Hi guys, I'm back with another chapter! There's not much for me to say about this chapter except that it's about 3k words long. As I said before I don't know about gun laws in Canada or police procedures or anything so if it is wrong I'm sorry in advance. I do try my best.

A huge thank you to all who have reviewed, your reviews put a smile on my face :) Any, enjoy!

Chapter 5

'Thanks for this Lisa.' Lou said as she walked around the back of her car and helped her upload the grocers. 'It's helped me out a lot.'

'Your welcome. I was happy to help.' She picked up the rest of the bags then followed Lou back into the house. 'Where do you want these?'

'Oh, just put them down there.'

'Great.' Lisa placed them down near the fridge, then glanced at her watch. 'Ugh, I've got to run. Is Jack around? I need to talk to him before I go.'

'Yeh, I think he's out in the barn.'

'Thanks Lou. See ya.'

'Anytime Lisa.'

Lisa closed the door behind her as she headed back outside towards the barn, then stopped as she heard the echo of gunshots in the distance. She raised her eyebrows, but didn't think of it again as hurried onto the barn. Looking inside, she couldn't see Jack anywhere in there but maybe he was in the office. 'Jack?'

'In here.' He replied from Paint's stall and stood up, giving the gelding a pat as he leaned over the stable door. 'Hey you.'

'Hey yourself. I was just dropping the groceries off that I promised I would get for Lou and I thought I would see you before I left.'

'Ah, so I wasn't important enough for you to come all the way over just to see me?'

'Oh stop it you.' She playfully nudged him with her shoulder, then looked out to her car. 'Well, I better get moving. I have a client coming this afternoon looking to by a couple of horses.'

'Well I'll walk you out then.' He pushed Paint back and opened the stable door then placed his arm around her as they walked out of the barn. 'You busy next Sunday?'

'Maybe, but maybe not.' She looked at him with a cheeky grin. 'What did you have in mind?'

'A horseback ride into the mountains, complete with a picnic.'

'Hmmm. I think I could clear my busy schedule for that.' Lisa was about to add more to it when she saw a black horse galloping up the drive with something on the back. She gasped as she saw what it was. 'Jack, look!'

'That's not good.' He let go of Lisa as he jogged forward, the stallion sliding to a stop as the girl on his back fell to the ground and lay motionless in the dirt. The stallion reared, snorting then pawed the ground before nudging the girl then lifted his head and looked at them. Jack looked at Lisa, then slowly moved towards the stallion with his hand outstretched. They needed to get to the girl. She wasn't moving but the horse wouldn't let them near her. 'Woah, easy boy. I'm not going to hurt you or her.'

The stallion reared again, then lunged at Jack and Lisa screamed. 'Leave him Jack! It's you he doesn't like.' Jack had retreated as the stallion stood glaring at him, pawing the ground. 'If he lets a girl ride him, he has a thing against men. Let me try.' She looked at the girl lying face down on the ground, blood starting to pool underneath her. Forcing herself to remain calm, she heard Lou running out of the house as she slowly approached the horse. The girl was injured, and badly. 'Ring an ambulance.'

'What's going on?' Lou asked as she stopped beside Jack, watching as Lisa tried to approach the stallion then saw the blood on the ground under the child. 'Oh my God.'

'Ring the ambulance Lou!' Jack repeated. 'I'll try and help Lisa with the girl once she gets the stallion calmed down.'

'Right, I'm on it.'

'It's okay boy, easy, easy.' She heard Lou running back to the house and slowly walked closer to the horse. He was still snorting and throwing his head up as he stood over the girl but he had his eyes on her and not on Jack anymore. 'It's okay boy, I'm not going to hurt you. We just want to help your girl. Okay?' The stallion threw his head up again as she walked closer, then stood with his ears pricked at her as she rest her hand on his nose. 'That's a good boy. Back up. Easy boy. Easy.' Slowly she pushed him back away from the girl, then looked at the corral behind him. 'Jack, get the gate. We'll lock him in there so we can get to the girl.' She saw him nod out of the corner of her eye and guided the stallion back through the open gate then Jack shut it after him. Leaving him to latch the gate, she ran back over to the girl and knelt down beside her. 'Oh my God.'

Jack ran over after he had latched the gate and looked at the girl. Blood was pouring from wounds in her back and leg and he could see what had caused it. 'She's been shot.'

Lisa placed her fingers against the girls neck, feeling for a pulse. It was there, barely. 'She's alive.' She heard Lou running up again behind her, talking to the operator on the phone. 'She's been shot Lou. She's in a bad way.' She grabbed off her jacket and placed it on the girl's back, pressing onto the wounds with her hands to stop the bleeding. 'Jack, wrap your jacket around her leg. We need to stop the bleeding.'

