The Beauty and the Biker Alpha

Chapter 5: Decoy Drive-by

Chapter 5: Decoy Drive-by

Calla

I just stood there, staring blankly out the window that faced the road. The window took up almost the entire wall on that side so that every customer could look outside, no matter where they were seated in the diner. The roar turned out to be the collective sound of motorcycle engines. I watched about a dozen or so figures come to a halt on the highway right in front of the diner. I couldn’t see their faces or any identifying features as they were all clad in black gloves, black theatre masks and black outfits.

It took me a few seconds to realize what the bikers outside were doing. When I saw it, I gasped. They had set up a heavy machine gun, placing it in a standing position less than a few yards from the window. They must have assembled it at lightning speed. One of the anonymous bikers had both hands on the controls of the heavy machine gun. He began to rain bullets down on the diner, riddling the bullet-proof glass with dent after dent until very small cracks appeared.

“The glass won’t hold!” I heard Nick yell.

I felt strong arms grasp my waist, pulling me down onto the tiled floor. Callum was shielding me with his body. I felt a sudden thrill course through me. This was no time to get aroused. What was wrong with me? I looked at Callum’s eyes. They were unmistakably pitch-black as he kept a fixed glare on the gunslingers outside. I gasped. I had convinced myself that I was seeing things, that I was just imagining it any time I saw someone’s eyes burn black at this diner. I couldn’t rationalize this sighting away. My face was inches away from his, although his torso was partially turned towards the commotion. I could tell he was deciding on the best course of action.

The man behind the machine gun rotated it to and fro, making a small arc that targeted the length of the window. Several of the bikers not operating the heavy machine gun, had hand guns and a few had rifles. They had a monster truck with them. It had pulled up just behind the gunmen. That must have caused the trembling that heralded their arrival. As if on cue, the bullet brigade paused briefly. One of the men in the monster truck leaped out. He ran towards the window. For a second I thought he was going to crash right through the bulletproof glass somehow. He was moving at an impossible speed. One second he was in the street and the next he was a few paces from the glass. He sprayed the window with some clear liquid. The glass became warped, distorting the view wherever the liquid was doused. I could smell the putrid odour of the chemical reaction taking place. The liquid burnt right through the glass. I gasped. It was acid! The gunmen resumed their shooting as soon as the acid thrower returned to the truck. The acid was corroding the glass and thus letting the bullets finally break right through. The glass melted away before my very eyes, leaving a gaping hole right in the centre of the huge window, right where the heavy machine gun was aimed.

Callum pushed me further down, still shielding me with his mammoth frame. Even from a distance, I could tell that the rival bikers were just as massive in stature as Callum and his Biker Beasts. Screams rang out through the air, adding to the already deafening din in the diner. I even heard a few snarls and roars coming from various patrons. Callum had picked up one of the many bullets now strewn across the floor.

“Silver,” he muttered.

I frowned. Silver bullets. That sounded expensive, and yet they had so many of them. He pulled me closer. His delightfully heady aroma blocked out some of the horrid smell from the chemical reaction caused by the acid.

“We need to put a stop to this, Alpha,” shouted one of the Biker Beasts, his voice powerful enough to be heard amidst the din.

This particular biker seemed to be Callum's second-in-command.

“I know,” yelled Callum, his voice equally if not more powerful.

Callum's beasts acted more like soldiers in a battalion than motorcycle gang members, respectfully deferring to him at all times.

“Don't worry, I have my cell! I’ll dial the police!” I said reassuringly.

I showed them my phone. Before I could even dial a single number, Callum knocked the phone right out of my hand.

“Hey!” I shrieked indignantly, totally flabbergasted by his behavior.

“Human police can’t do anything,” he snarled dismissively.

“Huh?” I said, bewildered by his rude reaction.

Human police?

"What do you mean 'human police' as opposed to what?" I asked.

“Later! I’ll explain later!” he boomed.

"You don't have to be so aggressive!" I hissed at him.

“Crawl behind the counter!” he ordered, ignoring my indignant admonishment.

I did as I was told, begrudgingly making my way on my hands and knees across the floor. I didn't approve of him barking orders at me, but the situation was so dire, I didn't bother trying to reprimand him again. I pushed against the hinged section of the counter. It swung open, allowing me to crawl behind the counter. I could hear Callum huffing impatiently behind me. Sonia burst through the door to the kitchen so quickly, I jumped. The door would’ve hit me right in the face if Callum hadn’t grabbed the strings of my apron using them as reins to pull me back.

“Alpha, this is just a distraction,” squealed Sonia, crouching down behind the counter with us. “There’s a few of them out back by the dumpsters! They’re trying to take Sailor! It’s a kidnapping!”

My heart plummeted. Adrenaline flooded my body. I wiggled out of my apron, pulling it over my head when Callum was momentarily distracted by something else his second-in-command was saying. Callum was left holding the strings of an empty apron. I scrambled to my feet and darted through the kitchen door before he realized. A few people were hiding in the kitchen. I ran out the back door of the kitchen to the back of the diner where the dumpsters were. I hadn’t thought this true. What would I do? What could I do?

Sailor was being dragged kicking and screaming towards the open back door of a waiting getaway car. The vehicle was a smaller and perhaps faster version of the monster truck out front. A burly man had grabbed a fistful of her hair and the fabric of her uniform. He was masked and dressed in black like the others.

“NO!” I screamed, running towards her, but it was to no avail.

He had the same inhuman speed some of the other diner patrons and employees seemed to have. I watched in horror as he pulled her closer to the car. Her hands were frantically trying to break the grip he had on her hair and clothes. She tried to grind her heels into the ground, but they kept slipping through the sand, kicking clouds of dust into the air. A particularly powerful kick from Sailor sent a cloud of sand towards me. I shut my eyes reflexively, trying to keep the fine grains of sand out of it.

The following events happened in mere seconds. I wiped my eyes and looked up, squinting. Someone from inside the car shot a dart at Sailor. The dart pierced her neck. She instantly stopped resisting. Her movements rapidly grew sluggish and her eyes drooped. Her head lolled to one side and her arms dropped to her sides. It was a tranquilizer dart of some kind, I thought to myself just as I felt a searing pain at the side of my own neck. s**t. Oh no. My hand flew up to my neck. My fingers clasped around the dart that had pierced my flesh. The resulting wound would likely be shallow enough for me to risk removing the dart myself. I tried to pull the tranquilizer dart out before it took effect, but I could hardly maintain my grip on it. My fingers were not cooperating anymore. I could no longer hold my hand up without extreme effort. My legs wobbled, threatening to give way under me. My head was spinning. The desert seemed to swirl around me. The corners of my vision grew dim until darkness swallowed me whole like some mythical beast. The last thing I saw was a masked behemoth of a biker running towards me at top speed. It seemed that Sailor would not be the only one abducted during this decoy drive-by.