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“You couldn’t miss us with my quad sitting right here, its lights still on,” he stated, without turning to look at him.

“But I’ve got to tell you, your grandson came over on a donkey, and he left it in pretty rough shape at my place.

He told me that it’s been a pain in the ass, and all he wanted to do was kill it.

But leaving it here is much better since that animal has taken a hell of a lot more from him than just tonight’s torture.

” He turned a hard gaze at Andy. “Is that the kind of shit you’re running over there? ”

“No, it’s not,” he snapped. “What do you want to do with him now?”

“I’ve already called the sheriff’s office.”

“No, you didn’t, you only made one phone call,” Brian interrupted, still glaring at him.

“Yeah, I only made one in front of you,” Timber explained, with a sneer. “The minute I stepped outside of my cabin, I called the deputy, already had my phone recording and on Speaker, so you can bet he’s on his way.”

Andy interjected, “I’ll take it as a personal favor if you would let me just take him home.”

“Taking him home didn’t work last time, did it?” Timber declared, turning to Andy. “He’ll be charged with animal cruelty if nothing else.”

“You can’t prove nothing,” Brian said, “and, besides, nobody around here gives a shit about that animal. That donkey is just fucking useless.”

Timber stared stony-eyed at him, then he turned to Andy. “Well, Andy, I’m sure finding out a whole lot more that I didn’t want to know.”

“Yeah, I can see that, son, and I’m sorry, but not everybody will be quite so happy to have you here if you’ll just cause trouble.”

“And is this me causing trouble to you?” he asked, giving Andy a hard glance.

Andy frowned at that. “I guess it depends if you’ll let him go.”

“I won’t let him go because he’ll just keep coming back,” Timber stated, shaking his head at Andy. “The fact that you want me to let him go with the way he’s talking to you and with the way he’s acting is completely against everything I would have expected you to stand for.”

“It’s not that,” Andy said, “but his father’s around somewhere.”

“Meaning?”

At that, the kid laughed. “Meaning my father is a snake in the grass, and he would just as soon shoot you where you stand, and even good old Andy doesn’t want to cross him.”

“I didn’t say that,” Andy replied. He turned to Timber. “My boy’s a little touched in the head. He went to war and came back not in very good shape.”

“So abusing animals is okay?”

“No,… it’s not okay,” Andy said in a hard tone, “but he ain’t overlooking putting his boy in jail.”

“Really? And what will he do about it?” Timber asked.

Then a shot was fired that hit a branch just above Timber’s head. The branch snapped and landed right beside the kid.

Brian hopped to his feet and swore. He yelled out, “That was a little too close, thank you.”

Andy sighed. “That’ll be his dad,” he muttered in a low tone to Timber. “And now we’ve got real trouble.”

Timber frowned at him and asked, “And this is seriously how you want to play it?”

“No, it’s not how I want to play it. I would prefer that my boy got the help he needs, but there ain’t no way now,” he muttered. “He’s on the wrong side of the law, and he isn’t even supposed to be here. I wasn’t even expecting him. He just showed up.”

“But he’s here now.”

“Yeah, he’s here now all right, and that is not good for anybody. He needs help.”

“I do not,” declared the man striding toward them in the dark. He had his rifle up and aimed it at Timber. Timber kept his pointed right back at him.

“Look at that,” the man noted, “We’ve got a standoff.”

“No, we don’t,” Timber said steadily, as he eyed the newcomer. “Apparently you’re Andy’s son, and your son Brian is petrified of you.”

“I am not,” Brian argued crossly. “Why the hell would you say that?”

“Because it’s the only thing that started to pull you into line. You sure don’t give a crap about your granddad here, but apparently your dad is somebody you don’t want to get crosswise with.”

A hard gaze went from his son, Brian, to Andy and then back to Timber. “I hear you bought yourself some land.”

“I did,” Timber confirmed. “All signed and sealed and perfectly legal.”

“You’ll need to give that back.”

“That ain’t happening,” Timber replied. “It was legal, signed, sealed, delivered, and I’ve already been working on it.”

“Yeah,… so I heard, but you’re also causing my boy trouble.”

“Really? Seems to me your boy has been causing me trouble.”

“It’s his land.”

“His land?” Timber repeated, shaking his head.

“No, it’s not,” Andy snapped in a hard tone. “It’s my land, and I sold it to Timber because I wanted to.”

“Then you’ll buy it back, won’t you, Papa?”

“No, I will not.”

And quick as a wink that rifle went up against Andy’s head, and a soft voice said, “Tell me that you’ll buy it back.”

Andy turned and looked at Timber.

Timber studied the other guy. “Wow. Old men, animals, and what?… Do you beat up women and children too?”

The son looked over at him and stated, “I don’t have to beat them up, but I don’t have a problem doing so if they need a tune-up.”

“A tune-up.” Timber snorted, his gaze narrowing. “I hear the local authorities are looking for you.”

“They’ll never find me,” he stated, but the rifle never moved from Andy’s face. Slowly he turned to Timber and said, “You’ll sell that land back to Papa.”

“No, I won’t,” Timber declared.

“I sure hope you’ve got your will all nicely written up because you won’t live to make all the improvements you want on it.”

“Maybe not,” Timber conceded, “but I can guarantee you that, if you kill me, you’ll be bringing down one hell of a posse.”

He laughed. And then he stopped and asked, “You military?”

“Yep, sure was.”

“What rank?”

