Chapter 30
CASSIDY
It worked. Riling them up with some cattle prods agitated them enough that the entire herd barreled toward the front of the pasture. My feet raced along the fence line with them, mirroring the thundering of their hooves against the Earth. My movements were hidden by the blundering herd that startled the group of armed trespassers.
The first cow slammed through the gate, leaving it swinging sideways on a single hinge. And the entire herd roared into the parking lot like turkeys on Thanksgiving, desperate to not end up on a dinner table.
Chaos ensued. Shouting rose through the air, only inciting the herd more. Bellowing from the cattle shot a ringing into my ears. Muffling the violent shouts of the men who were doing everything possible to not get trampled.
I reached Sundance’s pen as a couple of loud bangs cracked through the air. The startling sound sent Sundance into his own frenzy, and he snorted, kicked out behind him, and then sprinted half a circle. The gate creaked upon opening, snapping his ears toward me. He slid to a stop right in front of me.
Hot breath washed over my face, drowning me in the scent of horse sweat and hay. All he did was breathe heavily and stand still. His chest rose and fell rapidly with each sporadic breath as his ears followed the panicking dust cloud that rolled over the entire parking area. The ground trembled from the herd that continued to panic and sprint mindlessly wherever they could.
Taking a mental note to make sure Weston knew that once Briar and I were back from the fishing cabin, I would help patch up any injured steer, I quickly snatched the black rope halter off the railing.
Slipping it over Sundance’s head, I tied off the loop and spun around, leading the horse toward the gate. He dug his haunches in and swung his head, terrified. Backpedaling through the sand, he snorted in fear of leaving his cocoon of comfort.
“Come on, boy,” I whispered, gently coaxing him on. Applying even pressure to the lead rope, I stepped sideways and tugged a little harder. It popped him slightly off balance, and he took a stumbling step forward.
Immediately, I released the pressure, giving him a quick reward before starting it over again. He didn’t fight as much this time as the frenzied roaring around me began to drift farther away. We passed through the metal gate, and I turned around to kick it closed.
“CASSIDY!” a high-pitched scream pierced the chaos, and everything around me silenced.
Thick sludge turned the sky black in an instant.
My eyes shot sideways as two figures came into view through the dusty haze. As if the world moved in slow motion, the grim reaper clutched Briar’s hair at the base of her neck and shoved the metal barrel of a gun against her temple. My blood ran cold, ice picks stabbing through my entire body as my heart stopped.
“Cassidy!” she cried out again.
A greasy man, at least in his forties, jerked on her braid again, snapping her head back onto his shoulder. Eyes as dark as death peered at me, and he tipped his head like a deranged monkey with a hollow soul.
Her wrists bound by duct tape did not stop her fingers from clawing at his calloused hand, blood trickling from skin that she broke, but he didn’t even flinch. The gun remained steadily trained against her face. His own cowboy hat, wrinkled and filthy, sat over a head of unruly, burnt orange hair. A patchy beard, if you could call it that, scratched against Briar’s ear as he stopped near the entrance of the round pen.
Swallowing back the thick, rage-filled beast, clawing his way from my chest, I studied this cumbersome man who stood as tall as Briar but nearly three times as wide.
“How about a trade?” he finally huffed, breaking the tomb that we were trapped in. His voice was a little higher pitched than I expected.
“Let go of me!” Briar screeched and whipped around, elbowing him in the stomach.
The gun he was holding clattered to the ground. His fingers immediately curled up, and he swung a fist as I dropped the lead rope, and my feet flew across the gravel.
But I was too far away, and he connected with her beautiful jaw. Her head snapped sideways, forcing a tiny whimper from her lips.
“Stop!” he snarled. “Or I’ll do it again.”
Ramming my teeth together, I halted and glared at him. “Wayde Jenkins, I presume,” I growled, grinding them together. Without turning my back on the man, I returned to Sundance, who weaved back and forth just in front of the gate I hadn’t had a chance to shut. The ten men, no longer distracted by the escaped herd, slowly grouped behind him.
“I want my horse. You can have her if you give me my horse. She’s not worth the trouble anymore,” he hissed, jerking on her hair again. His gaze slipped to my hand that hovered over the holstered gun attached to my hip. A warning to not try for his weapon that still sat on the dirt below him. A warning that he understood.
Briar’s gray eyes closed, and she shook her head. “Don’t,” she quickly said.
