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Image: Free Wallpaper from http://www.scenicreflections.com/ ~Sephrena.

Author's Note: Thank you Hope for your encouragement and help in editing. Thank you Sephrena for making the post appear professional. Most of all thank you to all who have commented or left Kudos. For those who have left comments, I answer them with what I hope is something witty and appreciated. ~Barbara.

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Chapter 29: Rustlers
 
Jesse stopped by Big Spot. “If you hear any shooting, get Gabriel out of here!”

{What's going on?}

“There are rustlers over the ridge. I am going to change into a wolf to go see if George and the ranch hands are down there and still alive. Silver Ears is going with me.”

{I think you have forgotten one thing.}

“Yes?”

{Your arm is broken and hasn't had time to heal.}

“I can try and if my broken arm stays a broken leg, I'll change back.” Jesse sat on the ground and concentrated on changing into her wolf form. She was chanting in the language of the people to steady her nerves and hoping her arm would heal. It didn't take long for her to transform, but as she was stepping out of her clothes, she felt the sharp pains running up her leg. The wolf whimpered as she took another step. She realized that there would be no way to sneak down to the rustler's encampment.

The wolf changed back into a young girl and eased back into her clothes. The cast she was wearing had to be discarded. She picked up her rifle after placing her arm into the sling she was wearing and walked and crawled back to where Gabriel and Silver Ears were keeping watch. She had grabbed the satellite phone to call the sheriff which she handed to the rancher.

The young girl lied down next to the cowboy. “Has anything changed?”

“I thought you were going to change into a wolf and go down to check on the men?”

“I tried, but my arm is not healed enough. I brought the satellite phone so we can call the sheriff. Have you seen anyone keeping watch for them?”

“No. Do you think they might?”

“Probably.” Jesse turned to Silver Ears. “Have you heard or smelled anyone that may be a lookout for the men down in the valley?”

{I haven't, but that doesn't mean they are not out there.}

“Okay. Keep your ears up and your nose to the wind.”

“Gabriel, we need a plan.”

“Let me call the Sheriff's office and get the sheriff out here and see what they say.” He dial the phone and waited for the dispatcher to answer. “Hello, I need to report some rustlers. Can you send the sheriff out here?”

“Yes, they are still here.... We are on the Hartman ranch north of town....Two hours... Okay.”

“The dispatcher told us to sit right where we are and the sheriff will be out in two hours that he was on another call. Something didn't feel right about that call,.” commented to young man.

Jesse was watching the rustlers while Gabriel was calling the sheriff. She asked, “Why do you say that?”

“The dispatcher never asked me where on the ranch, the map coordinates, or my phone number where they can call me back.”

“Look, they have a satellite phone and just received a call,” said the girl. “Now they're looking around.”

“I have the coordinates locked into the phone. I will call my house. My dad knows the direct line to the sheriff's phone and his chief deputy.” Gabriel quickly called his dad and gave him the details of what was going on. Mean while the rustlers were starting their four wheelers to begin searching for who ever was trying to alert the sheriff.

“We need a plan before we are caught,” said Jesse.

“There's an old creek bed out a hundred yards outside the gate. If we can ride to it and up in to the woods that will slow down the baddies. They will have to come after us single file, and the rocks will slow them down. It'll slow us down too, but maybe not too much. Once we are in the woods we can ambush them. I'll see if I can take down the last one first, while Silver Ears takes out the second one. Then if the first one into the woods notices the others missing, he'll double back for them or try to run. We should be able to take him out with a rope across the creek.”

“What do you think, Silver Ears?” asked the young girl.

{We have a better chance in the forest than out in the open. As their eyes are adjusting to the dark we will have the advantage.}

“Lets get the horses and get out of here,” said the cowboy.

They ran back to the horses where the boy helped the girl into her saddle. “Come on Big Spot we need to get out of here. There is a creek about a hundred yards beyond the gate that goes up into the woods. We need to get there as fast as we can.”

Big Spot turned and started running. The rancher was in his saddle urging his horse to catch up kicking his heels into its sides. Silver Ears ran up behind the horse and started snapping at its heels. One could see the fear in its eyes. The cowboy had to hold the reins hard to the left to get the horse to turn when they reached the creek. The fear was so strong in the horse all it wanted to do was run. It didn't care where as long as it was away from the animal that was trying to eat it.

The riders just disappeared into the woods as the four wheelers came through the gate. The rustlers could clearly see the tracks of the horses and the direction the riders went as the girl and boy did not try to hide their flight. They gunned their engines toward the woods and stopped as they arrived realizing that they would have to ride single file. The leader of the group sent his two underlings into the forest ahead of him. They drew their guns expecting an ambush.

Gabriel had slipped off his horse just as they entered the woods. He grabbed his lariat off his saddle. “You take the horses on up the trail until you can hide them and yourself. Silver Ears and I will take out the first two.”

