Page 97 of The Texas Sterling Collection
Wyl tugged Rod’s chin and grabbed a quick kiss. “You’re amazing, cowboy.”
“I bet you say that to all the cowboys.” Rod chuckled through the words. “I’m almost done. Then we’ll watch the video to be sure it gives the right message.”
Together they watched the video. Rod made a couple of tweaks. Then they watched the video one last time.
“You’re very sexy on the video, Roderic Felix Bonner Sterling,” Wyl whispered in Rod’s ear. “The guy next to you in the video is one lucky bastard.”
“That guy next to me in the video is my whole life.” Rod planted a quick kiss. “Are we ready to upload?”
“As the guy on that space show on television said, make it so!”
Rod clicked the upload icon, and the progress bar began to move. The shattering of glass broke the silence and startled them both. A rock tumbled across the floor toward the coffee table.
Chapter Six
“What the fuck?” Wyl leaped up, glanced around the room, then turned to Rod. “Are you all right?”
Rod stood and put the laptop on the coffee table. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He grabbed Wyl’s arms, looking for injury from cut glass.
“I’m okay. Be careful of the glass.”
Rod pointed to the rock. “There is a note tied to the rock.”
“Boots!” Wyl pointed to their boots, still standing by the couch.
Rod grabbed Wyl’s boots and handed them over before sitting and tugging on his own.
The broken glass crunched under their boots as they picked up the rock and untied the note.
“You were warned,” Rod read.
“By whom?” Wyl frowned.
Rod caught movement outside the window. “Shit! I think someone is running toward the road!”
“Shit!” Wyl ran for the front door.
“I’m coming, too!” Rod shouted.
Wyl threw open the door and rushed outside. A light to the left caught his attention. The barn blazed with bright yellow fire. “Fuck!” He shouted. “Call the fire department. I’ll release the horses.” His boots barely touched the ground as he raced toward the blazing structure. A sputtering engine faded away in the distance behind him, but he didn’t care. The horses needed rescue.
Rod briefly gazed at the burning structure, then raced inside and called 911. “Sterling Ranch. Our barn is on fire. Hurry!” he yelled into the phone. He let the receiver fall, then ran through the house. The back door hit the outside wall with a bang as he bolted toward the barn.
Wyl tugged open the barn door and found the stables filled with smoke. Emergency sprinklers sprayed water. The horses snorted and screamed, wild to escape their stalls. Racing to the north door, Wyl threw it open, then ran to each stall. He jerked the stall gates open for Cessna, Beauty, and Princess and shooed the horses out the open north door and into the corral.
Rod raced in, threw open the stall gates, and shooed Sarge and Blanket to join the other horses. Smoke poured in through the open south door, carried by the prevailing breeze. He checked the barn interior. No fire inside. “Wyl,” he shouted. “We need a firehose!”
“On the wall by the main doors,” Wyl’s voice was hoarse from the smoke and the shouting. “I’ll open the corral to let the horses into the pasture.”
Rod ran through the smoke to the main doors, tugging his shirt to cover his mouth and nose. Gasping, he found the fire hose box, yanked the hose entirely out, and twisted the valve knob several times until a powerful jet sprayed from the nozzle. Fighting against the force of the water, he tugged the water-heavy hose through the open door and aimed the powerful stream at the fire.
Instead of hissing and dying from the water, the fire billowed. Wyl rushed up and shouted above the roar of the fire. “What the fuck? Why isn’t the water putting out the fire?”
“Must be an accelerant,” Rod shouted. His arms were tired from maintaining control of the powerful jet of water. “Whoever did this made sure to stoke the fire with enough fuel to burn the barn.”
“I’ll grab a shovel and throw dirt on the base of the fire,” Wyl shouted. “Spray as high as possible to keep the fire from spreading.”
Rod aimed the stream high, hitting the roof so water flowed down the sides. Wyl returned with a flat shovel and, finding dirt that wasn’t mud, began heaving shovelfuls at the base of the fire to cover the accelerant and decrease the intensity of the flames. They worked steadily for twenty minutes until sirens and flashing lights signaled the approach of fire crews.
