Page 45 of Burning Secrets

She had also coughed, spat out soot from her lungs. “He was the one who decided to make an example out of you.”

He didn’t know why her putting that together jolted him. Maybe because he kept trying to believe her words…Come back to me.But maybe…maybe she didn’t see the ex-con he did.

“Yeah. But I couldn’t be sure it was him. It was dark, and it’s been a while. The man was with another couple guys. One looked like a rich tourist, wore a pricey leather jacket, boots. The other guy was older, gray hair, shaggy beard, gray at the temples, jeans and a jacket. Seemed to be under duress. I heard the businessman call him Doc.”

“Doc.”

“Yeah. And the businessman was definitely ‘the big guy.’ Viper called him that, along with ‘sir,’ and Jer came out and gave him a handshake and a man hug, so maybe they’re related.”

“So clearly, returning paid off.”

“More than.” He motioned to the barn. “They left the compound early this morning in the chopper. I tracked them to this barn via a GPS transmitter Rio gave me. By the time I got here, they were leaving, Jer and Viper carrying a number of silver suitcases.”

“How far is the compound from here?”

“Five or six miles to the east.”

She had glanced at the fire, back to him. “And the fire?”

“That was me. I got inside, found a pallet of small industrial containers along with smaller canisters about the size of a fire extinguisher. I saved one and then I torched the barn.”

Her eyes widened. “You burned the barn?”

“It was the only way I could think of to destroy it before they moved it.”

In the distance, she heard a chopper’s blades.

“We should move,” she said, grabbing his arm. “They’re coming in with a water dump.”

“I need the ATV!”

He took off, despite her shout, for where he’d left the vehicle, jumped on, and turned it around, away from the drop zone just as the chopper pounded the air overhead.

Water gushed down over him, wetting his body as he motored out of the spray. JoJo had stepped back, away from the deluge.

He motored up, his body drenched. “Well, I’m not hot anymore.”

She smiled, shook her head. “No, you’re still hot.” A grin.

And he would have maybe gotten off, reached for her, ready for the nightmare to be over, but he heard shouts from the forest.

Some of her smokejumper buddies emerged, full run, carrying Pulaskis, the biggest man perching a chain saw over his shoulder and a couple women also armed with shovels.

They entered the yard, breathing hard, and stared at the smoldering barn, then at soggy Crew and sooty JoJo.

The big guy with the chain saw lowered it to the ground, sighed. “Aw. All the fun is over.”

“Very funny, Hammer,” JoJo said.

Hammer, huh? But Crew looked at the blaze, now sizzling, and all he could think was, oh he hoped so. He really hoped so.

EIGHT

“So,you and Crew, huh? I knew he had a thing for you.”

JoJo looked up into the common area of the women’s barracks, where Skye sat on a sofa, feet up, flicking through the channels on the flatscreen.

From outside, the evening sun cast into the room, still bright, although it had lost some of its steam. It tarried above the mountainscape to the west, a fiery ball of orange and gold.

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