In the Paths of Righteousness (Psalm 23 Mysteries) (4 page)

After what seemed like just a couple of minutes Kyle halted and the rest of them came to a stop as well.

“The herd’s just over that hill,” he said, pointing to a small rise in front of them. “We’re going to pick up the pace a bit. Now is the time to turn on your helmet cameras.”

Cindy dutifully obliged, watching as everyone else did the same.

“Smile, you’re on Candid Camera,” she heard Mark say from behind her.

She shook her head, refusing to turn and look at him. She realized with a start that she suddenly had a bit of stage fright. Everything she said and did from this point forward would probably be recorded and could potentially be seen by millions of people. She felt her cheeks getting warm. She just hoped she didn’t embarrass herself. She’d have to watch what she said and did. She could just imagine if she slipped up even a little how a couple of the people at the church would look at her.

Fortunately unless she did something totally out of character she figured that no one she actually worked with would care. Still, there were a couple of judgmental people she could think of who wouldn’t hesitate to point out to her if she had done anything unchristian or unladylike. She wrinkled her nose at the thought then hastily tried to relax her facial features. People would wonder why she was making that face.

Stop being paranoid!
she told herself.

“What’s wrong?” Jeremiah asked.

Great. Now she’d have to admit it out loud.

“Just a little stressed out about being on camera,” she said, forcing herself to try and smile at him. After all, his camera would be recording her since he was looking in her direction.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it will be fine,” he said.

She wanted to ask him how he knew, but then people would wonder why she was paranoid about being on camera and would think she was hiding something.

How does Kyle live like this?
she wondered.

Kyle kicked his horse forward into a trot and the other horses followed suit. Cindy hung on to the pommel, her stomach lurching as her horse jumped forward. The trot was a lot bumpier and she felt like her bones were being jostled together. Fortunately, it gave her something other than the cameras to fixate on.

They trotted swiftly up the hill and in a moment crested it. Cindy looked down into a valley and was awestruck as she saw hundreds of cattle dotting the grassy floor.

I’m really doing this, I’m really on a cattle drive.

She took in the scene below her and couldn’t help but marvel. People had been doing this for hundreds of years. It was part of a long tradition, part of her heritage as an American. Now it was her turn to take part and experience what her ancestors might have. It took her breath away.

Somehow it hadn’t been truly real to her until that moment. Despite all her fears and misgivings she felt a little thrill of excitement. She was going on a real adventure. She saw Traci trotting down the hill in front of her and heard Mark mutter something behind her. In that moment she decided she was going to live this adventure to its fullest. There were trained cowboys and a police officer, Escape! Channel employees, and Jeremiah there. What could possibly go wrong?

She began to trot down the hill. It took her a moment to adjust to the incline and to not feel like she was going to fall forward onto her horse’s neck. The other horses were beginning to fan out, no longer following each other in single file and she saw the cowboys galloping ahead of the rest of them, streaking toward the herd, making high pitched whistling sounds as they did.

She turned Petite to follow Kyle who had headed his horse toward the left, realizing she had no clue where she was supposed to be or what exactly she was supposed to do. She glanced around and saw Jeremiah and his horse just behind her. Traci and Mark had brought their horses to a standstill and looked like they were talking to each other. She wondered if the sight of all the cattle in the valley had impressed them as much as it had her.

She turned her attention back to Kyle. He, too, had halted his horse and was half turning as though getting ready to address his followers.

She had almost reached him when her horse suddenly jumped to the side and made a screaming sound. A moment later Petite was rearing and Cindy’s heart stopped as she tried to hold on for dear life. She thought for a moment the horse would fall over backward, crushing her underneath.

Petite plunged back to the ground and Cindy felt like she was falling sideways. She could see Kyle reaching for her horse’s reins. He snatched at them but missed. Her horse bolted, running down the valley. She yanked back on the reins but it did nothing and then a moment later she realized she really was falling sideways.

She shrieked in terror as the saddle slid sideways and she went hurtling toward the ground.

Horrified, Jeremiah realized he couldn’t stop Cindy from falling. All he could do was try his best to control it. Her saddle had slipped onto her horse’s side and even as he was watching it came loose completely.

He stretched forward, pushing his own body out of his saddle as he did so. Thankfully his horse didn’t shy, but continued to run the course Jeremiah had set for him. He snatched at the back of Cindy’s shirt, snagging the collar with two fingers. He yanked as hard as he could, pulling her away from her horse’s pounding hooves before he lost his hold and she fell onto the ground.

She fell hard, but at least it was on her side and not her head and it was away from her runaway mount who was already being run down by one of the cowboys.

Jeremiah reseated himself as he pulled his horse to a halt. As the animal stopped he jumped from the saddle and raced to Cindy’s side, praying she was alright.

His heart stopped for a moment when she didn’t move.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he dropped next to her. The saddle was still half between her knees. The foot that was on top was out of the stirrup and he carefully began to move the saddle. She groaned and her eyes flickered.

“Help here!” Jeremiah bellowed at the top of his lungs.

