Chapter 3: The Man in the Window
The window slammed shut.
Maya flinched.
Grace screamed into her mother's coat.
Ethan grabbed Maya's wrist.
Across the street, the twelve bikers moved at once.
No shouting.
No panic.
They spread out with practiced precision, six moving toward the front of the apartment building and the others disappearing into the darkness between parked cars.
Breaker stayed where he was.
His eyes never left the window.
“Inside,” he ordered.
Maya didn't move.
“Who was that?””
“Inside, Maya.””
“Who is watching us?””
Breaker stepped closer.
“Right now, the person watching us isn't your biggest problem.””
A sharp crack echoed through the night.
Maya ducked.
Grace buried her face against her.
The streetlamp exploded.
Glass rained onto the sidewalk.
Ethan screamed.
Breaker grabbed the children and dragged them behind a parked truck.
“Stay down!””
Maya dropped beside them.
Her heart was pounding so hard she could hear it.
Another crack.
This one struck the brick wall behind them.
Breaker looked up.
“Shooter's across the street. Second floor.””
One biker shouted from the alley.
“Back window!””
Breaker pointed toward the building.
“Get everyone out the rear!””
Three men sprinted toward the side entrance.
Maya stared at Breaker.
“You said you weren't here to protect us from the people who burned my apartment.””
“I said we're protecting you from the people who knew you survived.””
“What is the difference?””
Breaker looked at her.
“The people who burned your apartment wanted you gone.””
His voice dropped.
“Someone else wants you alive.””
Another shot.
A bullet tore through the side mirror of the truck.
Grace whimpered.
Breaker pulled his phone from his vest.
“Call me when you're clear.””
He handed it to one of his brothers.
The biker nodded and ran.
Breaker turned toward Maya.
“When I tell you to move, you move.””
She nodded.
“Why are you doing this?””
Breaker hesitated.
Then he said something she wasn't prepared to hear.
“Because I owe your husband.””
Maya froze.
“My husband is dead.””
“I know.””
“You knew him?””
Breaker looked toward the dark apartment building.
“More than you did.””
Something inside Maya snapped.
“My husband lied to me?””
Breaker said nothing.
“He was stealing money?””
Nothing.
“He had another family?””
“No.””
“Then what?””
Breaker finally looked at her.
“He was trying to keep you alive.””
Maya's mouth went dry.
“From who?””
Breaker glanced at Ethan and Grace.
“The same people we're dealing with tonight.””
A biker came running around the corner.
“Breaker!””
He turned.
“Building's empty.””
“What about the shooter?””
“Gone.””
Breaker cursed under his breath.
Maya stood.
“I'm done being kept in the dark.””
Breaker didn't stop her.
She stepped toward him.
“My husband died eighteen months ago. Two months later, our finances collapsed. Six months after that, the apartment fire happened. And now somebody is shooting at my children.””
Her voice broke.
“Tell me the truth.””
Breaker studied her for several seconds.
Then he reached into his vest.
He pulled out another photograph.
This one was older.
Maya's husband, Daniel, stood beside a motorcycle.
Breaker was beside him.
They were both younger.
Both laughing.
Maya stared at the image.
“You knew him.””
“Yeah.””
“How?””
“Daniel rode with us.””
Maya looked at the leather vests around her.
“He was a biker?””
Breaker shook his head.
“Not officially.””
“What does that mean?””
“It means he helped us when nobody else would.””
Maya looked at the photograph again.
Daniel had always told her motorcycles scared him.
He had joked that he wouldn't know which end of a Harley to sit on.
But in the picture, he looked comfortable.
Like he belonged there.
“What was he involved in?””
Breaker took a slow breath.
“Before he died, Daniel discovered a money trail.””
“Money trail?””
“Millions of dollars.””
Maya's face went numb.
“From where?””
“Government contracts. Shell companies. Fake charities. Missing shipments.””
Her eyes widened.
“And you expect me to believe my husband was involved in all that?””
“I expect you to believe he was trying to expose it.””
A distant siren approached.
Breaker continued.
“He found names. Account numbers. Dates. Places.””
“What happened to the records?””
Breaker looked directly at her.
“That's why your apartment burned.””
Maya stopped breathing.
“No.””
“Daniel hid the evidence before he died.””
“Where?””
Breaker shook his head.
“He never told me.””
“Then how do you know it exists?””
“Because people have been trying to find it for eighteen months.””
Maya's knees weakened.
She gripped the side of the truck.
Her memories suddenly felt different.
Daniel leaving late at night.
Daniel locking his office door.
Daniel telling her never to open a certain drawer.
The night before he died, he had kissed the children longer than usual.
At the time, Maya had thought nothing of it.
Now she remembered his final words.
Whatever happens, don't trust anyone who asks about the blue house.
She had assumed he was delirious.
Breaker watched her face.
“What?””
Maya whispered, “He said something before he died.””
“What?””
“Blue house.””
Breaker went completely still.
Every biker around them stopped moving.
“What did you say?””
“The blue house.””
Breaker looked at his men.
One of them swore.
Maya's stomach tightened.
“What?””
Breaker stepped closer.
“There hasn't been a blue house in twelve years.””
Maya stared at him.
“What does that mean?””
“It means Daniel didn't tell you where to look.””
Breaker looked toward the road.
“He told you where not to look.””
A car engine roared somewhere nearby.
One of the bikers shouted.
“Breaker!””
Headlights burst around the corner.
A black SUV accelerated straight toward them.
Breaker pushed Maya and the children aside.
The SUV jumped the curb.
A biker dove away.
The vehicle smashed through the metal fence and disappeared into the alley.
Silence.
Then Breaker stood.
His face had become something Maya hadn't seen before.
Pure fury.
He looked at the others.
“That's a warning.””
Maya's voice shook.
“No.””
Breaker turned.
“It is.””
She pointed toward the alley.
“They were trying to kill us.””
“No.””
He looked at the photograph in her hand.
“They could have.””
Maya stared at him.
“Then what were they trying to do?””
May you like
Breaker looked at Daniel's photograph.
“They wanted you to know they're close.””
