The men behind Sully began murmuring. Sully's eyes moved slowly to Leo, who looked at Hank's pocket rather than meeting the biker's gaze. "A silver Zippo?" Sully asked. Leo nodded.
"Skull on the front?" Another nod. Sully turned back to Hank. "Take it out."
Hank hesitated, then produced the lighter as if expecting it to prove something. Sully held out his hand. "I gave that to Leo," he said.
"He earned it by helping me. You just took it from him." Hank's face reddened. "I'm his guardian. I can confiscate whatever I think is inappropriate."
"You can protect a kid," Sully answered. "You don't get to hurt him and call that protection." His voice remained even, but the effort of containing his anger was visible in the way he held his shoulders. Behind him, Arthur Callahan approached with deliberate, measured steps. Ox stopped beside Sully and looked from Leo to the wooden bat on the concrete.
Deputy Higgins moved away from his cruiser. "This is official business," he said. "You men need to clear out now." Ox turned toward him, a giant of a man with a braided beard and a scar at the base of his neck.
"Then let's do it officially," Ox replied. "Tell us who authorized you to put a hurt kid back in a truck with the man he's accusing of hurting him. Tell us why you're standing there while he threatens him with a bat."
Higgins bristled. "You don't get to question me." A rider standing near the front lifted his phone and began recording. Another did the same, followed by a woman in a dark helmet who had arrived with the Nevada group and was taking photographs from the far edge of the gravel lot.
Sully noticed the cameras and nodded toward them. "Good," he said. "Everybody keep your distance. We want a record of what happens next."
That was when Hank made the choice that finished any possibility of the confrontation ending quietly. He lunged forward and seized Leo by the upper arm, jerking him toward the pickup. Leo cried out as the movement pulled at his injured ribs. Sully caught Hank's sleeve and forced him to release the boy. The two men collided briefly against the side of the truck before Ox stepped between them and made space.
Hank stumbled backward, his anger displaced for a moment by surprise. Sully stood breathing hard, one hand braced against his bandaged shoulder. "You don't put your hands on him again," he said. Hank opened his mouth, closed it, then looked toward Higgins for help. The deputy hesitated because too many people were watching and the cameras were pointed directly at him.
"Sully," Ox said quietly, "we get the kid out of this situation. We don't make it worse." Sully glanced at Leo, who had backed against the old pump. His face was pale despite the desert heat. There were streaks of tears in the dust near his eyes, and he kept one arm folded tightly across his ribs. The sight cut through Sully's anger more effectively than Ox's warning had.