Chapter 5 - THE FALSE RESCUE
Before Luke could speak—before he could reach for his heavy gold watch or say a single word of gratitude—the dark purple sky above the recycling yard erupted in a sudden, violent strobe of flashing color.
Red and blue lights flared against the mountains of rusted iron.
WHAOOO... WHAOOO...
The short, loud YELP of police sirens echoed through the narrow metal canyons as three marked municipal police cruisers bounced through the front gates, their high-mounted searchlights cutting across the darkness.
Sofia’s face lit up with immediate relief.
She took a quick step toward the main aisle, her eyes wide as she watched the blue flashing lights reflect off the crushed aluminum stacks.
"Look!" Sofia whispered, her voice filled with natural, childhood hope. "The police! They're here! You're safe now!"
Luke didn't move toward the light.
Instead, his entire body went rigid as iron. He reached out with his uninjured right arm, grabbing Sofia’s wrist once again, pulling her back into the narrow shadow between the broken appliances with an urgency so intense it made her gasp.
"Stay down!" Luke hissed under his breath.
Sofia looked down at him, her forehead furrowing in complete confusion. "Aren't they here to help?"
Luke didn't answer her question. He raised himself onto his knees, ignoring the sharp spike of pain in his shoulder, and peered through a tiny gap between two discarded steel freezer doors.
In the main aisle twenty yards away, three police officers stepped out of their marked vehicles.
They didn't draw their sidearms. They didn't order the twenty heavily tattooed bikers to get on the ground. They didn't separate the Crown Serpents or treat them as suspects in an active search.
Instead, the lead officer—a tall, thick-set sergeant with a silver mustache—walked directly up to the biker who had just questioned Sofia. He clapped the biker on the shoulder, exchanged a low word, and began walking alongside two Crown Serpents deep into the yard, their flashlights moving in perfect, coordinated unison.
Sofia watched the scene through the gap, her small mouth opening slightly in utter bewilderment.
"They're... they're walking together," Sofia whispered, her voice trembling slightly as the foundation of everything she had been taught about safety crumbled in front of her.
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Luke watched the silver-mustached officer approach their section of the yard. His face turned as pale as chalk under the grime, his teeth grinding together so hard his jaw muscles stood out in stark relief against his neck.
He turned his head slowly and looked directly into Sofia’s eyes.
