He grunted, looking none too impressed by the turn of events. When he strode over to take Poncho-who stood with his eyes closed and his long ears sticking out sideways from his head-from the wrangler, the animal's back only came up to Ryan's waist. "How's this gonna work?" he demanded, scowling again.
The wrangler grabbed hold of the stirrup. "Well, you put your left foot in this stirrup here-"
"Yeah, I got it." Jaw tight, Ryan grabbed the saddle horn, put his foot in the stirrup and hoisted himself onto the animal, his long legs damn near touching the ground.
"We'll have to adjust the stirrups some," the wrangler mumbled, and went to work shortening the stirrups. He looked so ridiculous that Candace couldn't keep from laughing. She whipped out her phone to snap pictures.
"Hey, he's a low rider," Wade commented, already mounted on his own horse, which towered head and shoulders over poor Poncho. Of the group, he and Jackson were the natural cowboys. Both of them had grown up riding.
"Fuck off," Ryan grumbled, and shifted in the saddle. Poncho didn't so much as open his eyes, his lower lip sagging open as he carried on sleeping, standing up.
"Y'all ready?" Wade called out, checking the others behind him.
"Yep, good to go."
Wade winked at Erin. "See you in a couple days, baby."
"Have fun," she called back.
"I'm already having fun," he said, smirking at Ryan.
Ignoring him, Ryan let his inner clown out and hammed it up for Candace, tipping his hat at her as she recorded some video. God, he was adorable. "Later, little lady. Come on, Poncho. Let's ride." He nudged his heels into the animal's sides. Poncho jerked but didn't open his eyes.
"Sometimes he's a slow starter," the wrangler said, and hurried over to slap Poncho's rear with a loud thwak. Poncho's eyes flew open, his ears went back, and he shot off in the opposite direction Wade had gone.
"Hey, Went, wanna race?" Jackson called back, a cocky grin on his face as he followed Wade at a trot.
"We'd better stop and give him a head start," Cam said, and he and the other two stopped their horses.
Ryan shot them a venomous glare, pulled hard on the reins to get Poncho going in the right direction, and hurried after his buddies. Male laughter rang out from across the pasture and Candace was giggling so much she was having a hard time keeping her phone steady.
"Woohoo, ride that pony, cowboy!" Jackson hollered, taking off his hat and giving a loud Yee-haw! as he waved it around his head in encouragement, then exaggerated his drawl. "Ride'm like he's never been ridden before!"
Candace could barely see through the tears of laughter in her eyes. Maya, Dev, and Erin were all gathered around her, howling at the hilarious spectacle before them.
To his credit, Ryan held his head high as he rode Poncho past the guys, the animal's ridiculously tiny steps adding to the comedic factor. Hoots of laughter rang out.
As he pulled away from them, Ryan proudly raised one arm and held his middle finger up over his head for them all to see as he rode off toward the mountains … at approximately one-point-three-miles per hour with his boots nearly dragging on the ground.
Chapter Five
"Come on, Poncho, I know you can," Ryan coaxed in a singsong voice, nudging his "horse" in the ribs to keep him going.
He'd told the others to carry on to the ATV pickup place without him, since it was clear he'd added an extra hour to the trip. Poncho's ears pricked up and he walked faster, his hooves tramping over the grass at an endearingly fast pace, considering his short little legs.
When they crested the next hill, the hunting cabin came into view at last. "Yes," Ryan groaned, looking forward to stretching his legs and drinking a well-deserved cold beer before starting the next leg of the trip.
Poncho seemed to know the end was near too, because his head came up and he hit an all-time speed record for the trip, his little legs eating up the distance to the cabin. The others were waiting outside with the ATVs when Ryan got there and dismounted, and the wrangler from the stable was there to take Poncho, brush him down, and let him eat for a few minutes before loading him into the trailer for the drive back to the resort.
"Hey, you made good time," he said to Ryan with a grin as he took Poncho's bridle.
"He hit a new gear once he saw the cabin." He turned to his buddies. "Somebody get me a damn beer."
