Page 79 of Her Passionate Hero

“These girls are with Los Demonios?”

“Yeah, they’re over at the club on Seturnas and Lennox. They’re in line, waiting to get into the club.”

“I’ll send Martin, he’s the closest.”

“A friend of mine, Zed, he’ll be there. Can’t miss him, my size. Half Mexican. When things escalate, he’s stepping in.”

“Got it. I’ll tell Martin. Is he a SEAL?”

“Affirmative.”

LL laughed. “I love that shit.”

Hunter hung up the phone on LL’s laughter.

He shoved his phone deep into his jacket’s inner pocket and strapped on his helmet. He gave a low wave to Dalton and rode out toward Las Nuevas Espadas territory.

Fifteen minutes later, he heard the sound of gunfire as he turned a corner onto the Lennox. He came to a halt because young men and women, mostly teenagers dressed to the hilt, ran past him. They were on the sidewalk and the street, yelling and screaming in fear. One girl literally fell into his bike, then righted herself, leaving a high heel, and scrambled behind him to continue on. He heard more gunshots. The only solace he could take is it wasn’t an automatic weapon.

He put down his bike and pushed against the crowd toward the club. He sprinted over the downed red velvet rope and jumped over the gold stanchions. At the entrance of the dark club, he pulled out his gun and ducked inside.

His eyes acclimated quickly as he slid against the wall. He saw the hostess stand and a curtain behind it. Screams pierced the air. He heard more gunshots and then a deafening explosion of glass crashing. He peeked through the curtain and saw dim, ambient lighting, spreading prisms of color from a shattered chandelier that showered the dance floor. He saw multiple bodies lying in the midst of the debris, one trying to get up. Were they stupid?

To the right was a bar which encompassed nearly the entire wall. The mirror was also in pieces as were most of the bottles of booze. He saw two muzzle flashes in rapid succession come from the top of the bar. Somebody must be firing blind.

“Get down,” Zed said as he ran across the dance floor and shoved the girl who was trying to get up back to the floor. He zigzagged as he flew toward the bar, shooting his weapon.

“Got you covered,” Hunter yelled. He saw another flash from the other end of the bar, but this shooter stood up. Hunter took aim and hit his target in the head. He searched the room for other bogeys as Zed jumped the bar.

On the floor, he saw someone struggling to lift their arm. Was that a weapon? He couldn’t tell. He felt the glass splinter beneath his boots as he ran to the figure who was raising their hand. He stomped on their arm, and felt it break, the woman screamed as the gun dropped from her useless fingers.

The stream of curses was long and colorful as Hunter raised his boot. He looked around to the others on the dance floor. He counted seven, five women and two men, teenagers really. One was dead, her head crushed from one of the arms of the huge chandelier. A boy was helping a girl sit up. A girl lying on top of another girl suddenly moved.

“Whore!” she screamed in Spanish. She punched the girl underneath her. Hunter moved forward and pulled her off the unconscious girl. When he did, he found Darla. He recognized her from the picture at Nicolas’ apartment.

“Darla! Is she alright?” Another girl crawled over, uncaring of the glass.

“Are you Ynez?” Hunter asked.

“Yeah.”

He heard sirens. They didn’t have much time. He felt for Darla’s pulse. It was strong. He felt along her body, noting the slight swell of her abdomen, she didn’t appear to have any broken bones. She moaned.

“Ynez?”

“I’m here, Darla.”

“Bitch came at me from behind,” Darla snarled.

“Her man pulled a gun on the guy you were dancing with,” Ynez said.

“Yo! Tex! We gotta get outta here, you find your girls?”

Hunter heard Martin’s shout from the front of the club.

“We need an ambulance, Martin,” Hunter yelled. “Zed, what’s your status?”

“I’m good,” Zed said in a normal voice. Hunter looked up. He was right behind him. He crouched down beside Hunter. “Darla, we’re friends of your brother, Nicolas. We’re going to get you some help,” Zed said in Spanish.