“It doesn’t matter what rank,” Timber snapped, “because, where I come from, we’re all a team.”

“You’re one of those fucking SEALs, aren’t you?”

“I am,” Timber declared, “and believe me that an awful lot of us came home, and we’re all still together. You kill me, and you’re signing up for a war.”

“I’m up for a war,” he said.

“Can’t be too much of war, seeing as how you’re hiding behind your old man and your baby boy here,” Timber noted. “You’re bringing the law down on top of them and causing them all kinds of chaos.”

“You’re the one causing the chaos. You shouldn’t have bought that land.”

“But I did buy the land, and I’m keeping the land,” Timber declared calmly, as he studied the man in front of him. “Your old man is trying hard to keep you alive, but it looks to me as if you don’t care to keep living.”

He shrugged. “No, I sure don’t. Once you’ve seen too much, it’s really hard to turn it off.”

“That’s true,” Timber conceded, “but it’s not impossible.”

“Yeah, it is,” he argued, as he stared at him. “You’ve got one week to get this place turned back around to my daddy’s name because my boy and I want it back.”

“No, your boy doesn’t want anything to do with you,” Timber stated, looking at the kid. “Your boy is terrified of you.”

“Doesn’t matter whether he is or not. He knows what’s good for him, and I’ll confirm he does what he’s supposed to do.”

“And yet I don’t think anybody needs to hear what you think he should do.”

“I don’t give a shit what you say,” the man replied. “You’ve got one week.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I’ll come back in the middle of the night and confirm you don’t ever do anything again,” he threatened, with half a smile. “Been real nice knowing you.” And, with that, he turned to melt into the shadows.

Timber knew that to let him go like that would be a serious mistake, so he fired a shot in front of the man’s boot, stopping him in his tracks.

“The answer is no. You don’t get to hunt me down for the rest of the week, doing your own thing.

You can’t run around acting as if you’re somebody special and more powerful, terrorizing both Andy and your own kid, plus hurting any animal you can get your hand on. Ain’t no way I’m dealing with that.”

“Yeah? So, what will you do?”

“We’ve both got guns,” Timber pointed out calmly. “Right here, right now, take your best shot.”

The armed man turned to him. Then his gaze narrowed. “Now why the hell would I do that?” he asked. “You’ve got all the advantages.”

“Not really, you’re the one who stepped out of the shadows,” Timber added.

“You’re the kind of guy who likes to live in the shadows, then come out and hunt people.

Not my style. You want trouble? You’ve got it, but you get it right now,” he snapped.

“I won’t sit here and have you terrorizing the people who come and go on this property, and I’m damn sure not letting your son be a piece of shit to every animal that comes by, using and abusing them like some toy. ”

The man turned to Brian. “I thought you stopped doing that?”

The kid shuffled uneasily on the ground.

“He hasn’t. He cut that donkey to ribbons. That’s what he rode over here on and then just slashed it like a piece of meat.”

“It’s pretty tough meat, but it would do in a pinch,” the man noted, then he turned and glared. “And I don’t like you talking to my boy about that shit.”

“I really don’t give a crap,” Timber snapped, knowing without a doubt that the unpredictable nature to this man was bad news all around. “You’re wanted by the law, probably in multiple states, I would guess.”

He stiffened. “You sure as hell won’t be taking me in,” he said, with a wry smile. “I don’t care how many of you there are. It ain’t enough.”

“Maybe not,” Timber said, “but I can tell you one thing. If you don’t get your ass off my property, I have every right to shoot you where you stand.”

“And then what?” he asked in a mocking tone. “I’ll just come back.”

“Yeah,… you might, but the next time I see you face-to-face,” Timber shared, “I won’t give you any warning. I’ll just pull the trigger.”

“Hard words coming from a man like you.”

“And just what is a man like me?” Timber asked, not taking his gaze off the snake.

“I thought you were all about the SEALs, doing the right and honorable thing.”

“Yeah,… I am, and I’ll be putting down a mad dog who’s too sick to give a crap about getting any better, too sick to understand that the world has changed and that he doesn’t have to be that kind of a person anymore, too sick to understand that his time is over.”

The other man stared at him and muttered, “You don’t know anything.”

“I know PTSD when I see it. I know death-by-cop when I see it too. You too scared to take your own life?” Timber asked, aiming his gun at him, knowing he was pushing this guy’s buttons.

“I want you and your kid off my property, and, if either of you comes back around ever again, I’m pulling the trigger. Got it?”

The man stared and said nothing.

“No more warnings,” Timber repeated one last time. “No more nothing. Brian comes sneaking across the property into my yard like he did tonight, he’s done for, and, rest assured, I mean it.”

“Oh, I hear you,” he said. “That’s an awful lot of tough talk for a new man in town.”

“Yeah, but I’ve been in tough places before, and, if you think I won’t shoot my way out, you’re wrong,” Timber added, staring at him. “I’ve seen plenty of pieces of shit like you before.”

“Pretty strong language for somebody looking down the barrel of my gun.”

“And I’ve got my gun leveled at you. Doesn’t matter whether you’ve got a gun on me or not.

I’ll take you with me, you and your piece-of-shit boy.

If you want to take a chance on that, go right ahead,” Timber urged him.

“Right here, right now, then it’s over, and nobody has to worry about it anymore. ”

When a shout came from the road, several grouse flushed out of the underbrush, sending everybody in different directions, not knowing what happened.

When Timber straightened up, Brian’s father was gone.