CHAPTER 4 — THE SNIPERS WEREN'T AFTER THE BOY... THEY WERE AFTER WHAT WAS INSIDE HIM
No one moved.
Twenty-three red laser dots danced across the clubhouse walls, stopping on every biker, every hostage...
...and finally locking onto Eli's tiny chest.
Outside, hundreds of black SUVs surrounded the Iron Wolves compound.
Their engines idled in perfect silence.
Men dressed in black tactical gear emerged one by one, carrying military-grade rifles.
They weren't a rival biker gang.
They weren't police.
They were something far more terrifying.
Professionals.
The loudspeaker crackled again.
"You have sixty seconds."
"Hand over the boy."
"No negotiations."
Jax slowly stepped in front of Eli.
"If you want him..."
"You come through me."
A cold laugh echoed through the speakers.
"We expected that answer."
Suddenly—
BOOM!
The clubhouse's front doors exploded inward.
Smoke filled the room.
Flash grenades blinded everyone.
Gunfire erupted from every direction.
The Iron Wolves fought back immediately.
Five hundred bikers turned the clubhouse into a fortress.
Tables became barricades.
Motorcycles blocked entrances.
The air filled with shattered glass, flying bullets, and deafening screams.
Sarah grabbed Eli and pulled him behind the old stone fireplace.
"Stay here!"
"But Mom—"
"No matter what happens..."
"...don't let anyone touch the necklace."
Eli instinctively grabbed the silver chain hanging around his neck.
Jax noticed it for the first time.
"What necklace?"
Sarah froze.
She had said too much.
Before she could answer, one of the attackers broke through the window.
Jax knocked him unconscious with a single punch.
As the masked soldier hit the floor, something fell from his pocket.
A photograph.
Sarah picked it up...
...and her face turned white.
It wasn't a picture of Eli.
It wasn't even a picture of Jax.
It was a picture of Sarah holding a newborn baby inside a hospital delivery room.
But something was terribly wrong.
There were...
Two babies.
Not one.
Sarah's hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
"No..."
"No... this can't be..."
Jax grabbed the photo.
His breathing stopped.
One baby wore the hospital tag #27.
The second baby wore #28.
"What is this?" Jax demanded.
Sarah burst into tears.
"I never told you..."
"I gave birth to twins."
The room fell silent despite the battle raging outside.
Jax stared at her in disbelief.
"Twins?"
Sarah nodded, unable to stop crying.
"They took both of them..."
"But after I escaped..."
"I could only find Eli."
Jax felt his entire world collapse.
"You mean..."
"Our other child..."
"...could still be alive?"
Sarah whispered one heartbreaking word.
"Yes."
At that exact moment...
The masked commander outside removed his helmet.
Every biker who saw his face froze.
Even Mason, tied to a chair and bleeding heavily, looked horrified.
"No..."
"It can't be..."
Jax's eyes widened.
The commander looked almost exactly like him.
The same eyes.
The same jawline.
The same scar above the eyebrow.
The stranger smiled through the smoke.
"Hello, brother."
Jax's knees nearly gave out.
"I watched you mourn your family for eight years..."
"...while I built mine."
Then the commander turned toward Eli.
"Come with me, son."
Eli looked back and forth between Jax...
...and the mysterious man.
"What did you call me?"
The commander smiled.
"I said..."
"Come with me, son."
Behind him, another child slowly stepped out of one of the black SUVs.
A boy.
Eight years old.
The same height.
The same face.
The same hazel eyes as Eli.
The two boys stared at each other in complete shock.
Neither of them spoke.
May you like
Because it felt like they were looking into a mirror.
TO BE CONTINUED...
