“Bring it to the abandoned freight warehouse at midnight.”
“What do you want?”
“The original.”
Daniel asked:
“And what do we get?”
A pause.
“Isaiah.”
Marcus froze.
Daniel ended the call.
Neither man spoke for several seconds.
Then Marcus asked:
“You think he's alive?”
Daniel looked at him.
“I don't know.”
“But you're going.”
“Yes.”
Marcus stood.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
“I'm coming.”
“You don't understand.”
“My entire life has been about understanding something you refused to tell me.”
Daniel's expression softened.
“Marcus, if Isaiah is alive, this may be dangerous.”
“So is everything else.”
Daniel sighed.
“You really are his son.”
Marcus smiled without humor.
“That's what everybody keeps telling me.”
They prepared for midnight.
The Road Saints surrounded the warehouse from a distance.
Daniel carried a copy of the notebook.
The real one stayed hidden.
Marcus stayed behind him.
At midnight, footsteps echoed through the warehouse.
A man stepped into the light.
Caleb Voss.
He looked older.
Thinner.
A deep scar ran across his cheek.
He stared at Marcus for a long time.
Then whispered:
“You have his eyes.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“Where is my father?”
Caleb looked at Daniel.
“You still don't know.”
Daniel's voice hardened.
“Tell me.”
Caleb laughed.
“You spent twenty years protecting a lie.”
“What lie?”
“That Isaiah disappeared.”
Marcus frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
Caleb looked at him.
“Your father didn't disappear.”
He paused.
“He was taken.”
Marcus felt the room spin.
“By who?”
Caleb looked toward the warehouse doors.
Then whispered:
“By someone standing much closer to you than you think.”
The Betrayal
Daniel immediately understood.
“Who?”
Caleb shook his head.
“Not here.”
“You called us here.”
“I called you because I need protection.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“From who?”
Caleb looked at him.
“The same people who killed your father.”
Marcus's voice cracked.
“You said he was alive.”
“I said he didn't disappear.”
Marcus grabbed Caleb's jacket.
“Where is he?”
Caleb pushed him away.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain it!”
Caleb looked at Daniel.
“Isaiah discovered who was selling information from inside the Road Saints.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“Who?”
Caleb answered:
“Elias Crowe.”
Daniel went completely still.
Marcus didn't know the name.
“Who is Elias Crowe?”
Daniel stared into the darkness.
“The national treasurer.”
Marcus looked at him.
“You trusted him?”
“For twenty-five years.”
Caleb laughed bitterly.
“That's why he was dangerous.”
Crowe had access to membership records.
Bank accounts.
Chapter locations.
Travel plans.
Everything.
He sold information to criminals.
Isaiah discovered it.
He copied the evidence.
Then he disappeared.
Marcus asked:
“Did Crowe kill him?”
Caleb shook his head.
“No.”
“Then where is he?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“You were with Isaiah.”
“Yes.”
“Where did he go?”
“He told me he was going to protect Marcus.”
Marcus froze.
“How?”
Caleb looked at him.
“He knew they would use you to force him out of hiding.”
Marcus felt tears burn his eyes.
“So he left because of me.”
“He left because he loved you.”
Marcus turned away.
Caleb continued.
“He watched you grow.”
Marcus looked back.
“What?”
“He came to Pine Hollow several times.”
“When?”
“Your birthdays.”
Marcus remembered strange moments.
A man standing across the street.
A motorcycle parked near the school.
Someone leaving flowers beside his mother's grave.
He had never known.
His father had been there.
Just out of reach.
Marcus whispered:
“Why didn't he come home?”
Caleb's answer was simple.
“Because every time he considered it, someone close to Crowe found him.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“You let us believe he was dead.”
“I wanted you to survive.”
A sound came from outside.
Engines.
Many engines.
Daniel looked toward the warehouse entrance.
“That's not our people.”
Caleb's face changed.
“They found me.”
The doors burst open.
Armed men rushed inside.
The Road Saints responded.
The warehouse exploded into movement.
Marcus dropped behind a crate.
Daniel moved between him and the gunfire.
“Stay down!”
The lights went out.
Men shouted.
Motorcycles roared outside.
The Road Saints had surrounded the building.
Within minutes, the attackers were disarmed.
Then a calm voice echoed through the warehouse.
“You should have left this alone, Daniel.”
A man stepped into the light.
Silver hair.
Expensive coat.
Perfectly calm.
Elias Crowe.
Daniel stared at him.
“You.”
Crowe smiled.
“You finally understand.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“Where is my father?”
Crowe looked at him.
For the first time, his calm expression changed.
“You really look like him.”
Marcus shouted:
“Where is he?”
Crowe laughed softly.
“Still asking the wrong question.”
“What question should I ask?”
Crowe stepped closer.
“Ask why your father trusted Daniel.”
Marcus looked at Daniel.
Crowe continued.
“Ask why Daniel never found him.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“Enough.”
Crowe smiled.
“Isaiah was smarter than all of us.”
Then he looked at Marcus.
“And that's why he had to die.”
Marcus felt his stomach drop.
“You killed him?”
Crowe shook his head.
“No.”
He smiled.
“But I know who did.”
Before he could say more, police sirens filled the night.
Crowe turned.
The Road Saints blocked every exit.
Daniel stepped forward.
“It's over.”
Crowe looked around.
Thousands of bikers had surrounded the warehouse.
For the first time, Elias Crowe looked afraid.
The Last Letter
Crowe was arrested.
The investigation that followed exposed years of corruption.
Bank accounts were frozen.
Officials resigned.
Stolen motorcycles were recovered.
Several men connected to Isaiah's disappearance were arrested.
But one question remained.
Where was Isaiah Reed?
Caleb finally agreed to tell them everything.
He led Daniel and Marcus to an old repair shop in northern Arkansas.