Captain Calvin Taylor was on Volker’s left and Robert Asher was on Volker’s right. They were dragging him along the creek bed, his arms over their shoulders, their arms around his waist. It was much faster going this way than if Volker had been left to hobble along on his own.

Gunfire pierced the late afternoon, and they were trying to put as much space between that firefight and themselves as they possibly could. It sounded to Cal like the old man was doing the good-guys proud. If ...