found them." "Willow's in critical condition, on her way here now." He paused before continuing.
"And Maddox?" Capone followed up. "Maddox is dead," Axle answered. "Fuck!" Hawk screamed, punching his fist against the wall.
"This was Beast wasn't it?" Bas asked, rhetorically. "Looks that way." Axle responded. "When we find that motherfucker...I'm going to do more than just kill him," Capone gritted through his teeth.
"Don't worry, brother, you'll get your chance – we all will," Axle assured him. They walked inside through the bustling ER room. Sophia was already trotting in their direction. She gave her brother a warm hug.
"I know you all have a lot of questions, so I'll do my best to answer what I can," Sophia began. "Blake is currently in surgery; he won't be riding a bike for a while." "Piper's in room 235 resting, we're going to keep her overnight for observation, but nothing serious." Bas let out a sigh of relief.
She paused and looked over to Ice. "Harper's in room 239, doctor's realigned her shoulder, she broke 2 ribs, so she'll be on bed rest for a while." Ice didn't need to hear anything else as he bolted down the hall towards his wife's room.
"Kate will be in a leg cast for a few weeks at least." "She's currently in the burn unit, looks like third degree burns, mostly on her upper back."
"What about Charlie?" Axle asked eagerly. Sophia looked at him confused. "I haven't seen her." Before he could follow-up with more questions, paramedics rushed through the doors.
"Female, 32 years old, internal bleeding, possible skull fracture, coded twice in the back," the paramedic reported, while they wheeled Willow down the hall. "Page Dr. Rendon and have them prep the OR for surgery!" Sophia yelled, running alongside the gurney.
"Sophia, where's Charlie?!" Axle shouted at his sister. Sophia turned around quickly. "I haven't seen her, ask the nurse at the reception desk ," She answered and disappeared behind two double doors.
Axle rushed towards the front desk. "Excuse me, miss, I need to know if Charlene Rhodes was brought here." The nurse typed away on her computer screen. "No, sir, no one by that name has been admitted."
"Are you sure?" "She would have been brought in with the others from that explosion." Axle said worried. The nurse looked again and even asked another nurse. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but the ambulance didn't bring her here."
"What." Axle muttered in disbelief. "Sir, I'll check Cedar Sinai and Reno General Hospital and see if the ambulance took her there." The nurse offered.
"What's going on?" Capone asked. "Charlies not here." He answered.
"Wait...if she's not here, then, where is she?"
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