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Keira was talking into her cell phone, giving precise directions to the eravel crunching beneath tires He glanced up fleetingly and saw Callahan’s four-by-four whispering to a stop in front of the truck, before he returned his attention to the stranger

Guns drawn, Callahan and McKinnon were suddenly there beside hirowled

“Ambulance is on its way,” Keira told them “But it will take a while—we should see e can do to stop the bleeding in the meantime”

“I’ve got a first-aid kit in the house,” Callahan told her, heading for the back door He returned in a o, Walker,” he said in a deep voice that expressed understanding of the co Cody as well as concern for the wounded ot to see how badly he’s hurt”

Cody drew a ragged breath “He’ll live” He abruptly pulled the blade away froht never use that arht bothered hier’s blood on his knife, and wiped it off on thehis place to Callahan “Watch hiun to Keira’s head five o”

McKinnon’s eyes changed froer that cas “That was his first mistake” His SIG SAUER pointed at the man’s head “Maybe he’ll make another one” The threatand the wishwere unmistakable

Callahan was already unbuttoning the ash that still bled sluggishly He whistled tunelessly between his teeth “I think you’re right,” he told Cody “It’s nasty, but it doesn’t look life-threatening”

Cody bent and slid his knife into the sheath in his boot, then reached beneath the stranger, looking for identification He found a wallet in a back pocket and, after a little difficulty,Callahan’s work

“Ted Danvers,” he read fro with a Buffalo address “Either oneto you?” he asked Callahan, who already had a pressure bandage in place

“No” Callahan applied another strip of tape

Cody rifled through the other items in the wallet: a couple of credit cards in the saas receipts And ale bills Cody went through each bill carefully,sure there wasn’t a piece of paper hidden between the bills There wasn’t, but he noticed a couple of the hundreds had reddish-brown stains Blood?

An idea occurred to hiun A detached corner of his brain noted the way she held herself so straight and unyielding after what she’d just gone through Any other wo But not his Keira He was so da from his chest

He held out his hand for the gun, but she must have knoas in his mind, because as she handed it to him she said softly, “It’s a 357”

Just as softly, he said, “There are bloodstains on some of the money in his wallet”

“You think?”

“It’s possible We need to get the gun and the wallet to the lab as soon as we can”

He went to the back of the truck, searched for and found evidence bags He had just finished sealing each ites with his initials and the date when he stopped short, a realization sweeping over him

His gazewith her back to him Maybe you don’t know it yet, sweetheart, he told her in his mind But you trust me, all the way down to the soles of your feet You knew I had a planand you trusted me to execute it with your help Heart, mind, body and soul She trusted himthe way he needed her to

He headed toward her, intent on only one thing Keira’s gaze traveled froer’s face to Cody’s as he approached her, and she asked in a level tone, “Do you think we should carry him into the house?”