Page 76 of PSYCHOlogical

I gingerly opened the garage’s side door and stepped outside. With the rifle shouldered, I peered through the scope and scanned the tree line where he lay, writhing in agony.

Convinced there was no one else, I cautiously approached the fallen intruder. At thirty feet away, I recognized him.

Payne.

I mentally shook my head in opposition of what I was seeing.

Marines don’t kill marines.

I stepped to his side, shouldered the rifle, and grabbed his boots. Fearing that someone might later see him before I had time to get rid of the body, I dragged him away from the clearing and into the thick vegetation fifty yards further away from the home.

“You no good son-of-a-bitch,” I whispered. “Why’d you accept this mission?”

Writhing in pain, he clenched his jaw tight and glared back at me.

I pressed the tip of the M4’s barrel against his forehead with such force that I pinned his head against the damp earth. “Why?”

“We’re just…following…Trevino’s orders,” he said through his teeth.

We?

I expected one intruder, not many. My temples pulsed with every beat of my heart. “We? Who’s with you?”

“Fuck you, Briggs.”

I couldn’t waste another minute. It didn’t matter who was with him. Their fate was sealed the moment they stepped onto my property. All I needed to do was find them before they found Val.

I pulled the trigger.