Tequila Jack heard them coming.
Federal agents weren’t so stupid as to blare their sirens when they approached the hidden canyon, but like an animal in a familiar lair, Jack knew something was amiss. And he’d been expecting them. A surveillance helicopter flew over the cabin at dawn. They’d found him at last. The winding roads through the Angeles National Forest would slow them down. He had time to run, and with his skills and knowledge of the mountains, he could slip away. But since the petroplague plot failed, he was a diminished man. All his life he’d been impulsive, a person of action. Waiting and hiding were against his nature. This federal raid to arrest him was an opportunity. For glory and honor, Tequila Jack chose to stay and fight.
The rumble of engines on the fire road reached his ears. He trained his rifle scope on the path leading up to the cabin, but trees limited his view. The attackers would have a hard time of it. Because the back of his cabin was dug into the mountain, they could only get at him from the front or sides. If it weren’t for his dog Manley, Jack would’ve set booby traps and brought the whole place down on them.
Booted feet cracked dry twigs and leaves closer and closer to the cabin, but still he saw no one. Finally a voice bellowed from a loudspeaker.
“Jonathon Sandler, this is the FBI. Please come out with your hands up.”
Waco time.
He fired into the woods, randomly spraying bullets through the shattered window. The ferocious noise of his rifle sent Manley flying into the back room. The federal agents returned fire.
A pang of regret pierced him when the dog left. If he thought he could go on the lam with Manley, he might have chosen differently. But the fugitive life would put them both in danger. It was better this way. If he played it right, Manley would be unharmed. And even a federal agent wouldn’t intentionally hurt a Lab.
Jack shifted to the window on the other side of the cabin and fired again. Then he stood behind the front door, one hand on his gun, the other on the knob.
“Good-bye, boy,” he said, and opened the door.