Chapter 8: The Mine Where Everyone Lied
The abandoned mine looked like a place forgotten by the world.
Broken fences.
Rust-covered signs.
Trees growing through cracked concrete.
The kind of place where secrets could disappear forever.
We arrived just before sunrise.
Thirty-two motorcycles lined the dirt road.
The sound echoed through the valley.
But nobody felt powerful.
Because we weren't walking into a fight.
We were walking into a truth.
Wizard stood beside Tom.
Neither spoke.
They didn't need to.
They both knew something waited inside.
Emma stayed with our trusted riders near the vehicles.
She had been through enough.
I walked with Tom and Wizard into the mine entrance.
The air smelled like wet stone and rust.
After twenty yards, we found a room.
Not an old mining room.
A hidden room.
There were computers.
Files.
Photos.
A bed.
Someone had been living there.
Tom looked around.
"Your father?""
Wizard touched a photograph on the wall.
It showed Daniel Cross.
Older.
But alive.
"He was here.""
Then a voice came from the darkness.
"Yes.""
Everyone turned.
A man stepped forward.
Older.
Gray hair.
Tired eyes.
But alive.
Wizard stopped breathing.
"Dad.""
Daniel Cross looked at his son.
And for a moment, the entire world disappeared.
Twenty years of anger.
Twenty years of questions.
Twenty years of waiting.
Then Wizard walked forward.
The two men hugged.
Nobody said anything.
Some moments belong only to the people living them.
Eventually, Daniel looked at us.
"You brought him back to me.""
Tom shook his head.
"No.""
He looked at Wizard.
"He brought himself back.""
Daniel smiled sadly.
Then his expression became serious.
"You need to leave.""
Wizard frowned.
"What?""
Daniel looked toward the entrance.
"You're already too late.""
A sound echoed.
Footsteps.
Multiple people.
Tom reached for his weapon.
Daniel shook his head.
"Not weapons.""
He looked terrified.
"Evidence.""
The room lights turned on.
A projector started.
A video appeared.
The person on the screen was someone we knew.
Someone who had stood beside us at Wizard's funeral.
Someone who had comforted Tom.
Someone who had called Wizard a brother.
Tom stared.
"No.""
The video played.
The man spoke.
"By the time you see this, Wizard Cross will be considered dead.""
Nobody moved.
Because we recognized the voice.
It belonged to our own club member.
Our own brother.
Daniel looked at Tom.
"He was never your brother.""
Tom looked sick.
"Who?""
Daniel whispered the name.
And the name hit harder than any bullet.
May you like
Because it wasn't a stranger.
It was one of us.
