“The bad man locked Mommy in the basement and she won’t wake up,” she whispered. “He said if I told anyone, he’d hurt my baby brother. But Mommy told me bikers protect people.”
It wasn’t the police she had turned to. Not the neighbors. Not the so-called respectable people of town. Her mother had told her: if you’re ever in trouble, find the bikers.
Snake crouched down, his massive frame folding to meet her at eye level. His voice softened. “What’s your name, princess?”
“Emma,” she said. Then she added the detail that made every man in that room tense: “The bad man is a policeman. That’s why Mommy said only bikers.”
Snake didn’t hesitate. He lifted her into his arms as though she weighed nothing. “Brothers,” he said firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument. “We ride.”
There was no vote. No debate. A child had asked for help, and that was enough.
He divided his men like a commander on a battlefield. “Tiny, take five and get to the hospital—tell them we’re bringing in an unconscious woman. Road Dog, you take ten, sweep the neighborhoods. Look for a basement, likely a cop’s place. Everyone else, with me.”
Emma clung to Snake’s jacket as the roar of thirty motorcycles thundered to life outside. Instead of fear, her lips curled into the faintest smile. “That’s a lot of motorcycles,” she whispered.
“All here to help you and your mommy,” Snake reassured her.
It didn’t take long. Prospect spotted the house—a blue door, a broken mailbox, and a patrol car in the driveway. The name on the mailbox made everyone’s blood run cold: Officer Bradley Matthews.
Matthews was a so-called “hero cop,” often first on the scene, always volunteering for extra shifts. But bikers trusted their instincts, and Snake had no illusions about men who wore masks of respectability.
They swarmed the house, filming everything, calling a lawyer, and stationing men at the hospital. Snake gently asked Emma to stay with Patches, the club’s elder, a Vietnam vet with a white beard. She went to him without fear, wrapped in his jacket, while the others stormed the basement.
What they found chilled them.
Jennifer, Emma’s mother, lay unconscious on a filthy mattress, chained to a pipe. Her arms were marked with fresh needle tracks, but Snake—who had once been a paramedic—knew instantly they weren’t self-inflicted. Nearby, an infant boy whimpered in a crib, hungry but alive.
Snake lifted Jennifer in his arms, while another biker carried the baby. Just as they were loading the family into a van, Matthews pulled up. The sight of thirty bikers standing with his captives made him pale.
When he reached for his gun, thirty men stepped forward as one.
“I wouldn’t,” Snake warned. “Your chief knows. The FBI knows. The press knows. Every case you’ve touched will be re-examined.”
Matthews tried to spin it. “She’s an addict—I was helping her.”
Snake’s glare cut through him. “By chaining her in your basement?”
The truth unraveled fast. Jennifer had discovered Matthews was taking bribes from dealers. When she threatened to expose him, he kidnapped her and her children, drugging her to make her appear like a user. His plan might have worked—if not for Emma.
At the hospital, Jennifer woke to find her children safe and a room full of bikers standing guard.
“You found her,” she whispered to Snake. “Emma found you.”
Snake nodded. “Your little girl walked into Red’s Bar and said her mommy told her bikers protect people.”
Tears welled in Jennifer’s eyes. “My dad was a biker. Jerry ‘Thunder’ Morrison. He always told me if anything ever happened, the club would protect me. I never forgot.”
The room went silent. Snake’s voice broke. “Thunder saved my life in Vietnam. Took bullets meant for me. Before his last mission, he made us promise—if anything happened, we’d look after his little girl. Looks like it took thirty years, but we kept our word.”
For the Iron Wolves, it wasn’t just about honor. It was family—spanning generations, sealed in blood and loyalty.
And for Emma, who walked into a biker bar at midnight with nothing but courage and her mother’s words, it meant salvation.