Page 121 of Rangers Last Promise

I take out the phone.

One message waits.

A photograph.

Fred Miller.

Older.

Gray-haired.

Alive.

He's tied to a chair.

Blood runs from his temple.

Beneath the photograph are five words.

BRING ME GRANT ELLIS'S BOX.

Mara reads over my shoulder.

“He doesn't know we can't open it.”

Another message appears.

This one contains only three words.

COME ALONE, DOC.

Mara laughs.

Not because anything is funny.

It's the kind of laugh that tells me I'm about to have a problem.

I look at her.

“No.”

“I haven't said anything.”

“You're going to.”

She reaches for her weapon.

“You were thinking it loudly.”

11

MARA

“You’re not going alone.”

Doc looks at me.

“I know.”