Panic rippled through the mercenary ranks as heavy motorcycle boots hit the pavement and cold steel pressed against the backs of their necks. Within sixty seconds, fourteen armed men were disarmed and forced to their knees in the gravel.
Riker walked down the embankment, his boots crunching loudly in the dead silence of the night. He bypassed the terrified hired guns and walked straight to the lead SUV.
Silas Vance was pinned against the hood by two bikers, his tactical gear stripped, his face bruised from a brief, futile struggle. Vance glared at Riker, trying to maintain the facade of a professional operator.
"You have no idea what you're interfering with, Cross," Vance spat, blood pooling in the corner of his mouth. "You're a biker gang. You're out of your league."
Riker didn't yell. He didn't posture. He simply reached into his cut, pulled out a zip-tie, and secured Vance's wrists behind his back.
"I know exactly what I'm interfering with," Riker said, his voice a low rumble that echoed off the concrete bridge. He reached into Vance's tactical vest and pulled out the man's encrypted cell phone. "I know Mayor Sterling paid you to wipe us out so he could push his development deal through the county unhindered. I know you set up a textbook L-shaped ambush. And I know you just lost."
Vance’s eyes widened slightly. The mention of Sterling's name cracked his professional armor.
Riker stepped back, looking over the defeated squad. "Take their weapons. Strip their comms. Pull the dashcams from the SUVs," he ordered his men.
He turned back to Vance. "You're going to unlock this phone, Silas. You're going to show me the wire transfers and the text logs from the Mayor. And then, you and your men are going to walk out of this valley on foot. If I ever see your faces in my county again, we won't be doing this the quiet way."
Vance swallowed hard, looking at the stone-cold faces of the bikers surrounding him. He nodded once.
Riker looked up at the night sky, thinking of the bruised, brave kid sitting safely back at the clubhouse. Tomorrow, Mayor Sterling was going to receive a very interesting package of evidence on his desk, right next to his letter of resignation. And tomorrow, Leo Montgomery was going to get a brand new, custom-built bicycle.
But tonight, the mountain belonged to the Steel Saw Chapter.