Page 14 of Saving Veronica
Everyone stared as the sound of screams and pounding hooves grew louder. Finn noticed everyone lined up along the fence, and after only a couple minutes, everyone except for the three Larsons began to swear a blue streak. Maggie included.
“What’s going on?” Finn asked.
“Those screams you’re hearing are horses. So are the pounding of hooves. Look,” Gerald said, and pointed to the east.
Finn looked up and noticed several horses come running down a trail. None of them had saddles on, except for the last one.
“Son of a bitch,” Gerald said, as he watched the horses. The one with the saddle ran around the others. His neck extended with his teeth bared. Finn saw him biting and nipping at the other horses. He ran around behind them and the closer they were to the gate, the narrower the line became, when they went through it, all the horses were in a straight line. Before the one wearing the saddle entered, a gray horse and little one went in, but they ran over to a different part and stood there, breathing hard.
Hector shut the gate and the saddled horse continued to run back and forth, screaming at the unsaddled ones.
“What’s going on?” Finn asked.
It was the vet that answered. “The horse with the saddle is Sarge.”
“Ronnie’s horse?”
“Yes. The gray one with the baby is Paige.”
“Okay, so she had her baby away from the barn. Who are the others?”
“Wild mustangs,” Johnson said.
“Paige’s family,” Maggie said.
“I don’t see Ronnie,” Gerald said, and paced. He began barking out orders. “Johnson, Patterson, call your foremen, get horses mounted and let’s start looking for her. Grady when the horses calm down, do your thing.”
“NO!”Finn barked out, when everyone jumped to do the General’s bidding. He knew Gerald had been a General in the Marines, but he had to put his foot down. They were moving too fast, without enough information. If they acted like this in a firefight, everyone would be dead.
“Excuse me?” Gerald turned and glared at Finn. “That’s my granddaughter that’s missing.”
“I understand that, Sir, but you’re going about it all wrong. You have to A-P-E it.”
“Are you calling me an Ape?” Gerald demanded, and actually walked up to Finn, puffed out his chest, and tried to force him back a step or two.
Suddenly, the Sheriff was between them. “Whoa, there General. Let’s see what the kid has to say.” He looked at Finn, and said, “Amos Bronson, Sargent US Army, Recon, in ten, out five. Gerald tell him yours.”
“Gerald Pennyworth, General US Marines, in twenty out eighteen. Listen up, you young pup, you don’t know shit about what I’m talking about.”
Finn was pissed. Big-time pissed. He leaned into the General’s face, which happened to be only a couple inches lower than his own. “Finnegan Larson, Master Sergeant, US Marine Corps. In ten and out thirty-eight days.” He pointed to the dog. “Major, US Marine Corps, in seven, out twenty-two days. And I didn’t call you an ape! Sir! I said we have to A-P-E it. I know she’s you’re granddaughter, you’re thinking like a grandfather right now, you need to think like a fucking General. Understand me?”
Maggie stepped between them and placed her hand on both their chests, and pushed them a couple inches apart. “I want to hear what he has to say. So far he’s making a lot of sense,” she said to her husband. She then turned to Finn, and asked, “What does A-P-E mean?”
“Assess, Plan, Execute,” Finn said sternly, as he looked directly into the General’s eyes, and saw the understanding dawn.
“Shit, you’re right. I’m sorry. Iamthinking like a grandfather, not a General. Since you’ve only been out a little over a month, I’ll defer to you.” He looked at the other men standing around. “You guys have any problem with that?”
“None,” they all said, and looked at Finn for guidance.
“First, assess. What I see now is a horse with a saddle on it, one with something around its head, a baby, and eight other horses. I’m assuming they are Sarge, Paige, Paige’s baby, and as you said, wild mustangs. Do you think those are the ones Ronnie wanted to try to bring back? Questions arise, gentlemen. Did she herd them up and was bringing them back, and something spooked Sarge and she was bucked off? But the first question is…” He looked around and saw Hector standing inside the fence.
“Last week, Ronnie told Maggie that you called about Paige. Why?”
“Paige wasn’t due for another two weeks. I came back from town and went to check on her and Sarge. Sarge was in his stall, but Paige was missing. I looked all around here, even went over to the General’s to check it out. When I didn’t find her, I immediately called Ronnie. She said to pack up Sarge and would be home within the hour. I did. When she left here, she said she’d be back Wednesday, Thursday at the latest. I laughed at her.”
“Why?” Finn frowned when everyone chuckled.
“When Ronnie says she’s going to the meadow, she loses all track of time,” Gerald said. “Several times, Hector and I had to go get her to remind her it was time to come home.”
