Ignoring him, Shade leaned to the side, forcing his bike through two fire trucks. Firemen leapt out of the way as he passed without slowing down. When he finally managed to get through the smoke and saw the road ahead, he gunned his motor to pick up speed again. He was almost there.

It wasn’t long until he slowed and flicked off his headlight when he turned into the small strip mall where Sex Piston’s shop was. Parking his bike at the end where it couldn’t be seen from inside the store, he was getting off when Stud and the Destructors came running from behind the building.

“Who’s inside?” Shade asked.

“All the women, Lily, and Dale and Joker,” Stud informed him grimly.

“Weapons?”

“Dale and Joker each have one. Razer had Crash transfer the call to Bear’s cell phone. We can hear what’s going on inside; we just can’t get inside without making noise—both front and back are locked.”

Shade was unable to see into the beauty shop from where he was standing. “They in the front?”

“They took them in the back.”

Shade had been hoping they would be in the front of the shop. He would have been able to take them out with a bullet.

“They’re coming out. He’s making Sex Piston take him to the bank to get money,” Bear whispered, covering the cell phone.

“Spread out,” Shade ordered. “No one moves until I signal.”

Sex Piston could be seen unlocking the front door. The woman paused before stepping out, surveying the parking lot.

“Lock the door back up,” Dale ordered loudly.

The dumb-fuck was confident no one was around. The same confidence is going to get him killed, Shade promised himself.

“Move,” Sex Piston demanded, telling Dale to get out of her way before turning back toward the door.

After she locked it, he jerked her away and pushed her toward the car everyone knew was hers at the side of the building. The pitch-black parking lot allowed them to stay out of sight as they walked past, and then Shade and Stud moved in from behind.

When Sex Piston opened her car door, forcing Dale to take a step back, Stud reached out, jerking Dale back by placing an arm around his neck. The slow bastard didn’t have time to react as Shade closed his hand over the gun, wrenching it from his hand expertly. Then Shade pointed it at Dale while Stud squeezed Dale’s throat until he passed out.

As soon as Stud let him fall to the ground, Bear moved out of the shadows, picking up Dale as the other brothers from the club followed him out of the darkness.

“Put him somewhere and leave two men watching over him,” Stud told Bear.

Shade was happy that, for once, Sex Piston’s mouth remained closed as she watched the men drag Dale away.

“You okay?” Stud asked.

As she nodded, Shade could see she was shaken up and worried about her friends, but the tough woman remained calm.

“Joker has the others in the back of the shop, Stud. He has a gun pointed on them,” Sex Piston told them.

“We know.” Stud grimly moved toward her to take her in his arms, holding her close.

“How?”

“Lily. We’ve been listening in on her cell phone,” Shade answered.

“Thank God.”

“Stay here.” Stud released her after giving her a tight squeeze.

“I’m going with you. I can go in the door first and distract him,” Sex Piston argued.

“You’re staying here,” Stud demanded, turning away, but Sex Piston reached out and grabbed his arm.

“You’ve never been inside my shop. He has a gun on my friends. You go through that door first then Joker might shoot. Please, Stud.”

Shade was becoming impatient listening to the two argue, but he knew Sex Piston was right. He could also understand Stud wanting to keep his woman out of trouble.

“Let her go. If he starts shooting in a small room, any of those women could be hit by a bullet. If she could get his back to the door, then we can take him,” Shade said grimly.

Stud hesitated before agreeing.

Sex Piston went to the door alone and unlocked it. Then, holding it open, the men moved silently into the shop, hiding behind the counter, trying to keep their reflections from the mirrors.

At Shade’s nod, Sex Piston walked toward the back of the shop while Shade and Stud maneuvered themselves closer to her, trying to stay out of Joker’s line of vision.

Stud had a gun in his hand while Shade’s remained empty, but he wasn’t worried about it. He wanted his bare hands on the mother fucker, and with the deadly look in his eyes, he was every bit as frightening.

Joker jerked the pistol toward Sex Piston when he saw her in the doorway. Shade managed to see past her to where Crazy Bitch was kneeling on the floor, her lip bloodied and a bruise forming on her cheek. Killyama was holding Lily protectively, Lily’s hand a mangled mess. Joker must have found the cell phone lying on the floor. T.A. and Fat Louise were standing on opposite sides of the room.

The amazing thing to Shade was that none of Sex Piston’s crew were showing fear. Shade, during the time he had been in the military, had seen men break down under pressure, whereas those women were holding it together.

“Looks like you’ve been busy, Joker,” Sex Piston smarted off.

“Where’s Dale?” he asked, his eyes going to the doorway behind her.

“He said to tell you to go fuck yourself and took off,” she taunted the man.

“You’re lying!”

“No, I’m not. When we got outside, he took off.” Sex Piston shrugged, looking at one of the women in the room. “I always told you he was a pussy.”

Joker moved toward her, and Sex Piston tried to shift to the side so she could get his back to the door, but Joker was too lost in his anger. Reacting violently, he grabbed Sex Piston.

However, before he could do anything, Killyama was on him. She picked up one of the break chairs and crashed it down on the back of his head.

Stud and Shade were already running in, but they couldn’t get past Sex Piston fast enough and into the small room before Joker fired his gun.

As the women screamed, Shade had to force himself to go for Joker, despite his first instinct to rush to Lily.

He managed to grab the gun away from Joker. Turning it to point directly at him, Shade fired a bullet into the side of Joker’s abdomen. When he killed the fucker, it wasn’t going to be painless—Joker was going to suffer the terror Shade had felt trying to reach Lily.

“That will keep you busy,” Shade’s voice was cold.

Shade ran past Crazy Bitch who was getting to her feet while Lily shakily scooted closer to Fat Louise as T.A. rushed over to them. Fat Louise was lying on the floor with blood pouring from her leg. T.A. grabbed some towels from the shelf to try to stop the bleeding as Lily sank down next to her, taking Fat Louise’s hand with her good one. Her other hand fell uselessly to her lap as Bear and Pike came in the door.

“The state police are outside, and an ambulance is on the way,” Bear informed them.

Shade stood, letting Lily comfort the woman while fighting off the need to reach down and take her into his arms.

“You’re going to be okay,” Sex Piston told her friend.

Fat Louise nodded, trusting her friend’s judgment without question. Shade had never witnessed the depth of friendship the women shared. The Last Rider’s women were friends with each other and got along well, but those five women would die for each other.