Chapter 5 - THE SCRAPE OF A CHAIR
SCREECH.
Behind the central table, a heavy metal folding chair scraped violently across the wet concrete floor of the station patio.
Every biker reacted instantly, their heads snapping toward the back of the seating area.
A senior rider named Marcus—a weathered man in his late fifties with a graying beard and a heavy leather cut—had stood up so fast his chair had been thrown backward onto the pavement. His face was chalky gray, his eyes wide with an erratic, uncontrolled panic.
Without saying a word, Marcus turned his back on Elena and Cole, ducking his head and stepping rapidly toward the side of the building near the dark ice vending machines.
Cole didn't turn around to chase him, but his face lost almost all its color. His dark, sharp features turned pale under the white fluorescent glow, his hands tightening around the stamped key until his knuckles turned white.
"Marcus..." one of the younger bikers muttered, taking a step toward the retreating rider.
"Leave him!" Cole barked, his voice echoing off the glass storefront.
The silence returned, even colder and more oppressive than before.
Elena watched Marcus vanish into the shadows behind the station, her heart hammering against her ribs. She looked back at Cole, whose eyes were fixed on the pavement between them.
"Gabriel was my uncle," Elena said softly, her voice trembling slightly. "My father never spoke his name. For fifteen years, he lived in fear of this club, moving us from town to town, changing our names, checking the mirrors every time a motorcycle passed our house."
Cole swallowed hard, his dark eyes filled with a complex blend of guilt and ancient anger.
"Gabriel Reyes was Daniel's twin brother," Cole said quietly, his voice heavy with memories he had tried to bury. "The night Gabriel vanished fifteen years ago, three hundred thousand dollars in cash and a quarter-ton of undocumented cargo went missing from our warehouse in Tucson. The club was almost destroyed in the fallout. We were told Daniel betrayed us... that Daniel took the money and left Gabriel to take the hit."
"My father didn't betray anyone!" Elena snapped, her eyes flashing with sudden, protective fury.
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"Then why did he run?" Cole countered softly. "Why did he hide for fifteen years?"
Before Elena could answer, a deep, thunderous roar echoed from the pitch-black highway stretching out into the desert.
