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Timber sighed. “And to go out in a huge mess of firepower.”

“Shit, shit, shit,” Andy wailed. “I don’t want that sweet girl to end up being a casualty in all this. She’s done nothing. I don’t want to think Max would hurt an innocent woman, but—”

“But he’s apparently done it before,” Timber added, thinking about Dwight’s wife.

“There may be a few animals around too that he’s hurt.”

“What do you mean?” Timber asked.

“I don’t know for sure, but I heard some shots earlier. I just assumed he was out hunting.”

“And yet hunting implies hunting for meat, for a meal.”

“He hunts for the pleasure of killing things,” Andy snapped. “Something’s wrong with him, and I don’t know how to fix it.”

“I don’t know that there is any fix anymore for Max, and you need to prepare yourself because I don’t know that your son’s coming out of this alive. I’m sorry to say this, but I can’t see it.”

“No, he’s not, but that will be by his own choice. However, if there’s any way you can save him—”

“Shit, Andy, don’t do that to me. He’s holding a woman right now, a woman he’s already told you he’ll hurt and make suffer.

She’s done nothing to deserve it, but he’ll make her pay for everything that’s gone wrong in his life.

I can’t stand by and let that happen, and I know you wouldn’t want me to. ”

Andy started crying, great big ugly sobs, as if he realized his son was already as good as gone. “I’ll go try to help her.”

“No, you need to stay where you are.”

“No,” Andy argued. “I should stop him from hurting her. It’s the least I can do. I should have killed him myself years ago.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s been wrong for a long time, long before he joined the military,” he whispered. “I just wasn’t able to stop him, but now?… Now he’s gone too far.” And, with that, Andy ended the call.

“Shit, shit, shit.” Timber pounded the steering wheel in frustration as he drove as fast as he could to the nearest road. When his phone rang, he answered, “Toby, is that you? Talk to me.”

“No, it’s not Toby. It’s Richard. What the hell is going on?”

“Max Killerman has taken Tiffany hostage,” he snapped. “And he’s bound and determined to punish her for whatever transgressions he thinks I’ve made. I’ve just talked to Andy, and he says Max is likely fully armed, as in heavily armed, and he won’t go down easy. He probably won’t come out alive.”

“Shit. So, this will be death-by-cop, unless we can beat him at his own game.”

“It’ll still be that way,” Timber snapped, hardness in his tone.

“The military has opened an investigation into some crimes that were committed while Max was in the service. Everybody is basically saying that he committed a fair number of his own atrocities while he was over there and thoroughly enjoyed himself.”

“I know,” Richard replied, “and that could well be what is triggering this right now. Anything else I need to know about this mess?”

“His dad just sold me the rest of the property we were talking about. Andy told me that Max once had a place out here, but he burned it down in a rage years ago, supposedly never rebuilt it. The trouble is, Andy was so upset, I couldn’t get a good location out of him, other than by a creek.

Max apparently told Andy that Max and Tiffany were somewhere on the property.

Andy didn’t know where but says I need to get there or she’ll be hurt in some way.

I can’t even believe I’m saying this, but everything he says about Max is just sheer ugliness. ”

“I am on my way now.”

“I’ll meet up with Toby, and we’re heading into the woods together.”

“Are you armed?”

“Of course. Toby is meeting me there, and we’ll have the horses.”

“Just be aware that Max will likely take down the horses, just because that’s who he is.”

“Right, so he’ll kill the horses, put us on foot, and try to take us out that way.”

“You know his file?”

“I know enough. He’s always preferred ground maneuvers, and he doesn’t like horses, according to the military.

He’s got an unreasonably angry attitude about them.

Probably because his dad loved them so much, and so did his mother.

Maybe that’s what is setting him off. I don’t know,” Timber admitted.

“I don’t know what kind of twisted-ass story Max’s got going on, but I can tell you that he is not somebody to play with, and I need you to stay out of it.”

“That’s not happening. You’re not here. You’re not in position, and Andy has already headed over here because he’s got some cockamamie idea that he can stop his son from hurting Tiffany.”

“Do you think he can?” Richard asked.

“I don’t know, but Andy sounded as if he’d already taken a hell of a beating from his son.”

“Well, shit,” Richard muttered. “If we didn’t already know what kind of man Max was before, we do now.”

