In biker culture, a vest is far more than clothing. It represents identity, brotherhood, and history. Destroying it means something serious.
Finally Randy asked directly, “Are you stepping down?”
Jack shook his head slowly.
“No.”
“Then what is this?”
Jack watched the fire for a moment longer before speaking.
“This club doesn’t hide from the law.”
The words hung strangely in the air.
Some riders frowned.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” one asked.
“We’re not criminals,” another said.
But Randy sensed something different in Jack’s tone. It didn’t sound like a lecture. It sounded like a warning.
Then someone finally asked the question everyone had been avoiding.
“Who messed up?”
Jack lifted his gaze and looked around the circle of riders. Men he had ridden beside for decades.
Then he said something that froze the entire group.
“The police are already on their way.”
Silence followed immediately.
“You called the cops?” Randy asked in disbelief.
Jack reached into his pocket, glanced at his phone, then put it away.
“They’ll be here in about five minutes,” he said calmly.
Now a more troubling question filled the air.
If the police were coming, who was Jack about to turn in?