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“Okay, I’ll take that.”

I stepped outside the bunkhouse and Savanna was standing there waiting with a gun of her own. “Everything okay in here?”

“Dandy. I’m calling Doc Olson for Hannah. I’m afraid I had to kill her in self-defense and she’s a bit of a mess. These guys stashed Harlan in a hunting blind way back, so that’s where I’m going. You watch these guys and wait for Doctor Olson. Shoot any of them who make a move or sic the dogs on them. Call Billy and tell him to get ahold of Ted and send him up here with the other squad. We need more transport.”

“Got it,” said Savanna.

Spofford and I were tramping through the field behind the bunkhouse, and we hadn’t made it as far as the woods when I saw movement up ahead of us.

“Harlan, is that you?”

“Me, Travis. I’m tired.”

I ran towards him as his legs gave out and he fell in a heap onthe ground. “Help me with him, Spofford. How much stuff did you shoot into him?”

“Just enough to put him in the K-hole.”

“You used Ketamine on my son?”

“Wasn’t my idea. Hannah gave it to us.”

Harlan was a big kid for fifteen. Five ten, about a hundred and sixty-five pounds. It took both of us to get him back as far as the bunkhouse.

By then, Billy was there, gun in one hand and his cane in the other.

“Savanna, see how close you can get the truck for Harlan. They drugged him and he’s still out of it.”

“I’ll go get it.”

I sat Harlan on the ground and leaned him up against a tree to prop him up. He was semi-conscious and mumbling. “Windrider.”

“He came home by himself, son. He’s in the corral. Billy fed him and cooled him out.”

Savanna was back moments later with the truck and I picked Harlan up and loaded him in the back seat. “Just lay there and Savanna will drive you home to the ranch.”

“I missed Savanna’s dinner.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

Doctor Olson came for Hannah, and I knew he’d be pissed. He hated shotgun deaths. They were so messy. “My, my, Travis. You don’t shoot too many women.”

“Unless they kidnap my son and shoot him full of Ketamine.”

“Uh huh. That would do it.”

The doctor hauled Hannah away in his van, and then it was Ted’s turn. He helped me load up the guys in the bunkhouse. Half in the squad he brought and half in my truck with Billy at the wheel.

“Lock them all up and we’ll book them in the morning,” I said. “Billy, come home as soon as you’re done. I’ll be with Harlan.”

“Save me a cold one.”

With the mess cleared up at last, I retrieved Outlaw and rode him home along the road. It wasn’t far, but it was pitch dark and I didn’t want him stumbling or picking up a stone.

Wild Stallion Ranch.

I tucked Outlaw into his stall then hurried into the house to see how Harlan was doing. There was no way I could get him upstairs to his own bed, so he’d have to sleep on the sofa for tonight.

He rallied for a few minutes when he got home and thought he might be able to eat the dinner he missed, but then the drugs took over and he was out.