Wind River Wrangler

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Wind River Wrangler Page 29

by Lindsay McKenna


  * * *

  Roan was sitting at Kassie’s Café having a cup of coffee when a terrible sensation rolled through him. Instantly, he recognized that familiar warning signal. Shiloh. Picking up his iPhone, he hit her number, and put the phone to his ear. The phone rang and rang and rang. Scowling, he ended the call. The storm was almost gone from the town of Wind River. Outside the main square, it was awash with flooding water rushing down the two main streets. Already, slats of sunlight were peeking through the ragged edges of the massive storm. There was even a rainbow forming in the wake of the storm. He remembered Shiloh was going to go out back and watch the storm’s approach. If she was outside, she might not hear her phone ring, the wind, rain, and thunder erasing the sound of it.

  Rubbing his neck, he didn’t have a good feeling. Throwing some money on the counter, he eased off the stool and headed out the door, hurrying for his truck. The plaza was a mess. Water was running a foot deep, the storm drains unable to keep up with the flood. His truck would handle it. Chest tightening, Roan walked to the parking lot behind the café and climbed in. He knew there were two wrecks leading out of town. And he’d have to get the deputies who were stopping traffic to let him pass. Would they?

  Something was wrong. He could taste it. And he’d had these warnings before as an operator in Afghanistan. It was a sign of the enemy nearby, an ambush. And he would get killed if he didn’t listen to his powerful intuition. Was he overreacting? Worried that Shiloh was out back in that coming storm? She could have been struck by lightning. Or . . . and his mind didn’t want to go there. Or, Anton Leath had either killed her or kidnapped her. His stomach churned with nausea. His mouth tightened and thinned, his fingers gripping the steering wheel as he drove slowly through the sloshing water covering the highway, heading for the hill still blotted out by falling rain from the end of the storm.

  * * *

  Shiloh felt nauseous. Felt being carried. Felt Anton’s hands gripping her one ankle and her other wrist, holding her tight against his shoulders and neck. The rain was slashing down on her, her clothes soaked. Nausea and dizziness struck her again. She closed her eyes. He had captured her. And he was going to kill her. Just like he’d killed her mother. Oh . . . God . . .

  Mind shorting out, barely able to think, Shiloh pretended to be unconscious, flopping around like a wet rag across Leath’s massive shoulders. He was a powerful man. She’d always been afraid of him. His huge hands hurt her. Tightly shutting her eyes, her teeth jarring as he jogged heavily through the howling wind and rain, she tried to think. Where was he taking her? Opening her eyes, she recognized where she was through the pall of rain.

  Hail began to fall, large, the size of marbles. It struck her in the head and she bit back a cry. The whole world became blotted out as the hail tunneled out of the sky, erasing everything around her.

  Shiloh knew she didn’t have the strength to fight Leath. Her mind spun between abject terror and thinking of somehow escaping. She tried to remember what Roan had taught her yesterday, the moves that could disable a man with her fists and feet. Where was he taking her? What was he going to do to her? Throat aching with dread, she felt him slowing and opened her eyes. The hail started to ease off and she saw the tall, dark shadows of trees just ahead of them. It had to be Pine Grove.

  Water ran down her eyes and face, blinding her. Shiloh didn’t dare move, didn’t dare let Leath know she was conscious. Play the rag doll. Play dead. Wait. Wait for a chance to escape from him. . . .

  Where was Roan? Despair flowed through her. He was still in town because of those car accidents. And even if he was trying to drive home now, the storm would stop him. Shiloh felt her whole world dissolving.

  Leath slowed to a walk. She felt him grip her ankle and wrist more tightly. Pain reared up her arm and leg and she bit back a groan. He was now climbing. The sheets of twisting, bullet-like raindrops were somewhat softened by the thousands of trees that grew on the slight slope he was now climbing. She could hear Leath grunting and huffing, the hillside slippery and muddy. He fell forward, cursing.

  Shiloh was almost torn off his shoulders as he slipped in the mud, going down hard. Leath recovered, one knee down on the earth, pushing himself upright, gripping her limbs hard, repositioning her across his shoulders. Breathing unsteadily, her nostrils flaring, she picked up his sour smell. It made her stomach turn. Oh, God, she was going to die!

