“Oh my god, Jake, look out!” she screamed in futility, knowing that it was unlikely he could hear her. His intent was obvious—he was headed for the two closest men, both of whom were still holding the long prods equipped with what looked to be automotive batteries with handles. If the prod didn’t shock him, the battery swung at his head would certainly knock him out. Or worse.
She didn’t want to watch, but she couldn’t look away, swiveling her head to keep him in view as Finnegan spun in circles, sweating and shaking. He wouldn’t go any closer to the mess in front of her.
Jake grabbed the first man by the collar of his shirt, and with a speed she’d never expected from him, punched him. In rapid fire, like he’d been born to it, he punched him again, twice, then the man went slack in his grasp, dropping his prod. Jake let him go as he crumpled to the ground, obviously out cold.
The other man was coming at him from behind, and Jake couldn’t see him.
“Jake, behind you!” she screamed as loudly as she could. “Oh my god, he’s—”
Jake had turned, but not in time, and let out a yell as the prod stabbed him square in the back. He arched away, spun, and coldcocked the man square in the nose on reflex, dropping him like a bag of bricks. She couldn’t hear Jake, but could see his mouth moving, and it was obviously swear words as he held his back and then dove behind the seething mass of cows.
How had that jolt of electricity from the prod not leveled him? Was he hurt?Liz attempted to get Finnegan to move closer to the cows again, but the horse stopped dead and wouldn’t even consider it, so she gave up. She craned her neck to see where Tanner and Brady had gotten to, flashes of Jake’s body in motion between the legs of the cows proof enough he was still conscious and fighting.
Tanner had pulled the third guy down and was kicking him, the man curled up in a ball, arms covering his head. She couldn’t see Brady, but then the engine of the truck abruptly cut off. He must’ve gone for the cab of the rig, to make sure there wasn’t a driver.
The cows were kicking up more and more dust, the lowing was getting more and more frantic, and the rig was rocking back and forth with the cows already loaded sensing the chaos outside. All three of the other horses were still in front of the mess, holding the herd back, but she couldn’t see anything past them. With trying to prevent Finnegan from bolting again, and keeping her eye on the horses and cows, she was panicking.
“Jesus! Guys?” she yelled. “GUYS!”
Then Jake stood, his hair a mess, covered in dust, his chest heaving. As he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, relief ran through her like a cold drink of water.
“Fuck,” she breathed. “Thank fucking god.”
Tanner reappeared then, too, blood trickling from his mouth. He strode over to Jake, and stopped, looking at what was obviously two downed cattle thieves. Tanner said something to Jake, and Jake grinned like a cat who’d caught the damned canary, then patted Tanner on the shoulder.
“Well, shit,” Liz added as she whoa-ed Finnegan again, his agitation finally slowing now that he’d had a few moments to assess the situation. “Maybe there’s hope for them after all.”
Chapter Twenty-four
Brady was on his phone, and waved at Liz, who waved back and then urged her horse forward to keep the cows in line, Finnegan snorting and dancing but at least listening to her this time. She gathered up Sandy’s reins, and the old mare put her nose on Finnegan and nickered. Finnegan relaxed immediately, and Liz slacked her reins, letting them stand close to the herd. She should have just done that to start with.
“You big dumb horse,” she muttered, but patted him anyway. Truthfully, had she not been panicked, it would have been her first instinct. Grab the senior horse and couple up to calm the young one. She’d been too focused on Jake wading into certain harm to think straight.
Anger bubbled up to the surface, and she tried hard to let it go because it wouldn’t solve anything. Her horse needed calm, and to be honest, they had to figure out how to get the damned herd back up the road and into that field.
The cattle were settling well with the rig off, curiously looking back at the horses, some of them attempting to graze on the dust-covered grass along the side.
Making his way back to his horse, Tanner glanced over each cow as he passed through the herd, holding a half-cocked smile. They’d gotten really fucking lucky, and her anger dissipated. She let out a breath, expelling some of her panic with it.
“You okay?” she asked when he’d gathered Chip’s reins and moved toward her. He was still out of breath, licking at his once-again split lip, and he nodded, patting her on the leg.
“Yeah. You?”
“Finny wasn’t easy,” she answered lamely. “I wasn’t much help.”
Tanner looked straight at her and shook his head, patting her one more time before he took a big breath and stretched his neck. His brain was likely already going a mile a minute on how to deal with it all. They turned as Brady released a panel in the back, and about twenty cows clattered down the ramp back to their herd mates. Jake had Tanner’s uncoiled rope and was dragging the unconscious men over to tie them to the back bumper of the trailer.
She’d have to ask Jake later how he knew how to wade in and fight like that. That was definitely not something someone learned in chef school. It was impressive, no matter how he’d learned, and now that she’d had a moment to calm down, she mused further that it was kind of attractive, the sheer strength and grit he’d displayed.
“It’s all good, Lizzie. You’re safe, and that’s important.”
“I should’ve ridden for help,” she countered.
“I need you to help get these damned cattle back up the road,” he shot back.
“I know, I just—” Liz felt the helplessness. She hated being helpless.
“They were burly assholes, all three of ’em. Jake took two of them on. I—” Tanner interrupted, then stopped talking, looking over at his brother, an oddly perplexed look crossing his face before he masked it.
