"I know what he did. That's why I called for witnesses and help. We don't get to decide our anger gives us a free pass." The men backed away, shaken by the reprimand. Leo saw Sully's fury turn inward and understood that even the people who came to save him could make terrible choices when they forgot why they had come.
Hank stared at his damaged truck and then at the bikers responsible. "I'll have every one of you arrested," he said. "You can make a report," Ox replied. "And we'll make ours." Higgins used the confusion to move toward his cruiser, but Sully asked the riders nearest the exit to keep the driveway clear rather than block him. The deputy drove away to meet the incoming supervisor, leaving Hank standing beside the wreck and shouting threats nobody answered.
Sully returned to Leo with the Zippo. The biker had retrieved it during the confrontation and now held it out in his open palm. "I believe this belongs to you," he said. Leo took it with shaking fingers.
"You really came back," he whispered. Sully crouched carefully so they were closer to eye level. "I told you I would. I wish I'd come sooner."
A rider handed Leo a sealed bottle of water, and another offered a sandwich wrapped in paper. He tried to drink too quickly, and Sully reminded him to slow down, not out of control but out of concern for a boy who had been rationing each swallow. Leo sat on the edge of the station's old concrete apron, sheltered by the shadows of parked motorcycles. Around him were two hundred and forty-seven riders, some talking quietly, some standing guard over the road, others keeping distance so the medics would have room to work.
The ambulance arrived first. A paramedic named Elena Ruiz crouched beside Leo, introduced herself, and asked permission before checking his injuries. That small courtesy almost made him cry again. She examined him, asked how long he had been without reliable food and water, and listened when he described the cracked ribs from Flagstaff. Sully stepped back to give them privacy, though he stayed within Leo's sight.
A state trooper and a child welfare crisis worker arrived after the ambulance. The trooper spoke first to the deputy's supervisor by radio, then separated Hank from Leo while statements were taken. The crisis worker was a woman named Nora Bennett, with a canvas bag full of forms and a voice that did not hurry. She asked Leo whether he wanted to speak where Hank could not hear. Leo nodded so quickly that she moved her chair without waiting for another explanation.
"I know you've probably had people ask you this before," Nora said, "but I want to understand in your own words why you left." Leo stared at the lighter in his hand. "He hurt me," he said. "And the others are still there." Nora did not ask whether he might have misunderstood, and she did not tell him that Hank was known for taking in difficult children. She wrote the names Miguel, Tessa, and Ben, then asked Leo what he needed most right now.