Chapter 9 - The Silver Raven's Warning
The Raven Man stopped right at the edge of the dirt shoulder on his side of the highway. He looked across at the nine hardened men standing between him and the boy, calculating the raw physical odds in a heartbeat.
He didn't look afraid; he looked like a man who knew he held an entire hand of high cards yet to be played.
"You always were quick to bleed for old ghosts, Hawk," the Raven Man said, his voice cool and mocking. "But this isn't twelve years ago. The club doesn't know half of what Cole was involved in before he ran. You protect that kid, and you're buying a war you can't afford."
Tate didn't flinch. He reached into his leather vest, slowly pulled out the yellow legal sheet containing Ghost's final desperate note, and held it up between two fingers in the blinding sunlight.
"Ghost left me his word," Tate said, his voice echoing off the dry earth. "And in this club, that's the only currency that never rots. You tell your people in Phoenix that if a single Raven comes within ten miles of this boy again, I won't just stop at the border. I'll tear your whole house down to the concrete."
The Raven Man stared across the road at the yellow paper in Tate's hand. His smirk slowly faded, replaced by a dark, cold intensity.
He slowly raised Ghost's black helmet, turned it sideways, and dropped it onto the dirt shoulder at his feet with a heavy, hollow thud.
"Keep the helmet, Hawk," the Raven Man said, stepping backward toward the open door of the black SUV. "Consider it a down payment on what's coming for all of you."
May you like
Without another word, the Raven Man slid into the driver's seat of the SUV and slammed the heavy door shut.
The dark vehicle shifted into gear, its tires spraying gravel into the dry brush as it pulled a hard U-turn across the highway, acceleration roaring as it sped off back toward the south, disappearing into the heat-shimmering horizon in a cloud of thick white dust.
