Beautiful Burn

by Rachel Blake

  "And we know he isn't above killing anyone." Bile rose in the back of Gwen's throat as the sick feeling took over. Mentally shaking herself, she turned to the other women, her mind made up. "How do we do this?"

  "Together," Kennly instantly responded. "We do this as one, or not at all."

  "Are you kidding? One look at you, and he is going to run." At Kennly's questioning look, she continued. "You scream 'my dad's a cop.'."

  "That's why we are doing it together. He knows you, so he won't freak. Gwen and I will be there to make sure you aren't in any danger. That's it."

  "No. I have to do this on my own. He will trust me more than he ever will the two of you."

  "You don't let us do this together, I will walk right out of this room and tell the men what we are plotting. Don't give me that look, Autumn. You know damn well I will do it."

  "You do that, and the only option we will have left to us is to sit here and watch the cops flounder."

  "If you have it your way, that is exactly what Gwen and I will be doing," Kennly pointed out.

  "Sitting on the sidelines, going against everything Jensen and I have started, just to know you are safe is a risk I am willing to take if it means you aren't out there playing hero all by yourself. You can scowl at me all you want. It isn't going to change my mind. All of us, or none of us."

  "Fine, but if the two of you mess this up, I'm doing it on my own."

  "You can try, but I will run to Leland so fast it will make your head spin."

  "I hate how stubborn you are." With a scowl, Autumn flopped onto the couch, looking the part of a pouting child. "Now, all we have to do is find him."

  "Give me his name. Don't worry, I won't go in by myself, but my dad's a cop, remember. I can get him to run the name and get his address."

  "Colt Allander."

  Chapter 7

  The sound of the tone had Jensen groaning before he opened his eyes. "We have a report of a fire at 3425 Granger Avenue."

  Jensen sat up and shoved his legs into his pants, pulling them up as he stood from the bed. He ran down the hall in his socks, the concrete floor cold against the soles of his feet. At his station issued SUV, he stepped into his bunker pants and boots in one smooth motion and watched the activity around him as he pulled them into place.

  Men were coming from everywhere. The early risers were filing out of the kitchen, most with coffee in hand, men were descending the pole one after another, and a few stragglers were coming down the stairs, still buckling their belts.

  Zander nudged Jensen as he ran past. "Only one good thing about this call."

  "Right." No letter meant it wasn't the arsonist. Jensen shoved his arms into his coat, zipping it over his overalls. "A nice clean fire." Jensen climbed into his SUV, flipped a couple of switches to get the lights and sirens going, and was pulling out of the bay as he saw Gwen climb into the driver's seat of the ambulance.

  When he finally pulled up to the building, the crowd had already started to gather. He jumped from his vehicle and headed over to an officer. "Abandoned?"

  "Yeah. The registered owner lives in a different state. Neighbors haven't reported seeing any squatters, and we didn't see any evidence that suggested anything different. Snow was clean of footprints sans one set."

  "And that one set?"

  "Looked like someone tried to back track in their own steps, so we believe it to be empty."

  Jensen nodded before turning his back to the officer and speaking into his mic as the trucks pulled up to the scene. "Looks like an abandoned building spitting out a bunch of smoke, so we are going to do a sweep. Ladder truck, get situated to enter from the top north corner, you're going to work your way down. Company One, you are going to enter from the front and work your way out and up. Company Two, open up some walls and get fans on this. I want to know where the smoke is coming from and then get it vented."

  The activity around him would have looked a bit chaotic to anyone else, but to him, it was a well-planned and thought out process. They had trained countless times on this exact scenario. As he turned to the sound of a backup alarm, he watched as the girls situated the rig for a fast exit before they climbed out and readied their equipment for any possible patients.

  He watched Zander help the other men with their tanks before he climbed onto the truck and started to position the ladder. As soon as it was in place, Leland and another man started climbing. That used to be him.

  "You'll get used to it," Autumn said as she joined him. "I got used to seeing Lee disappear into the smoke, and you'll get used to seeing someone else do your old job."

  "That obvious?"

  "No, I just know how much you guys hate change, but Kevin would not have picked you for captain if he hadn't thought you were going to be ready to fill his boots."

  His radio crackled with, "We're entering the building, Chief."

  "10-4, Boisy, keep your eyes open." He turned back to the medic at his side. "Thank you, Autumn. Now, get back to where you are supposed to be. You know you can't pass the line of trucks unless you have a full set of turnouts on."

  Her bottom lip trembled slightly before she pressed them together in a thin line. "Yeah." As she blew out a shaky breath, she turned back to the rig. "We all know what happened last time."

  He grabbed her arm and spun her back to face him. "Excuse me, medic?" When he was met with only silence, he continued. "I know your Dom would not be happy with that statement, Autumn."

  "No, he wouldn't."

  "Then why, sub?"

  "It was out before I thought better of it, sir." He felt her cringe the slightest bit at the use of the formal title.

  "As was that." He smiled at her before becoming serious again. "You either tell Leland about this, or I will. None of us want you to fall down that path again, and I have a feeling he knows how to keep that from happening."

  Autumn groaned, her eyes dropping to his chest. "He does."