“Shut up,” Wayde snapped, jerking her hair again. Several of the men behind him cocked their weapons, training them in my direction. If she was not careful, if I was not careful, this would turn into a shootout, and one I would not win.
“Now, again, I want my horse,” Wayde emphasized, returning his steely gaze toward me. Blood pumped thick through my veins, drowning out much of the surrounding ambient noise from my ears. If I just gave him this horse right now, he might hand Briar over to me. But who was stopping him from unleashing the ten men behind him on us. Who was stopping him from picking up that gun beside him and finishing the job that he’d failed at ending so far.
Nothing was the answer. There was nothing and nobody standing in the way of all of that death and violence if I didn’t play this smart.
Besides, the thing was, as much as I loved this horse, I loved her more. Therefore, whatever I decided to do, had to keep her away from harm. Keeping her safe and alive was more important than anything else. But I still cared about this animal, so there had to be a way to keep both safe. Which started with finding a way to get those ten men gone. One on one, I could possibly handle Wayde. At least keep him occupied long enough for Briar to get out of here with Sundance.
“Goldie, do you trust me?” I quietly asked. She nodded fervently, but kept her mouth shut as Wayde rubbed his nose against her cheek. Acidic bile grated in my throat at his action. As subtle as possible, my fingers drifted from hovering over the gun and slipped in my pocket. Running my fingers across the power button and a volume button, I pressed down and held it for several seconds. Even if I couldn’t directly give information to the 9-1-1 operator, they would at least hear whatever I could get Wayde to confess.
Fumbling with the lead rope with my free hand as a distraction, I lifted the cotton and shifted my attention back to Wayde.
“You want this horse?” I started, and he nodded. “You seem like a relatively smart guy, so I know you know I don’t trust you.”
He chuckled, lifted his chin, and gave me a sickening smile. “I also know you want her.”
“Clearly,” I growled.
“Well, then it’s simple. You give me that horse, and I’ll give you her.”
“Not until those ten men you hired get back into their vehicles, drive somewhere far far away, and I never see them again,” I demanded. Briar swallowed stiffly, her bound hands dropping to her waist even though I could see the fear etched so clear on her face.
“They won’t do anything unless I tell them to,” Wayde countered.
“You won’t have them fire at me for fear it might hit this horse. But the moment I give him to you, what’s to stop you from killing Briar and I?” I asked, hoping beyond hope that showing some of my cards made him think I was easily apprehended. I needed him to believe that he could take me for this to work.
He narrowed his beady eyes. “What’s to stop you from coming after me once we trade?”
“For one, you’re bigger than I am. Two, you’ll have a horse who is also bigger than I am. And three, like you said, I want Briar.” I kept my gaze steady, my breathing as shallow and calm as possible. He was bigger than me, but I’d wrestled cattle bigger than him my entire life, and all I needed to do was keep him busy long enough for Briar to get away with Sundance.
He lifted his chin away from the woman he held captive as leverage. “Fine,” he finally said and waved a hand. Gravel crunching beneath boots combined with the lowering of weapons bounced through the solemn atmosphere as his companions slunk back toward their vehicles. Neither of us moved nor spoke, waiting until the engines turned over and they disappeared. It left the playing grounds relatively more even.
Step one, successful.
“Alright, they’re gone. Now, give me my horse before I snap this pretty girl’s neck,” Wayde hissed.
“I need help understanding something first,” I quickly stated, swallowing the second wave of adrenaline-fueled nausea.
“No more negotiating!” he snapped.
I narrowed my gaze, keeping as calm as possible. “Is killing someone over a horse that’s not yours, really worth it?”
“It is my horse!” he shouted.
“Really?” I gasped, feigning shock.
Briar’s brows twitched, confused and worried, but Wayde slackened his hold on her hair just slightly. “You really think it’s hers? Is that what she told you?” he asked.
I nodded slowly, purposefully pulling exaggerated confusion on my face. “Did she lie to me?” I mumbled and then pulled my brows together and looked directly at Briar. “Did you lie to me?” I shouted even louder.
“That’s what she does,” Wayde said, his lips sliding into a rather greasy, triumphant looking smile. “She lies, and manipulates, and tries to ruin people.”
“I don’t know what to believe,” I mumbled and loosened my hold on Sundance’s lead rope. “How am I supposed to know whether you or she is telling me the truth? How do you know she tries to ruin people?” My eyes darted wildly between Briar and Wayde, feeding into the desperate, last-ditch attempt to hopefully lead Wayde into a trap of confession.