One of the younger members of the crew came racing up a few seconds later, face ashen. Before he could say anything Jeremiah barked instructions. “Hold this saddle just like this while I check on her other foot and see if it’s stuck in the stirrup.”

The man nodded and grasped the heavy saddle, doing his best to hold it steady despite the fact that his hands were shaking. Jeremiah carefully lowered himself down on the ground and lifted the saddle just enough so that he could see that her foot was indeed still caught in the stirrup.

“This will hurt,” he told her.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw her nod understanding.

“Lift it a little, slowly, carefully,” he instructed the other man who did as he was told.

“There, stop.”

Jeremiah was able to reach in and pull the stirrup off of Cindy’s foot, trying to keep from moving her foot as much as possible. When it was clear he nodded and the guy pulled the saddle away as Jeremiah lowered her foot onto the ground.

Immediately she began to try and sit up which relieved him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the girth strap of the saddle swinging free. Something didn’t look quite right to him.

“Just a second,” he muttered to Cindy, hating to leave her side, but needing to take a quick look at the saddle before someone else did.

Cindy managed to make it to a sitting position just as Kyle came jogging up. He looked her over once and she could tell that he seemed relieved.

“You know what you do when you fall off a horse? You get right back on,” Kyle said.

Cindy was sure that she was going to murder him in his sleep. Still, she accepted his hand up. She tried to stand, but fell back down onto the ground, nearly pulling him down with her.

“What’s wrong?” Jeremiah asked, suddenly back by her side.

“My ankle hurts,” Cindy admitted. “It didn’t want to take my weight.”

Kyle frowned. “I’ll get the medic,” he said.

He strode off quickly.

Cindy hadn’t known they had a medic with them, and she was intensely grateful to hear that a medical professional would be able to check out her ankle.

Jeremiah knelt down next to her and carefully felt her ankle. She winced, and bit her lip.

“It doesn’t feel broken,” he said. “You probably just have a sprain.”

“I hope so,” she told him.

A few seconds later Kyle returned with one of the cowboys who dropped down next to her. She raised an eyebrow.

“Cindy this is Zack Matthews. Matthews, this is my sister, Cindy. She seems to have hurt her ankle.”

“That was a nasty tumble you took,” Zack said.

“You saw that?”

“Everyone saw that. You rode that horse like a champ, though.”

“What made Petite freak out like that?” Cindy asked, trying not to wince as Zack prodded her left ankle.

“Turns out it was a snake, right there in the grass. They’re not that common around here, but not unheard of,” Kyle said with a frown. “She freaked, bolted, and then
apparently the leather saddle strap was rotting and it just snapped. It was kind of like the perfect storm of accidents, really.”

“From where I’m sitting there was nothing ‘perfect’ about it,” Cindy said with a sigh.

She turned her attention back to the cowboy. “So, you’re a medic?” she asked. “I thought you were a cowboy.”

“I was raised on a ranch in northern California just outside of Amnesty. Went to school, became a doctor. Served two tours in Afghanistan and decided that I’d rather be a cowboy. Does this hurt?”

“Yes,” she said, wincing.

“On a scale of one to ten?”

“Six.”

He nodded, seemingly satisfied with her answer. Meanwhile she noticed that Jeremiah was frowning and staring at Kyle.

“The saddle strap broke?”

“Yeah, that’s what it looks like,” Kyle said. “So, how is she, Doc?”

“She’ll be fine. She just needs a chance to heal up. It’s a sprain. All things considered it’s not nearly as bad as I would have thought. I reckon she’s got you to thank for that,” he said, turning to look at Jeremiah.

“We both got lucky,” Jeremiah said shortly.

“What now?” Cindy asked no one in particular.

“Now, we get that foot elevated,” Zack said.

“Aren’t you going to tell me to get right back up on the horse?” she asked, realizing she was making a dig at her brother.

“Not with a sprained ankle. You’ll just make it worse. No, you and Petite had a scare, you both deserve to rest. You can ride on the chuck wagon with Cookie and we’ll tie Petite up behind so she can just walk along nice and slow.”

Cindy was relieved beyond words. She didn’t relish the thought of trying to get back on the horse, particularly with the way she felt.

Zack continued. “We’ll go over, get you all set up with a pillow, some ice, and some painkillers. The good stuff. How does that sound?”

“At the moment, like as close to heaven as I’m going to get today,” she said.

A dark cloud seemed to pass momentarily over Jeremiah’s face. She wondered if her choice of words had been poor. Maybe she’d been in even more danger than she had thought. It wasn’t good to dwell on that, though.

Mark was worried. It could have easily been Traci that had gotten hurt. Granted, his wife had a lot more experience with horses than he or Cindy. In fact, she probably could have brought the horse under control more quickly after the snake spooked it. Maybe she would have been able to figure out sooner that there was something wrong with the saddle, too. Still, that was a lot of “ifs” and “maybes” when it came to his wife’s safety. To all of their safety for that matter.