“Exactly, and I just can’t handle the thought of him toying with Tiffany.”

“You two have become quite close, and somehow Max must have found out.”

“It wouldn’t have taken a whole lot, since she’s been back and forth on the property while we’ve had a large crew of men working here all last week.”

“I heard there was a ton of traffic your way.”

“Yeah, a ton of traffic and a ton of building going on,” he stated, bitterness in his tone. “I’ve got men all over the place.”

“You better have those men heading to town because this confrontation with Max will be worse than anything they’ve seen.”

Timber snorted. “These are all trained men, ex-military. I’ve warned them all, and no way in hell will they run away from trouble. Plus, you can bet every veteran on my property is armed with more than a gun.”

“Well, shit.… I don’t need a whole team of your men going out there yet, not when I’m trying to round up my men here.”

“Richard, it might be a whole lot better if you stay in town,” Timber suggested.

“You won’t like anything about what’s coming.

” And, with that, he disconnected, as he swung into the yard to find the horses already saddled and weapons all about, but they weren’t limited to just two horses and two riders.

Between Timber and his crew, they had motorbikes, quads, and trucks, with a whole mess of armed men setting up an operation right here in front of him, with military precision.

As he raced in, Toby looked over and nodded. Dwight just glared.

Timber got close and shared, “You all need to know that Max’s armed and digging in and not planning on getting out of this alive.

He has Tiffany. I don’t even want to go over what he’s planning on doing with her,” he shared, his voice stiffening by sheer will alone.

“The deputies are planning on coming. Some of you may already know Richard, and, as a good man, he’s still trying to round up a team. ”

“That’s fine,” Toby stated calmly. “Yet we’re here right now, and we’re not waiting, and we’re not letting Max get his hands on Tiffany.”

“He’s already got her stashed somewhere nearby. According to Andy, Max had a place somewhere on the new land that we just bought,” he explained, “but he burned it down a long time ago. It was near a creek back then.”

“What’s the problem then? Let’s head out.”

Timber grimaced. “The problem is, the new land with Max’s burned-down cabin covers 160 acres.” The men exchanged glances, and some whistled. “Max knows the land, and we don’t.”

All the men just nodded, and not one of them had a word to say differently.

Timber sighed. “I don’t want anybody going into this and getting their asses shot. That will not help the situation.”

“Don’t matter to me none,” Toby declared, “except that there’s a new puppy to be looked after—in case I don’t come out of this.”

Timber swore at that.

Dwight nodded and added, “I’m going in. You don’t get no say in that. I’ve been waiting for this asshole for a very long time.”

“Dwight…” Timber began, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I know.” Dwight shrugged off his hand, nodding. “I hear you, but it ain’t changing shit.”

Toby raised a hand. “You also need to be aware that one of the tactics Max is well known for is shooting the horses out from under you.” Toby shared, looking from Timber to the men at large.

“That’s what I was about to mention,” Timber noted. “He’ll cripple them and leave them there. If that happens, we need to put them down. I hate to say it out loud, but you know what I mean. If we can save them, that’s better, but if not?… Put them out of their misery.”

At that, every one of the men nodded. “Agreed.”

“Now, let’s start, nice and easy,” Timber began. “We’re all from different parts of the service, but we all know exactly what we’re up against right now. I am not expecting any of you to go out there, and, if Max sees too many of us, it will just cause us more trouble.”

“We’ve already got it worked out,” Dwight stated. “Stealthy all the way—except for you, Timber.”

Timber nodded. “Yep, I distract him.”

Toby patted Timber on the shoulder, giving him a big fat grin. “So quit your jawing, get your ass on that horse, and let’s get going.” The other men had quickly distributed the weapons they had gathered.

“I need more firepower,” Timber announced. And, with that, he kicked the sides of the horse he was riding and turned toward his main cabin. “Follow me to the house, and let me get armed up. Have you got any idea where we’re going next?” Timber asked the men.

“I do,” Toby replied. “We’ve already gone over the plan, while we were waiting for you to show up.”

He stopped at his house, hopped off his horse at the front door, and quickly went inside, then holstered his rifle, grabbed the sidearm he kept at his bedside, then ran outside and hopped up onto the back of Sparky, who immediately shifted, almost as anxious to go as the rest of them.

The other men were loaded up, awaiting the final go order.