‘I know what you mean.’
‘I’ll get around to showing you the scars, and then you can make up your mind about everything else after I get the test done.’
Lines furrowed over her forehead. ‘I think it’s already made up.’
‘Let’s wait, shall we?’
‘How long do you think it will take until you get the tests done?’
‘I was heading to Sydney for business next Monday. I might see if I can get an appointment with one of the doctors at the hospital. I’d ask you to come, but it’s going to be a few boring days of business and doctors.’
‘I’ll be busy here as well.’
He took her hand and they walked down the stairs meeting Cameron in the kitchen and he whispered, ‘Now that’s the happy sister I remember.’
Samantha gave him a playful smirk. ‘You’re not out of the woods yet buddy, so don’t go getting smart,’ she chided, feeling the warm tug of Brad’s hand over hers.
***
Brad had left three days ago, and she’d spoken to him on her mobile each day, sometimes twice a day. She busied herself with the usual chores and dumped a pile of washing into the machine. Setting it to wash, she walked into the kitchen and made several sandwiches for lunch that day and popped them into the fridge.
Samantha eased out a slow breath, glanced through the window at the watercolour painting of vivid blue, with a sprinkling of white fluffy clouds. She bent over the sink to get a better look. Even the glass seemed warmer as the approaching heat ribboned over the property. Further in the distance huge metal arms were at work, feeding the land. At least now they had some of the paddocks looking as they had when her parents were alive. Her lips thinned. God, she missed them.
Brad was due back that day, and she couldn’t wait to see him. It was as though he’d sensed her thoughts and her mobile rang. She picked it up and pressed it to her ear.
‘Hello.’
‘Hi baby, I’ll be there after lunch. The drive’s been longer than I expected. About two.’
He refused to tell her the results of his tests until they saw each other in person, but she sensed a hint of excitement in his voice. After chatting for a while, she clicked end. The anticipation was killing her. She prayed that this would be the last obstacle to struggle over before they could take over where they left off. Although she knew relationships had hurdles, she preferred the smaller ones, and surely nothing would be as overwhelming compared to what she’d recently been through.
The clop of Cameron’s and Steven’s boots sounded on the back veranda. She turned to see them walking in the back door.
‘What a bloody morning.’ Steven opened the fridge door.
‘What’s happened?’
‘We undertook a head count. I’m sure we have at least twenty head missing.’
Cameron dropped onto a chair, pushed his untamed curls from his eyes.
‘Did you count the fifty or so near the Falls?’
‘No. There isn’t any out that way.’
She spun around, her face filling with heat. ‘Yes. They were there the other week when I rode up that way to check on the Falls.’
‘What the bloody hell. Are you saying cattle rustlers are up to their old tricks?’
‘I don’t know. Perhaps they were moved when we got the last lot up to the top paddocks.’
‘I’m not sure now. With everything that’s happened lately, my head feels like it has a few cells loose,’ Cameron stated.
‘We’ll head out soon. Don’t worry Sam.’
‘I’m coming with you. I don’t like the sound of this.’
‘Wasn’t Brad arriving back after lunch?’
She hesitated. ‘Yes. I’ll tell Mike to let him know where we’ve gone. We can’t ignore this. For all we know they could be stealing cattle as we speak.’
Samantha dashed up the stairs to change and then headed out front to where Cameron and Steven were waiting. She walked ahead of her them and explained the situation to Mike while Cameron and Steven organised the horses.
‘You be careful, Sam.’
‘I will Mike.’
‘I heard the rustlers were on the other side of Raven yesterday. It could be they have returned. I can come with you. Toby, Adam and Drew are out there somewhere. They’re doing another head count.’
‘Thanks. But you stay here. Brad will be here soon, but we can’t wait for him. Tell him what we suspect.’
‘Will do. Stick together.’
‘We will.’
Samantha mounted Raven and rode hard. She slowed to a canter when the sight of the rocky outcrop came into view. She brought Raven to a standstill, and waited until the others caught up.
