Colton 911--Caught in the Crossfire

by Linda O. Johnston

  Of course, that assumed there would be vehicles out here in the middle of nowhere on this mild November day.

  If that was the decision, surely even the rustlers would want to slow and stop the cattle. Herd them somewhere away from the road. The animals wouldn’t be worth anything dead.

  And people in vehicles would be at risk, too—not that the rustlers were likely to give a damn about that. They already had one animal death and a human murder on their shoulders.

  She was not just OverHerding, she was overthinking this situation, Melody realized. Even so, she continued to view the map on her phone, which she held with one hand while the reins remained in the other. At the moment, that map was fairly clear.

  “Hey, it’s one thing to keep track of those cattle,” Casey called over to her. “But you look like you’re going to get bounced right out of the saddle since you’re going this speed and not really hanging on. Haven’t you checked the location enough?” Cal was keeping up with Witchy, and Casey looked damn good as a cowboy in the saddle even at that speed, his posture straight and his shoulders back. Melody wasn’t exactly happy about his criticism, but the idea that Casey was concerned about her safety sent a little pulse of pleasure through her.

  And she was, of course, going forward swiftly. Even Cal’s long, deep brown mane was blowing erratically in the wind around them, something like her own ponytail.

  “Just trying to determine which way they’re going.” She described the hillside, the road and the possible fence, as well as mentioning the likelihood the rustlers might instead take a sideways route. “I’m not sure which would be best for us, but I’m sure that’s not a factor for them.” Melody almost laughed at the sound of her own voice as it became sometimes garbled and uneven as she bounced.

  Casey didn’t complain, though. He did, however, call to her. “Okay, then. Let’s slow down a little. We need to come up with a plan to get right up on where they are and bring down the rustlers, whichever way they go.”

  Sure enough, Witchy started slowing down as Casey pulled slightly at her reins. What else could Melody do but slow Cal as well? She was kind of the law-enforcement assistant here. She couldn’t save the cattle and bring down the bad guys herself.

  That was more smart and skilled—and good-looking and sexy—Deputy Sheriff Casey’s job.

  Casey pointed toward what appeared to be a gully off to their side, surrounded by bushes. “Let’s let the horses get a drink, okay? We can hopefully purify some water there. I wouldn’t mind a drink, too, so I need to get my bottle out of my saddlebag.”

  What? Actually stop here when they were getting close?

  But Melody realized she was thirsty, too.

  Besides, not knowing what the rustlers were up to, if she and Casey got too close without a plan, they might somehow be outmaneuvered.

  Or even attacked.

  Okay, a rest. A drink.

  Some discussion.

  Hopefully, when they continued forward again they would have more of a plan.

  But first...what was that? Something on her screen was changing, and she needed to understand why. Was it because of poor reception? It didn’t seem that way. In fact, the reception appeared fairly good here.

  Would what had changed at last provide her with the answers they needed?

  * * *

  Casey liked how Melody seemed so dedicated to their task, which he hoped—believed—would come to an end soon. But as much as he wanted to capture the murdering rustlers and bring in the missing cattle, he wanted to do it safely, with Melody at his side, not falling off her horse and getting hurt because she was trying so hard.

  And if it wound up taking an extra night, as they’d mentioned before? Well, his body reacted slightly at the very idea, though that wasn’t the point.

  No, they needed to do things safely and well.

  Hence, their break right now. It should be good for their horses, too. And he wouldn’t allow it to slow them for long.

  He slid off his saddle and helped Melody down—not that she, a skilled ranch hand, couldn’t have done it herself. But once again, he was concerned for her safety, partly because she’d just begun really staring at and manipulating the screen on the phone in her hand like some careless teenager glued to something on social media or whatever.

  He had seen several situations at the Sur County Sheriff’s Department where young people had done something similar while driving and caused accidents. Hurt themselves, and sometimes other people.

  Out here, Melody probably couldn’t harm anyone but herself, but she wasn’t going to do even that if he could help it. And he could.

  Besides, touching her even so neutrally felt good.

  “Everything okay?” he asked, but she didn’t respond. Not yet. But he’d get her to talk to him and let him know what was on her mind.

  Soon.

  Once she was standing by Cal, still swiping at things on the screen in front of her, Casey returned to Witchy and took his horse’s reins, directing her toward the slope down to the small creek running through the middle of some bushes near them. When he’d gotten some water ready for her and his horse seemed happy, he returned to get Cal and make sure Melody knew what he was doing.

  She didn’t even spare him a glance at first, though she looked up immediately when he joined her after taking Cal to Witchy’s side. “You’ve got to look at this,” she said, gesturing with her phone.

  At last. He’d get some answers. “What’s going on?” He spoke more firmly this time and fought back an amused urge to inquire whether she’d discovered a new YouTube video. But he had come to know her well enough over the past few days to feel certain that whatever she’d found, it had something to do with their quest for the cattle and the thieves.

