Chapter 9 - The Burning Inferno
Fear makes desperate men do incomprehensible,
monstrous things.
Knowing that federal indictments were being prepared and that his corporate empire was facing total collapse,
Marcus Sterling decided to erase the evidence forever.
Without the living bloodline of Juniper and her prized offspring,
the $100 million valuation of Sinclair Ranch would crumble,
and the genetic foundation of my success would be gone.
Late on a stormy Thursday night,
dark clouds rolled over the valley,
unleashing torrential downpours and loud cracks of thunder that shook the rafters of the main barn.
Inside the pristine wooden stables,
Juniper and her young foal,
Valor,
rested comfortably on deep beds of fresh cedar shavings.
At two o'clock in the morning,
a dark pickup truck with its headlights turned off rolled silently down the muddy back road bordering the ranch pasture.
Two men wearing black masks stepped out of the vehicle,
carrying heavy plastic jerrycans filled with industrial accelerant and diesel fuel.
One of the men was a disgraced former ranch hand hired by Sterling;
the other,
driven by blind,
unhinged hatred and ruined ambition,
was my own brother,
Travis.
They crept through the shadows of the wooden fencing,
reaching the back wall of the historic main barn where the championship horses were sheltered.
Travis’s hands shook uncontrollably as he splashed the smelly diesel fuel against the dry cedar siding,
his mind consumed by toxic jealousy and dark vengeance.
"If I can't have the money,"
Travis muttered to himself like a madman,
"nobody gets it."
He struck a match against the box,
dropping the tiny flame into the pool of fuel.
Instantly,
a massive wall of orange fire erupted with a terrifying roar,
climbing up the wooden walls of the barn and spreading across the roof within seconds.
The smoke alarm inside the main house blared with a deafening screech,
waking me instantly from my sleep.
I jumped out of bed,
ran to the window,
and gasped in utter horror as I saw towering flames swallowing the roof of our beloved historic barn.
"Walt!
Ruth!"
I screamed at the top of my lungs,
running down the hallway in my nightclothes and grabbing the heavy fire extinguisher near the door.
"The main barn is on fire!"
Walt rushed out of his bedroom,
pulling on his heavy leather work boots,
his face pale with horror as he saw the bright orange glow reflecting off the living room windows.
We sprinted across the rain-soaked lawn,
the cold rain pouring over us as the heat from the blazing inferno hit our faces like an open furnace.
Inside the burning structure,
the panicked horses were screaming in terror,
their heavy hooves slamming violently against the wooden stall doors.
"Get the hose!"
Walt roared,
grabbing a crowbar from the tool shed and running directly into the thick,
choking black smoke of the doorway.
"Caleb!
Hannah!
Stay back in the house!"
I screamed,
wrapping a wet towel around my face and charging into the inferno behind Walt.
The smoke was so dense I could barely see two feet in front of me,
the roaring heat singeing my hair as burning embers fell like rain from the collapsing ceiling beams.
Walt used the crowbar to smash the latch on Juniper’s stall,
pulling the terrified mare out into the central aisle as she reared up in fear.
"I've got Juniper!"
Walt coughed violently,
leading the mare toward the safety of the open doors.
"Bethany!
Valor is still trapped in the back stall!"
I sprinted deeper into the burning maze of flames,
my lungs burning with toxic smoke,
determined to save Juniper’s young foal.
I reached the back stall,
kicked the wooden latch open,
and threw a soft wool blanket over Valor’s eyes to calm his panic.
"Come on,
baby!"
I pleaded,
pulling the frightened young foal by his halter through the blazing aisle.
Just as I reached the middle of the barn,
a massive wooden beam above us snapped with a loud crack,
collapsing toward the ground in a shower of sparks.
Through the wall of fire,
I saw a shadowy figure trapped beneath a fallen beam,
screaming in agony as the flames licked at his clothes.
It was Travis.
The collapsing roof had trapped him against the back wall,
pinning his leg under a heavy,
burning oak timber.
"Bethany!
Help me!"
Travis shrieked,
his voice filled with pure,
unadulterated terror as the fire crept closer to his chest.
"Please!
Don't leave me to die!"
I stood there in the blinding heat,
holding the halter of the frightened foal,
staring at the brother who had abandoned my babies,
who had lied under oath,
and who had set fire to the sanctuary that saved my life.
For one fleeting,
terrible second,
the memory of that freezing porch eight years ago flashed through my mind.
I remembered him shutting his bedroom door while my children cried in the cold.
The fire roared louder,
and a burning plank fell just inches from his head,
his screams growing high-pitched and hysterical.
"Bethany!
I'm sorry!
I'm so sorry!"
he wept,
reaching his burning hands toward me.
My heart slammed against my ribs as the moral core of who I was fought against the painful memories of the past.
I could not become the monster he was.
I could not let a human being burn to death,
no matter how deep his betrayal ran.
"Walt!"
I screamed into the smoke,
turning to pull Valor out through the side entrance into the arms of a waiting firefighter who had just arrived on scene.
I grabbed a heavy steel crowbar from the wall,
ran back into the blazing inferno,
and wedged the iron bar under the burning beam pinning Travis’s leg.
Walt rushed back in beside me,
grabbing the iron bar with his powerful hands,
his muscles straining as we lifted the heavy oak timber together.
"Pull your leg out!
Now!"
Walt bellowed over the roar of the fire.
Travis dragged his bloodied,
burned leg out from beneath the timber,
sobbing with pain as Walt hoisted him over his shoulder like a sack of grain.
We burst through the front barn doors just as the entire roof structure collapsed inward in a massive explosion of fire,
sparks,
and black smoke.
We collapsed onto the wet grass in the pouring rain,
May you like
gasping for sweet,
clean air as fire trucks roared down the driveway with their sirens wailing into the night.
