"And you always confused stubbornness with fear."
Victor stepped closer.
"Give me what I want."
"No."
Victor sighed.
"Then people will get hurt."
Elias looked at him.
"Not anymore."
That night, Elias and Marcus entered the basement.
The Rusty Spur had an old storage room beneath the kitchen.
Elias moved a shelf.
Underneath was a trapdoor.
Marcus stared.
"You kept it here?"
"All these years."
They opened it.
Inside was a metal container.
Marcus looked at Elias.
"What is it?"
"The reason Victor disappeared."
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
Names.
Financial records.
Evidence connecting several powerful men to crimes committed decades earlier.
Marcus shook his head.
"You could have sold this."
"I could have."
"Why didn't you?"
Elias closed the container.
"Because some things are not meant to become bargaining chips."
Then footsteps sounded upstairs.
Someone was inside the diner.
Elias reached for the light.
Marcus whispered:
"Don't."
They waited.
The footsteps stopped.
Then a voice called:
"Elias."
Victor.
Victor had brought men.
Too many.
But Elias had something Victor had forgotten.
Time.
The old brotherhood knew the diner better than the attackers did.