BEAST
Something was wrong.
I felt it before I saw it.
Before the radio crackled.
Before the dog started barking.
Before every instinct I had ever learned in the Army Ranger Regiment came alive at once.
The ranch had gone quiet.
Too quiet.
Sheriff Cooper had deputies posted at both entrances.
Wolf was checking the north fence.
Trigger was with two ranch hands near the barn.
Sadie was inside with her dad.
Safe.
Or as safe as she could be while Gerald was still out there.
I stood on the porch.
Watching the tree line.
Waiting.
The air felt heavy even for Texas.
The kind of heavy that came before a storm.
A deputy walked up beside me.
“Nothing on the roadblocks.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“No, sir.”
He looked nervous.
Young.
Too young to understand what it felt like when a man like Gerald stopped thinking clearly.
Because that was when he became dangerous.
Not when he was angry.
Not when he was yelling.
When he got quiet.
