Finn turns, the pistol in his hand tracking on Frankie. I crouch and lower my right arm, my baton sliding down out of my sleeve into my hand. Then I stand and swing the baton across and up, like drawing a sword. I strike Finn’s hand just as he steadies his pistol. The pistol arcs out of Finn’s hand and he stifles a scream. I ignore him and run for Tane, dropping my baton. “Get down!” I shout, and I leap at Tane. A rifle shot cracks as I tackle Tane and knock him flat to the rocks behind the tree he was slumping against earlier. Another rifle shot, this one splintering the tree a couple of feet above my head. There are faint screams from the trail, and the deeper boom of a large-caliber handgun. Caesar.

I lift my head and see Finn sprinting uphill along the trail. I reach for my CZ, but before I can even grip it Finn disappears into the fog.

Frankie runs up and drops to all fours by my side. “You okay, Suzie?”

I grab the front of Frankie’s T-shirt and pull him down just as there’s another high crack. Something ricochets off the rock a few yards behind us. Then there are three more booms from Caesar’s handgun, then silence.

I lean up against the tree, keeping the trunk between me and wherever Verne is. Frankie is lying face down on the ground. Next to him, Tane is curled in a fetal position, his eyes closed. There’s gauze taped to the side of his head where his ear used to be. “Tane,” I say.

In a faint but clear voice, Tane says, “Where the fuck have you been?”

I smile. “We’re getting you off this mountain,” I say. I pull off my windbreaker. “Give me your hat,” I say to Frankie.

Frankie turns his head to look at me. “It’s my Braves hat.”

“I’ll buy you a new one.”

“This is my lucky hat,” he says, but he takes it off and hands it to me, still lying face down. “What are you doing?”

I put the hat on my head, my hair already pulled back in a ponytail. Now if Verne sees me he might not recognize me immediately. “I’m going after Finn,” I say to Frankie. “Take care of Tane. Get him down off the mountain.”

“Suzie—”

I pull out my CZ, take a deep breath, then scramble around the tree and run up the path after Finn. It’s only a few yards to the tree line, but every step I expect a bullet in the back. Then I’m in the trees.