Texas! Chase #2 Read Free

the dirt and slapped it against his chaps. A warning was snouted, but not in time. The bull charged him, head lowered, over a ton in impetus behind the attack.
    Chase sidestepped quickly enough to keep from being gored by a pair of vicious-looking horns, but the side of the bull's head caught him in the shoulder and he was knocked down.
    Everyone in the audience gasped when the pair of front hooves landed square on Chase's chest.
    Marcie screamed, then covered her mouth with her hands. She watched in horror as Chase lay sprawled in the reddish-brown dirt, obviously unconscious.
    Again the clowns moved in, as well as two spotters on horseback. They galloped toward the bull. Each was standing in his stirrups, leaning far over his saddle horn, swinging a lasso. One was successful in getting the noose over the bull's horns and pulling the rope taut. His well-trained mount galloped through the gate, dragging the reluctant bull behind him while one brave clown swatted his rump with a broom.
    The second clown was kneeling in the dirt beside the injured cowboy.
    Marcie scrambled over several pairs of legs
    and feet in her haste to reach the nearest aisle. Rudely she shoved past anyone who got in her way as she ran down the ramp. When she reached the lower level, she grabbed the arm of the first man she saw.

    "Hey, what the—"
    "Which way to the… the place where the people come out?"
    "Say, lady, are you drunk? Let go of my arm."
    "The barns. The place where the performers come from. Where the bulls go when they're finished."
    "That way." He pointed, then muttered,
    "Crazy broad."
    She plowed her way through the milling crowd buying souvenirs and concessions. Over the public address system she heard the announcer say, "We'll let y'all know Chase Tyler's condition as soon as we hear something, folks."
    Disregarding the authorized personnel only sign on a wide, metal, industrial-size door, she barged through it. The scent of hay and manure was strong as she moved down a row of cattle pens. Breathing heavily through her mouth, she almost choked on the dust, but spotting the rotating lights of an ambulance across the barn, she ran even faster through the maze of stalls.
    Reaching the central aisle, she elbowed her way through the curious onlookers until she pushed her way free and saw Chase lying unconscious on a stretcher. Two paramedics were working over him. One was slipping a needle into the vein in the crook of his elbow.
    Chase's face was still and white.
    "No!" She dropped to her knees beside the stretcher and reached for his limp hand.
    "Chase? Chase!"
    "Get back, lady!" one of the paramedics ordered.
    "But—"
    "He'll be fine if you'll get out of our way."
    Her arms were grabbed from behind and she was pulled to her feet. Turning, she confronted the grotesque face of one of the rodeo clowns, the one whom she'd last seen bending over Chase.
    "Who are you?" he asked.
    "A friend. How is he? Have they said what's wrong with him?"
    He eyed her suspiciously; she obviously wasn't in her element. "He's prob'ly got a few broken ribs, is all.
    Had the wind knocked out of him."
    "Will he be all right?"
    He spat tobacco juice on the hay-strewn concrete floor. "Prob'ly. I reckon he won't feel too good for a day or so."
    Marcie was only moderately relieved to hear the clown's diagnosis. It wasn't a professional opinion.
    How did he know that Chase hadn't sustained internal injuries?
    "Shouldn't've been ridin' tonight," the clown was saying as the stretcher was hoisted into the back of the ambulance. "Told him he shouldn't get on a bull in his condition. Course I guess it wouldn't matter. That bull El Dorado is one mean sum'bitch. Last week over in—"
    "What condition?" Frustrated when he only gazed at her in puzzlement through his white-rimmed eyes, she clarified her question. "You said 'in his condition.' What condition was Chase in?"
    "He was half-lit."
    "You mean drunk?"
    "Yes, ma'am. We had us a pretty wild party last night. Chase