My 6-year-old granddaughter phoned me in panic just after midnight. “Mommy says the baby is coming! Help!” I asked, “Where’s daddy?” She answered, “He k!cked mommy’s tummy and left.”…..

He melted back into the forest and made his way to his truck. Mind already working on the next phase of his plan. Trent was arrogant, overconfident, and convinced of his own invincibility. Those were weaknesses Harry could exploit. But first, he needed to plant some seeds of doubt. The next morning, Harry met Delmare at the garage just after sunrise.

The mechanic was already three cups of coffee deep and working on a transmission that looked like it had been through a war. Find anything useful at the cabin? Delmare asked without looking up from his work. Plenty. Trent’s running scared, but he’s trying not to show it. Rafe gunner is his main muscle.

Dave Gar is taking money to look the other way. And they’re expecting the new sheriff to either join the program or get run out of town. What’s the move? First, we isolate him, make him paranoid, turn his own people against him. Harry pulled out a scrap of paper with notes he’d made during the night. You still got that tow truck, old Bertha? She runs like a dream.

Why? I want you to disable trench truck, but make it look like mechanical failure. Nothing obvious, nothing that screams sabotage. Can you do that? Delmare wiped his hands on a rag, grinning. Harry, I can make a truck break down in ways that would take a team of engineers to figure out when and where.

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