Methods and apparatus for connecting to a bone, which avoid the use of bone screws. A triangular shaped modular implant is used, with two sides of the structure and their respective vertex secured generally within the bone, with the base of the triangle outside the bone. These two arms, whether straight or arcuate, are cannulated, and are held together at their distal ends by a tightened cable that runs through both of the arms. The proximal ends of these arms are connected to a base side that completes the triangular structure. The device may be inserted into a vertebra and the base used for vertebral fusion. Alternatively, the arms themselves may be used to stabilize and fixate adjacent vertebrae, by insertion through adjacent vertebrae trans-segmentally. In the latter case, the vertex may be within the intervertebral space or within the vertebral body close to the intervertebral space.