Page 17 of A Triple C Ranch Christmas Wedding
Once he had the horses across the border, no one would know where they’d gone.
Zeb would have his revenge and the cash.
It’s the perfect plan.
* * *
Before dawn,Zeb was back with his truck, his trailer, and two men, T-Zone, and Snake.
Why the hell young men didn’t have regular names anymore, like Sam or Bill, he didn’t know. But what he did know was these two were good at a snatch and grab. Horses, trailers, whatever you wanted to grab and sell. And, they had never been caught. Zeb wasn’t going to work with any man who let himself get caught.
He watched as Snake jumped out of the truck and opened the gate that let them onto a secluded dirt road. Then Zeb drove his truck off the main road onto the dirt road and back to where it was close to the trees that darkened that part of the pasture.
No one will notice the truck and trailer here.
He parked, turned off his lights, and they all got out.
His excitement was starting to build, and he stepped out of the truck, sprightlier than he had felt in years. “Let’s go, boys,” he said.
They all quickly strapped on their snowshoes, and then headed for the end of the pasture, just behind the back paddock.
“Be careful. Stay in my path,” Zeb whispered. He would follow the same route he’d taken earlier that day from the paddock. His excitement and adrenalin fueled him.
The night air was cool and crisp. The moon gave just enough light, and snowfall was predicted to come within a day.
Perfect weather, perfect night, and everything was running just fine.
Following his earlier ski tracks through the wooded area, Zeb and his hirelings approached the paddock gate.
T-Zone reached the gate in the back paddock first and opened it. Zeb and Snake followed him in, while T-Zone shut the gate behind them.
Then Zeb took point. Moving toward the barn, he said, “Listen for that whirly bird I told you about.”
“Yeah, that drone,” T-Zone said.
“Nobody should be here, but that don’t mean the drone won’t be,” Zeb said. “And I’m going to check Buck’s room and make sure no one is staying in there.”
He cracked open the barn door, peered in, and then opened the door further to step inside. The barn was dark and quiet; no one moved about.
So far so good.
He moved toward Buck’s quarters and quietly climbed the stairs in case anyone was up there. Reaching Buck’s room, he tried the door. Locked.
No one was there.
He moved back down the stairs, saw the lock on the tack room, and then headed back through the barn to get the boys, glancing into the stalls as he passed, knowing the horses were there, but double checking.
All ten horses were there.
Reaching the cracked back door of the barn, he stuck out his head, nodded once, and gestured to the boys to follow him inside.
He pointed to Beau, the sorrel gelding he’d selected to ride. He opened the horse’s stall and reached in for his halter and rope, saying, “I’m taking this one. Pick you out one horse and three saddles from the tack room over there.” He gestured over to the tack room. “You’ll have to break the lock, quiet like.”
“Right,” Snake said, moving toward the tool bench. He grabbed a crowbar. Then he and T-Zone went to the tack room.
Zeb took Beau, put a lead on him, then pulled him toward the hitching rail, where he tied the horse as he waited on the other two men who were breaking open the lock on the tack room.
He heard a noise which must’ve been them breaking the lock, and smiled to himself.