This whole trip was starting to feel cursed and it was setting him on edge. As he was directed to take up position at the left side of the herd of cattle he couldn’t help but wonder just how ineffectual he would be at keeping them
in line, and whether or not anyone might get hurt because of that.

Fortunately, Traci had been assigned to the same general area as he was so he could keep an eye on her.

More like she can keep an eye on me
, he realized as he uncomfortably moved his horse into a trot. He hated the pressure that the helmet was putting on his head, but he was also grateful for the protection. He figured it was only a matter of time before he got bucked off or thrown or just managed to lose his balance and he landed on his head.

Traci turned and gave him a radiant smile and he forced himself to smile back at her. Maybe he was crazy. Maybe they had just gotten all the trauma and drama out of the way and things would be smooth going from here on and out.

He heard a lot of loud calls and yip sounds and the herd of cattle began to slowly move down the valley. Ahead of him he saw one cow break ranks and watched in admiration as Traci moved to intercept it and turn it back.

After about ten minutes Kyle rode up beside him, startling him. It was all Mark could do not to cuss him out, reminding himself of the cameras on all their helmets.

“Everything going okay over here?” Kyle asked.

Mark nodded, still mindful of the camera. “Just where are we taking this herd?” he asked.

“To its winter pasture, a few days drive from here. Nearest town out there is Righteousness. That’s where we’ll end up and the trucks will take us home.”

“Weird name for a town,” Mark commented.

Kyle shrugged. “Settled by a bunch of religious folk about a hundred and fifty years ago. Still, I reckon I’ve heard stranger names.”

Mark forced himself not to sneer when Kyle said “folk” and again when he said “reckon”. The way he was speaking, he was clearly trying to sound western, like he was an old time cowboy himself. The affectation bothered Mark a bit. He tried to tell himself he needed to be more charitable, though. Kyle was an actor, after all, even if he did call himself an adventure guide or a travel host instead. The truth was, all the guys on camera at the Escape! Channel were actors first and foremost, whether they liked to admit it or not. It was their job to be entertaining and put on a bit of a show.

That, of course, led him to wonder how much of Kyle’s on camera daring exploits weren’t half so daring as they appeared. He couldn’t help but think about Jeremiah saving that whole group of kids at the camp after they were attacked by assassins. How would Kyle have fared in a real life-and-death situation like that?

Of course, just thinking about that inevitably raised yet again the specter of his dead partner who had died trying to reach Jeremiah. Paul was the one mystery he couldn’t let go of. He just hoped it wasn’t also the one mystery that he could never solve.

Riding on the chuck wagon was turning out to be not only far more comfortable than riding on the horse but also far more entertaining. Chef Brent Joelson was turning out to be a fascinating conversationalist. Plus, he was giving her the inside scoop on all the inside details of the channel that her brother worked for. Some of his stories were so outrageous she had a hard time believing they were actually true.

He had just finished telling her how Bunni Sinclair had broken her leg in Guam and she felt terrible laughing so hard at someone else’s misfortune. She couldn’t help it, though. The story was so improbable and his telling of it so dramatic that she laughed until tears were streaming down her cheeks.

“Yeah, she has the worst luck of anyone I’ve ever met,” Brent said at last.

“She’s crazy to keep working there,” Cindy said when she could finally breathe again.

“We all are. You know the host of the haunted house show?”

“The guy who looks like Malcolm McDowell?”

“That’s the one.”

“Doesn’t believe in ghosts at all.”

“Seriously? I thought I heard somewhere that he’d been communing with them his whole life.”

“That’s the hype, but it turns out he’s a total skeptic. He finds the investigations completely boring but when the cameras are on he dutifully screams like a little girl.”

Cindy found herself doubled over with laughter. “That’s hilarious!”

“I know. I never miss one of his shows. And I never let him forget that he screams like a six year old with pigtails.”

“Why does he do it?”

“It’s a long story. I happen to know, though, that he’d like to host a much different show.”

“And what’s that?”

“Host a food show. He’s a total foodie. A real gourmet.”

“Which is why he doesn’t kill you for teasing him.”

“Exactly.”

“I’ve never seen a food show on the channel,” she admitted.

“There are only two. Mine which, of course, is marvelous.”

“Of course,” Cindy said, not bothering to hide her grin.

“And the other one.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” she said.

He rolled his eyes. “The
host, Janine Jefferson, is a junk food junkie. It breaks Malcolm’s heart to watch her every time. If he was ever going to throttle someone at the network, it would be her.”

“I’m surprised he doesn’t,” Cindy said.

“Ah, but I have a theory about that. I think he has feelings for her.”

“So, he’s not conflicted, not at all,” she said sarcastically.

“That’s us, one big dysfunctional family. We’re the misfits, rejects and psychopaths of the travel industry.”

“So, which one are you?” she asked before she could stop herself.

“Misfit. Definitely misfit.”

“I wonder what Kyle is?” she mused.

He chuckled. “My dear he is definitely one of the psychopaths. One of these days he’s going to get himself killed.”

She blanched. It was bad enough that she thought that, but to hear it said by one of his colleagues just freaked her out that much more.