Mel
I was in my County Sheriff’s SUV with Kelly Rice, of all people, riding shotgun with me. I was armed, she wasn’t. She’d get my pistol off of me only over my dead body. I was more likely to strangle her first. A tactical van followed us at a significant distance with Treadway driving himself and three more of my best deputies to the scene.
Kelly had told me that the cabin was more than a mile overland on a narrow, one-way track. I’d go all the way in driving and hope to take Troutman or at least to get him talking. The team would move in on foot and strike, if necessary, when the time was right.
Kelly didn’t know about the team behind us. Joe was good at the cat and mouse game of following someone and Kelly was completely dumb to it. Even if she paid any attention out of the side vie