Toby slowed his horse with the two more men beside him.
‘Hey boss.’
‘Yo.’
‘There’s no sign of any cattle down around the southern side of the Falls. We’ve done another head count and by the looks of it, we’re twenty short.’
Samantha’s insides heated. ‘I’ll keep going, Cam. I’m sure they’re about somewhere.’
‘We’ll be along soon.’
Samantha directed Raven to the northern side of the Falls, to where the bore was set into the rocky surface. Nothing was out of the usual. Heat thickened the atmosphere, and she stopped to take a few mouthfuls of water, keeping her eyes and ears alert.
The faint lowing of cattle forced her to concentrate. It faded only to reappear and she followed the sound, taking care around the rocky track until it opened to a large grassy field.
Beyond the grassy paddock, cattle moved at snails’ pace, along with two men on horseback who rode in the opposite direction. Samantha checked behind, wondering where Cameron and Steven were. Knowing rifle fire would send the cattle in all directions, she continued at a steady pace, trailing behind.
To their right around five hundred metres off, a section of the fence had been stripped away. One of the men yelled, the other edged along the side of the herd and turned them, heading toward the gap. They were trying to get them off the property, and damn fast by the pace they’d picked up.
She couldn’t allow them to get away with stealing one cow let alone twenty. As the cattle moved closer toward the fence, the men gave her little choice. If she fired now, perhaps the cattle would baulk at the fence and stampede in the opposite direction.
She cocked the trigger and let it go.
A warning shot rang out, split through the silence before she fired another.
The men turned, spotting her and a rider galloped in her direction.
God no, she couldn’t shoot him. Her body trembled, as she raised her rifle noticing he had his rifle aimed directly at her. He fired. The bullet missed and she heard the loud thwack as it embedded into a tree nearby.
But she couldn’t bring herself to fire directly at the rider. Instead, she fired above his head but he continued to approach. Her eyes grew large and round. She blinked several times as perspiration dripped from her temples. If he knew how to shoot he wouldn’t miss for a second time, especially closing in at around one hundred metres. But for the life of her she couldn’t shoot him. Jumping from Raven, she shooed him behind a tree and took cover.
Steven and Cameron rode up, dismounted and ducked for cover behind her.
‘He means business, Sam,’ Cameron said, as he raised his rifle and stepped forward. The trigger clicked into position and he fired. Samantha gasped when the man fell from his horse.
‘With any luck, he’s only been hit in the shoulder.’
She let out a deep shuddering breath only to notice movement where he’d fallen into the tall grass.
Cameron hadn’t killed him, thank heavens.
‘Why didn’t you shoot, Sam?’ Cameron barked.
‘I was afraid I’d kill him.’
‘Hell. Have you gone soft all of a sudden? There are things we don’t want to do but we have to in order to survive out in these parts.’
‘I know. There’s another one heading for us
now.’ Her words cracked up her throat.
Samantha had shot a cow, shot a kangaroo and even rabbits but when it came to shooting at a human being she couldn’t bring herself to do so. No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t, knowing how precious life was. Her parents' lives were taken and it damaged so many lives around them. What if this man had a wife with several children?
Cameron raised his rifle once again, and when the man on horseback reached his friend, he fired a shot and Cameron fell.
The fine hairs on the back of her neck stood up. ‘Cameron. Cameron.’
Steven edged out from behind a tree and aimed his rifle. The rider closed in, and a shot rang through the atmosphere. Horrified, Steven dropped to the ground also.
This stranger meant business.
Adrenaline hit her hard, starving the blood supply to her nervous system. Her heartbeat picked up pace. With her nerves wired, she stepped out from behind the tree seemingly in slow motion at first only to slam to a standstill.
Brad was on foot to her right and heading toward the man on horseback. The rider spotted him and swung his aim in his direction. Brad hadn’t raised his rifle, and she was unsure if he’d spotted the rider.