  Leath halted halfway up the slight incline. He was rasping for breath, chest heaving, hunched over with her lying across his shoulders. Opening her eyes, Shiloh saw a huge pit that reminded her of a hole that a coffin would be placed in. She saw green netting to one side. Part of the hole was filled with water, muddy and looking frightening to her. Leath cursed again.

  Shiloh shut her eyes, pretending to be limp as he knelt down and eased her off his shoulders to the ground. Shiloh’s heart was pumping wildly in her chest and she was afraid to open her eyes. What was Anton going to do? Was he going to stab her? She wanted so badly to open her eyes, paralyzed. And then, she heard him turn away. Heard his boots sucking in the mud, the sound moving away from her. She risked opening her eyes.

  Leath’s back was to her! He was leaning down, grabbing a shovel and he was ten feet away from her.

  Now!

  Shiloh slowly got to her hands and knees, her eyes never leaving Leath as he worked to shovel the water out of his hide, his back turned toward her. Her throat ached with tension as she stood. Dizziness assailed her and she violently shook her head, trying to get her balance. The trees would hide her if she could just make it silently into them.

  The rain was coming down like an open faucet, the grayness making the hillside even darker. She dug her toes into the muddy earth and pine needles. Being careful, Shiloh stepped over a nearby branch, not wanting to make a sound. She slipped into the forest and, once there, began running toward the top of the low incline. She had to get help! And the only help was at the main headquarters of Wind River Ranch.

  Her mind was wonky. She ran brokenly into the forest, the gloom covering her up. She knew Anton would discover her gone shortly. Could she run hard enough, fast enough, to get away? Shiloh knew she couldn’t. Desperate, she kept looking as she dodged and ran around the thick brush here and there. Where could she hide? She knew he was a tracker. That he’d tracked big game in Africa for over a decade. She knew all his stories about tracking and killing those animals.

  The hill was steep. Shiloh wasn’t in good physical condition for this kind of rugged running and climbing. Black rocks stuck up and out of the pine needles, now soggy and slippery beneath her boots. She had no idea how long she’d run but she heard a howl behind her.

  Leath discovered she was gone!

  Oh, God . . .

  Adrenaline poured into her bloodstream, giving her even more energy and strength as her legs pumped relentlessly toward the top of the slope. Shiloh remembered there was a sow grizzly bear with two cubs that lived on the other side of this area. Roan had told her about it earlier, to never hike on that side because it was the bear’s domain. And that she had two cubs and would defend them quickly against anyone stepping onto her territory. Her breath came out in ragged spurts.

  Thunder caromed overhead, shaking the entire hill. Rain slashed down into her eyes, blinding her. Shiloh tripped over a rock hidden by the pine needles. She went down, slamming belly-first into the floor, the breath whooshing out of her. Lying there, sobbing for breath, she anxiously jerked her head up, looking around.

  Where was Leath?

  She could feel him behind her. Tracking her. Stalking her.

  Scrambling to her hands and knees, Shiloh pushed off, running hard for the very top of the hill. It was then that she remembered her iPhone in her pocket.

  Thrusting her fingers into the wet denim, she frantically grabbed for the cell. Would it work out here? She knew during thunderstorms, cells often did not work, the invisible connectors destroyed by rain and lightning. If only it would work! The iPhone wasn’t w
aterproof.

  As she leaped and ran in and around larger rocks near the crown of the slope, she worried the rain had ruined the phone, and that she couldn’t make a call for help. It was one mile down the dirt road from Pine Grove to the main ranch center. She had to run out in the middle of flat land where Leath would easily spot her.

  Shiloh’s breath was exploding from her. Lungs burning, she slowed, feeling her legs starting to cramp up from the exertion. She kept looking over her shoulder. Kept thinking she’d seen Leath’s dark bulk appearing out of the gray pall of rain that surrounded her. Gripping the cell phone, her fingers shaking so badly she couldn’t turn it on, Shiloh made a frustrated sound.

