Chapter 6
The last thing I heard was Ava breathing hard.
Then nothing.
No scream.
No address.
Just silence.
I stood in the hospital chapel holding a dead phone while every old helpless feeling inside me turned sharp.
Hank took the phone from my hand.
“Carla can trace it.”
“She sounded scared.”
“I know.”
“She said Marianne found her.”
“I heard.”
He was calm.
Too calm.
I realized then that calm was not lack of fear.
It was fear with a job.
Within minutes, Carla had the cell tower area.
Chicago’s South Side.
Three-mile radius.
Too large for police to search blindly.
Not too large for bikers.
Hank made one call.
By dawn, Iron Saints chapters across Illinois were moving.
They checked diners.
Shelters.
Bus stations.
Clinics.
Pawn shops.
Anywhere a woman running from old papers might go.
I wanted to go too.
Mom grabbed my wrist from her hospital bed.
“You are not driving to Chicago without sleeping.”
“Ava needs me.”
“You need to be alive when you find her.”
I hated that she was right.
Hank arranged a convoy anyway.
We left that afternoon after Mom was moved to a protected room.
Brenda stayed with her.
So did two women from the Saints who looked like they could scare a judge into eating vegetables.
On the ride to Chicago, Hank finally told me about my father.
Not the hero version.
The real one.
“Eli was brave,” he said. “But stubborn. Proud. Thought asking for help meant putting people in danger.”
“That sounds stupid.”
“It was.”
I looked at him.
“You loved him?”
Hank nodded.
“Like a son.”
“Then why didn’t you come when he disappeared?”
His jaw tightened.
“I did. Briggs told me you and Maya wanted nothing to do with bikers. Said Eli had been dirty. Said you were better off.”
I stared out the window.
Everyone had been lied to.
Separate lies.
Custom-made.
That was how they won.
By making sure no one compared stories.
We reached Chicago after dark.
The Saints’ clubhouse there was a converted mechanic shop.
A map covered one wall.
Photos of Ava were taped across it.
Older Ava.
Teen Ava.
A blurry security still from a diner.
A woman with haunted eyes and my father’s smile.
A rider named Tess found the first real lead.
“A woman matching Ava’s photo was seen outside Mercy House this morning. She left with a man in a navy jacket.”
“By force?” I asked.
“Witness says she looked scared but walked.”
Hank looked at Carla on video.
“Marianne’s people?”
“Maybe.”
Then another lead came.
A pawn shop owner recognized Ava’s bracelet tattoo.
“She sold a necklace two days ago. Said she needed bus money.”
“Where was she going?” I asked.
He shrugged on the call.
“Anywhere west.”
Then he paused.
“But she asked if there was still a bus to Tennessee.”
My chest tightened.
“She was coming to us.”
Hank gripped my shoulder.
“We keep moving.”
At midnight, Tess found camera footage from a convenience store.
Ava entered alone.
Bought water.
A man followed her in.
Navy jacket.
She saw him and ran out the back.
The outside camera caught her climbing a fence into an alley.
Then nothing.
But the man turned toward the camera.
Rick’s brother.
Martin.
I had met him twice.
He had eaten dinner in my house.
Called me champ.
Asked Mom too many questions about Dad’s old things.
My rage went quiet.
That scared me.
Hank noticed.
“Stay with me, Brandon.”
“I am.”
“No. You’re leaving your head and going somewhere dangerous.”
“He chased my sister.”
“Yes. And we find her by thinking.”
Thinking hurt.
But I did it.
Martin knew our town.
Our house.
Our family.
If he chased Ava, he wanted something she had.
Not just her silence.
“What did she keep?” I asked.
Hank frowned.
“What?”
“She ran for years. She called me only after the video. Why now?”
Tess answered.
“Because you became public.”
“No. Because she saw Hank.”
Hank went still.
I pointed to the paused video from the gas station.
“Your vest. The Iron Saints patch. Dad must have told her about you.”
Hank’s face changed.
“She has something for me.”
A call came into the clubhouse landline.
Everyone froze.
Tess answered and put it on speaker.
Ava’s voice came through, ragged.
“I need Hank Mercer.”
Hank stepped forward.
“I’m here.”
She sobbed.
“I have Eli’s second drive.”
The room went silent.
“Where are you?” Hank asked.
Ava whispered an address.
An abandoned church six blocks away.
Then she said, “Tell Brandon I’m sorry I ran.”
I grabbed the phone.
“Ava, I’m coming.”
May you like
She cried once.
Then whispered, “Hurry.”