“Okay, you be careful. I don't want to be a widow before we have a chance to date.”

The trap was set. It was a matter of the bad guys blundering into it. The cowboy loosened his lariat. He would lasso the man in back as Silver Ears jumped the next man.

Gabriel had picked a particular rough section of creek so the rustlers had to concentrate on their riding more than their quarry. The lead rider had just gunned his engine after exiting the difficult terrain when Silver Ears came bounding out of the brush. His perfectly timed jump knocked the second rider from the four wheeler. The rustler found himself under a snarling wolf whose fangs were bared inches from his face. Silver Ears could smell the urine where the man lost control of his bladder in fright.

The leader of this group saw the man in front of him attacked by the wolf, but before he could react, he found himself being pulled backward off his four wheeler. The cowboy's lariat had sailed over the rustler's head and settled around the chest of the rustler. The rancher yanked hard on the rope causing the man to fall off and drop his weapon. “If you struggle, I will shoot you and my friend will tear your friends throat out,” threatened the cowboy. “Your bodies will be eaten by the pack of hungry wolves that live around here, never to be found.”

Silver Ears bent closer to the man to where his teeth were touching the man's nose. “Do as he says,” cried the man in fear. “For the Christ's sake, do as he says.”

The leader laid still and glared at the cowboy. “If I'm not back soon, the others will kill those we have as prisoners.”

“How do I know that they are not already dead?”

“You don't,” laughed the man. “But if you don't let us go they will die for sure.”

They heard the sound of a four wheeler coming back down the creek. “There is my pardner. He's a crack shot and quick. As soon as he sees you you're dead,” the man laughed evilly.

No sooner than the threat left the man's mouth, the engine on the four wheeler revved and silenced. “That will be my wife's doing. I'm afraid your pardner is out of commission.”

A few minutes later Jesse came back down the path leading the horses. “It sounded like you got the last four wheeler?” Gabriel asked rhetorically.

“Yeah, I got him. The rope that I stretched across the creek caught him in the neck. His neck broke as he fell off his ride.”

“I'm sorry hun,” said the young man.

“It's not my first kill, but it was my first human. What are we going to do with these two?”

“If they don't start answering questions, I am going to feed them to Silver Ears pack. They say humans taste like pork. You know how much the wolves like fresh killed pig.”

Silver Ears licked his lips over the man he was guarding, which caused the man to shake and cry “I'll tell you what ever you want to know. Just don't let the wolf eat me.”

“Shut up you fool. They won't feed you to the wolves. Jerry died by accident. If they were out to kill us, they would've done it.”

“Okay Silver Ears, you can start by eating that one,” said the rancher. The wolf licked the man as if tasting him. Then he opened his mouth to show him all his teeth. Finally, he put his teeth around the man's throat.

The man almost passed out from fright. He started shouting, “Don't let him eat me. Please don't let him eat me. I'll tell you what ever you want to know.”

The leader shouted back, “He is not going to eat you.”

“How do you know? You don't have a wolf standing over you with his teeth around your throat,” cried the man.

Gabriel spoke to Jesse, “Watch this one while I tie him up. If he so much as flinches, shoot 'em.” Turning to the leader. “If you have any doubt that she'll shoot you, remember this, 'She is a member of the wolf's pack and happily brings food to the other pack members.” Jesse bared her teeth and licked her lips to emphasize the point.

They tied and gagged the leader, then turned their attention to the other man. “How many more men are there at the trucks?” asked the rancher leading the interrogation.

“Five.”

“Who are they?”

“I don't know.”

“Silver Ears, eat him.”

“Wait, there are two truck drivers, a butcher and his helper, and one man guarding the others.”

“Are the others alive?”

“Yes”

“When was the last time they had any food or water.”

“I don't know.”

“Silver Ears.”

“Wait. I don't know. We haven't given them anything since we captured them almost three days ago. We were going to leave them for buzzard food.”

“Who is the leader of this operation?”

“The dispatcher at the sheriff's office. I don't know his name.”

“What do you do with the beef after you have it?”

“They take it to Canada to a processor. I don't know to who. Only the boss and truck driver knows.”

“Silver Ears, you can let him up.” They had the man walk over to the leader who was lying down with his feet tied and his hands tied behind his back. “Lie down facing each other.” They tied the man's hands behind his back and tied his feet together. Then they tied the two men together face to face. It would take them a while to get out of their bindings if ever. Lying on the rocks in the creek bed just added to the men's discomfort.

The two humans mounted their horses to ride back to keep watch while they waited for the sheriff. Just before they left, the wolf walked over to the men lying down and licked the blood off the man he had jumped. The man wet himself again, but this time it got his partner wet too. The wolf seemed to chuckle to itself as it walked away.

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To Be Continued...