Page 55 of Legacy of Lies
“Shelby!” Garrison screamed and ran toward her. “Where’s Zach?”
“In the house.” She grabbed a hose next to the house and soaked a blanket before throwing it over her head.
Garrison’s fingers dug into Sara’s bruised upper arm, hard, and he spun her around. She tried to ignore the painful throbbing created by his grip. “Get in the house. Please. Make sure Zach is safe.”
As she dashed in the house, Sara paused at the door in time to see Shelby sprint past three other men and back into the blaze via the far side of the barn.
Garrison screamed, “Shel, no!” He ran after her and directly toward the inferno.
• • •
In the yellow haze, Garrison blinked to clear his blurry vision as he stumbled toward the barn, searching for Shelby. Heat buffeted him in harsh waves. A horse whinnied from within the burning structure, and cows mooed in distress in the nearby small pasture behind the house. Bringing all the herd down out of the back forty now seemed like a bad idea, given the unhappy lowing going on in the field. Stressed cattle equaled more problems for the ranch. Son of a bitch, he had a bigger crisis right now.
Three figures dashed in front of the blazing barn, throwing water and yelling to each other.
Garrison chanced a glance over his shoulder. The firefighters poured out of their vehicles and disengaged hoses and equipment at lightning speed.
It wouldn’t be fast enough.
If only they could keep other buildings from burning. He eyed the large timber-constructed ranch house. Zach and Sara were in there. At least the light breeze carried sparks away from the structure for now. Garrison had to keep them safe.
Kerr limped over, leading two wild-eyed horses by the bridles. The rearing horses tried to pull him off the ground, but he persisted until he swatted them into the field with the cattle.
Garrison’s father, bent over and coughing, doggedly kept filling water and hauling it over to the barn for Eric to throw. After a few more rounds, the men’s shoulders slumped. The buckets dropped, useless, at their feet.
“Where’d Shelby go?” Garrison shouted as he reached the men.
“I thought she was getting more water.” Kerr hurried back, limping more than normal. Like a magnet needle, he rotated right to the barn, using his connection with Shelby to find her. “Shit. There.”
Cold terror warred with the waves of heat hitting Garrison.
“Damn her.” Eric took determined steps closer to the scorching heat until Kerr clamped down on the man’s arm.
An ominous creak of beams screamed into the night, popping over the roar of the inferno.
“Son of a bitch,” Garrison whispered. He whipped around. His father swayed on his feet, gasping for air. “Kerr, get Dad in the house!”
“What about Shelby?”
“Damn it, Kerr, take care of him!”
Visibly torn, Kerr finally limped over and guided their dad through the doors of the house. Garrison’s last image was of his brother’s sooty face with the hard line of his mouth, tight like an overtuned instrument. Garrison turned back toward the fire.
The train-engine howl of the conflagration rang in his ears. Firefighters approached the heat.
Eric stumbled forward. “I’m going in after her,” he yelled.
Garrison hung on to Eric’s arm. “You can’t go in there; let’s—”
A large section of the roof collapsed in a howling whirlwind of sparks and heat.
God. Shelby.
With a gut-wrenching burst of disintegrating wood, one wall fell inward.
A horse and bareback rider burst out of the inferno as the remainder of the structure imploded. The horse’s eyes rolled back in his sockets, and he reared on back legs. The rider lay on the horse’s back and clung to the mane, cleared the fire and most of the heat, and then slid off to one side.
“Geezus.” Eric got to his feet and skidded to a stop, grabbing Shelby before she could hit the ground.
