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“I know,” I say.

“We came for the girl’s things.”

“Why?”

“To show her what happens when she keeps hiding.”

Rage spreads through me.

Arthur steps between us.

Not to protect the prisoner.

To stop me from killing him.

“Where is the backpack?” I ask.

The man looks toward the burning house.

“Gone.”

Something moves near the rear door.

Kane sees it first.

“Movement!”

We raise our weapons.

A figure stumbles through the smoke.

Male.

One hand held above his head.

The other dragging something behind him.

Sage’s backpack.

The man reaches the yard and collapses.

Kane runs toward him.

“Cover!”

We move with him.

The stranger lies facedown in the dirt, coughing.

He isn’t one of Navarro’s men.

He wears jeans and a tan uniform shirt.

The Iron Ridge emblem is stitched above his pocket.

“Who is he?” Arthur asks.

I roll the man onto his back.