When the Heart Falls (24 page)

“
I’m too amped up to just sit around. I won’t be gone long.” She walked over to the counter and pecked Maggie on the cheek before scurrying out the door.

She whistled when she came to the pasture, and Bandit came trotting to the fence. She placed the halter over his head, led him to the barn and saddled up. A few minutes later she was galloping out of the yard and into the field. She slowed their pace after they were some distance from the yard. The sun was beginning to set and the sky was filled with brilliant shades of orange, pink and deep purple. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold.

She turned her attention away from the setting sun when she heard the bellow of a cow, and then another, followed by what sounded like a man’s voice. She reined Bandit in the direction the sounds were coming from and urged him into a trot. She stopped when she came to a small hill and dismounted, dropping the reins and letting Bandit graze on the grass. She slowly walked up the hill and carefully peeked over the top to see what all the commotion was. Backed up to the fence was a shiny black pickup truck with a long cattle trailer attached to the back. There were two men rustling a small group of cattle, one on horseback, and the other standing by the fence. The horse in the distance whinnied as the man cracked his whip to keep the cattle in line. Just then, Bandit lifted his head and whinnied in response.

“
Shit!” She ducked and mumbled then ran to where Bandit was to cover his muzzle.

Once she had him calm, she crawled back to her spying position and saw the two men looking around and talking to each other. They went back to work and Misty left her hiding spot once more to return to Bandit. She un-hooked the latch on the saddle bag and dug around looking for her cell phone. Bandit shifted nervously and she reached for the reins to calm him before turning her head to see what had spooked him. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of the horse and rider standing no more than fifteen feet away from her. She opened her mouth to scream, but he was out of the saddle and covering her mouth with his hand before she had time to act.

CHAPTER 20

Dylan helped ease his mother into the rocking recliner in the living room.

“
There you are, Mom. You need me to get you anything?” he asked.

“
No I’m fine,” she replied and breathed deeply.

“
Are you hungry? I can make you some food,” Beth suggested from the doorway.

“
You all really don’t need to make such a big fuss over me. I can take care of myself,” Katherine said and covered her mouth to cough.

“
I think food sounds like a great idea. You need to eat something Mom and get your strength back,” Dylan agreed.

“
Should I just go ahead and make dinner for all of us?” Beth asked looking to Dylan and Alan.

“
If you want to make food for the three of you go ahead. I’m just going to finish up with my evening chores, and then I’m going to get washed up and head over to have dinner with Misty and her parents,” he explained.

Beth’s lips curved into a smile. “Dinner with the parents, huh? Pretty serious,” she teased.

He playfully shoved her shoulder and dodged quickly out of the way when she attempted to get him back. “I’ll be back in a few,” he shot over his shoulder and strode out the back door. With the barn being destroyed, he and a few of the ranch hands had made a make shift shelter out of one of the sheds for the time being. It wasn’t much, but it would do until they could afford to rebuild. He walked over to the pasture with a bucket of grain and shook it to bring the horses in. One by one they came galloping to the fence. He led them into the small corral and poured the bucket of grain into the troughs, then closed the gate behind him.

As he was making his way back around the shed he heard a noise that brought him to a stop. He stood quietly for a moment, barely breathing and listened intently. He heard nothing. He looked around to see if maybe an animal was in the yard, but he didn’t see anything. Thinking his mind was just playing tricks on him, he continued on his way. He placed the bucket next to the others just outside the building when he heard the noise again. This time it came from directly behind him. He turned to see what it was, and as he did he felt the sharp sting from a hard object hit him on the head over his right eye. Dylan grasped his head and crumpled to the ground. The searing pain had blinded him briefly. He heard footsteps walking closer to him and then the clicking sound of a gun being cocked back.

“
On your feet,” the man said.

Dylan opened his eyes, but the blow to the head had left his vision blurred. He tried to make out who his attacker was, but his head spun and he grasped it once more.

“
I said on your feet!”

The man grabbed Dylan by his upper arm and pulled him to a standing position. Dylan staggered and blinked as the man shoved him forward and pressed the barrel of the gun to his back.

“
Now walk,” the man instructed and nudged him forward.

Dylan looked to his hand and noticed the blood smeared on it. He touched his head once more where he had taken the hit and flinched. There was a definite gash right above his eye and it was slowly oozing blood.

Beth could hear the boots on the porch and continued to prepare dinner. She heard the door open and the sound of the boots followed into the house.

“
Dylan, make sure you take those dirty boots off before you come any further,” she called out and turned her head in his direction.

She dropped the spoon she was holding and gasped when she took in his appearance. His black t-shirt and blue jeans were covered in dust and dirt, and his forehead was smeared with blood along with one of his hands.

“
Oh my God. Dylan, what happened to you?” She grabbed a dish towel and ran it under the water from the kitchen faucet. She started to walk towards him and stopped when he was shoved into the room more, followed by the man with the gun.

“
Mr. Montgomery?” Beth asked, frightened and confused. Her hands had started to shake and she automatically brought them to her stomach, covering it in a protective way.

“
Beth?” Alan called from the other room. “You ok? I heard something fall.” He walked into the room and saw Beth standing with her hands over her belly with a scared look on her face. “Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked compassionately and started to rush to her side but stopped when he stepped into the kitchen. He noticed Dylan with Trent behind him and became very much aware as to what was happening.

