Uncapping a hip flask, the man chuckled before taking a deep swallow. Excitement flared when he recounted his part in capturing Breeana. “I only paid the kid ten bucks to hook her son and plow him headfirst into the net. And you shudda seen the broad. She went squirrelly when I said her boy was puking his guts out. She raced for those stairs like a house on f—”The Shepherd had heard enough. The man would be bragging from a barstool first chance he got, so proud of what he’d done.Palming the knife, he flicked it open on the upswing and brought it across. With one slash, steel met flesh. A clean slice opened at the official’s throat, and he gagged, choking on his own blood. The Shepherd watched, enjoying the show as the man toppled forward in the river. He twitched in the shallows a moment before the undertow dragged him into deeper water.With a hum, The Shepherd crouched, swished the blade in the river to clean off the blood, and dried it on the grass. Folding the KA-BAR, he slipped it into his cargo pants while scanning the area around him.The lights of the town on the far shore lit the dark horizon.
