Page 61 of Deadly Revenge

“Not saying you did. Did you just come from the woods?”

“No, I promise—I was going to, but Granddad sent me to the back pasture to find a mare who’s about to foal.”

His tone told Max he hadn’t been happy about it. “Did you find her?”

“Yeah, I knew she was okay. I could’ve gone to the river,” Kirk said. “Wait. Why do you want to know if I was in the woods?”

Max didn’t want to alarm the boy since they really didn’t know who, if anyone, had been in the woods. “Ace kind of spooked at something there.”

“Wasn’t me.” He started toward the house and stopped. “What’s a TBI agent doing here, anyway?”

“Jenna Hart is a friend of mine.”

Kirk smiled for the first time. “I’m going to be feeding Ace this week, and sometimes she lets me ride him. She’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah, she is. You must be a pretty good rider, then.”

The boy’s chest puffed out. “I am.”

Humble too. Max glanced toward the wooded area that was a good half mile away then back at Kirk. “Any chance I could borrow your ATV?”

The boy hesitated. “For how long?”

“Fifteen minutes.” Shouldn’t take any longer than that to check out the scope of woods. “And I grew up driving one of these, in case you wondered if I can drive one.”

“I suppose it’s okay. I have a few chores to finish around here, anyway.”

“Thanks.” Max straddled the four-wheeler that was similar to the one his dad still used. He gave it gas and a few minutes later approached the V-shaped area Jenna had pointed out. After killing the motor and dismounting, he carefully searched for broken branches and trampled grass, signs someone or even an animal had been hanging around.

When he didn’t find anything at the edge of the trees, he hiked deeper into the woods. A hundred feet in, he found a path. Max cocked his ear. Sounded like running water, probably a creek. Max wasn’t familiar with this part of the state, so he didn’t know how large the stream was. If it were shallow enough, whoever had been spying on them could’ve waded in.

He followed the path to the creek. From where he stood, it appeared too deep for anyone to wade, but it was wide and deep enough for a small craft like a canoe or kayak or even a paddleboard to navigate. Max walked toward the bank.

A branch snapped behind him. He whirled around, and a fist connected with his jaw. Max’s head snapped back, and he staggered. He fought to regain his balance, but it’d been years since he’d taken anyone down in a fight, and Max was rusty.

The man, dressed in Levis and a black short-sleeve T-shirt, came at him again. Sunglasses kept Max from seeing his eyes, but it looked as though he had short hair under the ball cap he wore.

Max pivoted away from him. Too late, he saw a flash of silver just before the man slammed a pistol against his head. Max’s knees buckled, and he pitched forward, darkness rolling through his brain ...

“Max! Wake up!”

Jenna’s anxious voice barely penetrated the fog in his brain. He struggled to answer, but his voice wouldn’t cooperate.

“Max ... talk to me. What happened?”

“Jenna?” He finally managed to get her name out.

“Thank God you’re okay.”

He didn’t know so much about being okay. Max opened his eyes and tried to sit up, but like his voice, his muscles refused to move.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know.” He glanced around, but everything was blurry.

“I came as soon as I learned you’d borrowed Kirk’s ATV. I found you on the ground. Just be still.”

With weakness holding his body captive, there was no way he could do anything but be still. The fog slowly cleared, and Max tried to recall what’d happened. He’d been in the woods ... heard water flowing ... and then ... it all came rushing back. “There was a man here ... he got the drop on me ... he must’ve hit me with the butt of his gun.”

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