by S. E. Smith
“What is it?” Aleaha asked in a quiet voice, turning her head to glance at her sister. “It is more than Boseman that has you upset.”
“You know, you always freak me out when you do that, don’t you?” Allie complained as she turned her blinker on to pass a slower moving vehicle. “How do you know it isn’t about Boseman?”
Aleaha’s soft, lilting laughter filled the interior of the extended cab of the truck. Allie couldn’t keep the grin off her face. She was still pissed, but it was hard to stay mad for long. It wasn’t like she had never encountered assholes before. She had a long list of names, both male and female, that she would never name her unborn children if she ever had any.
Not likely to happen at the rate I’m going through the alphabet, Allie thought with a sigh.
“You are missing Indy, aren’t you?” Aleaha asked in a quiet voice. “I can’t believe dad actually let her go. It is dangerous out there alone.”
“She’s not alone,” Allie said in a low voice as she stared at the mountains in the distance. “She has Midnight and Kahlua, not to mention, the dogs. They would protect her with their life. She’s smart, too. She knows how to survive. Dad did a great job showing both of us how to live off the land.”
Aleaha’s nose wrinkled in distaste. Allie knew her sister would be the first to admit that she didn’t like living off of anything that didn’t have indoor plumbing, central climate control, and nice locks on the doors. Allie had discovered that last little detail when she went to visit with Aleaha while she was living in Billings during her residency at Billings Regional Medical Center. If you asked Allie, that had been the two scariest weeks of her life. Give her a good bar fight, and she could take on anyone. Give her rush hour traffic and a Metro map and she was a quivering pile of mush.
The next two and a half hours flew by as Allie and her sister talked about everything from what a jerk Indy’s brothers were to Billy Cloudrunner’s wife, Rosalie expecting again. Most of the talk focused on the ranch, though. It was the one thing that Allie knew and loved.
She knew that Aleaha was probably bored to death listening about it, but her sister’s passenger seat manners were impeccable. Allie was impressed when Aleaha’s eyes didn’t glaze, she didn’t yawn, and she didn’t release continuous sighs as she talked about the new breeding methods they were using on the mares. In fact, Aleaha actually had a few good suggestions that Allie would have to talk over with the vet they had on staff.
“You should have become an animal doctor instead of a people doctor,” Allie complained as she waved a hand out the window as they passed a semi-truck. “It would have saved us a bundle and you would have been great at it.”
Aleaha shook her head. “Sorry, Allie. Humans are more my speed,” she chuckled over the sudden noise of the CB radio Allie used when there was no cell reception.
“That better not be dad telling me that Boseman has suddenly ‘found’ our missing mares and wants us to turn around,” Allie growled under her breath as CB radio squawked again.
Aleaha glanced up at the driver who was grinning and staring back down at her. Cole Jonesboro waved to her before nodding his head toward the driver’s side and using his thumb and pinky as a phone. She pretended she didn’t see the gesture.
“I think Cole wants you to call him,” Aleaha murmured after they passed the truck just as the passing lane ended. “Does he still have a crush on you?”
“Yeah, even after I broke his nose with a chair down at Butch’s place. It was an accident, but still, you’d think the guy would have learned by now that I’m not interested in him. He’s been married at least three times already anyway. I’m not looking to be wife number four,” Allie muttered with a roll of her eyes as she pressed the connect button on the mic. “This is Allie.”
“Hey, Allie,” the voice on the other end said in a cheerful tone. “This is Ansel. I’m out on the logging road up near Wilson’s Creek. Billy is here and he needs a ride back to town. Cole said you had the horse trailer with you and it looked empty. Can you give him and a couple of his friends a lift?” Ansel asked in a lighthearted voice. “Oh, hi, Aleaha. Cole said he saw you too.”
Aleaha chuckled. “Hi Ansel,” she called out.
“Yeah, I can pick him up,” Allie responded in exasperation. “I might as well make use of the trailer since I drove half way across the state for nothing.”