“Because she and her father tried to ruin me! All I have left is that horse! Nothing I did was good enough for them, apparently, so they sent every authority possible snooping around my place,” he explained.
I let my jaw tremble, locking onto Briar’s terrified expression, hoping to convey my faked confusion. “So, what’d you do?” I whispered.
His grin widened even more, as if he seemed excited at the idea of telling his wicked ways as if it was something to be proud of—as if he’d already won when he was so deep into losing. He patted Briar’s cheek and then spoke. “I decided to ruin them. Which meant getting rid of Thomas Kensington first.” He chuckled and turned his hollow eyes to look at Briar. “You really think your dad lost control of his truck that night because of ice? No, I threw a litter of puppies out in the middle of the road right as he was cruising on by. And he swerved out of the way just in time to hit the telephone pole.”
Her mouth opened, a cry of pain so earth shattering, Wayde had to keep her on her feet. Tears tumbled down her cheeks as she shook her head in denial. Disgust rolled hot through my veins as he made it sound as if what happened was a good thing.
“But that didn’t get any of the authorities off of my back,” he continued, jerking her upright. Silent agony coursed through her body, the desperation clear in her eyes that stayed locked with mine. It took everything in me not to unleash those chains that restrained me from sending him to meet the ferryman at this instant.
Yes, I wanted him dead.
“So, you what?” I hissed, the coolness in my figure fleeting by the second. If this didn’t end soon, he’d see right through my charade.
“I went after Briar. I wanted her to have nothing, to have everything she had taken away from her just as she was doing to me. So, I started with her cattle.” He snickered and rubbed his cheek against Briar’s face. Nausea curdled in my throat, but I remained planted.
“It was easy, too,” he continued. “Bought me big ol’ buckets of sodium chlorate, and just dumped that stuff all over her pastures whenever I knew she wasn’t home because of my tracker on her truck. Or I did it at night when she was sleeping because I knew she was staying locked in that house as much as possible. Such a wimp this one is. Scared of me, too, and rightfully so.”
He threw back his head and laughed as my fingers unintentionally tightened around the lead rope. “Then she stole my danged horse. I knew it was her that did it the moment that he went missing, because she disappeared, too, and I watched the little dot indicating her location just move farther and farther away. So, I hired a dozen men to go after her. The plan was that once they took care of her, I’d come to collect my horse easy peasy.”
He shook his head and then ran a hand down Briar’s arm, a look of sickening lust coating soulless eyes. Rage clawed like a grizzly bear desperate for its final meal before hibernation in my belly. I nearly hissed through my teeth, a threatening warning to not have him touch her. Luckily, he started speaking again before I had the chance.
“But, over two weeks passed, and nothing. Then that neighbor who’s missing a couple fingers drove this big eighteen-wheeler over to her abandoned property and used his tractor to load some of the dead cattle.” He paused and shook his head.
“Destroying her home and her livelihood wasn’t what you wanted, though?” I questioned, my heart tearing in two with the front I was putting on. He ripped Briar’s hair back again. She clutched at his hands but kept her tortured scream in her throat.
“She still had people who seemed to care about her and help her no matter how sticky of a mess things were! They needed to be gone too. She deserves to be broke and alone just as I am!” He pushed his head tighter against her. “Those men you thought were illegal hunters, they were after her. The drunk driver was supposed to kill her.”
And he swung his gaze toward me. “BUT YOU KEPT GETTING IN THE WAY!”
“Yeah,” I nodded, no longer able to keep up the facade. Besides, there was the confession that was needed. “That was on purpose.”
“What?” he snarled. “You know what, who cares. Just give me my horse.”
“Why now?” I stepped toward him, keeping hold of the lead rope, and Sundance hesitantly exited the round pen. “Why did you show up now?”
“Because I was an idiot to trust anyone else to actually do the job right! My mother always told me that if I wanted something done correctly, I should do it myself. And I was a darned fool to not have listened, but I am here now,” he snarled and jerked Briar forward a foot. “Now, give me my horse before I kill her.”
He shoved his free hand into his pocket and withdrew a switchblade, pressing the sharp iron edge against her exposed throat. “Give me him.”
Taking another step forward, Sundance was finally fully out of the pen, and I was mere feet from Briar and Wayde. “Trade for a trade,” I stated, knowing phase three was about to begin. “I will let go of the lead rope at the same time as you release Briar. Plain and simple.”
