CHAPTER 2: The Men Who Walked In
The diner doors swung open.
Cold air rushed inside.
Every eye turned.
Six men stepped through the entrance.
Dark suits.
Earpieces.
Expressions carved from stone.
Not one of them looked at the bikers.
They walked directly toward the elderly man.
The leader stopped beside his booth.
Then, to everyone's shock, he lowered his head.
"Sir."
Just one word.
But it changed everything.
The biker who had stolen the cane suddenly looked uncertain.
The old man nodded toward the floor.
"My cane."
The suited man picked it up carefully, almost respectfully, and handed it back.
The old man wrapped his fingers around the polished wood.
Only then did he stand.
Slowly.
The room realized something terrifying.
He hadn't needed the cane to stand.
The cane wasn't for support.
It was a symbol.
The biker forced a laugh.
"What is this? Some kind of joke?"
No one laughed with him.
The suited man turned and placed a folder on the old man's table.
Inside were photographs.
Newspaper clippings.
Military records.
The waitress stepped closer and gasped.
One headline stood out.
GENERAL WILLIAM HART SAVED 312 HOSTAGES DURING THE BLACK SEA CRISIS.
The old man was not just an old man.
He was a decorated war hero.
A man whose name once appeared in history books.
The biker's face lost all color.
And the old man finally spoke.
"You laughed because you saw age."
His blue eyes locked onto the biker.
"You never bothered to ask what came before it."
Silence swallowed the diner.
For the first time in years, the biker wished he could take something back.
But it was already too late.
Because someone else had just arrived.
May you like
Someone who recognized General Hart immediately.
And she was crying.
