Page 202 of Rangers Last Promise

The deputy reads it.

Three days from now.

Silence.

Nobody breathes.

Kane isn't on a list of dead men.

He's on a schedule.

And whoever has been living beneath the McKinley pasture plans to kill him next.

16

DOC

“Daniel Kane has three days to live.”

Hampton stops talking.

That's impressive.

Since Sheriff Tate put him in handcuffs, Hampton has complained about the chair, the coffee, the lack of food, the temperature of the holding room, and what he describes as an unconstitutional shortage of bathroom breaks.

But the moment I tell him about Kane’s name on the wall, he goes silent.

I stand outside the bars with Mara beside me.

Sheriff Tate is behind us.

Wolf, Trigger, Blaze, Ace, and Havoc are crowded into a hallway designed for approximately three normal-sized people.

Hampton looks at all of us.

“Why are there so many Rangers?”

Trigger answers, “We multiply when threatened.”

Hampton looks at me.

“Was he always like this?”

“Worse.”

“Head injury,” Trigger says.

Blaze turns toward him. “You've been blaming everything on that since we got home.”

“It's convenient.”

Sheriff Tate points down the hallway.

“Everyone who isn't necessary, out.”

No one moves.

Tate sighs.