  Maybe even, considering Melody’s apparent excitement, something that would help them end their search at last.

  She looked so gorgeous standing there, her dark hair framing just one side of her pretty face since her head was tilted, her deep brown eyes agog with what appeared to be excitement. Although was there just a bit of puzzlement there, too?

  Was he coming to know her well enough to read her expressions and know what she was thinking?

  He hoped so, but still, he wanted to know what was causing her to apparently nearly bounce up and down on her toes as she continued to stare at her phone, then back at him as she waved it in invitation for him to see, too. She looked so cute behaving like this.

  So appealing. Even so, the reason he drew closer was because of what she said.

  “I’ve got to show you this,” she told him. “I’ve been trying to figure it out and have at least a clue, though no real answers yet. Take a look.”

  She still held the phone, but this time it was in front of both of them. He bent to touch his shoulder to hers as he looked.

  The map he saw this time appeared fairly detailed, with more ups and downs and trees and rocks and bushier plants. It seemed to indicate they were heading into a slightly different environment.

  But that wasn’t the only thing that was changed. Except for that same poor, dead cow, the rest of the red dots indicating the whereabouts of the missing cattle had previously been clumped together.

  Not now.

  “I’ve been watching this for a while,” Melody said. “Some of those dots are moving individually. At first, it was just a couple, and then they stopped. And then those couple were joined by one more that had left the first group, which still remained a group. More are apparently being led away the same way, and I think we need to figure out where...and why.”

  “I agree.” Casey looked up and stared in the direction they’d been moving, since that was also where the cows were previously being led, together, in a group.

  What did it mean that it appeared they were now being led individually, at least for a short distance? Did that have to do with the
topography?

  He asked Melody her opinion as he held out his hand to look more closely at her phone. She was better skilled in manipulating the screen and figuring out locations using the GPS, so for the next few minutes he did what he could to look more closely at the dots and the cattle’s surroundings—and Melody helped by reclaiming her phone, swiping or otherwise changing it now and then, and handing it back to him.

  “So what do you think?” she asked him finally.

  “I think we need to get back on the trail, but not as quickly since our quarry seems to be slowing down, whatever it is they’re doing.”

  “That could work out well for us, right?” Melody was looking up at him now, and not at her phone. Her dark eyebrows were lifted and her expression appeared hopeful.

  “Guess we’ll find out,” he told her, nodding as if he fully agreed with her.

  He only hoped she was right.

  * * *

  So how were they going to deal with this? It was Casey’s call, of course, but Melody wanted to know in advance what they would try.

  Best she could tell from her GPS map and those individual, sometimes moving dots, that hill at the end of the ranch property could be steeper than she’d figured, and she explained that to Casey. It did seem to be shrouded in plants, and it overlooked the road that showed up on her map, in the distance.

  Whatever it meant, the rustlers had apparently reached that location. Instead of veering right or left, it seemed that they had decided to lead the stock forward, one at a time—possibly down that hillside she speculated about, rather than herd them forward as they’d been doing previously.

  “I’d really like to see that area close up, before we reach the rustlers and cattle,” she told Casey. “I don’t know what we should expect, at least not exactly.”

  “Nope, but you’re right about needing to get closer to observe and make a rational decision what to do next,” Casey said. “And surprisingly, we may be in a good situation for that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He pointed at the gully where they still stood with the horses and the bushes around them. “Since it’s November, some of the plants have lost their leaves but kept their branches, even little twigs, so there’s still some substance to them.” Then he said, “Let me see your phone, please.”

  She handed it to him, watching both him and the phone closely to try to determine what was on his mind.

  “If you’re right about the meaning of the dots in clumps and individually here, about half the cattle have been led down the hill. That means we should get closer soon. We’re less likely to be seen if we’re on a different level from the rustlers, but we don’t know that.”

  “So what are you thinking?” Judging by the intense expression on his face, she had no doubt he had something on his mind.

  “We should probably go just a little farther through these bushes.” He waved around them. “Then hitch the horses someplace where they can stay a while. You and I can hurry, under cover as much as possible, to the hilltop and figure out which cattle—and rustlers—are where. Then we can at last go after them.”

  Chapter 15

  This could be interesting, Casey thought as he walked Witchy along. But they were definitely approaching the place where the rustlers were apparently still leading the cows down the hill one by one.

  He found himself thinking a lot about what had already happened and what was going on now, rehashing it all in his mind and therefore not talking much, at this point, with Melody.

  Pretty Melody. Determined Melody...

  He glanced at her and saw that she was studying the terrain ahead of them and off to the right, where hills rose and fell, and bushes abounded. She appeared to be thinking, too.

  One of the main things he thought of was the extent of his wondering from the beginning how this entire situation was finally going to end. He’d made himself not dwell much on how to bring the murderous rustlers to justice once they caught up to them, but he intended to improvise strategically and wisely once any opportunity arose. He was generally a planner, but there had been too many unknowns out here to try to zero in on a plan of attack that might be impossible to undertake.

