09 Dead Man Running by Rett MacPherson

Author:Rett MacPherson
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Cozy, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, Fiction
ISBN: 9780312334109
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2006-04-18T05:00:00+00:00

Twelve

People started screaming, and I heard Collette cussing a blue streak at the top of her lungs. My horses twitched, shook their heads, and whinnied. I knew any second they were going to take off. “What the hell is going on?” a passenger from behind asked me.

I spun around in my seat, trying to see something. Behind Collette’s tractor were two motorcyclists gaining speed—and leveling guns. “Collette!” I shrieked. “Speed up!”

“I can’t!” she screamed. “This damn thing will only go slow and slower!”

My horses kicked it into gear as the motorcycles got closer, and the last thing I remember before complete chaos took over was watching Collette’s tractor get smaller and smaller as I left her in the dust. I didn’t know what to do. Should I just let the horses run, or should I stop them? If I stopped them, were the gunmen going to pull over and kill us all?

These thoughts were shooting through my mind at record speed. I was amazed I could actually separate one thought from the other. It turned out that I didn’t have any choice in the matter, because the horses took out a Tiki Torch and ran off the road into the field. All I needed was for one of the horses to break a leg and go down. The whole wagonload of people would go flying and the horse would be hurt. As it was, people were jumping off the wagon behind me, and I was pulling on the reins, yelling for the horses to stop. I must have said “whoa” a hundred times at least, and no matter how many times I whoaed, they just kept on going. I couldn’t see where we were headed. Only the occasional hay bale or fence post was illuminated enough by the moon that I could make out what it was as I flew by it. I suppose the horses could see in the dark, because they’d swerve at the last minute and miss whatever it was.

My heart hammered in my chest, and sweat broke out along my back and on my hands. I could barely grab the reins. The horses turned and jerked so fast that I was almost thrown from my seat. I would have just let them run it out, but a field in the dark is a very dangerous place for a horse. I glanced back over my shoulder. There were a few people left in my wagon, hanging on for dear life, praying and squealing. Except one guy who was laughing his butt off. I was sincerely happy that there was some insane human being who could find the lighter side to this situation.

Suddenly the horses made a sharp left and we were headed back to the Tiki Torches and the road. Collette’s wagon was stopped, and another wagon that had been coming from the opposite direction had pulled over.

The horses picked the worst place to come back on the road, because at that point the road swelled on a rise, and the horses and my wagon were going to have to go up a steep incline of about ten feet.

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