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He pointed toward a broken branch.
Fresh blood marked the bark.
Gerald had passed through here.
Not long ago.
My pulse slowed.
The Ranger calm took over.
Every sound sharpened.
The creek water.
The wind through the trees.
Boots moving softly behind me.
A distant siren on the county road.
And somewhere ahead…
A faint scrape.
Metal against stone.
I lifted my hand.
Everybody stopped.
Sheriff Cooper moved up beside me.
“You hear that?”
“Yes.”
The sound came again.
A low curse.
A man trying to stay quiet.
Gerald.
He was close.
Too close.
I moved forward.
One step.
Then another.
The creek bed opened ahead.
Moonlight spilled across the shallow water.
