The night was quiet and cool in the suburban neighborhood[cite: 1]. The twenty motorcycles were parked in a neat line along the curb in front of the Miller home.
Toby: Look, Mom! The bikers made a camp on our driveway!
Sarah: They're watching over us, sweetie. Go bring them some hot lemonade.
Toby carried a tray of small plastic cups out to the porch, where Marcus sat on a wooden chair, polishing his helmet.
Toby: Here you go, Mister Marcus.
Marcus: Thank you, kiddo. You're a good young man, just like your father.
Toby: Did my dad really save your life?
Marcus: He sure did. We were pinned down behind a ruined wall in Fallujah. The enemy was closing in, and I was wounded in the leg.
Toby: What did my dad do?
Marcus: Your dad picked me up on his shoulders and carried me three hundred yards through open fire to the rescue helicopter. He got hit in the shoulder, but he never let me go.
Toby: Wow... my daddy was a superhero.
Marcus: He was the best of us, Toby. He gave me this leather patch off his own uniform that night. He said, "Keep this until my boy is old enough to understand what service means."
Suddenly, a shadow flickered near the side of the house near the basement window.
Biker 1: Yo, Marcus! Someone's creeping around the back fence!
Marcus: Stay on the porch with your mother, Toby!
Marcus drew a heavy flashlight from his vest and sprinted around the corner of the house, followed by three burly veteran riders.
Marcus: Hold it right there!
A masked man carrying a gallon jug of gasoline froze near the basement window.
Arsonist: Back off! Don't come any closer!
Marcus: Gasoline? Vance sent you to burn down the house to destroy the original paper trail, didn't he?
Arsonist: I don't know who you're talking about! I was paid five hundred bucks in cash!
Biker 2: Drop the gas can before I knock you into next week!
The intruder dropped the jug and tried to scale the wooden fence, but Marcus tackled him to the grass with thunderous force.
Marcus: Unmask him!
The biker pulled off the ski mask, revealing a local delinquent known to frequent Richard Vance's legal office.
Marcus: Talk! Who hired you tonight?!
Intruder: Vance! It was Vance! He called me an hour ago! He said if the house burned down tonight, he'd pay me five thousand dollars!
Sarah: Oh my God! He tried to burn us alive while we slept!
Marcus: Call the sheriff, Sarah. We have the confession on video recording right here on my phone.
Biker 1: This guy is going away for attempted murder and arson.
Marcus: Vance thought he could push around a lone widow and a small child. He didn't realize Captain Miller left behind an entire army.
Toby: Mister Marcus... I was scared.
Marcus: You don't ever have to be scared again, Toby. Look around you. You see these men?
Toby looked at the dark street lined with twenty tough, loyal military veterans standing guard under the streetlights.
Toby: Yes, sir.
Marcus: Every single one of them served with your dad or owes their freedom to men like him. You're part of our family now.
Sarah: I can't thank you enough, Marcus. You saved our lives tonight.
Marcus: Save your thanks for tomorrow morning, Sarah. Tomorrow at nine o'clock, Richard Vance meets his final judgment.
The sun began to rise over the Texas horizon, casting golden light across the American flag on the front porch[cite: 1]. It was time to go to the county courthouse.