Texas Reckless

by Gerry Bartlett

  “Stay back, I’ll go.” Rhett had sacks in his hand and tried to shoulder past her.

  “My horses, my problem. Get Blanco. He’s right there and he knows you.” She shoved Rhett toward the stall where the big horse was throwing himself at the slats. She desperately worked to stay calm as she fumbled with halters and covered the eyes of frantic horses, then passed them on to Darrel.

  It was getting harder and harder to see in the heavy smoke, her eyes watering. Flames licked up the doorway to the tack room, way too close to where the mare shrieked in fright. Sierra stumbled closer, the wet feed sack heavy in her hands as heat hit her and made it almost impossible to catch her breath. She grabbed the halter then threw open the stall door, talking soothingly to the mare.

  “There now, Sunshine. Let’s get you out of here.” Her voice trembled on the verge of a sob. She was terrified that she couldn’t do this. The mare fought her, out of her mind as she kicked and lunged. It was hard to even get the wet sack over her face. Finally Sierra managed it and the mare settled. At last, halter and lead line on, it was time to worry about the trembling foal. No halter for the baby. She’d have to pray it would follow its mama.

  “Okay, baby. You’re a miracle. Prove it.” Sierra’s throat closed as the smoke and flames roared. Too close. Stay low. That’s what she knew was the right thing to do. She heard Rhett and Darrel calling her name. Good thing, since it was impossible to see. She grabbed the mare’s lead line and started down what had been the center aisle of the barn. A crash behind her made her jerk the reins.

  “Whoa, Sunshine.” She reached back. Thank God the baby was with them, huddled near its mother.

  “Sierra!”

  She couldn’t answer, just stayed as low as she could while she kept walking. It was hard. Her leg hurt and the horse was fighting her. Embers fell from the roof. The flames had spread. Finally, finally, she felt hands reach for her. Rhett. Darrel took the lead line.

  Fresh air. Or what passed for it. She staggered forward and found a fence post. She leaned against it, taking a clean wet cloth that Rhett handed her to wipe her face.

  “Are you all right?” He stood close.

  “I’ll live. Let me see about my horses.” She wiped her eyes and checked the corral. Sierra did a quick count. “My God! Where’s Chief?”

  “I’m on it.” Before she could stop him, Rhett ran back into the barn. The flames were higher now and obviously the fire had spread beyond the tack room.

  Sierra grabbed more wet bags and ran into the barn. Did Rhett even know that Chief, a stallion, was in a box stall on the left side of the barn? How could he find him in the heavy smoke? The screams, of course. No one could miss them. Then she saw Rhett with a halter in his hand, talking as he eased open the gate.

  “Careful! Cover his eyes first if you can.” She could hear Chief kicking from where she stood. She bent over, the smoke almost too much for her. How was Rhett managing?

  The kicking stopped. Rhett emerged from the stall with the horse and ran toward her. Both he and the stud were being hit by falling embers, the roar of the fire all around them. Timbers crashed at the back of the barn, and it seemed like the barn itself would collapse if they didn’t get out of there soon.

  Sierra seized the lead line while Rhett kept a wet sack over Chief’s eyes so they could get outside. A few steps more and Darrel took the lead and hurried the horse into the corral. Then Rhett leaned over, gasping for air. Sierra pulled at his arm. They were still too close to the inferno that was engulfing the barn. Her barn. Everything she’d worked for since college.

  At least now all of the horses had made it out safely. But what next? She couldn’t keep all her horses in the corral. She glanced at the nearby pasture. No, she didn’t trust it. Someone could have thrown poisonous weeds in there. Like she believed they’d done to kill her cattle. Her hay was in the barn, going up in flames fast. Damn it, how was she going to feed them? Not now. She’d think about it after the fire devouring her property was brought under control. She wiped her eyes and picked up the water hose. It was worse than useless, making mud but doing nothing to put out the flames that had reached the door.

  “Let me. Go check your horses.” Rhett took the hose and aimed it higher. At least he kept the sparks from igniting the fence nearby.

