He hitEndand concentrated on driving. He came out on the main road so fast that the truck fishtailed, but he got it under control and floored it. He grinned as he crested a hill and saw two MDOL trucks coming up fast behind him.
Wilder came around a turn and saw that Reece had his truck sideways across the road, leaning over the hood of his vehicle with a rifle aimed at Duane. The truck slid to a stop on the road. Then it backed up so fast that the tires bounced on the blacktop, leaving smoke, but it stopped again when Wilder came up behind him.
Wilder slammed on the brakes and threw the gear into Park. He could barely see the truck in front of him from all the smoke. He saw the door on the truck open and Duane aimed his gun in Reece’s direction, and fired.
Wilder saw Reece duck behind the truck as Duane ran into the woods. Wilder opened the door, and ran after him.
“Son of a bitch. I’ll get this bastard. Stay here in case he comes back for his truck,” Wilder yelled as he ran into the woods.
“Wilder,” Reece yelled.
“I got him, Reece. This one is mine.”
As he ran into the woods, he could see Duane running. Wilder kept yelling for him to stop, but he kept going, then Wilder lost sight of him and stopped to glance around. He heard a shot the second the bullet struck him between his vest and arm, knocking him to the ground.
“Damn it,” he swore as he rolled onto his back. He put his fingers next to his arm, then held them up to see blood.
“Yeah, you’re shot.”
Wilder looked up to see Buster standing over him and clenched his jaw.
“Buster?I was sure I was following Duane.”
“He’d just gone into the bunkhouse and left the keys in his truck. Stupid, really.”
“Why the hell did you do that to Rory?”
“I suppose it won’t matter if I tell you since I plan on killing you.”
“There are other agents out here. They heard the shot.” Wilder grimaced at the pain.
“It will take them a while to figure out where we are and I’ll be gone before they get here. I’m not stupid. I had a backup plan.”
“Rory?”
“Since I needed some money, her in-laws and I worked together. The only thing is, we thought Rory would give up. Damn, that woman is hardheaded.” Buster squatted down, picked up Wilder’s weapon, pulled the clip, flicked each shell out of it then tossed it next to Wilder as he lay on the ground.
“You worked for her for years. She didn’t deserve that. She trusted you,” Wilder snapped as he reached for his weapon.
“I needed money. I borrowed money from the wrong people. The Heston’s were more than willing to help me if I helped them. They didn’t think it was right that Clay left the farm to Rory when it had been in their family for generations.”
“Then maybe they shouldn’t have left it to their son, who wanted nothing to do with it.”
“Neither here nor there now…agent. I knew there was something about you I didn’t like. You were always going into her house. I figured you were just sleeping with her.” Buster straightened up.
“We didn’t do much sleeping,” Wilder said, slurring his words.
“You’re real funny, Mr. Livestock agent.”
“Was it your idea to put Boo-boo up there?” At Bernie’s grin, Wilder went on, “You know how much she loved that cow. You’re a sadistic bastard, Jones.”
Wilder picked up his weapon and pointed it at him.
“I emptied that clip.” Buster grinned.
“You know what some people forget when they empty a clip?”
“What’s that?” Buster grinned as he stared at Wilder.