The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans Read Free Book Online Page B

enough to calm him so they could lead him out of the river and get him somewhere safer.
    Now that he was this close, Logan could see the chest wound. It was as bad as anything he’d ever seen and he knew they didn’t have long. From the way the blood was pumping, he figured that the horse had already lost maybe up to a gallon of it.
    “It’s okay young fella. No one’s going to hurt you.”
    Pilgrim snorted and wheeled away from him, taking a few steps toward Koopman, stumbling and sending up a flash of water that rainbowed in the sun.
    “Shake your branch!” Logan yelled.
    Koopman did and Pilgrim stopped. Logan used the flurry to lunge nearer, stepping into a hole as he did and wetting himself up to the crotch. Sweet Jesus, it was cold. The horse’s white-rimmed eyes saw him come and he started off again toward Koopman.
    “And again!”
    The shake of the branch stopped him and Logan dived forward and made a grab. He got the reins, taking a turn in them and felt the horse brace and twist against him. He tried to step into the shoulder, keeping as clear as he could from the hind feet that were coming around to get him and he reached up quickly and managed to get the needle into the horse’s neck. At the touch of the needle, Pilgrim exploded. He reared up, screaming in alarm and Logan had a fraction of a moment to push the plunger. But as he did so, the horse knocked him sideways, driving into him so that Logan lost all balance and control. Without meaning to, he injected the entire contents of the syringe into Pilgrim’s neck.
    The horse knew now who was the more dangerous of these men and he leapt away toward Koopman. Logan still had the reins twisted over his left hand, and so he was whipped off his feet and pulled headfirst into the water. He felt the icy water streaming through his clothes as he was dragged along like a tangled waterskier. All he could see was surf. The reins bit into the flesh of his hand and his shoulder hit a rock and he cried out in pain. Then the reins came free and he was able to lift his head and take a lungful of air. He could see Koopman now, diving out of the way and the horse splashing past him and scrambling up the bank. The syringe was still hanging from his neck. Logan stood upand Watched the horse disappearing up through the trees.
    “Shit,” he said.
    “You alright?” Koopman asked.
    Logan just nodded and started to wring the water from his parka. Something caught his eye up on the bridge and he looked up to see the hunter, leaning on the parapet. He’d been watching and was grinning from ear to ear.
    “Why don’t you get the fuck out of here,” said Logan.
       She saw Robert as soon as she came through the swing doors. At the end of the corridor there was a waiting area with pale gray sofas and a low table with flowers on it and he was standing there looking out of a tall window, the sun streaming in about him. He turned at the sound of her footsteps and had to screw his eyes up to see into the relative dark of the corridor. Annie was touched by how vulnerable he looked in this moment before he saw her, with half his face lit by the sun and his skin so pale it was all but translucent. Then he found her and came walking toward her, with a grim little smile. They put their arms around each other and stayed like that for a while, saying nothing.
    “Where is she?” Annie asked at last.
    He took hold of her arms and held her away from him a little so he could look at her.
    “They’ve taken her downstairs. They’re operating on her now.” He saw her frown and went on quickly before she could say anything. “They said she’s going to be okay. She’s still unconscious but they’ve done all these checks and scans and it doesn’t look like there’s any brain damage.”
    He stopped and swallowed and Annie waited, watching his face. She knew from the way he was trying so hard to keep his voice steady that of course there was something else.
    “Go on.”
    But he