Free Moonlight Plains by Barbara Hannay Page A

Reaper.
Poor man
.
    Bobby’s relief was instant.
    She took his hand and offered him a smile. ‘I’m Kitty,’ she told him.
    He nodded and a slight movement of his lips might almost have been a greeting.
    ‘It’s so nice to see you awake,’ she said next.
    His Adam’s apple jerked. ‘Where’s Ed?’
    ‘Not far away.’ Kitty pointed to the blackness beyond the plane. ‘He’s fetching something to make a stretcher, so we can carry you up to the homestead.’
    ‘You don’t have to carry me. You can’t. You’re a girl.’ Bobby tried to sit up, but he’d barely lifted his shoulders before he moaned and grimaced horribly, then coughed.
    Alarmed, Kitty pushed him gently back. ‘Shh. Don’t move. Ed will be back any moment now.’
    Sure enough, Ed was already hurrying towards them, bringing what looked like a sheet of roofing iron across his shoulders.
    ‘This might work,’ he said, but he didn’t sound confident as he laid it on the ground. ‘It’s part of the tail section.’
    Bobby fainted while they were carefully lifting him onto the makeshift stretcher.
    Kitty drew a deep breath. She knew it wasn’t going to be easy, keeping Bobby balanced on the metal stretcher as they made their way through the rain-drenched scrub. She wouldn’t be able to carry the gun or lantern, so she set them under a tree. She’d come back for them later.
    ‘Ready?’ called Ed.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘We’ll lift on the count of three. Okay?’
    ‘Okay.’
    ‘One . . . two . . . three . . .’
    Carrying the stretcher was indeed as difficult as she feared, especially during the first part of their journey, where they had to weave their way through the scrub with night closing in and the rain still falling. When they reached the open paddock, they set Bobby down for a short breather before going on.
    The hardest part was lifting Bobby off the tail to carry him through the back doorway. When Ed took his shoulders, Bobby groaned again, horribly, but at last they were safely in the kitchen.

8
    It was only when they got back to the house and Kitty lit another lantern that she saw how pale and exhausted Ed looked.
    She realised then that she had no idea how long the Americans had been flying, or what kind of ordeal they’d been through before they were forced to land at Moonlight Plains. Ed showed no concern for himself, though. His focus was entirely on Bobby as he knelt beside his friend, his face taut with worry.
    Kitty took off her sacking cape, glad to be rid of it, and hung it on the hook behind the back door.
    Turning, she caught Ed watching her, his dark eyes intent, and she wished she was wearing something a good deal more fetching than a rumpled cotton smock, tucked into a pair of damp and mud-streaked men’s trousers cinched at her waist with a piece of rope.
    Almost immediately, she was ashamed of herself for even caring how she looked in these circumstances.
    She stepped forward as Ed unzipped Bobby’s jacket.
    ‘No obvious signs of injury,’ he said, frowning, then he shook his head. ‘But he’s out to it again and that can’t be good.’
    His expression remained grim as he opened Bobby’s shirt. Kitty stepped closer, appalled by the sight of a huge purple bruise that covered the entire left side of Bobby’s chest. She couldn’t hold back a horrified gasp.
    ‘I’ve got to get help,’ Ed said, clearly as shocked as she was. ‘I’ll need to use your phone.’
    Kitty winced. ‘I’m sorry. We don’t have a phone.’
    For uncomfortable seconds Ed stared at her in disbelief. ‘Damn,’ he muttered softly.
    She couldn’t blame him for cursing. Their situation was dire.
    Ed looked around him at the simple kitchen with its plain wooden dresser, scrubbed pine table and its old-fashioned wood stove in a ripple-iron alcove. He glanced at the lantern she’d lit and then at the timber ceiling, bare of light bulbs. ‘You don’t even have electricity?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘How do you communicate? Is there