  Sure, he had a gun with him, but he didn’t know how many people they might be up against. His improvisation might involve Melody, as long as he could keep her safe. Or maybe he would determine it was time to get some backup from the sheriff’s department here. A lot was still to be decided, depending on what they found.

  Plus he’d remained concerned, out in the vast open-pasture areas, whether Melody and he would be seen on their horses long before they caught up with the cattle and rustlers, and the bad guys would slaughter the cattle and escape themselves. That had always been a major worry, even from the first, when they’d decided to conduct the chase on horseback rather than by all-terrain vehicles or helicopters overhead, and his concern had grown even more intense after they found Pierce’s body.

  Why had he been killed? Because he’d simply gotten too close? As a warning to others? Both? Or had Pierce actually been involved with the rustlers?

  Casey had figured Melody and he would be okay as long as the criminals couldn’t actually see their pursuers. And Melody and he weren’t wearing GPS trackers, although if the bad guys had the phone information of either of them, they might be vulnerable that way. But surely they didn’t have that, especially if they didn’t know they were being followed—though they might suspect it, of course.

  Still... His life, and Melody’s, could be at risk. Probably were. Best he could do was to stay aware and alert and be prepared to do anything necessary to deal with the situation. They would continue following from a distance, finding some kind of cover before they got too close. He’d always intended to observe the rustlers and gather information before calling his department in for backup to help end the situation. But he had to see more of what was going on before that became feasible. And his number-one priority then would be to protect Melody.

  One good thing was that he felt sure she’d be glad to wrangle the cattle away and protect them no matter what he was doing. He, as the armed deputy sheriff, could take care of himself. Or call in that backup.

  But one way or another, this had to come to an end. A good end for them and their mission.

  Most particularly if they could do more than simply point at the rustlers. They would need to prove that the bad guys they found were the thieves and killers.

  Would determination of the changed brand on the cattle, SG, help with that, assuming that the dead cow, Addie, wasn’t the only one that had been done to?

  And that charm that was now being analyzed. Would it help somehow in identifying the killer?

  Sure, it was interesting being out here, chasing the stolen cattle. But he was a sheriff’s deputy. He needed to ensure as much as possible that there was evidence to bring down the bad guys.

  “Are you okay?” Melody said from off to his left. When he glanced over yet again, she wasn’t glued to their surroundings or her telephone screen as she rode on Cal’s back, but was looking at him.

  “Yeah,” he said, relieved in a way to move his thoughts to her and engage in a conversation. “I’m just trying to think this through better than before, when we were just following but didn’t have a plan in place for stopping the rustlers.”

  “You have one now?” She sounded excited. “I’d been thinking about that more now, too. A lot more. But I hadn’t come up with anything besides continuing to follow, nothing that guaranteed us to come up with the perfect outcome.”

  “Hey, I want a guarantee,” he said facetiously. Then he grew more serious. “And it’s kind of you not to give me a hard time for not having it all planned out.”

  “Of course I wouldn’t. We’re comrades out here in all ways. I’ll help you and expect you to help me, too, depending on how things go. But the main thing...well, I
just want this to come out right. No more dead cows.” She paused, and Casey looked at her. There were tears on her lovely cheeks as she said, “Or people.”

  Casey wanted to get them both down off their horses and hug Melody, and not just out of sympathy for her. He hated that another ranch hand had lost his life on his watch. And it had been someone who’d been known by and liked by Melody, which only made the situation worse.

  For now, though, he figured they needed to more fully develop and implement his plan, now that the end was conceivably in sight.

  “You’re right,” he said. “There’s been enough blood shed already. Our first priority will be to prevent any more.” Okay, he fibbed a little. If he had to shoot or otherwise harm the bad guys to end this, of course he would. And the fact they had already murdered someone suggested they wouldn’t be averse to attempting to physically harm Melody or him, either.

  He wouldn’t allow that.

  “Absolutely.” The look she shot at him suggested she admired and trusted him, believed in him, figured he’d do his job perfectly as a deputy. He might be reading too much into it, of course, and hoped he did, since the whole idea made him squirm in the saddle.

  He was far from perfect. But he would do anything, even give his own life if necessary, to protect her.

  Once more, he was overthinking. Sure, he now had a plan. Was it a great one? Probably not, but he would succeed—he had to.

  * * *

  So what was the plan Casey had in mind? Melody really wanted to know.

  She’d figured, judging from his expression during the past mile or so as they rode, that he was deep in thought. His thick, light brown eyebrows were furrowed into a pensive frown, even as he continued to look ahead of them and around, as if studying their surroundings for the answers he sought.

  No clues out here to help him figure out who the people were that they were after. Since he was an officer of the law, that was probably on his mind.