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After retrieving a small flashlight from her pack, she withdrew her Beretta from its holster. This time she swung wider to the north and picked up another deer trail. She moved with caution to avoid making any sound.
Harold pulled back suddenly, shaking his head against the taut leash and pulling to the right.
She rested a hand on his shoulder to quiet him and stood absolutely still. “I hope you remember what to do,” she whispered. “It hasn’t been that long ago.”
Releasing the snap of his leash, she stepped back and gave him the signal to go on alone.
He bounded through the brush, his gray coat instantly disappearing in the dim light. She listened to the fading sounds of him in the brush, then heard him whine.
When she whistled sharply he bounded back to her with his entire body tense and quivering and his tail waving. “You’re sure?” she muttered as she followed him off the trail.
He apparently was.
A dozen yards away—from behind an outcropping of rock, she heard a low groan. Only Harold’s wagging tail was visible above the rocks.
Still wary, she held her gun extended as she circled wide.
A meaty hand clasped over a blooming dark stain on his upper arm, Leon Stark looked up and focused on her gun with absolute terror in his eyes.
“No,” he whispered hoarsely. “Please, no.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
DEALING WITH 250 POUNDS of stubborn male was not Sara’s idea of a good time.
She’d quickly re-holstered her weapon and reassured him that she hadn’t been the person firing at him.
Did he believe her? It was hard to tell, because when she’d asked to check his wound, he’d become agitated, then silently lurched to his feet and started for home.
Now he was trudging down the trail, still gripping his bleeding upper arm, still casting wary glances at her over his shoulder.
Harold bounced along at his side as if he’d found his long-lost master, his tail wagging gaily and tongue lolling.
“Please, Leon, just let me take a look at your arm. I won’t try to make you go to the hospital.” When Leon didn’t slow down, she added, “Okay, then at least tell me why you were up here tonight.”
He traveled another twenty yards before finally mumbling, “Not safe.”
