A man.
Rachel leaned closer.
Her breath stopped.
Craig Danner.
Older.
Heavier.
But unmistakable.
Hammer looked toward the highway.
The SUV was gone.
Rachel’s hands became cold.
“He followed us?”
Hammer shook his head.
“Maybe me.”
“Why?”
“Because he saw Mateo pour milk into my motorcycle?”
“No.”
Hammer looked toward the box.
“Because somebody knows I brought this.”
Rachel stared.
“How?”
“I don't know.”
Mateo whispered:
“Dad's records.”
Rachel turned.
“What?”
The boy’s eyebrows drew together.
“You said Dad wrote I would remember.”
“Yes.”
Mateo looked toward the Harley.
Then toward the diner.
Then suddenly:
“The heartbeat.”
Rachel frowned.
“What heartbeat?”
Mateo looked at her.
“Dad's engine game.”
Hammer crouched.
“What about it?”
Mateo closed his eyes.
Rachel remembered Luis teaching him.
Listen deeper.
Engine has a heartbeat.
Mateo opened his eyes.
“He hid stuff in the garage.”
Rachel’s pulse jumped.
“Where?”
“In the old radio.”
“What radio?”
“The one that didn't work.”
Rachel remembered.
Large wooden tabletop radio from Luis’s father.
It had sat on a garage shelf.
After Luis died, Rachel packed almost everything.
The radio?
Storage unit.
She stood so quickly the chair moved backward.
“We need to go.”
Hammer said:
“Not alone.”
Rachel looked at him.
“I’m not hiding for another three years.”
“I didn't say hide.”
“What then?”
Hammer looked toward the motorcycles.
“Twenty witnesses.”
Dean smiled faintly.
Rachel stared.
“You're taking twenty bikers to my storage unit?”
Hammer shrugged.
“Nineteen.”
“My Harley isn't going anywhere.”
Mateo looked at the milk.
For the first time that day, the boy laughed.
A tiny sound.
But real.
Hammer looked down at him.
“Congratulations.”
Mateo froze.
“What?”
“You killed it.”
Mateo’s smile disappeared.
Hammer crouched.
“For today.”
He pointed toward the bike.
“Engine can be cleaned.”
“Bike can be repaired.”
“People are harder.”
Mateo looked toward the key in his hand.
Hammer continued.
“You didn't save anybody by hurting this machine.”
Mateo’s eyes lowered.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“I think.”
Hammer nodded.
“Good enough for now.”
Mateo held out the key.
Hammer shook his head.
“Keep it.”
“What?”
“Until I fix the bike.”
“Why?”
“So you remember something.”
“What?”
Hammer looked toward Rachel.
Then back.
“Engines aren't your enemy.”