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“I’m not leaving her.”

“Yes, you are,” Kane says. “You don’t know how many men are inside.”

“I’m a sheriff’s deputy.”

“And you just walked into an ambush.”

Silence follows.

Cole knows Kane is right.

That doesn’t mean he likes it.

“Backup is seven minutes away,” Taylor tells him.

“Too long.”

“Not if you stay alive.”

A vehicle engine roars through the connection.

Cole curses.

“Black SUV leaving from behind the barn.”

“Do not follow it,” I order.

“I can’t let him get away.”

“You don’t know whether he’s the only one.”

The engine grows louder.

Tires tear across gravel.

Then Cole says, “It’s heading south.”

Taylor turns to the computer and pulls up a map of the roads around the ranch.

Only one paved route runs south.

Two smaller roads cut through the mountains.

“Send the direction to responding officers,” I tell him.

He relays the information.

Sage grips the back of Hayley’s chair.

“What about the woman?”

Cole’s boots strike the porch.

“I’m going back for her.”

“Wait for backup,” Kane says.

“She may be bleeding.”