“Thanks, I’ll let Billy know,” Ansel said. “Hey, Aleaha, you want to go out tonight?”
Aleaha covered her mouth and shook her head when Allie stuck her finger in her mouth. Ansel was big, clumsy and usually covered in sawdust and sweat. He was definitely not her sister’s type of guy at all. His idea of a fine drink was a bottle of beer.
“Thank you, Ansel,” Aleaha answered in a voice that hid the grin on her face. “But, I already have plans for the evening.”
“That’s okay,” Ansel replied. “Maybe tomorrow night.”
Allie rolled her eyes again and shook her head. “Tell Billy he better have his ass down at the road and be ready or he can ride the rest of the way in. I’m tired and pissed off.”
“Since when aren’t you?” Ansel retorted good naturedly. “I’ll let Billy know.”
“’Eff’ you, Ansel,” Allie replied before she tossed the mic up onto the dash.
“You aren’t supposed to use that kind of language on the CB, are you?” Aleaha asked with a worried frown.
Allie glanced at her sister. She bit back the sarcastic retort she had been about to make. Aleaha was all about by-the-book rules.
“I said ‘Eff’ you,” she explained instead. “Not fuck you. There are a lot of words in the dictionary that start with the letter F. I know. I play Scrabble with mom and dad almost every night.”
Aleaha’s laughter rang out again. “Oh, Allie,” she replied, wiping at the corner of her eye as the truck started to slow down. “I love your wit and sense of humor.”
Allie placed her right hand briefly against her chest. “Sense of humor? Me? Perish the thought. I’m going for brazen, sarcastic bitch here. You are the brains. I’m just the brawn of the two of us. Don’t blow my image now that you are back in town, okay? I have a reputation to uphold.”
“Why?” Aleaha asked, suddenly serious. “Why do you let others think you’re nothing but a bad-ass, Allie? You’re smart, beautiful, talented, compassionate, and yet, you hide behind this wall.”
Allie slowed the truck to a halt on the side of the road and waited a moment before replying. A lot had changed since Aleaha left home to go to school. Pain swept through Allie for a brief moment as memories of the past threatened to overwhelm her. She wasn’t ready to deal with it yet. There were some things that a person held close to their heart and didn’t tell anyone, not even their twin.
“Billy should be here any moment,” Allie replied instead. She glanced in the mirror to make sure it was safe to exit the truck before she opened the door. “I need to get the back of the trailer opened for him.”
*.*.*
Jacob listened with frustration as Billy explained where they were heading. They needed to head south and were on the backside of a man called Sam Whitewater’s ranch. That was about all Jacob was able to pull from the words running out of Billy’s mouth. He still wasn’t clear what a ‘truck’ was or why a horse would need a trailer. He figured that might be some kind of a wagon.
Pulling back on the reins, he drew his horse to a halt beside his brother. Unease washed through him as he studied the back of Billy. What if this was a trap? What if Spirit Pass didn’t really take them to the future, just to the other side of the mountain? What if… His mind shied away from the thought of what would happen if they really had gone to the future. Would they be able to find Indy in her world?
“Did you understand half of what he just said?” He muttered under his breath.
Jonathan gave him a sharp nod and explained that Indy had shown him some images from her life here. Jacob wished she had shown him a few of them. He’d much
rather know what he was facing instead of using his imagination. He had never thought of himself as being a very imaginative guy before, but right now, his mind was thinking of all kinds of horrible things.
Jacob restlessly fingered the gun at his waist. Comfort swept through him to know that they were not completely defenseless. Dropping his hand back to his thigh, he followed Billy and his brother this time. The dogs, seeming to sense they were back on familiar ground, ran back and forth along the small line of horses. The only sound was the panting of the dogs, the occasional snort of one of the horses, and the creaking of the saddles as they moved downhill.
It took about half an hour before they came to a wide road. Jacob’s eyes immediately went to the ground to search for tracks. Confusion darkened his gaze as he saw impressions unlike anything he’d ever seen before mixed with the hoof marks from several horses. Long lines as far as he could see in both directions ran in parallel lines.
