Vale sighed.
"Always the protector."
"You should leave."
"You know I can't."
"Then you know how this ends."
Vale smiled.
"You still think this is about revenge."
John's eyes narrowed.
"It isn't."
"No."
Vale pointed at Daniel.
"It's about succession."
Daniel looked confused.
"Your grandfather built the system," Vale said. "Your mother inherited his access. And now you are the final person capable of opening everything."
"I don't want it."
"That doesn't matter."
Vale looked at John.
"That's the beauty of power. Nobody has to want it."
John stepped forward.
Vale raised one hand.
The armed men lifted their weapons.
Grim whispered:
"John."
"I know."
Vale continued.
"Give me the boy, and the Iron Horse walks away."
Grim laughed.
"You don't know bikers very well."
Vale looked at him.
"I know enough."
Grim shook his head.
"Then you know we don't leave our own."
Vale smiled.
"Excellent."
The lights went out.
John moved.
The room exploded into chaos.
Gunfire.
Smoke.
Screams.
Bikers and assassins collided between shelves.
Daniel crawled beneath a desk.
Grim fought his way toward him.
John moved through the room like a shadow.
One man.
Then another.
Then another.
Vale escaped through a hidden door.
John saw him.
He started after him.
But Daniel screamed.
John turned.
Two men were dragging the boy away.
John changed direction instantly.
He intercepted them.
Daniel fell free.
John grabbed his arm.
"Run."
They disappeared through the archive.
Grim followed.
Behind them, the building shook as explosives detonated.
John looked back.
"Keep moving."
They reached the underground tunnels.
Daniel gasped:
"We lost the key."
John stopped.
"What?"
"The pendant!"
John checked his pocket.
Empty.
He looked back toward the burning archive.
Vale had it.
Grim arrived.
"What happened?"
John answered:
"Vale has the key."
Grim's face hardened.
"Then we get it back."
John nodded.
But Daniel noticed something.
John wasn't looking at the burning archive.
He was looking at the tunnel wall.
There was a mark carved into the stone.
A black circle.
Inside it, a single word.
RUSKA.
Daniel asked:
"What does that mean?"
John's face became unreadable.
"It means this isn't over."
The Safe City
They escaped Chicago before sunrise.
The High Table had failed to capture Daniel, but now they possessed the key.
That changed everything.
Grim wanted to return to the clubhouse.
John refused.
"They'll be waiting."
"Then where?"
John said one word.
"Church."
They drove to an old church outside the city.
The priest was an elderly man named Father Thomas.
He had known John for years.
When he saw Daniel, he immediately understood.
"Elena."
John nodded.
Father Thomas looked at the boy.
"She told me you might come."
Daniel stared.
"My mother knew you too?"
"She knew many people."
Father Thomas led them into the basement.
There was food.
Water.
Medical supplies.
A small room where Daniel could sleep.
For the first time in days, the boy felt safe.
But safety was temporary.
John sat alone in the church.
Father Thomas approached.
"You look tired."
John smiled faintly.
"I've looked worse."
"Not often."
John looked at him.
"Vale has the key."
Father Thomas sighed.
"Then he has the thing he always wanted."
"What?"
"Control."
John looked toward the sleeping boy.
"I won't let him have it."
Father Thomas sat beside him.
"John, you can't save everyone."
"I know."
"Then why do you keep trying?"
John was silent.
Finally he said:
"Because nobody saved me."
Father Thomas looked at him.
"And now?"
John watched Daniel sleep.
"Now I know what it costs."
Outside, a car stopped.
Grim entered.
"We found something."
John stood.
"What?"
Grim placed a photograph on the table.
A large estate.
Snow-covered.
Mountains behind it.
"Vale's headquarters."
John studied the image.
"Where?"
"Montana."
John nodded.
"Then that's where we're going."
Grim looked surprised.
"You think we can walk into his headquarters?"
John picked up his coat.
"No."
He looked at the Iron Horse members.
"We're riding in."
The Ride
Thirty-two motorcycles left the church before dawn.
The Iron Horse had called every member who could ride.
Some came from three states away.
Some had been retired for years.
Some had not ridden since their children were born.
But when Grim called, they came.
Daniel rode behind John.
The boy watched the endless line of motorcycles stretch down the highway.
"Why are they doing this?"
John answered:
"Because your mother saved someone they loved."
"Who?"
John looked ahead.
"Me."
Daniel understood.
They reached Montana after two days.
Snow covered the mountains.
Vale's estate sat at the end of a private road.
Stone walls.
Steel gates.
Cameras.
Guards.
John stopped his motorcycle.
Grim pulled beside him.
"Plan?"
John looked at the estate.
"We go straight in."
Grim laughed.
"That's not a plan."
"It's the plan."
"Of course it is."
The bikers revved their engines.
The sound rolled through the valley.
Guards appeared on the walls.
Searchlights swept across the road.
Then the gates opened.
Vale stood outside.
He wore a long black coat.
The pendant hung around his neck.
He had been waiting.
John stopped.
Vale called out:
"You came for the boy."
John shook his head.
"I came for the pendant."
Vale smiled.
"And what will you do if I refuse?"
John looked around.
"Then everyone here will learn why you should have."
Vale raised his hand.
Hundreds of armed men appeared.
Grim looked at John.
"That's a lot."
John nodded.
"Yes."
Grim smiled.
"Good."
The motorcycles roared forward.
The battle began.
It was not elegant.
It was not clean.
It was chaos.
Bikers crashed through barricades.
Guards scattered.
John moved toward the estate.
Grim and Cole led the main attack.
Daniel stayed with Father Thomas in an armored vehicle.