Free One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas) by Carolyn Brown Page B

shutting the toolbox, and there’s no dynamite left.”
    The smile left Hart’s face. “What did you say?”
    “I said there was five sticks and now it’s all gone. That shit is hard to get.”
    “Eli, how many sticks were left when you shoved one down the cistern opening?” Hart asked.
    “None. I used all five of them,” Eli said. “I figured as thick as that concrete is down there, it might take more than one to blow it up good enough they couldn’t use it no more.”
    “Holy shit!” Hart said.
    “Nope, just plain shit.”
    “One would have done the job,” Hart said.
    “Then five will be fantastic.” Eli grinned. “Blow the damn thing and let’s go home.”
    * * *
    Rhett turned off the main road onto River Bend land at a few minutes before midnight. Leah’s shoulder and hip were scrunched against his and she was as stiff as a board. Hopefully, it was because Betsy Gallagher’s was smashed against her other side. He wondered if a member of each of the feuding families had ever been that close to each other without involving hair pulling or fists.
    The same moon he and Leah had talked about the night before still hung in the sky, throwing off enough light to silhouette the playground equipment in the school yard. The movement of the swings powered by the night breeze made it look like the children of the past had come to play after the sun had gone down.
    “Never been on River Bend property before. Is that the school over there?” Rhett asked.
    “Yes, it is. Started off as a two-room school and then the Brennans built onto it,” Leah answered.
    “Wouldn’t be more than half a mile as the crow flies to Fiddle Creek, then, would it?”
    Leah shook her head. “It was built on the original ranch. We grew to the west as the family expanded.”
    “And we grew that much to the east,” Betsy said.
    “So Fiddle Creek is the only thing separating y’all? I can’t for the life of me see why either of you would want it, then. If either of you got control of it, that would mean you’d butt right up to each other. You can’t get along with land separating you now. You should be giving Gladys and Jill protection money to never sell that land, so there will always be space between you,” Rhett said.
    Suddenly, the ground rumbled and the truck shook. Rhett held on to the steering wheel and jammed his foot against the brake, throwing gravel and dust every which way. He’d never heard of an earthquake hitting in northern Texas, but they were sure enough experiencing one right then.
    “Sweet Jesus, I promise I won’t ever step foot on River Bend again,” Betsy squealed.
    It only lasted a couple of seconds, but it seemed like eternity. Rhett got control of the truck, stopped it right in the middle of the road beside the school, and threw his arm around Leah, drawing her closer to his side as the truck rocked from side to side.
    Then a shaft of black shot up from the ground and Rhett’s first impression was that the Brennans had been drilling for oil and had hit an old-time gusher. It went straight up in the sky, past the top of the school and the huge old oak trees surrounding it, before it mushroomed and started back down.
    All the windows in the school exploded outward and debris flew through the air as the black cloud fell to earth. Betsy screamed and covered her head when something bounced off the truck’s hood. Then something else hit a truck tire and the explosion sounded like a shotgun blast at close range. In no time, the truck was sitting at an angle, sliding all three of them against the driver’s side and plastering Leah even tighter against Rhett.
    Then another heavy object landed in the truck bed, raising the front end up until the passengers were practically looking at the ceiling before it finally popped back down. It slowly settled back down and what was in the mushroom cloud started raining down on the truck.
    Rhett took a deep breath then grabbed his nose. “That’s not