Publisher's Synopsis
Amy shifted the weight of the camera lanyard around her neck and the rifle in its sling on her shoulder as she approached the woodland brook, then froze as a twig snapped. Moving noiselessly, she swung her camera up just as the huge buck stepped out of the brush and for an instant the majestic head with its perfect twelve-point rack of antlers swung in her direction. Amy snapped a series of pictures as he stared at her, then swung away and strolled across the small clearing, splendidly unafraid as he moved to the brook and drank deeply. A little thrill went through her that she had made this magnificent animal feel safe enough to acknowledge a human intruding on his space. This was what she had worked so hard for. It was the reason for her Wildlife Sanctuary. Everything went bad in under three seconds as a bullet hit the big buck in the shoulder and blood spewed from the wound. He fell but struggled desperately and Amy swung her rifle off her shoulder and raced toward the fallen animal just as three men in hunting gear thrashed from the brush. They were ready to finish the buck off but what they were not ready for was a small blonde hurricane who pumped six shots at their feet even as she spoke on a Bluetooth."Drop your guns." Amy ordered the men and when they hesitated, she fired a shot that knocked the gun out of the hands of one. "I said drop those blasted guns! Now!"Shocked and frightened of a woman with a gun she wasn't afraid to use, they stood with raised arms, and meekly complied when she had one man tie his friends to some small sturdy tree's then she did the same to him. She tightened the ropes until they howled. Amy searched along the forest floor by some fallen trees near the brook and came back with a handful of moss. She talked quietly as she approached the big animal on the ground and held the moss out for him to sniff. He went still as she knelt by his head where he could partially watch while she packed his wound with the moss. Had he wanted to hurt her all he had to do was move that magnificent rack of horns and impale her on one of the points. The sound of rotors came closer and the helicopter hovered just above the treetops. A sling bearing her game warden friend dropped and Amy greeted him with relief. "I got the bleeding stopped but the bullet is still in his shoulder." He pulled a syringe from his vest pocket and passed it to her. "You give him the sedative, Half Pint. Animals like you but he'd probably kick my head off." The buck looked at Amy curiously as she knelt by his head again and put her hand on his neck. She talked softly as she readied the needle and he barely flinched when she gave him the sedative. After that it was easy to secure him in the safety sling and radio the helicopter pilot to take him to the wild game Sanctuary Clinic in Wells, five miles south of Amy's home. The veterinarian there would take very good care of the deer. If anyone happened to look up at the chopper going by overhead with the big deer, the game warden seriously hoped they hadn't been drinking or using any other substance. Amy laughed outright, knowing instinctively what he was thinking. "You're warped, Charlie."