  “Thanks.” Sierra walked over to the corral. Darrel had disappeared. Maybe he’d gone to call the fire department again. Whatever. She stepped inside and began to look over each horse. Poor babies were restless and still upset. No wonder. The air was heavy with smoke. At least a light breeze blew most of it away from the corral, but the roar of the fire was loud. Each crash of falling timbers startled the horses and kept them on edge.

  It didn’t help that the wet feed sacks had been flung aside into a messy stack next to the gate. Sierra tossed them over the fence since the horses were giving them a wide berth. Now that she thought about it, it was funny that the sacks had been handy by the barn doors. They were usually stacked in the tack room. She’d ask Darrel about that when he came back from wherever he’d gone.

  Horses first. Sierra did her best to soothe each one as she made a methodical visual inspection that assured her all of them, even Chief, seemed to have fared okay. The stallion had a few raw spots she’d want the vet to take a look at, but he was breathing normally. Sunshine, the mare, stayed close to her foal, guarding him from the other horses. That was a good thing. They should be separated from the rest. Sierra was making sure the trough was full of water when she finally heard sirens approaching. The town had a volunteer fire department so this response was fairly quick for them. In addition to Rhett’s call, the new alarm system must have alerted them as soon as the first smoke detector went off.

  The fire truck drew up in front of the barn, which was now fully engulfed in flames. The main engine was followed by a pair of pickup trucks. A dozen men piled out and went to work, setting up efficiently as they arranged their hoses and began to spray the fire. Once the fire seemed under control, the fire chief came over to talk to her. Sierra knew before he spoke that the barn was a total loss.

  “Get all the horses out?” Jim Weber wiped the soot off his face and pulled off his heavy gloves. He nodded toward the corral.

  “Yes, thank God.” Sierra shook his hand. “I appreciate the quick arrival.”

  “We were already at the firehouse. Had a grass fire earlier and had just gotten back. It was lucky for you or this might have spread to your other outbuildings, maybe the house, before we got here.” He frowned at the structure when a portion of the roof caved in. “Hell of a thing. You’d better move back. Keep an eye on your corral. It’s a little close to the fire.”

  “I already figured that out. I’ve been watching for sparks.” Sierra felt a sob trying to work itself up from her chest, and she swallowed. “It’s clear I’m going to have to farm the horses out to neighbors until I can get a barn up again.” She rubbed her stinging eyes and took a breath that ended in a cough. Where was Rhett? He’d disappeared when the firemen had arrived.

  When she could speak, she asked the question that had been on her mind since she’d first seen the barn in flames. “Any idea what started this?”

  Jim cleared his throat. “You have a visitor, some guy named Hall? He told one of my men he thought he smelled gasoline near the back wall. You don’t have any vehicles back there that could have leaked fresh gas so that’s suspicious. Hall made a point of passing that word on to me. It’s a blessing your propane tank is near the house or we’d have had an explosion.”

  “Gasoline. Like someone set the fire?” Sierra started walking. Her limp was worse, of course. This late it would be, especially when she was tired. She skirted the dying fire, which put her in rough terrain. Her chest hurt and breathing was painful. Add in depression and worry and she just wanted to go back to the house and crawl into bed. She’d like to resume the dream she’d had going before that alarm h
ad gone off a lifetime ago.

  Shoulders sagging, Sierra finally arrived at the spot where Darrel and the vet had parked their trucks earlier. Darrel’s was gone, of course. He parked next to the bunkhouse at night. Still no sign of her ranch hand. Rhett was there, talking to a fireman. The chief had followed her.

  “Can one of you show me where you smelled gasoline?” She sniffed the air but all she got was burned wood and, damn it, leather. The tack room had been full of saddles, thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment burned to a crisp.

