Ball & Chain (Cut & Run 8)

“Here,” he said, handing them over to Zane. “They know the path, so their footing’s sound in the dark. You don’t even have to lead them.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m not getting on that thing,” Ty insisted. They watched Kelly mount, his movements natural and easy. Zane recognized a man who’d worked with horses a great deal. Kelly offered Nick his hand, and Nick pulled himself into the saddle behind him.

Zane glanced at Ty, smiling widely. He hefted himself into the saddle easily, making himself comfortable on the large horse. “Come on, doll, go for a ride with me.”

Ty glared at each of them, including the horses. “I hate you all,” he said before reaching for Zane’s hand.

Ty held tightly to his waist, refusing to release him even after the horse had settled into an easy trot. They came abreast of Kelly and Nick, the horses tossing their heads at each other. It was nearly impossible to see under the cover of the trees. Nick’s flashlight was the only light.

“What made you two decide to come down here tonight?” Zane asked them, raising his voice over the clopping of the horses’ hooves.

“Same as you,” Nick answered. “I just needed to know what we were dealing with.” He pulled his flashlight, turning it into a small lantern that he held out between them. His other hand was on Kelly’s waist, resting there. He wasn’t gripping Kelly like Ty was gripping Zane, and he seemed pretty at ease with the whole horse thing even though he wasn’t in control of the animal.

“How does a city boy from Boston get to know horses?” Zane asked.

Nick looked from Zane to Ty, both eyebrows jumping. “Ty never told you?”

Zane glanced over his shoulder. Ty shook his head.

“We were some of the first into Helmand Province,” Nick explained. “The mission was to clear Marja, and we were part of the advance team sent in for recon. But there were no roads. No equipment had even been floated in yet. Nothing but what we could hump in on our backs. The only way to get from one point to another was by horse. We probably spent six weeks on horseback altogether.”

“Oh Jesus, Digger on a horse,” Kelly said. “He kept threatening to make his horse into stew.”

“He named his horse Stu,” Nick added.

“And Ty’s kept biting him. I even switched with him after a few days,” Kelly continued. “But then it would gallop to catch up to him just so it could bite him.”

Nick and Kelly both laughed. Their horse shied to the side, and Kelly glanced off into the woods.

“It wasn’t funny,” Ty grumbled into Zane’s ear.

Somewhere in the woods to their right, a tree branch snapped, the sound so loud it startled the horses. A moment later there was a thump and another crack, and Zane would have sworn it sounded like silenced gunshots.

The horses both reared, neighing in terror. Ty’s grip on Zane’s waist tightened, and they both managed to stay in the saddle. Out of the corner of his eye, Zane saw Nick hit the ground. The lantern in his hand went rolling with him, casting garish shadows on the trees around them before it disappeared into the ditch along the side of the path and extinguished, throwing everything into complete darkness. Kelly’s horse bolted, and Zane’s galloped off after it.

Zane fought with the reins, trying to turn the horse, to stop it. They heard shots behind them, not silenced this time, but booming through the wet night. Kelly struggled with his horse, trying to force it to turn back for Nick, but it was too spooked by the gunfire. Zane finally got his horse to stop in the middle of the path. Ty pushed off him, dismounting and hitting the ground with a grunt.

“Go get him!” he shouted.

Zane turned the horse, spurring it to a gallop into the inky darkness.

Nick lay in the middle of the road, staring at the moon through the creepy, bare branches of the trees. He had his gun in his hands, still pointed at the trees on the side of the path. He hadn’t emptied his revolver, even though that had been his first instinct. He had two shots left.

He heard the pounding hooves seconds before he felt the vibrations beneath his shoulders. The fall had nearly knocked the sense out of him, and he didn’t think he could move. That horse was probably going to trample him, and he still couldn’t find the ability to scramble off the path. Instead he raised one hand, aiming his gun into the night sky like he could hit Orion’s Belt. He waited until he could see the outline of the charging animal and then fired into the air.

The horse reared, bucking and trying to retreat, and Zane cursed, trying to calm it.

“O’Flaherty!” Zane shouted.

“Don’t let that thing step on me,” Nick called back.

The horse sidestepped toward him, still nervous but calming as Zane cooed to it. Zane hit the ground just feet away, and then knelt beside him, keeping the horse between them and the woods.

“Are you hit?”

“Stag,” Nick said to him.

“What?”

“It was a stag. I shot it.”

Zane looked over his shoulder into the woods. “It wasn’t shots fired?”

“Nope. Bigass deer. Help me up, huh?”

Zane pulled him up to sit, giving him a moment to make sure nothing was broken before dragging him to his feet. He stretched and shook himself out, managing not to whimper. “I think I broke my ass bone,” he said, and they both grinned.

The other horse trotted up, Kelly and Ty in the saddle. “Are you okay?” Kelly cried.

“I shot dinner,” Nick said.

Kelly snorted. “Look, Hannibal, you can shoot back if they’re shooting at you, but it’s still not okay to eat them afterward.”

Zane retrieved the light, converting it back into a flashlight and holding it up so they could see into the woods. The stag Nick had shot was lying a few yards away, the bullet holes right at its heart, steaming in the night.

“Nice shot,” Zane murmured.

“It was a deer?” Ty asked. “Goddamn, I would have sworn those were shots.”

Nick squinted into the woods, shrugging. That was why he’d started firing back, but he supposed the wet pop of the underbrush with the weight of a deer that size would be as loud as what they’d heard. If not, they’d probably all still be taking fire.

“Let’s get the f**k out of here,” Zane said as he stood. He took the reins and pulled himself into the saddle, then held his hand out to Nick. “You okay to ride?”

Nick gave him a disgruntled nod and hefted himself onto the horse behind Zane. He groaned when he got up, resting his forehead on the back of Zane’s shoulder. “Corpsman up,” he said pitifully.