Now Playing: The Silent Child
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Episode Six concluded with:
Both men suddenly went silent, stunned by what
they saw.
“Looks like smoke,” Rance said.
“Looks like smoke,” Rance said.
“Yep. Right where the Thompson ranch
should be.”
Dehner and the sheriff spurred their
horses into a fast gallop. The ears of Dehner’s bay went back and his mane
began a wild dance. Landscape whizzed by. As their horses ate up the ground,
the men could see a large ranch house being consumed by fire.
Episode Seven
Dehner
focused on the horror in front of him, and the detective repeated a mistake he
had made only hours before. He ignored the large rocks surrounding the mountain
to his left. Once again, the mistake was dangerous.
The pop of rifle shots mixed with
the crackling sounds of fire. The two riders reined off toward a large boulder
in front of the corral, beside the burning house. They dismounted, pulled
rifles from their saddle boots, and let both horses run.
“They’ll head for water,” the
sheriff yelled. We’ll find ‘em.”
The two men took cover behind the
boulder and looked toward the mountains. “Any idea of how many of ‘em there are
or where they are?” Bolger asked as his eyes searched the mountainous area.
“No. And we’ve got no time to think
about it. Cover me, I’m going inside the house.”
“Are you sure there’s people in
there?”
“Probably are. And they may be
alive. Why else would someone be firing at us?”
Clint nodded his head as the
detective crouched into a jackknife position and ran toward the house. Gunfire
ignited again. Some people didn’t want their deadly plans interrupted. One shot
shattered a front window of the house. Dehner kept moving toward the angry
clouds of smoke that flowed from an open front door.
Dehner held his breath and plowed
through the gray billows to be confronted by a red death which was gorging on
the back wall of the house and spreading fast to the ceiling. Suddenly, the
fire seemed to be coming at him like a wild animal that had just picked up the
scent of a new victim.
Two bodies lay on the floor, a man
and a woman. Dehner lifted the woman’s body, placed her over his shoulder and
ran back to the doorway. He held his breath again and charged into the
streaming smoke.
Gunshots greeted him as he ran off
the porch and onto the yard of the ranch house. Dehner hastily placed the body
down then dropped to the ground himself. From the corner of his eye, he could
see an explosive flash which cut the night like a monstrous lightning bolt. A
massive fireworks display of red then covered the sky as the roof of the house
collapsed.
The detective glanced backward at
the rampaging fire. The man he had left in the house was beyond rescue.
Tomorrow: Episode Eight of The Silent
Child
