Chapter 10 - THE WATCHER IN THE HALLWAY
The doctor's words sent a cold, lethal wave through the waiting room. Mack turned slowly toward the other riders, his face contorted in absolute rage.
"Lock down the roadhouse," Mack whispered, his voice carrying a dark, dangerous promise. "Find out everywhere we stopped between the line and the diner. Every gas pump, every rest stop. Somebody got close to his bike or his drink."
While the riders huddled near the entrance doors, Erin sat frozen on the vinyl couch, her heart hammering wildly against her chest. She looked down at June sleeping peacefully against her chest.
If Cal had been intentionally poisoned, his collapse was not an accident—it was a targeted hit.
And if someone was actively trying to eliminate Cal, his desperate final plea took on a chilling, immediate reality: Please... don't let them take June.
Cal knew he was being compromised. He knew that if he fell, his daughter would be left entirely unprotected.
Suddenly, June stirred in Erin’s arms.
She didn't wake up crying. She simply opened her large, dark eyes, looking past Erin’s shoulder toward the far end of the long ICU corridor.
Erin turned her head slowly to follow the child's gaze.
At the far end of the hallway, standing just beyond the automatic sliding entrance doors, was a tall figure in a dark jacket. The person’s features were obscured by the bright glare of the corridor lights, but they stood completely motionless, looking through the glass doors directly toward the waiting couch.
In their gloved right hand, the stranger held a thick manila folder—and pinned to the cover was a small photograph of June.
June didn't make a sound. She simply tightened her small grip on Erin’s apron, her eyes locked onto the distant figure.
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Erin sat up straight, shifting her body to completely cover June’s frame, her sharp instincts telling her that the danger had not ended at the diner.
The sun had set, but the darkness was only deepening. And as Erin looked from the unconscious father behind the ICU glass to the defenseless child in her arms, she realized she was no longer just a waitress who had served dinner—she was the only line of defense standing between June and the shadows waiting in the night.