She panicked, knowing she was out of earshot. Yelling a warning was a waste of time. The breeze would sweep her voice through the trees behind her. Samantha raised her rifle but it shook in her hands. She drew in a slow steady breath, while her adrenaline reached its peak, she steadied her aim and fired.
She wasn’t sure where she’d hit her target, but she stilled as the rider disappeared into the tall grass.
Brad jerked back, seemingly taken by surprise and started to run toward him. Battling to take control of her shaking body, and with legs that almost buckled beneath her, she stepped carefully toward them. Tears glazed her eyes.
‘Shit, that was close.’
‘Brad.’ Her breath busted from her lips. ‘What were you doing walking out there like that?’
‘I didn’t see him first up, not until you fired.’
Brad kept his gaze in constant motion, while Samantha’s vision glued to the man lying on the ground. It was as though she was in a trance.
‘There’s one more.’
She didn’t respond.
‘Sam. There’s a rider.’
Breaking from her stupor, she whirled around and a shot rang through the atmosphere. It took a while for it to register that the shot had discharged from Brad’s rifle, hitting the third man.
‘Thank...you,’ she said against the trembling of her jaw.
Several seconds passed, and her mind kicked into action. She ran to where Steven lay. He hadn’t moved. Pressing two fingers against his neck, she found a pulse. Blood matted his shirt but she couldn’t find the bullet’s entry point.
The ground shook underfoot, and she glanced up and spotted three riders approaching. It was Toby, Adam and Drew, the work hands.
Pushing to her feet, she gave them a wave, and ran over toward Cameron who was sitting up wincing in pain with his right hand pressed over his left shoulder. ‘Bloody copped it in the shoulder. Are you okay?’
‘Yeah. Steven’s been hit. He’s unconscious but he’s got a pulse. Brad’s over there as well.’
She looked up when she spotted one of the work hands riding away heading toward the house. After placing her rifle on the ground, she took off her cotton shirt and ripped it in half.
‘Here, press this against the wound. It’ll slow the bleeding. Can you stand?’
‘My arm got the hit, not my leg.’
Cameron held pressure over his wound, and Samantha helped him to his feet. They headed back to where Steven remained lying on the ground.
‘Toby’s gone to get the ute, and to call the police and ambulance.’
‘Thanks Adam. When the ute arrives I want you to take as many men as you can and round up the cattle over there. She nodded in the direction. ‘I counted about twenty. The fence is also down.’
‘Right onto it, Sam.’
‘Thanks.’
Brad walked up to them.
‘Good to see you bro.’
‘Likewise Cam. I would have preferred it to be under different circumstances. Are you okay?’
‘Yeah, just the shoulder.’
Brad took a look at Steven and Samantha kneeled beside him, pressing two fingers against his neck once again. She ran her gaze over his shirt, and peeled it from his chest. He’d been shot in the upper chest, on the right side. With the remaining half of her shirt she pressed it over the wound, but it appeared the bleeding had slowed.
She squinted. ‘He shouldn’t be out to it, should he Cam?’ She turned to Cameron who sat on the ground beside them.
‘Check him over. And no, not with a wound like that.’
Samantha gasped, and moved his head a little. ‘Oh no. It looks like he’s hit his head when he fell from the horse. No wonder he’s out cold.’
‘Try to wake him up.’
Samantha gave him a gentle shake, tapped his cheek with her hand, and then another shake. He groaned, and she almost cried. ‘Thank heavens.’ She blew out air through pursed lips as relief saturated her.
Toby had left them, and stood over one of the rustlers who had been injured.
‘Don’t move a fraction or you’ll end up like your friends.’
During the following thirty or so minutes Samantha remained sitting beside Steven. She realised she’d just killed a man; something she thought she’d never do. Her mind drifted in a white haze, and her ability to think straight diminished. She glanced up when a white four-wheel-drive with police written in blue rumbled toward them.
