Indiana Wild (Spirit Pass Book 1) Read Free Page B

two cowpunchers were okay,” Indy called out trying to deepen her voice. “Looked like one of you might have been hurt.”
    A gruff voice murmured something to the young man. “Get down off your horse and keep your hands up,” the younger man called out.
    Indy slowly lowered her hands long enough to get down without falling before raising them again and taking a step toward the young man.
    “ Do you need some help?” Indy asked.
    A young boy of about fourteen slowly emerged from behind the tree. He looked scared and the gun in his hands shook as he pointed it towards Indy’s chest. He took a deep breath as he studied Indy for a moment.
    “Jake took a bullet to the shoulder. You know anything about bullets?” The boy asked.
    Indy tried not to smile . “I know if you keep pointing that gun at me I might be learning more about them than I want to.”
    The boy flushed as he lowered the gun in his hand. “Sorry about that. Didn’t know if you were with them others or not.”
    “ Not, is the correct answer,” Indy said. “Let me take a look at your friend. The boys will bring your cattle back.” Indy walked slowly towards the boy and around the tree where she saw an older man in maybe his early fifties leaning up against the tree. Blood soaked one shoulder and he held a gun in his other hand.
    “ Hey, looks like you’ve had a rotten morning,” Indy said huskily. Bending down, she carefully looked at the man’s shoulder.
    “ Hell, that’s an understatement if I ever heard one,” Jake replied in a deep, pain-filled voice.
    “ Looks like the bullet went all the way through. I’ve got some first aid stuff to patch you up with until we can get you to a doctor,” Indy said rising and moving over to the pack on Midnight.
    “ Did you know any of those men who came at you?” Indy asked as she gently unbuttoned Jake’s shirt.
    Pushing the shirt down, Indy cleaned the area around the wound carefully before pulling out a bottle of Novocain and a small syringe with a hypodermic needle attached. Filling the needle with a small amount, she gently numbed the area on the front and the back so she could sew up the wound. Taking an extra fine needle , she wiped it with an alcohol swab before threading it with stitching thread. Sam had taught her how to take care of cuts and other wounds while out on the range. Most of the time if you were going to get hurt there wouldn’t be a doctor around so it was common sense to learn advanced first aid. Indy had taken it a step further and had gone to college for nursing. She had finished her bachelor’s degree in a record two years because she hated being away from home for so long.
    She quickly sewed up both wounds and wiped it down with another alcohol swab. Cleaning up the used material she walked over to the fire and dumped everything but the hypodermic needle into it. She would put it in a container to depose of later.
    “Shit, I didn’t feel a thing but a few pinches after you stuck me with that needle. What the hell did you do?” Jake asked in astonishment.
    Indy laughed. “I thought you might prefer a less painful way of getting stitched up. I could have opted for the old fashion stick between the teeth and hope you passed out if you would have preferred.”
    “ Hell no,” Jake grumbled. “My name’s Jake Turner. The boy here is Calhoun Tanner. We’re much obliged for your help.”
    “ No problem. I’m Indy.” Indy looked over to see if there was a flash of recognition on either man’s face. Not seeing anything she turned to look out over the cattle. Tweed and Chester were barking madly, pushing the cattle into a tight circle. She let out a loud whistle causing both dogs to stop and look towards her. With a flick of her hand both dogs trotted away from the cattle and moved towards her.
    “ Cal, you did a good job. I owe you my life, pulling me out of the line of fire like that,” Jake growled out.
    Cal turned red at the old man’s compliment. “Thanks,