Nobody moved.

Forty-two motorcycles sat idling across the highway, but not a single engine revved.

Ox Mercer stared at the tarnished badge resting in Eli’s small hand.

His face had gone completely pale.

He didn’t take it immediately.

Instead, he asked quietly,

“Where did you get this?”

Eli swallowed.

“It was inside Dad’s toolbox.”

“My mom never knew.”

“I found it last night.”

---

The badge was old.

Its silver finish had almost worn away.

Across the center were engraved three words:

Deputy Daniel Brooks

Below them…

Badge No. 4179.

Ox closed his eyes.

“No…”

Bear, the club’s vice president, stepped closer.

“What is it?”

Ox finally accepted the badge.

His hands trembled.

“I buried this man.”

---

The crowd murmured.

Eli’s mother looked confused.

“But…”

“My husband said Deputy Brooks di** in a bridge collapse seven years ago.”

Ox slowly nodded.

“That’s what everyone was told.”

---

Seven years earlier…

Deputy Daniel Brooks had disappeared while investigating a trafficking ring operating along the county highways.

The investigation vanished with him.

His patrol vehicle had been found beneath a collapsed bridge.

The official report declared him dead.

No body was ever recovered.

Only his shattered patrol car…

…and a missing badge.

Except…

Ox was now holding that very badge.

Which meant one thing.

Daniel Brooks had never been inside that car.

---

Ox looked at Eli.

“Your father…”

“Why did he keep this?”

Eli lowered his head.

“Dad said if anything ever happened to him…”

“…I should find the biker named Ox.”

The surrounding riders looked at one another.

Nobody outside the club knew that name.

Not anymore.

---

Ox suddenly turned toward his club.

“Nobody leaves.”

Bear understood immediately.

He pulled out his radio.

“Lock the route.”

Within seconds…

Forty-two Harleys completely blocked both directions of the highway.

Not to stop traffic.

To stop whoever might already be watching.