'Already on it.' He was wrapping the jacket tightly around her thigh, then took off his belt and made a tourniquet above the wound. 'We need to roll her onto her side so she can breathe.'

'Right.' Lisa supported the girl's neck and head as Jack gently rolled her into the recovery position, then pressed her hands tightly against the wounds. The blood was already leaking through the jacket, but still she pressed on the wounds. 'How long until they arrive Lou?'

'Twenty minutes.' Lou placed her hand over the speaker to reply to her, then went back talking the the operator. 'It's a girl, about twelve years old. She has gunshot wounds to her back and leg-'

'I don't think she's going to last that long.' Jack said, looking at the girl then back at Lisa. The girl was pale and cold, her skin freezing to touch. 'Lou, run inside and get some blankets. She's going into shock.'

'Hang on Honey, you can do it.' Lisa pressed tighter against the wounds, feeling warm sticky liquid seeping onto her hands. The wounds were bleeding profusely, but there was nothing else they could do. 'Hang on. You can make it.'

Lou came running back with some blankets and handed them to Jack, still on the phone. 'How's she doing?'

'She's going into shock. She's losing a lot of blood.' Jack glanced back at Lou as he placed the blankets over the girl, Lisa placing her hands on the girl's back again after the blankets were on her. 'How much longer?'

'What's your ETA?' She glanced back down at the girl as she waited for an answer. 'Fifteen minutes.' Jack looked at her then at Lisa. She knew what he was thinking. The girl wouldn't last that long. 'She's going into shock and she's bleeding profusely. Can they get here any quicker?'

Lisa could hear the stallion racing around the pen behind them, rearing and neighing as he crashed into the wooden fence, trying to get out but pushed the sounds to the back of her mind. They had one priority, keeping the girl alive until the ambulance could get here. 'Hang on sweetie. Hold on.'

'They're here.' Jack could hear the sound of sirens in the distance as the ambulance turned into their drive and he looked back at Lisa. 'Thank God.'

Lisa stood up as the ambulance pulled up and the paramedics ran out, her and Jack giving them the space to work on the girl. Two of them hurried over with a stretcher and the other came over with a medical bag and placed it beside the kid then began helping the other two working on the girl. Lisa washed her hands under a tap near the corral gate then leaned back against Jack. He smiled at her reassuringly, placing his arm around her.

'It's okay Lisa. We did our part. They're going to do the rest.'

'I know.' She watched as they rolled her onto a stretcher, throwing the bloodied blankets and jackets to the side then one of the paramedics walked over to them. 'Is she going to be okay?'

'It's going to be touch and go. We've already got theater on standby and we're going to do everything we can.' The man looked at her and Jack. 'Is she your child?'

'No. We don't know who she is.' Jack replied. 'The horse behind us came bolting in with her on his back. That's all we know.'

'Alright. Thank you.' He turned to leave as the two woman carried the girl to the back of the ambulance. 'The police will be here to talk to you shortly. Standard protocol with gunshot related incidents.' He looked down at the blankets on the ground. 'Leave that stuff there. The police might want to document it.'

'We understand.' Lisa nodded as the man hurried back to the ambulance, then drove away with the sirens blaring. Looking up at Jack, he rubbed her shoulder as she leaned against him. 'I hope she makes it.'

'I don't think it looks good Lis.'

Lou walked over to them, having been keeping out of the way of the paramedics and saw the horse running around the pen. 'What on earth just happened? Can someone please explain what is going on?'

'Let's go inside and wait while the police turn up.'

'Police?'

'Its standard procedure when something like this happens.' Jack replied, guiding Lisa and Lou towards the house. 'They'll want to know what happened.'

'You mean interrogate us because they think that we shot her?'

'That's not what Jack means.' Lisa opened the door for them and took a seat at the table, then looked at the time. 'I'm not going to be able to meet that buyer. I better go and quickly call him.'

'Alright Lisa.' Jack sat down as she hurried off outside onto the porch, then saw Lou pacing back and forth. 'Lou, calm down.'

'How can I calm down when a kid just turns up full of bullets?' Lou took a seat at the table, winging a napkin. 'This is not publicity that we need! A kid turning up out of the blue that's been shot! How are we going to explain that? They won't believe that we don't know her.'

'Lou, calm down!' He was getting quite irritated with how stressed out she was acting. 'Just take a deep breath and calm down.' Lou rolled her eyes at him, but done what he asked. 'That better?'