  It wouldn’t turn on!

  Tears jammed into Shiloh’s eyes. She shoved it back into her pocket, lunging for the top of the hill.

  A shot rang out.

  Bark flew a few feet from her face, the splinters striking the side of her face and neck.

  Screaming, Shiloh winced, ducking and running over the crown.

  He had a gun!

  Sobbing for breath, stumbling, she hit a patch of wet pine needles, her feet jerking out from beneath her. Shiloh grunted, suddenly finding herself sliding down on her back and butt, heading straight down over a small cliff. She threw out her hands, a croak tearing out of her as she flew off into space.

  Slamming into the rocks and pine needles twenty feet below, she landed with an “Oomph!”

  Terrorized, she looked up the cliff. She saw Leath there, aiming his pistol right at her.

  Screaming, she raced toward a huge fir tree.

  The bark exploded near her head. And then several more bullets poured into the tree she scrambled behind, cowering, gripping the roots, trying to make herself small enough that he couldn’t hit her.

  A sudden bolt of light flashed above her. The whole area went blindingly light. Shiloh gasped, hands flying up to her eyes. She felt electricity tingling throughout her. The next thing she knew, she was being hurled through the air, tumbling end over end. The noxious odor of ozone stung and burned her nostrils. She landed hard, the wind knocked out of her lungs. She lay semiconscious on the ground, the rain pummeling her face, forcing her back to awareness.

  Thunder followed.

  As she lay there, partially stunned by the near miss of the bolt, the thunder shook the hill like it was Jello-O in a container. Her whole body vibrated with the fierce sounds rolling through the area.

  Where is Leath?

  Shiloh rolled to her side, forcing herself to her hands and knees. Dizziness assailed her. She heard herself gasping like a fish out of water.

  Leath? Where?

  Twisting her head, the pall of rain coming down even harder, making her feel like she was enclosed in a curtain she couldn’t see through, Shiloh saw nothing but the torrent surrounding her. Beneath her hands water ran in violent rivulets down from the top of the grove. With a small cry, Shiloh launched herself to her feet, stumbling, running, wobbling down the other side of the slope. She couldn’t see Leath. That meant nothing. He would find a way down that twenty-foot cliff and come after her. The rain was hiding her. She ran brokenly, her legs cramped, pain flaring up into her thighs. If she didn’t run, she’d die.

  Another zigzag of lightning sizzled overhead.

  Shiloh screamed, throwing her hands over her head, ducking and falling.

  The bolt hit somewhere nearby. The hill shook. The ozone filled the air and was rapidly dispensed by the curtain of heavy rain. Shiloh was blinded, unsure of her direction now as she slowly got to her feet. Her calves were cramping so bad that she could feel fist-sized knots in each of them. It hurt to take one step. Biting down on her lower lip, she forced herself to break into an awkward, stumbling trot, continuing down the hill.

  The rain started to let up the farther downward she jogged, fell, got back up, and then jogged some more. The wind wasn’t as fierce. Shiloh’s hair was plastered around her. All her clothing was soaked, clinging to her body. She was chilled, her hands feeling numb from the coldness the storm had brought with it.

  Suddenly, as she moved around a huge hole in the ground, she saw Leath.

  He smiled at her, his pistol raised, no more than forty feet away from her, his back to the hole that had been dug out of the ground.

  “STOP!” he yelled at her.

  Shiloh jerked to a halt, staggering, facing him. Blinking away the water running into her eyes, her breath coming in gasps, she faced him. Leath’s blue eyes were slits. The smile on his face sent icy terror through her. Her eyes were fixed on the pistol he held out in both his hands. His smile never wavered.

  “You little bitch! You’re dead!”

  A huge dark brown shape hurtled out of the muddy hole in the ground.

  Shiloh screamed.

  The sow grizzly bear roared, attacking Leath.

  Leath jerked around, his eyes growing huge. He fired his pistol five times into the angry eight-hundred-pound female grizzly before she leaped upon him.

