Page 59 of Twilight Tactics

The tree rustled, branches swaying, then booted feet appeared on the top step of the makeshift ladder. Sully tensed and kept his weapon ready.

But finally the young man appeared. Empty-handed. Just as his feet touched the bottom rung, Sully reached out, grabbed a handful of his camo jacket, and yanked him to the ground face down.

“Hey! Why the rough stuff?”

“You shot at me and people I care about,” Sully said between gritted teeth. “And a man is fighting for his life because of you. Hands behind your back.” His knee pressed into the small of the shooter’s back. The guy’s breaths came out in panicked puffs.

David joined him and slapped zip ties on the shooter’s wrists. “I’m going to get the weapon.” He disappeared up the wooden steps.

“Who are you?” Sully asked, patting him down to check for more weapons. He removed a very large hunting knife, a pocketknife with a worn handle, and another small-caliber pistol. “Told you to leave this stuff up there.”

“Well, you’re not my boss, so...” The petulant tone reminded Sully of someone much younger than the man on the ground.

“Name, kid. What’s your name?” His captive didn’t answer. Sully nudged him with a shove to his shoulder. “Look, dude, you’re going to be spending some time behind bars. How much time might just depend on your cooperation. So ... I’m going to ask you again. Who are you?” His patience was wearing thin, frayed by worry for Elena and Ollie and everyone else caught up in whateverthiswas.

“Spencer Barnes.”

“And you belong to the prepper group up on the mountain?”

“Yeah.”

Now that he was disarmed, Sully righted him and let him lean against the tree. He looked to be in his early twenties with a full curly dark beard, dark eyes, and the black logo-less prepper hat on his head. Exertion and embarrassment flushed his face.

“And your purpose in shooting a man and trying to kill others?” Sully kept his tone even despite the rage simmering beneath the surface.

“Wasn’t trying to shoot anyone,” he mumbled, his head down.

“Well, you did.”

“It was an accident.”

“Right. Tell that to the guy who may not make it.”

“No, seriously,” Spencer said, reluctantly looking up to meet Sully’s gaze. “It really was an accident. I’m a terrible shot. I was aimingawayfrom him. I mean I wanted to get close to scare him, but then Ihithim and I didn’t mean to.”

Sully stared down at the kid, the confession so absurd it might actually be true. Was he serious? “What about the shots at the rest of us?”

A flush darkened his tan cheeks. “I wasn’t trying to hit you.”

“Why shoot at us if you didn’t want to hit anyone?”

He shrugged. “That’s not how I roll, but I was ordered towatch this area and...” He swallowed. “And shoot if someone came near.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. No one tells me anything most of the time. When they finally do tell me to do something, they don’t tell me why. They just said patrols were happening along the fence line and they needed them gone.”

“But you don’t know why?”

“No.” He shrugged and looked away. “And that’s all I’m saying.”

Sully sighed. “Right. Well, unfortunately, you shot at me. That’s attempted murder of a federal agent and that’s a federal crime.” Sully paused. He wanted to interview the kid further, but he honestly didn’t know who he could trust at the Bureau. Normally, he’d call Claire, fill her in that he was involved in a shooting, and have someone come pick the kid up. But ... the trust issue was real and the way things had been going, he didn’t want to turn the guy over to the feds until he was sure he could trust the agents coming to get him. So for now, he’d let the sheriff hold on to him until Sully could figure out who he could trust.

Chris Gowen came to mind. They’d been friends a long time and had worked together on different task forces. Chris was undercover, but Sully might be able to reach him. “Come on, let’s get you turned over to the locals for now.” Also, normally, he’d call for the Evidence Response Team, but then again, that brought all kinds of attention to the ranch.

But ... did it matter at this point?

Yeah. He kind of thought it did. For now, he’d follow protocol to the best of his ability and deal with any fallout that deviating from it might bring. But the area needed to be processed. He’d talk to the sheriff and see if he had a deputy trained in evidence collection.