“Jake,” Maggie whispered, rushing to his side.
“It’s all right, it’s Popov’s blood, not mine.” Jake shoved the Russian’s body away and surged to his feet. “They’ve poisoned the water. We’ve got to stop them!”
Jake charged for the door, but when it swung open, the black-haired man Jake had met at the tavern stood in the opening. The man responsible for the attacks on Ellie and Shep.
“So, Comrade Straka, we meet again.” The pistol in his black-gloved hand pointed directly at Jake. Easing Maggie behind him, Jake could feel her trembling.
“You won’t get out of here alive,” Jake said.
“Neither will you.” Running footsteps sounded outside the door an instant before the door burst open, hurling the man forward as Clay crashed into him and the two men rolled in a jumble of arms and legs at Jake’s feet.
“Bloody bastard!” Recognizing him as the man who’d attacked Ellie, Clay grabbed him by the shirtfront and punched him hard in the face. Clay kept hitting him until his eyes rolled back and his jaw hung slack. Clay’s arm went back to hit him again, but Jake caught his shoulder.
“They’ve poisoned the water! We’ve got to get to the horses!”
“Good Christ!” Clay turned and ran back out the door, Jake and Maggie right behind him. Shoving riders and grooms aside, they raced toward the barn where the horses were stabled. Just ahead of them, Jake spotted Ellie and Daniel, running toward them.
“Popov’s dead. They’ve poisoned the waterline that leads into the barns. We’ve got to get the horses out!”
“Oh, God!” Ellie started running toward Jube. Clay ran toward Max.
“Split up,” Daniel ordered Jake and Maggie. “Cover as much ground as you can. Get everyone to help.”
But when they reached the barn, they found the horror had already begun.
In the Canadian team stalls, two of the horses were down. Others were snorting, pawing, and nickering wildly, their eyes rolled back until only the whites appeared.
Two horses in the British section, excited by the pandemonium around them, tried to climb over the top of the open stall doors. On a bench outside, his neck stiff and his eyes bulging, one of the grooms thrashed against the building, his muscles twitching spasmodically.
The Britishchef d ‘equipestood over him, calling out orders while one of the female riders knelt beside him trying to restrain the young man’s rigid, flailing body.
Don’t let them die,Jake thought.Don’t let it be too late. In minutes, word was spread that water had been poisoned. Like the grooms and riders around him, Jake began jerking open stall doors, leading the horses to safety. One after another, they were led out and away from the death in the usually life-giving liquid.
Some of the animals hadn’t been watered since the first release of the deadly poison, so they were not at risk. Others were reacting so violently to the excitement it was difficult to tell if they had been affected. So far, none of the people or horses were dead.
An ambulance, its siren wailing in a high-low, sing-song manner, roared up in a cloud of dust. Another siren rang out. In seconds, white-coated attendants were directed to the groom who had drunk some of the water. They set to work on him immediately, shoving a needle into his arm.
Others were being checked out, but it looked as if the only other victims were the horses.
Making a sweep of the barn, Jake approached Daniel, who’d been speaking in low tones to the ambulance attendants who worked over the groom. “How is he?”
“They’re administering sodium pentobarbital intravenously. They give him a good chance of recovery. Our people are testing the water now, but as near as we can tell, the poison was being released in small doses. Probably because the horses are watered at different times. They didn’t want to alert anyone before they’d gotten to them all.”
“There was a note,” Jake said. “It was signed by me, claiming I was the one responsible. There’s a man in the tack room—“
Daniel’s palm settled gently on his shoulder. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a haphazardly folded sheet of white paper and handed it to Jake. It was the note Popov had forged.
“Our people have taken care of the body and arrested the man they found in the tack room. You take care of the note.”
Jake’s shoulders sagged in relief. “Thank you, Daniel.” Leaving the British and Canadians, he returned to the American section.
“The horses are all out of the stalls,” Ellie told Jake as they approached. “Most of them seem all right, but some of them…we can’t be sure. Jube’s all right. So is Rose. The vet’s with Lass. She doesn’t look good. Maggie’s helping Shep.”
“What about Max?” Jake asked.
Ellie’s eyes filled. “Max is down in his stall.” Her voice broke. “Clay needs help.”
“I’ll get Lee there as fast as I can.”
