Chapter 1
It was a dark and stormy night one of the worst that the valley had ever seen. Three rain soaked men ducked back in the door of the small airport.
"Where could that little punk have gone," snarled one of the three men as they began to ring water out of their clothes.
"I don't know but he could have gotten far, Ricky," said the second man, "not in a storm like this and with the bullet hole you put in his shoulder."
"If I ever see him again I'll put a bullet in his head! He beat me out of $500 in that poker game during the flight," Snapped Ricky, "and you two sat there like a bunch of dummies at let him do it."
"Well the plane was full of witnesses and how were we supposed to know that he'd catch you dealing off the bottom of the deck?" retorted the second man.
Just then the cell phone belonging to the third and biggest man, he answered.
"Fischer, is that you," said a gravely voice on the other end of the line, "Where the deuce are you, you, Fletcher and Ricky Raines were supposed to be here hours ago!!" Fischer stammered out an explanation.
"I don't give a rip, about poker games and Raines pocket money," snapped the voice other end of the line, "you remind him that he works for me and that right now we have more important things to worry about. Now forget about that kid and get over here now!!!"
******
Outside in the middle of the raging storm a soaking wet form could be seen half stumbling, half staggering through the woods toward the lights he could see in the distance. The form was that of 14 year-old boy. He stopped and sagged against a tree for a few seconds. Rainwater mixed with the blood that was dripping from his left shoulder and ran down his arm into a small reddish puddle. The boy started moving again. He didn't know how he had stayed conscious for so long considering the amount of blood that he had lost. But he kept going hoping that if he made it to the lights he might find some shelter from the storm. When he finally emerged from the trees he could see that the lights were indeed those of a building. As he moved closer he could see more. It was a stable and through his rain-soaked eyes he could make out the shape of several riding rings nearby.
The Boy finally reached the barn his strength almost gone. He struggled but finally managed to pull up the latch and open the door. Finally out of the rain he staggered a few more feed and finally collapsed on a pile of feed sacks.
"Am I to die here?" he thought. Suddenly the felt something warm against him. Then he blacked out.
A sharp searing pain woke him up he next morning, he tried to sit up almost before his eyes were open, but a couple pairs of hands gently pushed him back down. He wasn't in stable anymore but was lying on a sofa in what looked like someone's house. There were two young guys standing there and a sandy haired woman kneeling next to his arm.
"Easy, there," said the one the men who pushed him back down, "you're among friends here."
"I got the bullet out," said the motherly looking lady that was kneeling by his arm. She began to bandage his arm.
"Good work, Mum." Said the taller of the too.
"Well," said the young man, "I suppose introductions are in order. I'm Max Regnery and this is Jack, and the lady who just performed a little meatball surgery on you is my mother Mrs. Reg."
"I'm Andrew Chase," said the boy pulling himself to a sitting position, "Where am I?"
"This is the Pine Hollow Riding School and Stables." Replied Max, "We found you in the barn early this morning with a 48 caliber bullet in your shoulder. If Trouble our miniature donkey hadn't kept you warm last night by laying against you you'd probably wouldn't have survived the night."
"Well after last night my luck was due for a change." Said Andrew
"About that," said Max, "How did you end up with a bullet in your arm?"
"Well," said, "Andrew on the flight down here I made the mistake of getting sucked into a poker game with some rather rough characters. I knew they had seen the rather large amount of money that I had with me and that they were going to try and cheat me out of it. I wanted to teach them a lesson so I got their dealer to make a really big bet and then exposed him as a cheat. And to make a long story short when I got to the airport I discovered that they don't take getting beaten at their own game very well."
"What brings you down here?" said Mrs. Reg as she brought him a plate of food.
"I'm an orphan, Mrs. Reg," said Andrew, "My parents died with I was three, so I never knew them. My legal guardian is an Uncle named Silas who's a real skinflint. He doesn't really care what I do as long as I stay out of his way. So when spring break rolled around I decided to come down hear and find a man Josiah Parker, he's mentioned in my father's journal several times as a good friend and I was hoping he could tell me about my father and mother. Problem is I don't have his exact address I only know that he's from around Willow Creek."
"Well, I hope you find him," said Mrs. Reg but you'd better stay here until your shoulder heals."
"Oh, I don't want to be anymore of a nuisance than I've already been." Said Andrew quickly
"Nonsense," said Mrs. Reg, "You're staying here and that's final."
"Don't argue, Man." Said Max, "She means it."
Later that day Max took Andrew out and introduced to the rest of the gang at Pine Hollow.
The girls all stopped dead in their tracks when they say Andrew. The handsome blue-eyed brunette that stood before them now was a far cry from the half-drowned bedraggled bloody mess that Max had discovered that morning. Mrs. Reg had lent Andrew some Max's old clothes and had sent Jack to the Airport after Andrew's suitcases.
Veronica was in the middle of brushing Garnet's mane with the comb when she saw Andrew. She got so excited that she tried to comb her own hair with the comb and got it all tangle up in her hair. She ducked down behind the stall door hoping that Max would forget to introduce her at least until she could get the curry comb out of her hair. No such luck Max, made a beeline for Garnet's stall.
"Veronica," said Max, there was no answer.
"Veronica." Said Max, a little louder this time, slowly veronica stood up the comb still hung in her hair.
"Andrew," said Max stifling a chuckle, "this is Veronica Di Angelo," Embarrassed Veronica began to pull on the comb again.
"Wait Wait," said Andrew quickly, "the biggest mistake that people make when they get a comb in there is to yank and pull too much." Andrew took Veronica by the shoulders and turned her around.
"What you need to get a stuck comb out is a gentler touch," when Veronica turned around Andrew had the comb in his hand.
"There you go, miss." He said handing her the comb.
"Yank thou, I-I mean Thank you," stammered Veronica
"You're welcome," said Andrew
Next Max introduced Stevie. Who was struggling to drag a heavy hay bale into Belle's stall.
"Here, let me help you," said Andrew, and before Max to stop him he grabbed the hay bale by the twine with his good arm picked it up and carried like an empty suitcase into the stall. Stevie was wide-eyed. But she soon recovered.
"Why don't you go riding with us this afternoon," she said after Max finished the introductions.
"Yes." Said Lisa, "he can ride patch." Then realizing that she might have spoken to soon she turned and asked,
"You do ride don't you?"
"I'm no dressage champion, but yeah I ride a little." Said a slightly flabbergasted Andrew.
******
Andrew paused in front of a mirror to check his helmet on his way to meet Patch. Then, making sure that no one was around, he opened his shirt and pulled back the bandage on his shoulder the wound looked like it had been healing for a week!
"At this rate, I'll be completely healed by sundown. The only reason it's not already healed is because that rain lowered my body temperature almost to the point of hypothermia."
Andrew walked out to the barn the girls already had Patch tacked up and waiting. Patched sniffed the hand that Andrew held out to him then looked him straight in the eye. A look of realization flashed over Andrew's face. He moved closer to patch so the girls couldn't hear him and whispered,
"You know, don't you!?"
TBC Please Review
What does Patch know?
Why does Andrew heal so fast?
What is Andrew hiding?
Is this the last we've seen of the goons from the airport?
Stay tuned for the answers to these and other questions in Chapter 2 of The Secret.