“Wagons?” Jonathan asked, pulling back again now that they were on the wider road.
Jacob shrugged as he studied the indentions. “I’ve never seen anything like this. They are too wide and there are funny lines through them. If wagons created it, they are bigger than any I’ve ever seen,” he muttered.
They continued down the road in silence for almost ten minutes before Billy’s loud curse rang out as they rounded another bend in the road. Jacob sat back in his saddle and watched the man with narrowed eyes as he half slid, half fell off Jonathan’s horse. An amused smile quirked his lips when Billy rubbed his ass and walked funny as he turned in a circle.
“What’s wrong?” Jonathan asked.
“Those sons-of-bitches took my truck,” Billy groaned, running his hands over his hair and bending over with another loud curse before he straightened and looked down the road. “It had to be them. I had locked it. They must have taken the keys when I was unconscious,” he added as he started to frantically check his pockets.
Jonathan was about to reply when the ground began to vibrate and a low growling noise filled the air further down the road. Jacob and Billy’s horses danced nervously forcing Billy to grab for the reins while Midnight remained calm. The dogs stood in the middle of the road and began to bark in excitement.
“What is it?” Jonathan called out, nudging his horse over to where Billy was standing.
“Help, I hope!” Billy grinned. “My ass can’t take much more of riding a horse and Rosalie will kill me if I don’t find the truck.”
*.*.*
Jacob’s eyes widened and he started cursing under his breath when a huge beast, monster, something, came around the curve of the road. Smoke flared on each side like the dragons in the pictures he had seen back East at one of the museums. His hand went instinctively to the gun at his waist as it continued toward them.
He vaguely heard Jonathan’s choked curse as well and knew his brother was thinking the same thing he was… shoot at it and run like hell! A shudder ran through him when he saw the face and shoulders of a man through the beast’s clear belly. The man’s face was shadowed behind his hat and his hands were gripping something round in its stomach.
“What the fuck?!” He growled when Billy started waving his hands at the creature and yelling.
A moment later, the thing stopped in the middle of the road and a door opened. A large man, about Billy’s age, climbed out of the machine. Now that it was close enough for Jacob to see, he decided it looked more like the Steam Engine trains that came through North Platte, Nebraska, that he saw last year. Only this one didn’t use tracks and was smaller and sleeker than anything he had seen there.
“Hey Ansel,” Billy called in a relieved voice. “You got your cell phone on you? Mine's dead.”
Jacob listened as Billy and Ansel chatted back and forth. He nudged his horse a little closer to the metal machine while Billy talked to the man. If he had any doubts about whether or not they had traveled to the future, they were gone now.
“What is it?” He asked Jonathan as his brother came to a halt beside him.
“It looks like what Indy called a truck, only bigger,” Jonathan replied with a grimace. “Hell, her telling me about it, even showing me pictures of it on her small box, didn’t prepare me for anything like this.”
Jacob glanced at his brother’s pale, tight face. A wave of sympathy swept through him as he realized that knowing, and really knowing, were two different things. He tried to picture how he would handle it if he’d been the one to find Indy and claim her. A grimace of distaste flashed through him at thinking of Indy as anything, but his new little sister. Still, he knew this had to be a huge shock to his brother.
They both turned their attention back to the man called Ansel as he opened the door and climbed back inside the truck again. This time, he left the door open. Jacob watched in fascination as Ansel picked up something and began talking into it. He was too far away to hear the response, but it sounded like a woman’s voice answered him back.
“What’s he doing now?” He asked in frustration, hating that he had to keep asking. “It sounds like there is a woman inside the beas… machine with him.”
“I’m not sure,” Jonathan admitted. “Whatever he is holding looks different from the box that Indy showed me.”
“I don’t like this,” Jacob said under his breath as Billy turned and gave him and Jonathan an uneasy grin, as if knowing they were talking about something important. “How are we going to find Indy in this world? We don’t know anything about it!”
