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Reynolds wet his lips He looked sweaty and scared, and Bryn knew that would probably, in the eyes of Walt and hisabout"

"He’s talking abouttwo of etting no product You the ot nothing to do eapons! Nothing!"

"He’s right," Patrick said "He’s a s, weapons, hell, pirated DVDs for all I know Doesn’t matter He’s the one He pocketed the cash and called the feds and walked away clean as a whistle Until I found hi his best to look sincere now, but he wasn’t doing a very good job of it; too scared, and too confused "I told you, I’ll give you money What did you say, half a million? I’ll double it A o"

"Good offer," Walt said, and nodded The o He looked relieved, and straightened up as much as he could in the too-small juun and shot Reynolds straight between the eyes Large caliber round It left a significant hole in the front, and though Bryn couldn’t see much of it from where she sat, there wouldn’t have been a lot of skull left around the exit wound A gout of blood sprayed a few feet from the back of Reynolds’ head, and his eyes rolled up to show the whites, andhe was down Crumpled like a dropped toy

The sound of the shot echoed sharply fro mountains, but nobody reacted in any way Not even a twitch

"Right," Walt said "Get him out of here"

"That was stupid," Patrick said "You could’ve gotten paid"

"I did get paid," Walt replied "That why you left? Looking for his out in front of him and crossed them at the ankles, very much at ease even with his hands still pinned behind hily face any showed teeth, and Bryn had to ad she’d want to wake up to, either "Fuck you," he growled

Patrick puckered lips in a silent kiss "Missed you, too, Queeg What are you going to do with hied off by Walt’shiht," Walt said "We’ll take hiood and deep tomorrow"

It was a deadly shot, of course, but there was every chance that Reynolds would recover in a matter of an hour or two, and if he was just du Even out here, eventually he’d run into a hiker or hunter or ranger with a cell phone

They could not let hiain, but this time, they hauled her and Patrick up to their feet, turned them around, and released the handcuffs She automatically rubbed at the sore places thefast, and she knew Patrick was doing the same She locked eyes with him as she turned, and before he could speak, she said, "You let hiot it, instantly, and shoved her backward "Stow it, bitch You’ll get paid when I say you get paid"

"I didn’t sign up for this cracker militia shit, and your friends just put a bullet in the skull of theto ruin oing to forget it"

Patrick looked at her with the deadest eyes she’d ever seen in him, an absolute zero of emotion, and in one sun, and aimed it at her heart

"Fuck you," he said, and pulled the trigger

She felt it Not an instant death, not quite; there was time for the shock to travel to her brain, for her heart to struggle to beat and fail and fibrillate, for shock and panic to set in Herfor breath she couldn’t see, but brief

She saw red, and then she saw black, and then she was justgone

Chapter 17

She’d counted on Walt’s ht--they’d simply dumped her lie of camp In fact, she woke up with her head pillowed on his fat-soft sto one for the shortest-tere, and it was much less complex than a brain repair, like what Reynolds’ little beasts were dealing with right now He’d fixed it so she’d wake firstand she had

No way to tell how much time had passed, but it was quiet now, except for the rustle of wind in trees and the normal sounds of crickets and nocturnal creatures Bryn carefully rolled herself off The ditch was das At least it wasn’t a latrine At s

She sat there, trying to breathe slowly and cal, pounding, and she was filled with a furious, treht I don’t want to keep dying Nobody should have to do this

But she’d ed to stay with Reynolds, she was unbound, and Patrick’s actions had ensured that Walt believed hient, not after watching hiirlfriend