Page 57 of Rangers Last Promise

Not through the phone.

Close.

Wolf runs toward the back door.

Sheriff Tate follows him.

Mara and I are directly behind them.

The rain has almost stopped. Portable lights cast long shadows across the alley. One of the deputies aims his flashlight toward the Dumpster.

A phone lies in a puddle beside it.

Trigger’s phone.

Wolf picks it up.

The screen is shattered, but the call is still connected.

“Trigger!”

No answer.

We spread out, searching the alley.

A dark drop glistens on the pavement near the rear corner of the tavern.

Then another.

Blood.

The trail crosses behind the feed store and continues toward an abandoned hardware building.

Mara raises her weapon.

Sheriff Tate catches her shoulder.

“You stay behind me.”

“He took Trigger.”

“We don’t know that.”

“Then where is he?”

Wolf moves ahead, his shotgun pressed tight against his shoulder.

“Trigger wouldn’t leave his phone unless someone made him.”

I follow the blood trail.

The drops become farther apart and smaller near the hardware store.

Either the bleeding is slowing or the shooter has done something to control it.

We reach the building.

Its front windows are covered with plywood. The old delivery door at the rear hangs partly open, moving in the wind.