“Help me,” he shouted, but no one responded.
He scraped his feet on the ground and tried to push the hay away from him. It had opposite effect and stoked the blaze with new fuel. A few feet away he saw the pile of hay by the wall burning. Hasty billows of smoke streamed toward the roof.
“We’re all going to die in here. We need to get out.”
Tony ignored him and turned his attention to the more desirable subject as she leapt over the fence of the corral. He headed through the gateless gap toward her, unaware the bottom edge of his jacket had ignited in the back.
“Trick or treat pussy.”
Natalie disregarded him and ran toward the center of the barn with the rake head clutched in her left hand. As she reached the open area, she realized it had a rope tied to it. She grabbed the line about three feet from the rake and began to swing it over her head. As it circled, she let the rope slip out from her hands until it extended to a ten foot radius from her body. She stood in the vortex and turned the rope above her head like a lasso in faster and faster circles. The rake flew around her chest high.
Tony came toward her out of the corral past Rudy. The flames at the back of his jacket lapped up its full length. They flickered above his shoulders. Natalie saw that he was oblivious to the heat as his concentration fixated on the obstacle she hurtled between them.
Then, above her, she heard the distinct vibration from the blades of a helicopter. She tore her eyes away from Tony and lifted them toward the roof. The sound continued to build until it seemed to hesitate just above her. A flash of hope ignited as Natalie continued to swing the rake around her. Had a spark from the fire, a wisp of smoke, or a glow from inside the barn escaped the hole-ridden roof and alerted the pilot? But then the roar crept away into the distance and hope careened even deeper into the abyss.
She turned her eyes back to Tony.
Tony’s eyes, too, had followed the cloud of smoke toward the rafters. He knew they had been spotted. Time was short but it no longer mattered. Survival gave way to redemption for Ma’s pathetic life and the crown of righteousness could only be earned by a willing sacrifice.
He tore his eyes away from the smoke and looked toward the glaring eyes of the innocent girl in front of him. From behind the tongues of orange flame reflected in them he saw no fear, only confident rage. He began to walk again as if the flying object was his destiny. When at last he stood at the edge of the orbit the rake navigated, he paused and listened to the air as it twisted its way through the molded steel.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
“Leave her alone,” Rudy shouted and kicked at the flames around him.
“I told you once, asshole, to shut the hell up or I’d do it for you,” Tony yelled with his eyes glued to the projectile Natalie had thrown between them. She had proven to be a creditable adversary. He would take pleasure in her final test.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
The whirling weapon flew by him several more times and Tony stood like a school girl waiting to step into the arc of a jump rope.
With Tony’s face in the shadows, and the flames that lapped up his coat, it looked to Natalie like Satan had walked straight out of the fires of Hell. Suddenly, Tony’s expression changed from victor to panic. She took three quick steps forward.
The smell of singed hair drew Tony’s concentration from the orbit of the rake. He realized he was on fire. He grabbed the lapel of this jacket and started to tear it off. But at the same moment the heavy rope collided with his right arm and began to wrap around his body. His arms, already pinned inside his blazing jacket, were entrapped. He knew at any instant the steel object would collide with him.
To avoid it, he threw himself to the ground. The action only proved to be more catastrophic as the change in elevation brought the rake on a trajectory with his head. It hit him in the face. The tines tore several fresh gashes into his flesh. Stunned, he collapsed to the dirt floor.
“Damn you, Whore. Bring it on.”
The ring of her phone aroused Angela Hawk from the comatose sleep she had fallen into as soon as her eyes had closed. She jerked her head up from the head rest.
“Agent Hawk,” she said as the sleep fog slowly released her mind.
“Agent Hawk, this is Patrolman Seth Parker, I may have found something.”
“What do you have?” she asked, and as her startled heart began to pump life back into her veins, she sat up straight and looked out the window. One emergency vehicle remained on the scene. A tow truck had just finished hooking up the burgundy pickup.
“I’ve been flying south of the scene of the murder,” Seth reported to the agent, “and I just passed over what looks like a deserted barn. There’s smoke coming through the roof.”
_____
©
Jearl Rugh 2012
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