Lou rolled her eyes again as Lisa walked back in and sat down with them. 'Yes. Was that the girl that you and Lisa saw last night?'

'That was the girl alright.' Lisa replied as she looked out the window at the stallion in the corral. 'And that's her horse. He's plumb going crazy.'

'And no wonder too.' He glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost time for school to be out. Amy and Mallory would be back soon, and so would Calab. At least they didn't see what had happened but he knew that Mallory would be full of questions once she found out about it which wouldn't take long. 'I'm going to grab myself some coffee. Anyone else want one?'

'I'll take one.' She continued watching the horse out the window, her mind wondering why and how the girl had been shot. 'I wonder what on earth happened to her.'

'I'll have one too Grandpa.' The horse screaming outside caught her attention and she turned to look at it. 'I'm going to go call Scott. He can take a look at the horse.'

'That's a good idea.' Jack grabbed a couple of cups out of the cupboard. 'But you better tell him to bring his tranq gun. There's no way he'll get anywhere near that horse without him being sedated. He'd kill him.'

'Alright, I'll tell him.'

Lisa continued to watch the stallion as Jack prepared the coffee. The horse was lunging at the fence, rearing and crashing into it as he tried to escape. He would bolt around and around the coral at a full gallop, then turn and run at the fence, try to jump it then would fall as he couldn't get the stride up to get over it. With what he had shown he could do last night, she was surprised that he hadn't already jumped out but he was running on fear and wasn't thinking. He was just going into full blown panic mode as he bolted around the pen again. 'Poor guy.'

'My poor fence. He's giving it an absolute thrashing.' Jack placed her cup of coffee in front of her and sat down, then glanced out at the stallion. 'No wonder he's upset. He's trapped in a strange place and his girl was taken away without warning. I don't blame him for acting like that, but he's going to injure himself if he keeps it up.'

'Scott's on his way over now.' Lou walked back into the kitchen and grabbed her cup. 'I told him what happened and he's brought the tranq gun with him.'

' sooner that horse gets sedated, the better.' The stallion reared at the fence again, pawing at the wood with his hooves then crashed against it. 'I don't think he's ever been in a pen before.'

'We'll have to keep Amy away from him. You know she's going to want to work with him.'

'Don't you worry about that Lou, no one is going to be allowed near him.' The noise of the school bus pulling up outside reminded him that Amy and Mallory were home and he saw Amy looking at the stallion. 'And that starts right now.'

'Where did the stallion come from Grandpa?' Amy asked as she walked closer to the corral fence, then jumped back as the horse lunged at her. 'Woah!'

'Back away Amy.' Jack put his arm around he and took her a fair distance away from the fence as the horse reared and threw himself at the poles again. 'He's dangerous.'

'Isn't that the horse from the video last night?' Mallory looked down at the ground in front of the fence and saw the blood in the dirt. Her eyes widened as she looked back up at Jack. 'What happened?'

'The horse showed up with the girl. She was shot.' Lisa explained as she kept Mallory a safe distance away from the corral. 'We trapped him in there so the paramedics could look after her.'

Amy gasped. 'Is she okay?'

'We don't know.' Lou replied, as a car turned up the drive. 'The police are here.'

'Police?'

'Amy, take Mallory inside and stay there please.' Jack said as he gently nudged her towards the direction of the barn. 'We need to talk with them. Alone.'

'Alright.' Amy didn't ask questions when she heard that tone in her grandfather's voice. 'Come on Mallory.'

'But-'

'Go!' Jack raised his voice, the stallion screaming again from the noise. 'Inside.'

'Fine. Fine.' Mallory hurried off after Amy, knowing that now was not the time to argue with him.

The police car pulled up next to them and two offices stepped out, walking over to them. 'Jack Bartlett.'

'Yes.' He shook the man's hand, then nodded at the woman. 'And my granddaughter Lou and friend, Lisa Stillman.'

'Sargent Nick Avery and Constable Maggie Doyle.' The man grabbed his notepad out of his pocket, then looked towards the house. 'Perhaps we could go inside and talk?'

'Alright, this way.' Jack led them to the house, then opened the door for the officers and the women then followed them in. 'Take a seat.'

'Thank you.' Nick sat down, but Maggie stayed standing at the door as the others sat down. 'Now, as you understand we are here on the report that an ambulance was called to this address this afternoon with the report of being shot. Is that correct?'

'That's correct.' Jack nodded.

'What happened?'

'Well, Lisa and I had been in the barn but we were walking out to go to her car when the horse in the pen outside showed up with a child on his back. The horse stopped and the girl fell off. She wasn't moving, so I tried to get the stallion away so we could check on her. We finally managed to lock him in the corral. Lisa was the first one to check her.'