"I got you, bro." Jackson tossed him a cold can from the cooler.
"I'd say you've earned that," Cam said with a grin.
"Damn straight." He'd be bowlegged for a week after that endurance ride. Ryan sighed and nursed the cold brew while the others strapped their gear to the backs of the ATVs. "Please tell me I get a regular-sized one this time."
Wade chuckled and bungee-tied their two-man tent to the back of his vehicle. "Yeah, you're good." He straightened, glancing at the sky. "Sun's already starting to sink over the mountains. We need to get moving." He looked at Ryan. "We're on federal land from here on out." He'd checked prior to setting up this little trip. "You good to go?"
"Yep." He drained the beer, stowed the can, and climbed onto his ATV. The moment he started the engine, he grinned. "Oh hell, yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about." He revved it and cut a sidelong glance at Jackson. "Hey, Thatcher. Wanna race now?"
"Hell yeah, I do."
Grinning, Ryan took off toward the mountains. For the next three hours they took turns trying to outmaneuver one another, being guys, and trying to see who could spray the most mud on the others every time they hit a puddle. After back-to-back deployments, he needed this downtime with his buddies.
By the time Wade took the lead and stopped to check his compass, it was nearly sunset. "Here's good," he announced, swinging one leg over the center of the ATV to dismount. "We'll set up camp somewhere around here."
Together they hunted out a good location. Ryan had to keep reminding himself he was back home, rather than in the mountains of Afghanistan. The climate might be different here, but his combat instincts wouldn't shut off. To his body, he was still back overseas, and every tree and rock could hide either an IED or an enemy fighter.
When he stepped around a large boulder and into a small clearing surrounded by forest, he noticed something glinting on the ground in the dying rays of sunlight. As he got closer, he confirmed that they were spent casings. Nudging the ground with the toe of his boot, he uncovered more. Someone had made more than a half-assed effort to hide them, but there were a shit ton of them out here.
He glanced up at the surrounding trees and realized with a start that a large stand of pines in the distance were riddled with bullet holes. So much so that in places the dying sunlight streamed through the holes. Upon closer inspection, the entire area seemed to be littered with brass casings. "Hey, guys, come check this out."
Wade, Cam, and Jackson appeared out of the trees behind him a minute later. "What's up?" Cam asked.
"Whole area's covered with 7.62s," he said, holding up a casing. "And then there's that." He pointed to the shot-up trees. A few smaller ones were even cut in two.
Turning in a half-circle to take it all in, Jackson let out a low whistle. "Somebody's been trigger happy recently."
Wade had been moving away to the southeast. "Camp fire here," he called out from behind a stand of trees blocking him from view. "They covered it but it looks recent. Maybe used in the last couple days."
"One over here too," Cam said from Ryan's right. He used his boot to dig away some of the dirt. "Pretty big. Around eight feet across."
Ryan continued walking west, scanning the ground. He paused to drag a fallen branch aside and uncovered another fire pit. "Another one here." Lots more cartridges littered the ground as he dug the surface layer of dirt away. He turned and looked back at Wade. "How well do you know this area?"
Wade lifted a shoulder as he scanned their surroundings. "Not that well."
"Is this a common campsite, or is there something else going on here? Because that's a shitload of ammo to waste shooting at trees." Last thing they needed was to set up camp and bed down with drunk, trigger-happy yahoos around.
Wade nodded, a frown pulling at his eyebrows. "No shit."
Ryan reviewed the possibilities. People could be stupid. So it could be just a bunch of idiots who had come all the way out here to shoot the hell out of some random trees for no apparent reason.
It also could mean something more sinister.
This area was a long way away from anything, so remote it was accessible only by foot, horse-or mutant donkey-or ATV. Not even a good dirt bike could handle this kind of rugged terrain. Whoever had been out here before them, it must have taken a hell of a lot of effort for that many people to come here with that amount of firepower. If someone wanted to hide paramilitary or even terrorist training or other activity, this was a good place to do it. The prickling at his nape reinforced the suspicion.