“
Well, now isn’t this nice. The whole family is here,” Trent said in an eerily chipper tone. “Why don’t we all go have a seat and have a nice long chat?” He dug the gun into Dylan’s back again and directed him to the other room with Alan and Beth leading the way.

Katherine stared at the doorway as they entered the room. She started to ask them just what the hell was going on and then she saw Trent following behind them. Anger filled her body and she took turns looking from Beth, to Alan, to Dylan as to ask, “W
hy the hell did you let him in our home
?”

“
Just what do you think you’re doing here?” she threw her question to Trent. “I thought I made it very clear to you that I’m not selling my ranch and told you never to come back. So you just take your sorry ass and get the hell out of here!” She placed her hands on the arms of the chair and started push herself up but stopped when Trent shoved Dylan forward and then pointed the gun at her.

“
Stay right there,” Trent said.

Her eyes widened and she took in a ragged breath. “Trent, what the hell are you doing?” Her voice came out shaky and unsure.

“
You three, sit down over there,” he instructed to Beth, Alan and Dylan, waving the barrel of the gun in the direction of the sofa.

Alan placed a protective arm around Beth and helped ease her onto the sofa. “Are you ok?” he asked concerned.

“
No talking!” Trent yelled.

“
I’m just asking her if she’s ok. Can’t you see she’s pregnant?” Alan explained.

“
I said no talking!” Trent closed the distance between them with a few steps and whipped the barrel of the gun across Alan’s face.

Beth screamed and grabbed for Alan as he fell onto her lap. He rose to a sitting position and touched his face to the red swollen cut that now appeared on his cheekbone.

“
Now sit there and be quiet,” Trent said in a menacing tone.

Beth stroked Alan’s face as the silent tears fell down her cheeks and Alan gave her an apologetic look with his eyes.

Dylan watched Trent as he paced back and forth from the kitchen doorway to the living room window that stared out to the front yard. He appeared to be looking for something or someone, and the impatience was evident on his face. Dylan glanced around the rest of the room checking on his family members. Katherine still sat in the recliner and appeared to be in shock. Her eyes were glassy and the expression on her face was one of anger and fright. He could tell she was trying to concoct a plan to get them all out of this, but she was too scared and weak to go through with it. He himself had wracked his brain trying to think of some way to overtake Trent and somehow get them all to safety. He wasn’t sure exactly what Trent’s plan was, but situations with a gun wielding lunatic never ended well.

A set of headlights pulled into the dark driveway and casted an arch across the living room wall. The vehicle pulled slowly up the dirt lane and drove out of view.

Trent craned his neck looking out the window and mumbled, “It’s about damn time.”

Dylan shifted restlessly and Trent turned quickly to face him. “Don’t be trying anything stupid, boy.” Trent shifted his menacing gaze from Dylan when he heard the footsteps on the porch.

Dylan knew that now was his chance. If he was ever going to get that gun out of Trent’s hand he had to do it when he was good and distracted. The backdoor opened and Dylan braced himself to lunge.

“
Just where the hell have you been?” Trent scolded as Hank strutted into the room.

“
We had a little complication,” Hank explained and looked behind him.

Dylan could feel the adrenaline running through his veins like liquid fire. He gripped the arm of the sofa and was about to push himself up when all of a sudden he felt his limbs go numb. His heart felt like it had dropped to the pit of his stomach and shattered into a million pieces, leaving his chest a hollow shell.

Misty came stumbling into the room with Vance gripping the back of her head by her hair. She let out a cry of pain as he yanked her hair back, pulling her to a stop.

“
What the hell is all this about?” Trent yelled, directing his question to Vance.

“
She saw us moving the cattle,” Vance said and tugged at her hair.

She closed her eyes and let out another cry. When she opened her eyes again, she locked them with Dylan’s. The color had drained from his face and his eyes were filled with pain. She wondered for a moment if this is how it would all end. Her life was finally heading in the direction that made her happy, and now it seemed like all of that was just going to be a beautiful memory.

Dylan breathed deeply and slowly, trying to calm the unsettling feeling in his stomach. So many things were happening in such a short amount of time. And he was having trouble wrapping his head around all of the thoughts that swam through his mind. So Vance was involved in all of this? But how did he play into it?

“
Well, we can’t let her go now. Put her over there with the others!” Trent ordered.

Vance yanked Misty by the hair and dragged her over to the arm chair and threw her down into it. She lifted her face to look at him and shot him an evil glare. “Why are you doing this?” she cried.

Vance gave her an eerie grin. “I think I’ll let my father do the explaining.”

“
Father?” Dylan questioned out loud. “So you mean to tell me you’re related?”

“
Keep your mouth shut and don’t say another word,” Trent scolded Vance.

Vance lost the grin and replaced it with an angry expression. He was already pissed off at Misty catching them rustling her father’s cattle. And now, his father had made him look like a fool in front of their hostages. He had had about enough of his father’s attitude for one day. He gritted his teeth and flexed his jaw, then moved to stand against the wall. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and proceeded to pull one out and light it.

“
You
 set the barn on fire,” Dylan confirmed and looked at Vance with a shocked expression.

Trent had stopped his quiet conversation with Hank and turned to look at Dylan and Vance.