Charity Ford is a Registered Nurse, and widowed mother struggling to raise her 1 year old son, Michael. Obsessed with finding her husband's killer, Charity took her vacation to learn all she could about what her late husband, and Army Ranger Lt. Eli...
**** "Oh, that's him, I've heard about him but had never seen him till now. It just reminded me...."
Kyle looked at his dad and realized why seeing Archie had affected him so.
"Seeing Archie kind of stumble around made you think of your dad? Of granddad?" He liked thinking of Brett Sr. as being his grandfather.
'What a man he must have been.'
"I guess I can see why that would have reminded you of that day....I wish I could have met him....known him."
Beau took a deep breath, cleared his throat and nodded.
"I wish you could have too, son. You would have liked him an'....he would have loved bein' a grandfather. He would have spoiled you kids rotten."
Kyle placed his hand on Beau's shoulder and squeezed.
"Most folks don't know or see it but security's tight. I've got Deputies from four counties helping out. Some are obvious," he pointed out a Deputy talking to small boy in tears after a teen had swiped his prize from a game. Another frowning Deputy brought the culprit back, making sure an apology was given along with the return of the prize.
"Others are here undercover as ranch hands, animal handlers...whatever else we could put 'em in as. Every contestant is drug tested before his ride."
He unbuttoned his shirt sleeve to show the bandage where the blood had been drawn. "We also give a urine sample for the same reason. We've tried to ensure that there is no way a drug can be snuck in or given."
He squeezed his dad's shoulder again. "It'll be ok, pop. Don't worry."
***
Beau watched as his son climbed over the top of the chute and was eased onto The Demon's back. Nineteen hundred pounds of thus far unrivaled temper and tantrum. Solid black, The Demon had earned his name early on and was unridden. He had put a dozen cowboys in the hospital and had caused the retirement of two bull fighters in the process of saving the bucked off cowboys.
Kyle had watched and studied countless videos of The Demon in action. He had learned the animal's style, it was unusual and when you first saw him in action....you'd think he just did anything. But as Kyle studied the videos time after time, hour after hour he began to recognize a pattern and thought....prayed he knew how to beat The Demon at his own game.
As expected, when Kyle seated himself on the huge, wide back The Demon stood very still, as soon as the cowboy Sheriff took a deep breath, Demon screamed and began rearing in the chute and tried to ram the cowboy's legs against the metal bars.
'Yup, just like in the videos.' Kyle chuckled and lowered himself again. As expected, it took three attempts to get settled before the mammoth bull stood still long enough to open the gate.
Kyle took a deep breath and nodded. The gate open and The Demon erupted into the arena, screaming, roaring his rage. He kicked and spun, jumped and kicked. He ran into the gates and the bull riders' barrels. He lowered his head and kicked his strong back side into the air so hard Kyle feared for a minute they might actually go over.
The crowd gasped as one, a few women screamed, several teen boys yelled, "Cool!"
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'Yeah,' Kyle thought somewhere in the back if his mind. 'Cool.'
Finally, when the Sheriff thought he couldn't possibly hold on for another minute the 8 second buzzer sounded and the crowd erupted into spontaneous applause, cheers and whistles.
Something was wrong! His hand wouldn't release. The stupid bull had taken in a huge breath and was holding it.
Kyle made himself relax internally. Just as sure as he allowed himself to relax physically he bet his bottom dollar Ole Demon would release that breath and go ballistic. He kept himself rigid, working to free his hand so he could jump....and run, and he did. The Demon bellowed in fury and went after him. Kyle was afraid his goose was cooked when he fell upon hitting the ground but the bull fighter's worked as a unit to gain Demon's attention and push him toward the open gate. Kyle was never so glad to get through a gate in his life as he was to put it between himself and that bull....especially when it rammed the gate.