  “Here, Sierra.” Rhett gestured to a spot next to the back door. It led to the tack room where she kept all the gear necessary to ride and take care of the horses. “Mark Chen was showing me where they think the fire started. You get right up on it and you can catch a whiff of gasoline. I’ve done research on arson and this looks like a classic case of it to me.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.” Sierra didn’t think she could smell anything but smoke at the moment. He should let the professionals do their job. Except, wait a minute, these weren’t pros. Mark was the local pharmacist and Jim, the fire chief, was the high school principal. What they knew about arson they got off the internet and from a few extension courses if they had time to take them. Like Rhett did, no doubt. He came to her side. “Are you okay?” He held her arm as if to support her.

  Had she wobbled, shown a sign of weakness? She wanted to jerk away from him. Scream at him that, no, she was not all right. Her barn was a smoldering mess and her horses were scared. She hadn’t even had time to feed them or tend to them properly. God, she should get the vet out here again right away.

  More money going out and none coming in. She had insurance, but a deductible equal to the cost of a small car. Before she knew it, she couldn’t see. Her eyes had filled with tears. Oh, great. Turning into a weak female.

  The firemen got busy looking for embers that needed more water. Rhett moved closer and pulled her into a hug. Damn it, that felt good. She shoved him away and took a breath, which sounded like a wheeze.

  The fire chief heard her. “How about some oxygen over here? Mark? Call for the first aid truck. Tell them to move it as close as is safe.” The chief gestured to a spot well away from the smoldering barn. “Sir, are you a friend of Sierra’s? Relative?”

  “Sorry, Rhett Hall. I’m visiting Sierra.” He held out his hand and they shook, like this was a meet and greet.

  Sierra wanted to admit he was a virtual stranger. She couldn’t get the words out because she was having trouble catching her breath. Rhett kept his arm around her, studying her with a frown.

  “Sierra, come sit down on the back of this truck. Take some oxygen. That’ll help you breathe. You’re clearly suffering from smoke inhalation.” Rhett eased her toward a truck that had pulled in. It was equipped with emergency first aid equipment, including oxygen tanks and a cooler. One man handed her a mask and was obviously the designated paramedic on the crew.

  Sierra coughed, then did what he said. Her lungs were straining, and she needed a minute to take in this disaster. The horses had seemed to be okay. One day at a time. That was all she could handle right now. When she finally felt like she could speak without hacking up a lung, she pulled off the mask.

  “Your voice sounds hoarse. You could use some oxygen too, Rhett.”

  “I’ll get some in a minute. You need more.” Rhett nodded at the oxygen mask.

  “Talk to me while I do it. Tell me about this supposed arson.” She took another breath of the cool, clean oxygen and almost moaned. Yes, she’d needed it. What would a horse do if she tried to give it a breathing treatment? She remembered how close to the fire Sunshine and the foal had been. They’d inhaled a lot of smoke. And Rex. He’d been shuddering with fright and wasn’t a young fellow. Could a horse have a heart attack? She’d have to ask the vet about that. She inhaled again and waited for Rhett to start talking. He was exchanging looks with the fire chief.

  “This is just my opinion, you understand. Based on research for a book I did a while back.” Rhett went on to explain his occupation to the chief, which got some attention from the other men nearby, and they were all ears as he started to explain what he knew about arson.

  “Back to my barn, Rhett?” Sierra knew she sounded testy but she wasn’t feeling so well. A little hungover and a lot depressed. When one of the men offered her a cold bottle of water, she smiled gratefully.

  “I smelled gasoline, and the path the fire took makes me think the gas might have been splashed around the base of the walls there on the inside.” Rhett walked close to the still-hot embers and was admonished by the chief. “Sorry. Anyway, I don’t think there was any effort made to hide the cause of the fire. Whoever did it wasn’t bold enough to leave the gas can, but they made it pretty obvious to anyone who paid attention.”

  Rhett stared at Sierra. “Look how your saddles burned. What a shame.” He was pushed aside by the fire chief who studied the scene. “Someone wanted Sierra to know that the fire was started deliberately. Maybe to scare her, hurt her horses, or as a warning.”