‘About time.’
‘Hey Charles,’ Cameron called when they climbed from the vehicle.
‘Cam. It looks as though you’ve had a bit of a problem here.’
‘Yeah. Two dead, one injured. He’s over there near Toby. I caught a hit and so did Steven.’
The officer next to Charles walked over to where Toby held the rustler at gunpoint.
He cuffed him and dragged him to his feet.
‘I’ll take a look at the others before we get this one seen to by the local doc, then it’s lockup time for him.’
A rumble of engines caught her attention. Toby was driving the property’s ute, while a white four-wheel-drive, with Ambulance Service NSW written in red followed. They pulled up not far away.
After taking care of Stephen, they put him in the back of the paramedic’s vehicle, and returned for Cameron.
‘I can walk,’ he stated, when the paramedic offered to put him on a stretcher.
‘It looks as though the other two men are dead,’ Charles said when he returned. We’ll return later for a full statement from each of you, and perhaps from some of the workers.’
Samantha nodded and watched as the vehicles pulled away. She didn’t ask about the two men lying on the property, and she received an answer when another vehicle pulled up.
She hadn’t moved for some time and Brad made his way over toward her, and sat down. He looped an arm over her shoulder, pulling her close.
‘It’s okay Sam. You had to do what you did.’
‘It’s hard to believe what just happened.’
‘It’ll take time. We all heal to some extent. If you hadn’t done what you did, your brothers and I might not be here. We owe our lives to you.’
She sniffled and a sob caught in her throat. ‘I… I owe my life to you. Thank…you.’
***
Samantha slept in the following morning. She willed her body to wake up as she crawled from bed and into the shower. It was a long night, with statements all around. Cameron and Steven were given the okay by Dr Porter, and allowed to return home late last night.
She dragged herself down the stairs and into the kitchen but it didn’t matter what she did that day; she couldn’t shake yesterday’s nightmare from her system. She realised that she hadn’t given Brad time to let her know about his tests results and when she walked int
o the lounge room Cameron, Steven and Christopher were sprawled in all directions, with legs and arms hanging over the edges of the lounge and sofa.
‘Well good morning, sleepy head,’ Brad said, looking up from some paperwork in his hands as he sat in a single sofa.
‘Morning. I need a coffee.’
‘We did make you one, but it’d be cold by now,’ Cameron said.
Samantha headed into the kitchen, and while she made a fresh cup of coffee, Brad appeared by her side.
‘How are you feeling this morning?’
‘A little out of it, but as you said it’ll take time to get over what’s happened.’
‘It was a long night last night. With everything that was going on, and so many people coming and going in the house, I didn’t have time to tell you the outcome.’
She stopped what she was doing, and looked up.
‘Well.’
A grin slipped to his face, and his eyes twinkled.
Samantha returned his grin, her heart hammering for the life they might lead.
‘That is such good news.’ Her body buzzed with happiness.
‘Would you like to take over where we left off? I feel as though I have something to offer you now. Perhaps in the near future we can have those children you’ve dreamed about.’
Samantha didn’t stop grinning. Couldn’t stop. ‘You had so much to offer me before. You just didn’t realise what it was.’
‘And what’s that?’
‘Your love.’
He reached out, took her in his arms and she fell against him before his lips came over hers. She treasured the man he was now, the man he was today. He was such a contrast to the man that she’d met out in one of the paddocks when he first arrived.
‘We should head back into the lounge room. We were discussing the other sibling. Let me get that for you.’
He picked up her coffee and they joined her brothers.
‘Well, the love birds have joined us.’
‘Very funny, Cam.’
After discussing what had happened the previous day, and the suspicion that another sibling was involved, they continued to discuss the irrigation system, and how to monitor various aspects of the sprinklers, the pump and the water flow rate.
Christopher stood. ‘I’ll go and check it out now.’
Raven Falls: Australian Rural Romantic Suspense Page 25