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Rogan kicked in the back door and burst inside, witnessing the commotion that was already going on among the filth and debris that littered the inside of the home. Hugo was running through a hallway, kicking piles of laundry from his boots, and Rogan followed until he heard Hugo yell in front of him.
“He’s out the window! Go-Go-Go!”
Hugo turned around and an urgent, angry look marred wrinkles into his face as he tore back through the hall. He grabbed Rogan by the arm and pulled him along just long enough to get him turned back around as well, and both men went sprinting out the back door in pursuit of Tommy the Tank.
They heard as Craigan, Dean, and Bull gave chase behind an old, beat-up pickup truck that had come barreling out from around the back of the house and left a thick cloud of dirt in its wake as it shot through the dirt driveway, fishtailing out onto the street.
Hugo and Rogan ran back to their bikes and set off after them, weaving around the dirt cloud that had already begun to settle. They could see their crew up ahead and raced to catch up.
When the truck screeched around a turn to head through a residential neighborhood, it gave them the gain they needed on him. Rogan came up and around to get right up on the bumper. He looked over at Craigan and motioned for his brother to take the passenger side while he took the driver’s side. Hugo would keep the rear while Dean and Bull would get around him at the front, surrounding him and forcing him to a stop.
Rogan took the left to ride up on the driver’s side, but as Tommy the Tank came into view, Rogan could see him pointing a pistol out the passenger side door with his right hand. He looked over at Craigan pulling up on that side.
“No!” Rogan yelled, realizing what was about to happen, but it was too late.
He could hear the blast of the gun just as the truck swerved and overcorrected momentarily as Rogan watched it all play out in slow motion.
“No!” he roared out again, watching Craigan’s bike lose control and topple over, sending him skidding sideways over the rough, unforgiving surface of the road.
Rogan swerved into the overcorrection to reduce the impact of Tommy the Tank’s truck hitting him, knocking him and his bike over with, thankfully, minimal damage. The handlebar had just missed his eye and left a bleeding cut across his right brow along with a smaller cut below his lip and some scrapes here and there, but he ignored his own injuries, jumping back on the bike.
He rushed back toward Craigan, dismounting his bike carelessly as he ran to his friend’s side. Craigan had been tossed from the bike from the momentum of the fall and was lying motionless in a bloody heap on the side of the street.
Overwhelming panic shot through Rogan as he saw the blood pouring out of Craigan’s broken body. When he got to him, he didn’t know whether to move him, for fear that he might cause even more damage.
“Craigan! Craigan, can you hear me?” he shouted, grabbing a handful of his friend’s leather jacket.
He saw Craigan’s eyes flutter open, which was only a small relief.
Rogan grabbed the cell phone from an inner pocket of his own leather jacket and dialed for an ambulance, frantically ordering them to hurry.
He tossed his phone aside and urged Craigan to hold on.
“Stay with me, brother. Fucking stay with me.”
His voice was shaky. Craigan wasn’t just his brother, he was all Rogan had.
“I should’ve taken the passenger side. I shouldn’t have told you to take that side. Craigan?”
Craigan shook his head in the smallest of movements. In a weakened, raspy voice, he said, “Take care of… Elaina and… Dallas.”
Rogan shook his head with vehemence. “No! Don’t do this! You’re going to make it, just hold on. Help is coming, just hold on.”
“Especially… Dallas. He,” Craigan winced and hissed in a gasp of air. “He needs it… most.”
“Listen to me; you’re going to be fine. Don’t you fucking dare check out on me, not now,” Rogan demanded through gritted teeth. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
Craigan’s breathing was becoming more labored by the second.
“The… girl. She’s… still… there.” He paused to gather what strength he had left. “Go back for… the girl.”
Rogan thought back for a moment. The girl – the one they had been trying to save from fucking Tommy the Tank. He shook his head.
“No, I’m not leaving you. I’m right here, Craigan, stay with me.”
But it was too late. Rogan looked on as the life escaped from his friend’s eyes. Craigan was gone.
THIRTEEN