  “Now that’s a stretch. You sure you’re not putting your storytelling to work here?” Jim, the chief, frowned and took a second look at the place where Rhett had claimed the fire started. “Usual reason for arson around here is when you get rid of a useless ranch hand and he takes it hard. This nonsense about scaring her doesn’t make sense.” Jim walked back to face Sierra. “Why would anyone want to scare you, Sierra? As far as I know you’re well liked in town. You and your family have made generous donations to the fire department and your horse therapy has helped some troubled kids. I can attest to that.”

  “Thanks, Jim. I had to lay off a couple of hands because of budget concerns recently, but we parted ways amicably and they both already have other jobs.” Sierra ignored Rhett’s concerned stare. “There are other things going on you may not know about.”

  “Like what?” Jim picked up a loose board and poked at the ruins of the tack room. The embers flared into fire. Sierra got off the tailgate, reluctant to leave the oxygen but determined to make the fire department take this charge of arson seriously. “This isn’t the first problem I’ve had recently. Talk to the sheriff about that. Fences damaged, cattle poisoned. Bad things started happening when that outfit from Dallas made an offer to buy my land and I turned them down flat.”

  “From Dallas?” Jim tossed the board aside.

  “Where have you been, Jim?” Mark Chen moved closer. “They want to build a senior citizen development near here. Haven’t you heard about it?”

  “Oh, that. Yeah. Didn’t know Sierra was involved. The senior living project would be a boon to the economy, of course, but I can’t see it affecting the schools so I didn’t pay attention to the gossip. I did wonder why they haven’t broken ground yet.” Jim glanced at the other men raking the ground around the barn to build a fire break. “Give this some more water. We’re staying until we’re sure there’s no chance it will flame again.” He walked to Sierra’s side. “You really refused to sell to them?”

  “Sure did. I need my land. For the horses and cattle. And I’ve got wells with good production on part of it. I have no interest in letting some company come in here and tear my place apart for a cookie-cutter subdivision. I grew up in Houston, which is full of them.” Sierra realized every fireman was listening intently. “Can you blame me? I’ve been coming here since I was a kid to get away from that rat race. I love the country. It was my dream to run my own horse ranch. Why would I sell out now?”

  Mark handed his hose to the man next to him, then stomped closer to her. “I don’t know, Sierra. For the money? The town? Because you can raise horses anywhere and this is the chance of a lifetime?” He looked around and got nods from the other firemen. “Muellerville is dying. That senior living proposal will bring us back to life. You have any idea what senior citizens and their needs would do for a pharmacy?”

 
“I get it, Mark.” Sierra didn’t like the animosity coming off him. “But can’t you see my side? They need to go somewhere else.”

  “If they could, they would.” Mark shook his head. “Jesus, Sierra, you’ve got to see reason. If you’re the one holding up the development, no wonder someone saw an opportunity to try to push you out of here.”

  “That’s enough, Mark.” Jim grabbed his shoulders and pushed him away from her. “Go see about the crew at the front. What Sierra does with her land is her business. Would you sell out your drugstore just because someone made an offer and thought you should go?”

  “If the offer was right.” Mark scowled. “I get what you’re saying. I love our little town and have deep roots here. I’d hate to just pack up and go. But Sierra’s from Houston and everyone knows it.” He gave Sierra one last look. With that he strode off toward the front of the barn. His departure was punctuated by a crash as a wall fell in with a shower of sparks.

  “Was this a warning?” Sierra sat on the tailgate next to Rhett, who was inhaling oxygen. “Could Mark be right?”

  “You heard that drunk last night. He agreed with Mark.”

  “Randy.” She stared at the barn, which would soon be nothing but the steel frame. She picked up a rock by her foot and threw it at the remains, barely missing one of the firemen.

  “Hey!” He looked shocked.

  “Sorry. I’m just so damned mad.” She felt Rhett’s hand on her arm. “Whoever did this could have killed my horses. You, me, Darrel! All for a fucking land deal?”