“I’ll find her.” Jonathan turned, determination was clearly written across his face. “I’m not leaving without her, Jacob.”
Jacob shook his head at his brother. “I’m not asking you to,” he insisted, straightening when Ansel made the machine roar out again. “I just hate going into any situation not knowing what we are going to find.”
Jonathan relaxed slightly before he gave a sharp nod. “I don’t either,” he muttered before he repeated himself. “I don’t either.”
They broke off their conversation as Billy walked up to them, leading his horse. His face was creased into a grin and he was shaking his head. He waited until he was a few feet from them before he started talking.
“The good news is we have a ride into town which will save my ass in more ways than one,” Billy said as he slipped his foot into the stirrup and pulled himself into the saddle with a groan. “Right now, my ass is sore from riding. I’m looking forward to sitting it on a nice plush seat.”
“You said that was the good news. What is the bad news?” Jonathan asked with a dark scowl.
“The bad news is that Allie Whitewater is the one giving us the ride. I can just hear her now if she finds out what I’ve done. Hell, I’ll be lucky if SHE doesn’t shoot me. Indy is her best friend. Those two are always together when they come into town,” Billy explained with a wince as he sat back in the saddle. "God, I just hope Allie doesn’t make me ride in the back like she did the last time she picked me up,” he groaned, shifting as he tried to find a place that wasn’t hurting.
Billy tugged on the reins and tapped his heels into the side of his horse. Jacob followed behind his brother as they moved to the side of the road so they could skirt the huge black and silver machine as it rumbled. He touched the brim of his hat when Ansel waved his hand to him and Jonathan.
Chapter 3
It hadn’t been as far or taken as long as he expected to get to the spot where Billy said this Allie person was supposed to meet them. One reason it hadn’t taken very long was because they were traveling on the wide road. Still, he suspected Billy wanting to get off the back of a horse was the biggest reason they completed the almost half mile trip in record time.
Jacob breathed a sigh of relief when Billy slowed down as they neared a hard covered road. Except for almost getting unseated when the loud truck that Ansel was driving spooked him and his horse as he pulled away, they hadn’t encountered anyone else. He nodded his head when Billy called for them to stop.
�
��Allie should be here any minute,” Billy said as he shifted again in his saddle.
Sure enough, another ‘truck’, this time smaller than Ansel’s and completely silver, came over the small rise in the road. Jacob scowled when he saw a bright, yellow light suddenly start to flash as it slowed down. It pulled off onto the gravel at the side of the road about twenty feet ahead of them and came to a halt. Behind the silver truck was another long, silver and black container with the words Whitewater Ranch painted on the side.
“I think I should go out first,” Billy said, throwing his leg over the side the horse’s hindquarter and sliding off with a groan. “I never would have made it back in my ancestor’s time. Give me a soft seat and a cold beer any day.”
“Why should we wait here?” Jacob asked Billy suspiciously when he started to turn away. “What are you going to tell this Allie?”
Billy turned back in surprise at the hostile tone he couldn’t quite hide. Jonathan watched silently from the side. He would keep an eye on whoever was in the new truck. Billy’s widened when he noticed Jacob was fingering the gun at his waist. It was obvious Billy had forgotten why they were there, but Jacob hadn’t. His first and foremost thought was to protect his brother.
“I’m just going to let them know I’m not alone, is all,” Billy muttered with a nervous glance at the truck. He could see Aleaha in the passenger seat. “You aren’t going to do anything crazy, are you? I mean, it is bad enough about what happened, but I won’t let you hurt Allie and Aleaha.”
“Will they know where Indy is?” Jonathan asked in a husky voice.
“Hell, yeah,” Billy replied with a shaky grin. “I told you, Indy and Allie are like sisters. Besides, their dad, Sam, knows everything about everything that goes on with Indy. She practically grew up at their place all during high school.”
“Then, let them know that we are here and they are to take us to Sam, nothing else about what has happened. I want to talk to this Sam first,” Jonathan ordered, glancing at Jacob who nodded in agreement.
