Read Online Blazer Drive by Sigmund Brouwer - Free Book Online Page B

the darkness, and we didn’t need the flashlight, not with the full moon that had risen.
    â€œBut there are animals back there,” he whispered.
    He was right, of course. There were pens and corrals with cattle. Not only could we see the dark outlines of the animals moving around, but we could smell and hear them.
    â€œYour point?” I asked.
    â€œBig animals,” he said, “with pointy horns—”
    â€œStay on the right side of the fence and the big animals can’t get you.” I grinned. “Besides, you’ve faced plenty of big animals in hockey.”
    â€œI can’t do it. It’s like some people have a fear of heights. Me, it’s this—” He let his voice trail away. I was already walking toward the pens behind the barn.
    â€œThen wait at the truck,” I said. I was worried enough already. The last thing I needed was to have to babysit him.
    I left him behind. Near the back of the barn, I was able to get a sense of the layout of the pens and corrals. There were four big corrals, with dozens of cattle in each one. There were some smaller pens, with only a couple of animals. Ranchers sometimes separated cows with new calves from the rest of the herd.
    I walked past the pens to the rear entrance of the barn. It was a much smaller door than the one at the front. It was also locked.
    I looked upward. On the second floor of the barn, there was an opening. If it was anything like our barn, most of the second floor was a hayloft, a place to store bales of hay. Workers would pitch hay down through the opening above.
    I tucked the flashlight into the front of my shirt. I found some hay bales and stacked them on top of each other. The stack wobbled dangerously, but I was finally high enough to reach the opening with my fingers. I hookedon, pulled myself up and wiggled my way into the hayloft.
    Once I was on my feet again, I took the flashlight out of my shirt. Without the moonlight, it was almost black. I used the flashlight to find a set of wooden stairs down to the main level.
    The front half of the barn was a wide-open work area. I swept my flashlight beam in all directions. I saw the pickup truck with the hot-air balloon basket. Behind it was a workbench with tools. Beside it was the fabric of the balloon. Next to the fabric was a gigantic leather strap. I couldn’t figure out what it was for, so I moved on.
    A door led to the back half of the barn. I pushed it open slowly and listened in the darkness. I heard rustling. It was a familiar rustling, the movement of animals in stalls.
    I didn’t want to waste time, so I moved inside quickly. There was a slight chance—if indeed they had Stephanie—that she was inside one of the stalls.
    My flashlight showed stalls on both sides. The floor between was concrete, with agroove in the middle for water to run to a grate.
    I stepped through the door. I shone my light into the first stall. Staring back at me was a monstrous bull. I moved on.
    The next stall showed another bull. And another.
    It was at the fourth stall that my heart rate doubled.
    My flashlight beam clearly showed the animal inside. It was another bull, all right, which shouldn’t have surprised me. What did surprise me was one simple fact. The bull inside was Big Boy. Our bull. The one that had been chopped into pieces.
    I had no doubt it was him. I’d worked with Big Boy for years. I knew every marking on his black hide. Just to be sure, I climbed the stall and shone the flashlight at his side. In the light I could clearly see the Ellroy ranch brand.
    I climbed back down.
    Big Boy? Here? Alive?
    It was so unexpected, I felt like I’d been slammed in the head with another one of Luke’s slap shots.

    I stepped toward the next stall and froze. The overhead lights had just been snapped on!
    Before I could move, someone kicked the door behind me open.
    â€œTurn around,” came the soft voice with the English accent.
    I turned,