Page 84 of Easy, Tiger

She's not giving up. Not on me, not on us.

"Pick it up," he commands, gesturing to the heavy dart gun sitting on the snowmobile's seat. "My arm's shot to hell, and the rifle is too heavy to hold steady one-handed. So you're going to shoot him for me."

Halsey lifts the heavy weapon slowly, her hands trembling under the immediate threat of execution. "I've never used one of these before."

"It's a predator-grade tranquilizer, already loaded and primed," he snaps. His smirk is pure, sadistic pleasure. "I want to watch you shoot the man you love. And if you try to turn it on me, I blow your brains out before you can even lift the barrel. So unless you want to die on this ridge, you'll aim it exactly where I tell you."

She lifts the tranquilizer gun, her hands visibly trembling, though I can see the sharp calculation behind her wide eyes. "Like this?"

"Finger on the trigger. Barrel pointing up."

While Nico fixates on instructing her, I catch movement in my peripheral vision—a shadow flickering between the trees at the ridge's edge. Then another, on the opposite side. My heart pounds, but I maintain a calm exterior.

Halsey fumbles with the handle, adjusting her hands awkwardly over the stock. "Sorry, I'm nervous. This won't kill him, will it?"

"Only if he's allergic to ketamine. Now aim it!"

As she fumbles the heavy weapon, I see Owen emerge from behind a cluster of pines, moving with flawless silence across the snow. Thirty yards behind Nico, closing fast. On the other side of the ridge, Sadie's auburn braid catches the light as she arranges herself behind a granite outcropping.

With the pistol still agonizingly tight against her skull, Halsey's eyes flick toward Owen's location, then back to the tranquilizer gun. She knows one wrong twitch of the barrel means her death. "I think I've got it now."

She raises the weapon, aiming it in my direction, but her aim wavers dramatically. "It's heavier than I expected."

"Pull the trigger when you have a clear shot."

"Right." She alters her placement, and I realize she's buying time, drawing out every second while Owen advances from the shadows. "Should I aim for center mass or⁠—"

The question dies as Owen explodes from cover, hitting Nico from behind with the force of a freight train.

Owen's tackle sends both men sprawling across the granite, the pistol spinning away into a crevice between rocks. I sprint toward Halsey as Nico wrenches free from Owen, blood streaming from his nose, but his movements are still sharp and calculated.

"Are you hurt?" I reach her in seconds, hands finding her shoulders, searching her face for injuries.

"I'm fine." She transfers the tranquilizer gun into my palms instantly, offering zero resistance. "Go help them."

Nico has already reached his rifle, propped against a boulder twenty feet away, moving on nothing but adrenaline and years of military discipline. The hasty field dressing Halsey gave him is the only reason he's currently on his feet at all. The first shot cracks across the ridge as Owen dives behind cover, granite chips exploding where his head had been a split second earlier.

"Son of a bitch knows how to shoot," Owen calls out, plastered against a rock formation.

Sadie emerges from her spot, moving low across the exposed granite, but another rifle shot forces her to scramble behind a fallen tree trunk. "Can't get close enough!"

The tranquilizer gun feels foreign in my hands compared to the rifles I grew up hunting with, but the mechanics are simple enough. I check the chamber—Halsey managed to load a dart during the chaos—smart woman.

Nico fires again, the bullet ricocheting off stone near Sadie's location. He's chosen his spot well, back against the cliff face with clear sightlines across the entire ridge. Every approach requires crossing open ground under his rifle scope.

"Owen, can you draw his fire left?"

"On it." Owen breaks cover, sprinting between boulders as Nico's rifle swings to catch up with his frantic pace. The shot goes wide as Owen slides behind another outcropping.

Using the distraction to move right, I stay low, the tranquilizer gun ready. Nico's attention remains fixed on Owen's position, giving me the angle I need.

Sadie appears at my shoulder, breathless, fur-dusted snow melting off her jacket. "Heard the whole thing over Owen's channel. Wasn't about to sit in town while you two handled this alone."

"Not the time to argue with you." I gesture toward the outcropping ahead. "Draw his eye left with Owen. I need one clean second on his right flank."

"Copy that." She doesn't wait for anything further, already moving low toward better cover.

"Come on out, Maren!" Nico's voice travels across the wind. "Let's finish what we started!"