AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER1
One Year Ago
Dusk descended on Harper Logan as she stood vigil at the top of the rise, concealed by a cluster of pine trees. As she watched the small group of men push the last of a herd of mustangs into a temporary corral for transportation to Canada, she felt the familiar surge of anger coursing through her system.
Not on my watch.
The Canadian slaughterhouses were working overtime. The world outside of the United States seemed to now consider horse meat a delicacy. The growing business of slaughtering horses for their meat provided an opportunity for unscrupulous groups to hunt and capture wild horses and sell them off with little cash outlay. Luckily, she had stumbled across the quasi-illegal trapping of the herd as she packed out from her last job as fire camp cook or chef for various smokejumper crews.
The men had no right to trap the herd or sell them for slaughter in Canada, but there were also no real laws to prevent it. If caught removing them from federal land, where they were protected, they could be prosecuted, but they were usually only fined. The job of saving the mustangs was left to folks like Harper and others, who believed protecting the last wild horses was a job worth doing. If her luck held, the rustlers would leave only one or two men behind to guard the mustangs overnight. So, she waited for the men to leave and dusk to fade into darkness.
As darkness fell, Harper wrapped her reins around the saddle horn. Dismounting, she stroked Mattie’s face. “Stand,” she whispered.
The Appaloosa mare was well-trained to stay until Harper either returned to her or whistled for her to come. Mattie acknowledged the affection by nuzzling Harper in return. Harper left Mattie and began to quietly steal her way down the hill, using the natural cover that was available to conceal her movements.
The group of men began to tie up the loose ends of getting the mustangs secured, and it appeared that her luck was holding as they left one man behind while the rest headed into town. The lone man began to put together a campsite of sorts for himself. He built a small fire, constructed a rudimentary lean-to, and then headed to the stream, which was at least a half mile away.
Harper waited until the man was out of sight and then ran to the fire, dousing it so that it was completely out. Working in the fire camps, she’d been witness to one too many supposedly inert campfires that sparked and destroyed hundreds of acres of land, threatening and often taking the lives of both men and animals.
She approached the man’s gelding, pulling off his saddle, untying him, and leading him away from the camp. After removing his halter and bridle combination, she shooed him away. The gelding took off, heading in the same direction taken earlier by the other men. Harper searched the camp, located the man’s cell phone and tossed it into the brush. He’d be able to find it, but it would take him a while.
Whistling softly to Mattie, Harper petted the mare after she trotted down to join her. She fished through her saddlebags until she could find a soft rope with which to make a temporary halter. Having watched the mustangs as they were herded into the corral, she had been able to figure out which was the lead mare. Harper entered the pen and stood quietly. The wild horses were concerned at first, but as she presented them with nothing to fear they settled back down, except for the lead mare, who watched her intently.
Harper held her hands down in front of her with her palms up. She made nonsensical cooing noises to the mare and approached her cautiously. Each time the mare tossed her head or pinned her ears, Harper stopped and waited. Slowly, but surely, she made her way to the lead mare, until she stopped several feet in front of her and waited. It took a moment, but the mare seemed to decide that Harper was no threat and began to advance, dropping her head and losing all the tension in her body.
“Good girl,” she said, stroking the mare’s neck. “I need you to help me get your herd out of here and to safety.”
She knew the mare didn’t understand her words, but she hoped her tone would confirm she meant no harm. The mare accepted Harper stroking her neck, and she was able to get her to drop her nose through part of the makeshift halter, before looping the other part behind her ears. She didn’t tighten it at first, just let the mare see she wasn’t being hurt. When the mare accepted that, she tightened it just enough so that it wouldn’t slip off. Harper positioned herself by the mare’s shoulder, facing in the same direction, put the hand with the lead in it ahead of them both and stepped off. The mare hung back for a moment, but once she felt the slight pull on the halter fell in beside Harper.
Harper continued to talk soothingly to the mare as she quietly opened the gate to the corral. She allowed the mare to sniff noses with Mattie so that neither would see the other as a threat. Harper knew she was taking up valuable time, but if she could control the lead mare and get her to work with her and Mattie, it would make removing the mustangs from danger so much easier.
