Page 295 of Rangers Last Promise

I feel it too.

The black SUV is no longer visible beneath the wing.

Harlan used the firefight to escape.

“He abandoned you,” Mara says.

“He abandoned all of us.”

“Put down the flare.”

Vance tightens his arm around the deputy’s throat.

“No.”

The deputy looks at me.

His eyes drop toward Vance’s right leg.

The holster.

Empty.

Vance’s pistol is against his head.

But a knife is strapped to his ankle.

The deputy shifts his weight.

I shake my head slightly.

Don’t.

He does it anyway.

He drives his heel down on Vance’s foot and throws his head backward.

Vance’s nose breaks.

The gun moves away from the deputy’s skull.

Mara fires.

The bullet hits Vance’s shoulder.

The deputy drops.

I rush forward.

Vance swings the pistol toward me.

I fire.

My round strikes his chest.

He stumbles backward against the fuel truck.

The flare falls from his hand.