Saddle Up(11)

The plane dipped low to the ground and flew past the trap. The pilot flashed a triumphant smile and gave the crew the one-finger salute.

“Son of a bitch!” Mitch cursed. “I hope you got that on film.”

“As a matter of fact I did,” Miranda replied. “What are you going to do?”

Mitch gave a fatalistic shrug. “The damage is already done. There’s nothing we can do now but report the license number.”

The scene that followed was pure pandemonium. The captured horses reared and rammed themselves against the steel panels in an effort to join the runaways, and a few tried to climb over the top of the pen. One, a black stallion, even made it halfway up. Miranda cried out in alarm as he crashed backward onto another horse. “Can’t you stop him?”

“There’s nothing we can do,” Mitch said. “That plane’s interference has put their fight-or-flight instincts into high gear.”

“Won’t they hurt themselves?”

“Hopefully not,” Mitch replied. “All we can do now is try to control the chaos.”

The same horse made another attempt, this time with a running start that sent him soaring over the six-foot panel. “Holy crap!” Miranda cried, thrilled that she’d still had her camera going and had caught it all. “I can’t believe he cleared it!”

Mitch sighed, watching the horse’s dramatic escape with a bemused look. “Most of them don’t want to run anymore, but there’s always an outlaw that’ll fight for his freedom.”

“Will you go after him?” she asked.

Mitch shook his head. “No. That renegade’s not worth all the trouble he’ll cause. He’s a fighter. He’ll be okay out there on his own. As for the rest of this bunch, they’ll calm down pretty quick once that plane’s gone. Mustangs are smart. They usually figure things out fast. As a rule, they don’t waste their energy once they know they can’t escape. We just have to wait it out.”

“What about the ones the plane chased off? Are you going after them?”

“We’ve got no choice,” he replied. “There’s almost no water left for at least fifty miles and very little forage remaining where the water is. It’s going to be really hard on the oldest and youngest ones, because they’re the weakest. We’ll have to try and bring them all back in.”

“What’ll happen to them if you can’t?”

“It’s real simple, Miz Sutton,” Mitch said. “If they don’t come back, they’ll die.”

*

“Easy, brother,” Keith soothed the restless animal. The agitated gelding tossed his head and jerked on the bit in his growing anxiety to join the galloping herd. The rising dust obscured Keith’s vision, choking him as he watched everything fall apart. He shook his head on a curse as the horses began scattering helter-skelter. For a few seconds he debated joining the wranglers that were mounting up to flank the runaways, but it was just no good. At this point they’d only be able to catch up with the ones that were too weak to keep up with their herd mates. No, the only way to gain any control would be to take command as the leader.

“C’mon, little brother. I’m counting on you.” Squeezing both heels into the horse’s flanks, Keith urged his horse forward. The animal hesitated only a millisecond before diving straight down the near-vertical drop.

*

“I thought you said you didn’t use any riders for the horse gather,” Miranda remarked.

“We don’t,” Beth replied with a puzzled look. “We only use the Judas horse to lead the mustangs in.”

“Then I guess your Judas horse has found himself a rider. Look up there.” Miranda pointed to a lone horseman poised on the bluff overlooking the trap. Seconds later, he came charging straight down the cliff to join the runaway band, just like the iconic scene from The Man from Snowy River. “Oh. My. God. Do you see that?” she exclaimed. The rider was crouched low over his horse’s withers and riding hell for leather after the runaways, eating yards of ground with every stride.

“I’ll be damned,” Mitch murmured from behind. “It’s Keith.”

Her pulse accelerated as he began to gain on the lead horse. She’d never seen anyone ride like that. Well, not quite. She’d seen only one person ever ride like that. Miranda zoomed in on the wrangler and did an instant double take. It can’t be. Her racing heart skipped a beat. But it had to be. It’d been well over a year since she’d seen him, but she’d recognize him anywhere.





Chapter 6


After two hours of hard riding, Keith returned at the head of twenty-odd lathered and heaving horses. Even after claiming the lead, he’d still managed to bring in only about half of the runaways. He could only hope the chopper had gathered up the ones that had scattered into the mountains.

He’d no sooner dismounted than Mitch appeared, clapping him on the shoulder. “That was some damned fine riding. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“I was just the passenger.” Keith shrugged. “The horse did the real work.”

“Those mustangs were pretty spooked. Once frightened like that, they’re damned hard to get control of.”

Keith grinned. “Don’t I know it.”