Chapter 4 - THE TRAITOR'S MARK
A dead silence fell over the stage. The 40,000 people in the crowd couldn't hear the conversation, but they could read the body language. They saw the terrifying stillness that washed over Logan Steel.
"Patricia," Logan said, without turning his head.
The event coordinator froze. "Logan, I have no idea what that is."
"It's got your foundation's inventory tag on it," Ray growled, stepping toward her. "You put a remote kill switch on his brother's memorial bike? Why?"
Patricia’s face drained of color. "I... the insurance company," she stammered, backing away. "The underwriter threatened to pull our liability coverage yesterday. They said the bike was too powerful, too unpredictable to ride in a crowd of thousands. If someone crashed it, the foundation would be sued into oblivion."
"So you agreed to brick it on the main stage?" Logan asked, his voice dangerously soft. "You were going to let me sit up here and look like a fool, let the crowd think the Beast died, just to save your premiums?"
"It was to save the charity!" Patricia cried, tears springing to her eyes. "If we lost the insurance, there's no ride. No money for the burn wards. I made a judgment call. I clicked the remote disable from my phone right before you sat down."
Logan stared at her. The anger inside him was a living thing, but the profound betrayal cut deeper. He had trusted her with Daniel’s legacy.
"Give me your phone," Logan demanded.
Patricia handed it over, her hands shaking. Logan threw it onto the asphalt in front of the stage and crushed it beneath his heavy boot.
He turned back to Leo. "You have two minutes. Can you bypass it?"
"I already removed the kill switch," Leo said, wiping sweat from his eyes. "But we have a bigger problem."
Leo pointed to the exposed wires hanging from the starter relay. Where the kill switch had been spliced in, the copper was melted and charred black.
"She didn't just disable the bike," Leo explained, his fingers lightly tracing the ruined wires. "When she triggered the remote kill, it sent a reverse surge through the immobilizer. It fried the ignition coil bridge. The bike’s computer thinks it’s being stolen. It’s locked down in anti-theft mode."
Ray cursed loudly. "That's it. It’s over. We need a proprietary dealer laptop to clear an anti-theft lockdown on that ECU. It takes hours."
"Or," Leo said softly, reaching into his pocket again. "We use the master override."
Leo pulled out a thick, heavy silver ring. It was battered, heavily scratched, and bore the insignia of the Hells Angels.
Logan stumbled back as if he had been shot.
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"Where did you get that?" Logan whispered, his eyes locked on the silver band.
"It was Daniel's," Leo said. "And it's the only thing that can start this engine now."
