The biker\u2019s hand tightened around the note.<\/p>\n
His eyes moved across the words one last time.<\/p>\n
Then he folded it fast\u2014<\/p>\n
like even letting the others see it might put the girl in more danger.<\/p>\n
Outside, engines growled louder.<\/p>\n
One motorcycle.<\/p>\n
Then five.<\/p>\n
Then more.<\/p>\n
The diner windows rattled as the convoy rolled into the parking lot.<\/p>\n
The little girl stayed crouched under the table, both hands over her head.<\/p>\n
The biker knelt beside her.<\/p>\n
One hand still shielding her.<\/p>\n
\u201cListen to me,\u201d he said quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter what happens, you stay behind me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The girl nodded quickly.<\/p>\n
Tears streaking down her face.<\/p>\n
The diner door slammed open.<\/p>\n
Cold night air rushed in.<\/p>\n
Heavy boots hit the floor.<\/p>\n
At the front of the group stood a tall man in a black riding coat.<\/p>\n
Rain and dust clung to his shoulders.<\/p>\n
A scar cut across one side of his mouth.<\/p>\n
His eyes swept the room once\u2014<\/p>\n
then landed on the biker.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got something that belongs to us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The diner went silent.<\/p>\n
Every biker in the room rose slowly from their seats.<\/p>\n
Chairs scraping.<\/p>\n
Leather creaking.<\/p>\n
No one rushed.<\/p>\n
No one panicked.<\/p>\n
But the air turned dangerous.<\/p>\n
The burly biker stepped away from the table just enough to block the girl completely from view.<\/p>\n
His expression had gone cold.<\/p>\n
Dead calm.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe doesn\u2019t belong to anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
The scarred man smiled faintly.<\/p>\n
Cruel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat envelope says different.\u201d<\/p>\n
The biker pulled the folded letter from his fist.<\/p>\n
Held it up for one second.<\/p>\n
Then looked the man straight in the eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s not a delivery.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s your boss\u2019s daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room froze.<\/p>\n
Even the men at the door stopped moving.<\/p>\n
The little girl looked up from behind the overturned chair, confused and terrified.<\/p>\n
The scarred man\u2019s smile vanished instantly.<\/p>\n
His jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should\u2019ve kept reading.\u201d<\/p>\n
The biker\u2019s face darkened.<\/p>\n
Because he had.<\/p>\n
And he knew exactly what the rest of the letter said.<\/p>\n
If they failed to return the girl before midnight\u2014<\/p>\n
her mother would be dead.<\/p>\n
The biker slowly reached behind his vest.<\/p>\n
Pulled out a revolver.<\/p>\n
The sound of metal clearing leather echoed through the diner.<\/p>\n
Then he spoke.<\/p>\n
Low.<\/p>\n
Final.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo get to that child\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
He cocked the hammer.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026you\u2019ll have to explain to her mother why you buried the only men still trying to save her.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The biker\u2019s hand tightened around the note. His eyes moved across the words one last time. Then he folded it fast\u2014 like even letting the others see it might put the girl in more danger. Outside, engines growled louder. One motorcycle. Then five. Then more. The diner windows rattled as the convoy rolled into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}