He narrowed his beady eyes, sweat glistening on his wrinkled forehead. Dirt stained the creases, marring his features even more. “On three,” he hesitantly said. I could see the doubt rising in his eyes. “I’ll shove Briar to the left, and you hand me the lead rope.”
That would push Briar farther away from me, putting Sundance between me and her. But it would also put Sundance between Wayde and Briar. This might just work…
“On three,” I agreed.
“One,” he began and dropped the knife from Briar’s neck.
Adrenaline shot through my body, setting my skin on fire with flames that licked at wounds not yet there.
“Two,” I said next, tightening the tension on the lead rope and reaching across my body to hold it with my left hand.
His brows twitched.
“Three,” we both said in unison.
He tossed Briar to the side, and she crashed to the ground at the same time that I jerked the lead rope forward with my left hand. The stallion, startled already, trotted forward a couple of steps, and my palm smacked right against his rump. The sting rocketed up my own arm, but it did the job.
Sundance jolted forward with a sharp squeal and reared up, flailing his hooves.
Briar grinned, recognizing what the plan was, and pushed up from the gravel, reaching out for the lead rope.
Wayde’s attention momentarily shot toward the horse, away from me as I locked my sights on him. Another piercing scream, higher pitched, echoed through the air, but I ignored Sundance’s continual fright.
Diving forward, I wrapped my arms around Wayde’s waist and tackled him to the ground. My fists were flying through the air before he registered what was happening, and bones crunched beneath my knuckles. Everything turned black around me. There was no night or day. There was no sun or moon. There was nothing but this face of an evil man meeting the judgements of my blows.
The grim reaper would come to claim his soul tonight.
Blood stained the little sight of skin before me, flowing from every orifice of his face. He had not stood a chance. Not after everything he’d done. His fault for riling up the beast that took more strength to keep restrained than anyone would ever know.
The devil he knew was long gone, replaced by me.
I’d come to collect every due that was owed and then toss him to the bottom of the river.
Limp beneath my strikes, there was no more squirming between my legs as I grabbed him by his ears and slammed his head against the ground.
Again.
And again.
Crunching, whether from his skull or the gravel, met my ears but did not deter my rage.
And my hands vibrated with the impact of his head again.
And again.
He would never touch Briar.
He would never be able to rest a sickening hand on her again or send anyone after her.
Ever again.
Briar…
My movements slowed.
“Briar?” I whispered, the singular thought of her pulling me from the darkness that had nearly consumed me. Light filtered back into my sights, and I immediately let go of the unconscious man below me.
“Goldie?” I called out again, scanning around me for the woman and her horse.
And my eyes rested on a lone, unmoving figure off to the side.
“The scream,” I cried out in horrified realization that the sound had not come from a startled Sundance but from her. Scrambling across the gravel that cut into my skin, my trembling fingers reached out toward the limp body face down on the ground.
Blonde hair splayed out in every frenzied direction, stained red from a major wound on her forehead—gashed by a rock she fell on. Her still duct taped wrists stretched ahead of her, and her body bent at an awkward angle. All thoughts left my mind. Dirt covered her like a cloud of anguish that was forming in my dead soul.
“No,” I muttered as my eyes rested on a part of her back that became exposed from her shirt bunching up at her armpits. Hovering my fingers over a quickly forming bruise directly in the middle of her spine, a wave of indescribable, excruciating agony roared through my bones.
“Please no,” I cried out again.
My palm gently connected with her skin, and she didn’t flinch. She didn’t move. Sirens, muffled in the distance, wailed as deeply as the pain in my heart that tore through me. Iron claws shredded my strength as I pushed her shirt up just a little further.
A welt in the perfect shape of a horse hoof stared back at me.
“Briar?” I cried out again, biting back the tears that were brimming. “Please, wake up!”
As carefully as possible, I brushed some hair from her cheek, feeling for any sort of air releasing from her nostrils.
Nothing.
“No, no. No. No, this isn’t possible!” I shook my head and gently pulled her into my lap. I knew deep down moving her could make things worse, but what was worse than her not breathing?
She wasn’t breathing.
She wasn’t moving.
And the hounds of hell broke loose. I cradled her, rocking back and forth as my soul weeped as deeply as the earth fell around me. A wail escaped my lips, so powerful, it tore the very seams that held the fabric of time together.
It wasn’t supposed to go this way. This wasn’t the penance that I knew I was supposed to pay.
Not at the expense of her.