Chapter 10 - THE ROAD TO PHOENIX
Everett Knox nodded once.
"Thank you, Claire," he said quietly. "Look after my granddaughter."
Claire’s eyes widened as the word—granddaughter—echoed in her mind. She looked at Junie, wearing Emily’s silver bear pendant, and realized that the tiny girl holding her hand was the living legacy of the man sitting on the Harley.
"Everett..." Claire called out as he reached for the starter button. "What are you going to do?"
Everett didn't answer with words.
He thumbed the ignition.
THUNDER.
The massive V-twin engine of the black Harley roared to life with a deafening, chest-vibrating explosion of mechanical power. Smoke puffed from the twin exhaust pipes, and the headlight cut a blinding swath of white light through the twilight mist rising off the wet pavement.
Everett kicked the kickstand up, shifted the heavy machine into first gear with a sharp, metallic CLACK, and turned the motorcycle toward the highway on-ramp leading west toward Phoenix.
He looked back over his shoulder one last time.
In the glow of his taillight, he saw Claire holding Junie close, the little girl raising her tiny hand to wave goodbye, the silver bear pendant catching the red reflection of his brake light.
Everett twisted the throttle.
The Harley shot forward like a cannonball, its rear tire gripping the damp asphalt, launching the massive biker out of the travel plaza and onto the open, dark expanse of the Arizona highway.
The wind roared in his ears, tearing through his dark hair and whipping his open leather vest against his tattooed ribs. Twelve years of grief, hollow wandering, and buried pain vanished from his heart, replaced by a single, burning, absolute purpose.
May you like
The story of his daughter's death was a lie.
And as the black motorcycle flew through the desert night toward Phoenix, Everett Knox rode not as a grieving father, but as a storm coming to collect a debt twelve years overdue.
