Free The Billionaire's Secrets by Meadow Taylor Page B

her head, so Chloe sang it for her. Sophia caught onto the simple little song quickly and soon was singing along happily as they walked up the other side of the hollow, the eagle soaring above their heads, their voices melting into the cold wind.
     
     
     
    J ust then a loud crack shattered the air. It came from close by, and even over the sound of the wind and the ocean, it was terrifying in its sudden loudness. Sophia screamed , and Chloe instinctively grabbed her and pulled her against her. Sophia ’s scream was followed by another, the eerie tragic sound of something in pain.
     
     
     
    Chloe looked in horror to see the magnificent eagle faltering in its flight. Sophia had her face pressed into Chloe’s coat , and Chloe held her there, not wanting her to see the fate of the falling bird. Sophia began to sob, and Chloe stroked her hair, trying to find a way to tell her what was happening. 
     
     
     
    At the same time, she looked for the killer. There was no way the shot could come from the direction of the water; the ocean, choked with broken pans of ice, was unnavigable. There would be no boats out there for a long time. She looked behind her along the length of the headland and the crooked line of the fence but saw nothing. She turned her eyes inland just in time to see a figure rise from behind a boulder in a small copse of stunted trees. She could not see any features from this distance but assumed by the size and clothing that it was a man. He wore a bright orange hunting cap with a dark jacket and pants. His gun was still raised toward the sky, his eye on the floundering bird as if he were about to fire again and finish off the job.
     
     
     
    Chloe screamed at the man to stop, trying to make herself heard over the sound of the wind. She must have succeeded, because he turned and looked to where she stood at the edge of the hollow with Sophia clutching at her coat. Seemingly surprised that anyone else was out on the cold headlands, he brought the gun quickly down to his side. He took one last glance at the sky, turned, and ran away from the cliffs in the direction of the road.
     
     
     
    Chloe turned her attention upwards and watched with sick apprehension as the bird continued to lose altitude. Again it cried and flapped its wings as if hoping to stop its plunge to the earth. Chloe prayed that the winds would carry it to the ground. If only it could land without being killed... If only the shot weren't fatal... If only it didn't land in the ocean where there was no hope of getting to it... Perhaps they could save the poor creature.
     
     
     
    Chloe became aware that Sophia had dared to take her head out of Chloe’s coat. “What happened?” she cried, her voice trembling uncontrollably.  “Who were you yelling at?” Sophia ’s face was streaked with tears, her eyes wide with terror.
     
     
     
    Chloe had to be honest with her. She could not see any way of protecting her from what happened. She pulled a tissue from her pocket and wiped the tears gently from Sophia ’s face while she gathered the courage to tell her the awful news. She hated when children had to learn about the cruelty of adults.
     
     
     
    “A man shot the eagle , and then he ran away.” She pointed up to where the bird thrashed in the air.
     
     
     
    Sophia looked up and seeing the bird let out a terrible cry of anguish. “We have to save it!” she cried.
     
     
     
    “I don’t know if we can,” Chloe said gently. “But we'll try. I just hope it doesn’t fall in the ocean.”
     
     
     
    “It’s going that way," Sophia said, pointing along the edge of the cliff ahead of them. She pulled Chloe by the hand , and they hurried along the cliff, relieved that the bird was moving inland. The bird was now only about fifty feet in the air, still desperately flapping, and Chloe began to wonder if its goal was not to gain altitude but simply to slow its descent. Perhaps there was still hope.
     
     
     
    They were now