  Shiloh blinked, backing away, hearing Leath screaming, his arms flailing as the grizzly’s five-inch fangs sank into his neck and shoulder. Blood was pouring out of the bruin’s skull where he’d shot her, and she was furious, slinging Leath around like he was a rag doll between her massive jaws. Grunting, the bear took him to the ground, her huge front paws holding his body down so he couldn’t escape.

  Leath screamed weakly, raising his pistol, trying to fire it again at the angry bear.

  Shiloh kept backing away, horrified. She stumbled over a rock, falling.

  “I’ve got you. . . .”

  Warm, strong hands caught her as she fell.

  Roan!

  She sobbed, jerking a look up at him as he hauled her against him, his pistol aimed directly at the distracted grizzly bear.

  “Roan!” she croaked, her voice high, off pitch.

  Roan pulled her around so she couldn’t see what the bear was going to do to Leath. “Come on,” he urged, tucking her beneath his arm, his arm around her waist, holding her close, holding her so she could remain upright. “He’s dead already.”

  Everything became a blur. Roan was jogging down the flat, muddy road and she had wrapped her arm around his narrow waist. Her legs wouldn’t work. The cramps were so painful she was crying out, unable to run with him. Roan stopped and had hauled her up into his arms, carrying her. The rain was slowing. It was no longer bullets hurled from the sky. Unable to cry, Shiloh could only feel relief as Roan approached his truck.

  It as only when Shiloh saw three sheriff’s deputy cruisers come racing up the muddy road, their flashers and sirens on, that she realized she was safe. Roan opened the passenger side of the truck and gently lifted her into the warm cab.

  Shiloh stared in shock at his unreadable, wet face. He wore his black baseball cap, his face gleaming from rain, his eyes hard and narrowed. He was soaked, too. How did he know she was in trouble? Her mind was going into shock. She was safe. God, she was safe! And Leath had been killed by that grizzly bear! Roan was with her, talking to her, but she couldn’t hear him. Everything felt disjointed. Closing her eyes, Shiloh sank against the seat feeling Roan’s hands around her hands. She was safe. Leath was either dead or badly injured. Shiloh hoped he was dead. How symbolic that the monster be killed by a wild animal. He’d taken so many wild animals’ lives, made their heads trophies to remind him daily of his kills. She wiped her mouth with the back of her shaking hand.

  Her hearing wasn’t working. Even the police sirens seemed far, far away. She winced when a bolt of lightning danced across the sky, followed quickly by vibrating thunder. Her chest was heaving with exertion. The cold, wet clothing was seeping into her body, making her shake uncontrollably. Shiloh didn’t feel she was any longer in control of her physical movements. Beyond exhaustion, her calves screaming with knots of unrelenting, cramping pain, she whimpered, trying to move her hand down her wet Levi’s leg.

  “Are you hurt, Shiloh?”

  Roan’s deep, low voice
sank into her. She heard the anxiety in his tone. She opened her eyes, leaning over, pointing to her lower legs. It was impossible to talk, her brain was unable to put two coherent words together to make sense. All Shiloh could do was weakly collapse against the seat, her head tipping back on the top of the seat, eyes closed. She felt Roan pulling up her pant leg, rolling up the wet, stubborn material. And then, she felt his large, warm, wet hands find that horrible cramp. The moment he touched it, she cried out, jerking upright, her hand on his.

  “No!” she sobbed. “It hurts!” and she looked deep into his dark gray eyes.

  “Trust me, Shiloh. I’ll ease the pain. Lean back?”

  His voice soothed and calmed her as nothing else ever would. She barely nodded, weakness stealing even more into her limbs. There were sheriff’s deputies moving past Roan’s pickup and scrambling up the hill where they’d just come from. One deputy remained behind, his rifle drawn, guarding them at the truck. The rain was lightening up, and there was no more wind. Shiloh could barely hear anyone speaking, but the voices were slowly turning up in volume. Had she been hit by lightning? Was that why her hearing was screwed? Shiloh didn’t know and groaned softly as Roan’s warm, long fingers slowly massaged the knot out of her right calf. The pain went away and she breathed raggedly, finally starting to relax a little. Roan rolled up her other pant leg, found the other knot, and did the same thing.

 

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