Page 27

I press the button on my radio twice.

The signal tells Arthur and Taylor to hold their positions.

I need these men alive long enough to answer questions.

One climbs through the opening in the fence. The second follows.

They take five steps onto my land.

“Stop.”

Both men spin toward my voice.

Their weapons rise.

I’m already moving.

The first fires.

The shot cracks across the ridge and chips stone from the boulder beside me. I drop, fire once, and strike his shoulder. His gun falls into the dirt.

The second man pivots toward the trees.

Arthur comes out of the darkness and drives him into the ground.

The man swings his weapon toward Arthur.

A knife flashes through the air.

It strikes the attacker’s sleeve, pinning his arm to the ground without touching his skin.

Arthur kicks the gun away.

I reach the wounded man before he can crawl back through the fence. I roll him onto his stomach, pull his uninjured arm behind his back, and secure his wrists.

Taylor appears beside Arthur and restrains the second man.

“Clear,” he says.

Will’s voice comes over the radio. “SUV is moving.”

“Direction?”

“Backing down the road.”

“Driver’s running,” Taylor says.

“Let him.”

If we chase the SUV, we leave Sage with only one man at the house.

I’m not doing that.

Headlights appear briefly through the trees. The engine roars as the driver turns around and races toward the highway.

Taylor calls the direction of travel into the sheriff’s department.

Arthur searches the man he pinned. “No identification.”