The second biker yanked the cable.

A metal clamp snapped loose beneath the motorcycle.

Hammer immediately killed the engine.

The Harley rolled forward less than a foot before stopping.

Silence fell over the parking lot.

Then Mateo screamed.

“Mom!”

Elena turned.

A school bus behind the children had begun moving.

Its driver was slumped forward over the steering wheel.

The bus wasn’t speeding.

It was worse.

It was rolling slowly toward the curb.

Right toward the children.

Parents scattered.

Teachers began shouting.

Hammer jumped from the Harley and ran.

His biker brothers pushed through the crowd.

One grabbed the nearest teacher.

“Get every child inside!”

Another sprinted toward the bus.

Hammer reached the front bumper seconds before it reached the curb.

He planted both boots against the pavement and grabbed the driver’s door.

“Brake!”

The driver wasn’t responding.

Hammer pulled the door open.

The bus had already crossed the first painted line.

He climbed inside.

Elena stood frozen.

Then she saw something beneath the driver’s seat.

A dark object had fallen against the brake pedal.

Hammer kicked it away.

The bus stopped.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Then children began crying.

Teachers rushed forward.

Elena ran straight to Mateo and pulled him into her arms.

But her eyes kept returning to Hammer.

He climbed down from the bus.

His cheek was already swelling from the helmet strike.

The biker who had helped him approached.

“Did you see the cable?”

Hammer nodded.

“Someone attached it to the emergency release.”

Elena heard that.

“What does that mean?”

Hammer looked toward the school.

“It means this wasn’t an accident.”

A school administrator approached with a security officer.

“Are you saying someone tampered with the bus?”

Hammer pointed toward the parking lot.

“Check the cameras.”

The security officer ran inside.

Minutes later, he returned with a face that had gone pale.

“One camera was disconnected.”

“Which one?” Hammer asked.

“The one covering the bus lane.”

Hammer looked at Elena.

Then he looked at the forty children who had nearly been standing in the path of the bus.

The crowd that had called him dangerous only minutes earlier was completely silent.

Then Mateo tugged on his mother’s sleeve.

“Mom.”

“What?”

“I saw someone.”

Everyone turned toward him.

Mateo pointed across the street.

“There was a man by the fence.”

Hammer’s expression hardened.

“What did he look like?”

Mateo swallowed.

“He was wearing a school jacket.”