Pipeline by Brenda Adcock Page B

straight up at the stars. After a few minutes it had seemed that
I was floating in them, giving me a touch of vertigo, but at the same time, a
detachment from reality and the magical feeling of floating among the stars.
The thought brought a smile to my face, and I lowered my eyes back to Earth and
scanned the front yard. From the corner of my eye the barn and corral loomed in
the darkness. My stomach tightened into a knot, and faster than I thought I
could, I sprinted toward the barn. The door leading to the stall area was open,
and I flipped on the flashlight as I approached the door. It was quiet, but it
shouldn't have been. Jack would have heard me coming, but there was no greeting
from him. Standing in the doorway, I shined the beam down the passageway in
front of the stalls. Halfway down the walkway, my worst fear was confirmed.
    Lena's
body was strapped to an open stall gate; her arms spread crucifixion style, and
her feet tied to the bottom rail of the gate. The ropes that held her sagging
weight had burned and cut the skin on her upper arms and her head dangled under
a disheveled mass of black hair.
    "Lena!"
    She
didn't answer me as I lifted her head. I had to close my eyes to avoid looking
at her. I grabbed a pair of tin snips to cut the rope around her feet. Then,
trying to hold her body upright against mine, I began cutting the ropes holding
her arms. When I finally managed to cut through the last rope, the dead weight
of her body nearly caused me to drop her. She was a big woman, over two hundred
pounds, but now that weight had been increased as it became inert. As gently as
I could, I laid her down and pushed her hair out of her face. Blood had run
from her mouth and nose and was partially dried, and the rest of her face swollen
into a grotesque shape. I tried to feel for a pulse but couldn't find one.
    "Lena!"
    In
desperation, I ripped her shirt open and pressed my ear tightly against her
chest. It might have been my imagination, but I thought I felt a heartbeat. I
picked up the flashlight and looked around until I found a rag. I went quickly
to the water hose and wet the rag to clean her face. As I rushed back to Lena's
side, the light in my hand flashed momentarily into Jack's stall, and I
stopped. A huge lifeless mass lie on the floor. I saw that his throat had been
slashed, and his once beautiful body had already begun to bloat. No matter how
much I wanted to help him, I knew there wasn't anything I could do, and I
returned to Lena's side.
    Wiping
blood from her face as gently as I could, I spoke to her in whispers. An
eternity later she produced a low moan, and I continued talking to her, hoping
she could hear me. In the midst of my talking, I heard a car in my drive and
looked up in time to see a sheriff's unit coming to a stop in front of the
house, red and blue lights flashing.
    Waving
the flashlight toward them, I yelled, "Down here! Call an ambulance!"
    An
instant later the unit was driving over the grass toward the barn. I was glad
not to be alone and helpless anymore. As I watched the car come toward us, a
hand grabbed my shirt and nearly gave me a heart attack. It was Lena's hand, as
strong and powerful as ever, pulling me toward her until her mouth nearly
touched my ear.
    "Who
did this Lena?" I asked.
    "Four
spies," she managed through swollen lips.
    Pulling
my head up, I looked at her and wiped her forehead.
    "Did
you know them?"
    She
shook her head slightly, and something that might have been a smile crossed her
swollen mouth. "This gonna cost you plenty extra," she rasped.
    Chapter
Fourteen
    LENA
DIED IN the ambulance, clinging to my hand, and it took me hours to get away
from the sheriff's deputies. The assholes said it was probably someone hopped
up on drugs and looking for money. Drugged-out psychos, my ass. I knew why Lena
had been killed even though I didn't have a shred of evidence to prove it. I
felt responsible for her death. I should have known what could happen. Someone
was going to