'Alright.' He turned to Lisa. 'When you checked on her, what was the first thing you saw?'

'She was lying face down on the dirt.' Lisa explained as she picked up her cup to finish off her coffee. 'There was blood pooling underneath her from the wounds on her back and I realised she had been shot. She was shot in the leg as well as the ones on her back.'

'How many times do you think she was shot?'

'She had about four bullet wounds that I could see. Three in the back, and one through her right thigh.'

'Okay.' He glanced down to write notes then looked back up at her again. 'What did you do next?'

'Jack and I tried to stop the bleeding while Lou rang the ambulance. She grabbed us some blankets so we could try and keep her warm as she was going into shock and then the ambulance turned up. When they arrived, she was alive but barely.'

'Alright.' He finished writing what she had said down, then looked at Jack. 'It's just standard protocol when there is a gun shooting incident to check and see if there was a gun on the premises that was involved.'

'I understand.' Jack grabbed out his wallet and handed him his gun licence. 'I have a few rifles and a couple pistols here in a safe in the basement for vermin control.'

'Was it possible that they could have been used by anyone to shoot the girl?' Nick saw the look on the other woman's face and quickly added 'It's just standard procedure to ask. We aren't blaming anyone here.'

'No, there was no possible way.' Jack replied. 'Lisa and I were in the barn and Lou was in the house.'

'Was there anyone else on the premises that might have had access to them?'

'No. My granddaughter was at school and our highed hand was in town getting supplies.'

'Alright, can I just check them please?'

'Sure. This way.'

Lisa watched as Jack led the officer to the basement and looked at the other officer. 'There was something else.'

'Yes?' Maggie asked as she walked over and took a seat at the table.

'When I was walking over to the barn, I heard gunshots in the distance. I didn't think anything of it at the time because the ranches up the back sometimes have to destroy stock or do target practice, things like that. The shots must have been the ones fired at the girl.

Maggie nodded as she wrote what Lisa had said down. 'How long do you think it was from you hearing the shots to the girl showing up?'

'At the most fifteen minutes.'

'And how far away do you think they were?'

'A few miles north perhaps. It's hard to tell because the sound echoes from the mountains.' She looked at Lou. 'Did you hear them?'

'No. I had the radio on.'

"Alright, thank you.' Maggie looked up at Nick and Jack was they walked back into the room. 'Mr. Bartlett, Mrs. Stillman here was saying that she heard gunshots about fifteen minutes before the girl showed up. Did you possibly hear them too?'

Jack thought for a moment, then nodded. 'Actually, yes. I just thought I was someone hunting rabbits or something. I didn't think too much of it. People always are shooting rabbits around here.'

'What direction do you think they came from?'

'The North. It's hard to tell with the echo but it sounded like is was a few miles to the North.'

'Alright. Thank you for your assistance. I think that's all for today.'

'Have you heard anything about the girl?' Lisa asked as she got up as the officers prepared to leave.

'Not yet, but the hospital will inform us of what happens. We'll be needing to talk to her too.' Nick stopped beside the drivers door of the officers car and shook Jack's hand then handed him a card. 'This is my number if there is anything else you think might help us with this investigation. Don't hesitate to call if you find anything that you think might help. Thank you again for your assistance.' He tipped his hat towards the women. 'Have a good afternoon.'

'You too.' Jack watched as they left, then placed the card into his pocket as Scott's car turned up the drive. 'Lou, you might as well get back to whatever you were doing. We've got the horse covered.'

'Thank goodness.' She looked at the stallion as Mallory and Amy came back out of the barn. 'Just make sure that they don't get hurt.'

'What did the police say?' Mallory asked as she ran over to him and Lisa. 'Did you tell them you saw her last night in Hudson?'

'No, we didn't. Not yet. You know what Mallory, maybe Lou would like help in getting dinner done.'

'Well, I know when I'm no wanted.'

Jack rolled his eyes as the girl huffed off towards the house then turned to Scott as e joined them. 'Thanks for coming out Scott.'

'No problem.' He looked at the horse in the corral as he placed the cases he was carrying on the ground. 'That's the horse?'

'Yes, that's the horse alright.' The horse was still racing around the pen, rearing and neighing loudly. 'He's been doing that for a good hour and he hasn't even shown an inkling of tiring.'

'No worries. We'll get him sedated then take a better look at him.' He grabbed the tranq gun from its case then placed the proper dosage for a horse his size into the dart. 'Stand back.'