Diesel laughed.
“That's the nicest way anyone has ever called me an idiot.”
The club laughed with him.
For the first time, Emily laughed too.
The Choice
Cole decided they had to find Merrick.
“We end this legally and completely,” he said.
Then he looked at Emily.
“You noticed things none of us did.”
Emily understood.
“You need me.”
Cole shook his head.
“I won't make you part of something that isn't yours.”
Emily looked around.
Twenty-two men were watching her.
Men who had been strangers that morning.
Now they looked at her as if she belonged.
“I have nowhere else to go,” she whispered.
Cole stepped closer.
“You're not coming because we need your eyes.”
Emily looked up.
“You're coming because you're one of us now.”
She froze.
“We don't abandon our own.”
Emily's lips trembled.
“I'm one of you?”
“Yes.”
For the first time, she smiled without fear.
“I am one of you.”
“That’s right.”
Then they heard an approaching engine.
Not a motorcycle.
A truck.
Cole immediately understood.
Merrick had expected photographs.
When the photographs didn't arrive, someone would come looking.
The truck stopped near the abandoned road obstruction.
Cole watched from cover.
One man climbed out.
He expected to see twenty-two dead bikers.
Instead, he found an empty road.
The Iron Angels surrounded him.
He surrendered almost immediately.
His name was Reggie.
He admitted he worked for Merrick.
He knew where Merrick was.
An abandoned auto garage north of town.
And Merrick was waiting there.
The Road to Merrick
Reggie offered to drive the truck back to the garage.
Merrick expected him.
He would not expect the bikers hiding beneath the tarp.
Cole began organizing the plan.
Then Emily spoke.
“I'm going with Reggie.”
“No.”
“He'll look nervous if he arrives alone.”
Cole shook his head.
“You're seventeen.”
“And Merrick is suspicious.”
She pointed toward the truck.
“A frightened girl in the passenger seat makes sense. He'll think Reggie brought him a witness.”
Cole stared at her.
“No.”
“You know I'm right.”
“I know you're seventeen.”
His voice cracked.
“One hour ago, I didn't know you existed. Now you're volunteering to enter the property of a man who wants me and twenty-one other people dead.”
He stepped closer.
“I would rather let Merrick escape than put you at risk.”
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
“You would really do that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Cole's answer was quiet.
“Because somebody should have protected you before.”
He looked directly at her.
“I refuse to become another adult who watches a child walk into danger and tells himself it isn't his responsibility.”
Emily began crying.
“Nobody has ever said that to me.”
Cole sighed.
“Get used to it.”
She laughed through her tears.
Then she shook her head.
“I still have to go.”
Cole understood.
Emily wasn't reckless.
She simply could not walk away from people she cared about.
Finally, he agreed.
“Then you stay down when the rear doors open.”
“I will.”
“You do not become a hero again.”
Emily smiled.
“I'll try.”
The Truck
Night covered the desert.
Emily sat beside Reggie in the truck.
Eight bikers were hidden beneath the tarp behind them.
The others followed at a distance.
Reggie's hands shook.
Emily noticed.
“You're doing the right thing.”
“I don't feel brave.”
“Bravery usually doesn't feel good.”
She looked ahead.
“It feels terrible.”
The truck passed the first security camera.
Then the second.
A quarter mile from the garage, Reggie's phone rang.
Merrick.
Reggie answered.
“You're late.”
“The road was blocked.”
“Did you get my photographs?”
Emily silently mouthed one word.
Her.
Reggie understood.
“I brought something better.”
“What?”
“The girl.”
Silence.
“What girl?”
“The witness from the highway.”
Merrick's voice became colder.
“Bring her.”
He ordered Reggie to use the rear entrance.
Then the call ended.
Reggie exhaled.
“He knows.”
“He suspects,” Emily corrected.
“There is a difference.”
The garage appeared ahead.
Emily looked toward the dark building.
“Now drive.”