Harper mounted Mattie and said, “Okay, ladies, time to go.”
Nudging Mattie, she reined her to head out of the camp. Again, the wild mare started to hang back, but then fell in behind Mattie with the rest of the herd following in their wake. As they cleared the camp, Harper clucked to Mattie, signaling her to trot. She glanced over her shoulder and grinned as she saw the small herd keeping pace.
Just as they crested the rise, Harper heard shouting from the man below and knew that by the time he located his cell phone and his horse, she and the herd would be long gone. Once over the hill and onto more level ground, Harper kissed to Mattie, who broke into a lope. Harper guided the horses east towards Yellowstone National Park. Once on federally protected land, the mustangs would be safe. Darkness began to envelop them. Harper slowed their pace to make sure no one was injured. She was grateful that a full moon was rising in the clear, cloudless sky to give them all the light they would need.
They rode through the night. Harper felt fortunate that the lead mare and the herd seemed content to follow Mattie. She knew they’d cross into the park shortly before dawn and once well inside its boundaries, she could release the lead mare and watch them gallop back to freedom. The tricky part would be if she was spotted with the mustangs. Technically, dumping unwanted horses in any of the national parks was illegal, but she didn’t see it as breaking the law. After all, the mustangs were wild, had probably wandered out of the park to begin with, and they didn’t belong to anyone. She was simply returning them to where they’d be safe.
Once she was sure the mustangs were free, she could head back to where she’d left her truck and trailer. Her annual pass could explain her riding in the park to anyone she happened across. Anyone, that was, but one of the park rangers. She and her friends were well known for their efforts to keep the wild horses safe. Some of the rangers turned a blind eye; others didn’t.
Yellowstone had seen an uptick in criminal activity and one of the lead investigators for the National Park’s Criminal Investigation Service was on site. Colton Spencer was a man known for his not so charitable feelings towards mustangs. He owned land adjacent to Yellowstone where he raised bucking bulls, broncos and other livestock used by the Professional Rodeo Association. Like many who raised livestock, Spence was often quoted as saying the mustangs were a drain on the available grasslands and had no real value. That was a point they would never agree upon. Harper saw the mustangs as a link to the past of the Old West. They symbolized courage, tenacity, and beauty.
As the darkness started to diminish and visibility increased, Harper picked up the pace, transitioning the herd to an easy lope, hoping to make one of the meadows before the sun had fully crested the horizon. They had just entered a large, lovely meadow with a big pond and lush forage when Harper heard someone calling to her from across the field, ordering her to stop.
Damn it! Did it have to be Colton Spencer?
It wasn’t so much his voice she recognized, as the distance was too far to make out specifics. Instead, it was the big leopard Appaloosa he rode on the PRA Circuit. Spence was also the reigning and three-time Appaloosa World Champion in Roping. She knew it to be him by his horse’s distinctive peacock spots and pattern. She would recognize it anywhere.
Removing the temporary halter from the lead mustang mare, Harper maneuvered the herd between herself and Spence, waving her hands and yelling in order to stampede the horses in his direction. She galloped alongside them until they had kicked up enough dust to cover her peeling off and heading down one of the side trails leading out of the meadow and back towards her truck.
Harper hoped that as it wasn’t full light and her exit was obscured by the herd, she could make a clean getaway without Spence being able to identify her. She urged Mattie into a hard gallop. If she could make the fork in the trail before Spence could clear the herd, she’d have a better chance at a clean escape. She was in luck, as not only did the trail fork as she remembered, but it did so in three prongs as opposed to two.
Harper galloped to the left knowing that trail would lead her back to the park’s western boundary. Once she was clear of the park, she could slow down as it would be difficult for Spence to make a case that she had even been in the park, let alone prove what she’d been up to. She had parked her rig along the access road, and once she got back to it, she could load up and head for home.
* * *
Spence saw the herd of mustangs moving in the distance but in the hazy dawn light it took him a moment to realize they were moving in an awfully orderly fashion for a group of wild horses and then he saw why.
