Samantha Bassett
County Lines Rider
First published by Flamco Publishing 2020
Copyright © 2020 by Samantha Bassett
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmittedin any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise withoutwritten permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distributeit by any other means without permission.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it arethe work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localitiesis entirely coincidental.
Samantha Bassett asserts the moral right to be identified asthe author of this work.
First edition
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To all the equestrians, wherever and whenever they are.
May you ride on forever.
Contents
Sudden Death
I. JUST TRYING TO LIVE MY LIFE
1. A Life In Care
2. New Blood
3. Back Stories
4. Show Time
5. The Passage of Time
6. Meeting With a Gangster
7. Foster Care on The Farm
8. A Mucky Business
9. Missing Persons
10. Wooing a Groom
11. Presents From an Admirer
12. The Morning After The Night Before...
13. In The Dead of The Night
14. Questions And Answers
15. Fly Away
16. Go West
17. Seasons Greetings
18. The Sisterhood
II. A NEW LIFE
19. Safety in Numbers
20. Goodbye
21. New Ventures
22. Notes From a Stranger
23. A Change of Head
24. The Right People
25. A Matter of Money
26. Days Off
III. FATE OR FATAL
27. Consequences
28. Darkness
29. Reunion
30. Enroute to Fate
31. Calling The Cavalry
32. Arnside
IV. IMAGINATION OR REALITY
33. Forward Transitions
34. Drifting
35. Recovery
36. Cold Justice
37. Family Ties
38. Jump to it...
39. Waiting Time
V. A PERCEPTION OF LIFE
40. Pressing Charges
41. Change And Celebration
42. Wedding Bells
43. A New Reality
44. Epilogue
About the Author
Sudden Death
If I’d realised I was less than an hour from death I would have looked more closely at what surrounded me. Been more aware of what was happening. Drinking in last memories which would have to sustain me for a short lifetime. However, of course, we rarely get the benefit of foresight. Therefore, I approached oblivion unaware…
***
It had been one of those days. The rain had been falling, shortening tempers and leaving a collection of soaked clothes and sodden tack. Amanda stared out of the window of the living area of the horsebox, Adam, her brother dozed on the bench seat beside her.
He had done well, it had been one of his first shows and he had ridden well in the leading rein class. She smiled as she remembered the sight of him clutching a huge ice cream in one hand and a yellow Rosette in his other.
Amanda sighed, despite her first place Rosette which hung from baler twine above her head, she felt disappointed with the show, she had tried her best and had succeeded, pleasantly smiling at Hilary Temple-Jones who, in a fit of pique had thrown her expensive show ponies reins at her mother and stormed off. However, she felt that she had not achieved what she’d set out to do. The field had been small, many of the riders dropping from the class as the jumping arena had become slick with mud so her victory had seemed weak, somehow less of an achievement despite good times and clear rounds. She stared out of the window, watching the water running down the window, back to school tomorrow, the summer holidays and weeks of carefree riding and caring for horses on her mother’s livery yard would be at an end, back to the grindstone of academic achievement, looking for qualifications she knew that she could never obtain. If only it could just go away, allowing her to live her own life.
***
The truck driver yawned, he’d not slept well last night, their new baby refusing to sleep, screaming and crying into the early hours. He’d argued with his wife who had wanted to take little Jessica to hospital and had become almost hysterical. However, he’d calmed her down, Jess had a mild fever and a call to the emergency doctor had told them to keep her cool and keep checking her temperature. She had eventually fallen asleep in his wife’s arms just as he had left for the depot.
He’d been delayed during his day, a supermarket manager had refused to accept his delivery until he had finished his lunch break and traffic queues on the motorway, however, he was now eventually on his way back to the depot and then home. The cab clock showed that he was almost over his driving hours. He reached for his can of energy drink, his fingers slipping he dropped the can which rolled under the driver’s seat. He swore, glancing up the road was clear so he reached down, fumbling for the can. He could feel the steel with his fingertips, swearing he grabbed again the can slipping from his grasp. A sudden blast of a horn made him sit up sharply, he gasped, slamming on the brake pedal which jammed as the drinks can lodged beneath.
Amanda screamed as the horsebox lurched to the side before the massive thud, the living area shattering around her, the horsebox tipping, throwing her down. Adam was crying. They seemed to spin, before slamming to a stop. There was a sudden silence which seemed to go on for hours but was no more than
