Page 46 of The Fire Line

“You’ve got bad habits.”

“Some of them are charming.”

Harris’s gaze lifted, and for one strange second his attention seemed to catch somewhere below Jay’s eyes. His mouth, possibly. Or Harris was reconsidering whether charming could reasonably be applied to a man who had nearly gone over his horse’s neck ten minutes earlier. The second stretched just long enough for Jay’s pulse to register it.

Static burst from the radio clipped to Harris’s belt.

Both men looked down as the noise dissolved without producing anything intelligible.

“Excellent communication system,” Jay said.

Harris tapped the radio. Another burst of static answered him just before an ATV came around the barn and stopped outside the corral.

Walt switched off the engine. “Why aren’t you answering?”

“Haven’t heard you.”

“I’ve been calling for ten minutes.”

“On one?”

Walt looked at him. “Where else would I be?”

Harris unclipped the radio and turned it over. Jay watched his expression change.

“Wrong radio.”

Walt leaned far enough to see the strip of tape on the back. “You grabbed three? You’ve been pulling them off the same shelf for fifteen years.”

“What do you need?” Harris asked.

Walt’s gaze moved from Harris to Jay, then to Rain. “Didn’t realize riding lessons were part of the filming schedule.”

“I asked him to show me,” Jay said.

“Harris has work.”

The words were mild. Harris’s body received them differently. His shoulders went still, and whatever ease had existed in the corral disappeared beneath the controlled expression he wore whenever Walt pressed too close.

“What do you need?” Harris repeated.

“Evan’s waiting at the south fence. Post pulled loose and the wire’s down.”

“Told him I’d be there after four.”

“It’s four fifteen.”

Jay glanced toward the lowering sun. They had been in the corral longer than he realized.

“I’ll meet him there,” Harris said.

Walt restarted the ATV. “Bring the right radio this time.”

He drove away, leaving dust suspended in the afternoon light.

Harris turned back toward Rain, the useless radio still in his hand. Jay looked at it.

Channel three.