They heard the shooting before they cleared the tree line.
Not sustained fire. Controlled bursts, the kind that meant trained people taking deliberate shots rather than suppressing blindly, which was worse because it meant they were hitting what they were aiming at. Three shots, a pause, two more, another pause. Colton pushed the snowmobile as fast as the trees allowed and Francis held on and counted the shots and the pauses and tried to read the pattern of it.
They came out of the trees into the yard at speed and Francis was off the snowmobile before it fully stopped.
Two figures in dark tactical gear were at the front of the house, one covering the door and one covering the east window. A third was on the roof, visible at the edge, weapon trained down at an angle toward the back of th
