Page 49 of Final Ride

That whizzing sound the knife makes when it’s breaking the fucking sound barrier.

The knife was deadly on the mark and stuck right in buddy two’s jugular. Pat collapsed into a bloody heap right next to buddy one who was still breathing and gagging and hanging onto his bleeding-out knee.

“Listen up, idiots,” Travis was deadly calm. “Nate, you’re coming with me to the station for questioning. Down on your knees and assume the position.”

Nate dropped to his knees, and I ran across the living room to cuff him.

Travis walked over and pulled his knife out of buddy number two’s throat. He wiped the blood off on buddy’s plaid shirt and put the blade back where it belonged.

“Harlan, get Doc Olsen up here from Cut Bank. We have a customer for him. Virge, secure Nate in the back of the squad. I’ll cover you.”

“Copy, Sheriff.”

Once Nate was secure and we were waiting for the ambulance and Doctor Olsen, Virge and I searched the trailer for evidence and found plenty.

We bagged up all the opiates and a couple of bags of meth. Two more guns, but they weren’t the guns we were looking for from Charlie’s store. Nope. No rifles or shotguns.

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

We hauled Nate Telling back to the station along with a lot of drugs and a few handguns collected from his trailer.

Before we left the trailer park, Nate sent his son across the road to stay with his grandmother until he got back from jail—no telling when that would be.

“How’d that go?” asked Billy as Virge and I brought Nate in from the sally port.

“Pretty good,” said Virgil. “Good outing.”

Once Nate was printed and booked and locked in a cell, Billy went into the run to talk to him about the robbery.

“Hey, Nate, I’m Sheriff Billy Johnson and I’d like to know why your print was found in the Outfitters store if you were in Canada when the robbery went down.”

“Can’t explain it, Sheriff. All I can tell you is me and my boy, Chris, have been in that store in Cut Bank more times than I care to remember. Chris loves that store, and he always wants to go there and look at the knives and the guns in the showcases. That ain’t a crime.”

“No, it isn’t. The drugs found in your trailer, that’s a different issue,” said Billy.

“Yeah, a different issue.”

“We’ll have your tag checked out at the border crossing and if that’s verified, you’ll be clear of the robbery.”

Nate smiled. “One down.”

“Yep. One down.”

Before leaving the run, Billy asked Nate if he knew Susan Mannington in the cell at the opposite end of the run.

Nate took a good look at her and shook his head. “Never seen her before, Sheriff. She a robbery suspect?”

“One of them.”

“Sorry. Can’t help you out.”

Health Sciences Center. Kingston. Ontario.

Grieving for Tammy, there was nothing Willy could do but lie flat on his back in his bed and accept the care he received from the dedicated hospital staff.

He was lucky to be alive and he knew it.

Willy cheered up considerably when one of the nurses breezed into the room and told him his dogs had been located in Gananoque.

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