Chapter 7
The nightmares got worse in the next couple of days. Ridge became edgier as the sleepless nights took hold of him. One morning as he walked out to the barn to saddle his horse for the morning ride the horse wasn't in the stall. The latch was splintered.
Ridge quickly ran down the row of stalls checking for his horse. When he reached the end his horse was nowhere to be found. Chase walked in the double sliding door as Ridge turned back to saddle another horse.
"Chase have you seen Blaze?"
"I saw him yesterday when I put my horse up, but I had a date last night and didn't come back down here." He followed Ridge back down to the main office. "What are you doing? We need to go out and look for him." Chase looked a little confused as Ridge grabbed his binoculars.
"I've got a bad feeling he went after that wild mare that roam near the west field, but I've also seen signs of those coyotes around the fence line." As he spoke he unlocked the safe behind his desk and grabbed two rifles. "We need to find him before they do."
Taking a rifle from his brother, Chase knew when Ridge had a bad feeling it was usually spot on. "We need to split up to cover more territory. Oakley has a final today, but Luke is at the house, I'll call him to help search."
"Search for what?" Maggie walked up as Chase called Luke.
"Blaze broke out of his stall during the night." Ridge rushed past her and grabbed a saddle from the tack room.
"I'll help you search too." She grabbed her saddle and walked over to her horses' stall.
Ridge stopped beside her. "Maggie, you'll stay with Chase. I don't want you getting hurt."
She immediately put her hands up to argue. "Ridge I'm old enough and capable of riding out to help look by myself."
Chase walked up and put his hand on Maggie's shoulder. "Ridge saw more coyote prints out near the west fence. If they've gotten the taste of blood, you could be in danger."
"I'll carry my rifle. I'm as steady with a gun as you two are." She was furious but knew the futility of arguing with her overprotective brothers. "Fine, I'll follow Chase."
"Good girl." Chase laughed when she stuck her tongue out at him. "At least we know you'll be safe."
The three saddled their horses and rode out of the barn. Luke joined Ridge just past the first gate. They rode in a wide berth trying to cover more ground. The west pasture was the furthest from the barn so it took them almost ten minutes to get there.
Ridge stood in his saddle looking out to the far fence line. "There he is Luke." He just could make out his black horse in the back corner under a huge oak.
They turned and rode hard across the pasture. Ridge held up his hand to slow Luke before they were half way to the horse. "Hold up Luke. I knew Blaze looked strange in his stance." He pulled his binoculars out and scanned the area. "Just as I feared, the coyotes are at the edge of the fence."
Luke waited for instructions. He trusted Ridge's instincts and knew he'd know exactly how to handle this situation. Slowly Ridge pulled his rifle from the saddle holster. "Luke, get ready. We'll have to take them by surprise." He looked over at his younger brother. "You go around to the right and I'll come in from the left. From the looks of it, they've killed the wild mare and only injured Blaze."
Making their way around each side of the injured stallion and coyotes they came in slowly. The coyotes were trying to get at the injured horse, but he was strong willed and kept them at bay with well-placed kicks.
Ridge pulled the rifle up to his shoulder and Luke did the same. When Ridge gave the signal they shot the two coyotes and quickly headed toward the stunned horse. The rifle fire had shocked Blaze, but soon he recovered and bolted between the two men. They rounded on the startled horse and quickly stopped his advance.
Before his horse came to a stop he jumped off and started soothing his treasured Blaze. He'd seen more blood than he cared to remember and for a moment the sight of the large gashes in the horse's side and legs made him close his eyes. He had to get a grip on his emotions.
The memories came flooding in with a vengeance. He went to his knees in despair as the scene before his eyes unfolded. Joshua was by his side as they scaled the wall. Brock was two steps behind them on the cell phone, calling for back up. They'd been surrounded and were making their way to the safe zone.
Joshua looked over at him and the fear in his eyes told him they were in deep trouble. His childhood friend had been assigned to his regiment only six weeks earlier. They worked well together. A sudden whistling sound made them stop and look up. Then Brock cried out and when he looked back he was covered in blood.
Ridge went to his knees beside his friend as Joshua grabbed the med bag from Brocks side. He quickly put gauze on the wound and called for help immediately. The chopper would be there in just a few minutes but Ridge could see that it wouldn't arrive in time to save his fellow soldier. Brock had been under his command for the last two years. He was a good man with a family back home.
The glazed look that came into Brocks eyes as he tried to speak made Ridge's heart hammer in his chest. He'd seen it so many times, the look of death. "Please see that my children are alright, ok Ridge?"
Ridge grasped his friend's hand tightly and leaned forward. "They'll be taken care of Brock. I'll go see them as soon as I can get back stateside."
Then with a gasp he was gone. The man who'd saved his life many times was gone in less than ten minutes. The chopper landed and they carried the fallen soldier back to the base.
A hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality. "Hey man, let's get Blaze back to the barn."
Ridge looked up at the horse's wounds and knew he wouldn't make it back to the barn. "We'll need to take care of these wounds first. He's lost a lot of blood."
"I'll call the barn for supplies." Luke called Chase to get them headed back for medical supplies. When he turned back to his brother the look in his eyes was haunted. "He's a strong horse. I've seen worse injuries before and so have you."
"I know Luke, I'm just glad we were able to get two of those coyotes out of our hair."
"I'll go pulled them out of the pasture. We don't need any others following the smell of fresh meat." He pulled himself up in the saddle and rode toward the dead coyotes.
Ridge tried to calm Blaze as he waited for reinforcements to arrive. It would take a miracle to save his horse, but he'd do whatever it took. There was something about cowboys and their horses. He reached up and stroked the horses' neck and watched the riders coming up from the barn. His father or Oakley must've joined them because he could see three.
Groaning he realized it was Mallory. That wasn't what he needed to see at the moment. He turned back toward his horse and let out a steadying breath. The horse turned his head and looked toward Ridge as though he was feeling his pain.
Mallory was the first to climb off her horse. She grabbed her bag from the saddle horn and quickly accessed the damage. "I need someone to help me sedate him. He'll be a little more comfortable."
"I'll help with whatever needs to be done." Ridge said gruffly from his position by the horses head.
She looked up at him and made a face that told him she wasn't happy to see him either. What brought that look on? Maybe she'd finally gotten the message. "Fine, but I was hoping Oakley would be here to help."
His head snapped up at her tone. "I can do whatever he can." The bite in her tone told him she wasn't happy with him about something. Maybe it was his comments the last time they spoke. It also didn't set well with him that she'd rather have Oakley by her side.
"I was meaning he is training to be a vet and has some experience." She bit back as she filled a syringe. "Chase, place the tarp on the other side of the horse so that when he lays down it will be on it."
It didn't take too long for the sedative to start to make the horse unsteady. Finally he knelt and fell to his side. Thankful that the injuries were all on one side. As soon as the horse was down, she went to work.
"Wash your hands wi
th this." She thrust a bottle of alcohol mixed with water. "We don't want him dying of infection." Her eyes never met his as she spread out her supplies on a cleaned edge of the tarp.
"What can I do to help?" He leaned forward.
"You can hand me tools as I ask for them." She examined one of the deeper gashes. "First I'll need to clean these wounds out. We don't know what those coyotes have under their claws."
He watched as she carefully washed the wounds out with the other bottle of liquid. Once they were clean she turned back to her spread of supplies. Efficiently she set up sutures and bandages.
"When I ask for the sutures had them to me one at a time."
"No problem." He sounded a little brisk as he answered her. The tone she was using was making his anger rise.
Ridge Page 7
