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A gunshot tears through the speaker.

Another answers it.

Then another.

Someone crashes into furniture.

Hayley holds Sage against her.

I stand helplessly in front of a monitor while a deputy I have never met fights for his life.

A man shouts.

Cole grunts.

Then one final shot rings out.

Silence.

“Cole,” I say.

No answer.

“Deputy Cole.”

Something drags across the floor.

Sage presses both hands over her mouth.

A man breathes near the phone.

“Cole.”

“I’m here.”

The words are strained.

“Are you hit?”

“Shoulder.”

“Where is the shooter?”

“Down.”

“Is he alive?”

“No.”

Sirens rise in the distance.

Cole releases a breath.

“Backup is here.”

The room around me moves again.

Taylor contacts the New Mexico sheriff.