Tess bristles almost immediately, and she doesn't even pause to brush herself off, even caked with mud. She stands up straight, shoulders squared and chin lifted — the kind of posturing she'd use on any official with authority, and she does it with second nature.

"I had no plan to, but if you're seriously thinking of holding onto it, then I have a legitimate reason to fuckin' wreck you," she growls. "Give me my fuckin' gun and we go our separate ways."

And with that tight, coiled body language, she acts like she might just do it anyway.