Single quote usage

Which is it?

"When I say 'three', pull the trigger."

or

"When I say three, pull the trigger."

?

I'm leaning toward the first one because it feels right, but I'm uncertain of the rules.

Thanks for the input -

M.S.Wiggins: the speaker (MC) is a soldier who is under educated and plain spoken, as such he's more likely to say, "when I say" rather than "on the count of".

Lizmonster: I always appreciate your input, although I question your suggestion about comma placement. I'm mostly self educated by reading a lot - but I like the feel of the comma outside of the single quotes because it makes the first clause of the sentence more defined (just my opinion as always). Italics are tempting, and I'll look at that when I do my first editing pass (once the first draft is complete) - I want to be sure my use of italics is consistent.

Again - thanks!!

Maryn said:

This is one I'm sure of. Those come around so rarely!

Here's what's correct:
"When I say 'three,' pull the trigger." <--for the US market only; UK does things differently with commas and quotation marks
or
"When I say three, pull the trigger."

My source is the Chicago Manual of Style, 7.58.

Maryn, off to open the wine--happy weekend, everyone

Click to expand...

And once again I stand in awe of your wisdom. Thank you!!