  "I thought so." He released her and watched as she made her way back to the ambulance, where she was promptly bombarded with questions from Gwen.

  Jensen turned back to the building in front of him. Autumn was right. He missed his old job. He missed going into smoke filled buildings to discover the unknown, but he also respected the new ranking his old friend had honored him with.

  In Hill City, the ranking of captain was a position no one knew they had until it was needed. Each chief gave it to a lieutenant they believed would be able to fill their shoes in the event of a sudden crippling illness or death. It is then up to the lieutenant whether they accept the position or not. It was a probationary position for six months, and then the board decided if they stayed in place or hired another man for the job.

  When Jensen found out he had been honored with the ranking, it was bittersweet, but he had accepted the new rank in an instant. He was going to do everything he could to prove Kevin had made the right choice.

  "Chief, we found the source of the smoke. Small fire on the second floor. We were able to dowse it and will be continuing our search for occupants."

  "10-4. Company Two, did you copy? I want those fans going and the smoke cleared out!"

  "Chief?" A feminine voice came over the radio.

  "Go ahead, Gwen."

  "We need you at the ambulance."

  That statement was all it took to get his hunches up. He moved swiftly through the crowd of people and scattered equipment to the rig. "What's wrong."

  The girls turned to him, Gwen handing him a pair of gloves. "When we went to start the paperwork, this was taped to the computer. It's addressed to you, and it hasn't been there long."

  Jensen donned the gloves and took the paper from Gwen before digging his phone out of his pocket and making a quick call. Once his phone was safely back where it belonged, he spoke into the mic secured to his shoulder, "Fire Chief Keetes to dispatch."

  "This is dispatch; go ahead, Chief."

  "Can you send a couple more officers to my location, please, and the detectives hand
ling the arsonist case if possible. I'll be talking with the medics when they get here."

  "10-4."

  He had to resist the urge to crumple the paper into a small ball as he read it.

  Chief Keetes,

  It seems to me that we have had what I would call a breakdown in communication. You see, this is my fire, but no one bothered to tell you, did they?

  How are you to properly protect the queens if you are not kept in the loop? Better yet, how is my story meant to be told if the higher ups are not following the rules?

  You should have been told the second the fire marshal got my letter. However, PD was too busy playing with your computers to bring you into the fold.

  If they don't follow the rules, I am going to have to get creative on how I punish these transgressions. Unfortunately, it will be the girls who pay the price.

  Now, Chief Keetes, I suggest you get your ducks in a row.

  Don't worry, I will keep in touch.

  "What seems to be the problem, Chief?"

  It took every ounce of self-control Jensen had not to punch the pompous, overweight detective in the throat. "Got here pretty quickly for this being a run of the mill fire, didn't you, Starling?"

  "You called us over here, Chief. I am guessing, by now, you have figured out that this is the work of the arsonist."

  "Damn right, I have! Do you know how much danger you have put everyone here in?"

  "I don't, because no one was in any danger. We had at least ten undercover cops in that crowd." Starling gestured to the growing number of people on the other side of the police tape.

  "Then why the hell aren't they doing their jobs? My medics found this on their laptop." When the detective tried to grab the paper from Jensen, he pulled away. "No, I don't trust you or your minions with this."

  Venom dripped from every word he spewed, "If you don't give me the evidence, I will have you charged with obstruction of justice so fast your head will spin!"

  "Try it, Starling. You see, I called a friend of mine. You may know him, actually, Atticus Pardoe." Jensen smiled when he saw said man approaching out of the corner of his eye.

  "You called my supervisor? What gives you the fucking right to go over my head?"

  "I suggest you stop talking, Starling.

  "You have got to be fucking kidding!"

  "Far from it. I have a stack of complaints sitting on my desk right now, so do yourself a favor and just walk away. I will handle this one," Atticus growled.

  Starling glared at Jensen but did as he was told. "He is right, you know. Going over his head could have been bad for you. You're lucky I have a mutual dislike for him. I don't care how it could have gone for me." Jensen looked to the medics. "My only concern is that my people are safe while they do their jobs. Detective Starling is keeping me from being able to do that."

  "It wasn't his call."

  "Ultimately, I'm sure it wasn't, but I have no doubt he put the bug in their ear. Your poker face needs work."

  Atticus sighed in defeat. "Okay, you have proven to everyone watching that you have the balls for your new ranking, so tell me, why I am here, rather than hitting the snooze button on my alarm clock a few more times?" Jensen handed Atticus the letter and watched the emotions as they ran across his face. Shock, distain, anger. "Looks like this guy wants to show everyone how big his balls are, too."

  "What do you mean, this isn't from the arsonist?" Jensen stood from his chair, the force of his movement bouncing it off the wall behind him.

  "The techs and I have been all over this letter and compared it to everything we have from the arsonist. This isn't his."

  "How do you know?"

  "The wording is wrong." Atticus held up the sealed plastic bag containing the letter. "We have every reason to believe the video from this morning was authentic, and while the person who wrote this got some of the references correct, others were obviously wrong."

  "He called the girls queens." Jensen rubbed his temples as the reality of the situation set in.

  "Exactly. The man in the video said they were the kings in his game and, as such, they needed to be protected. Here," he passed the letter to Jensen, pointing at the mistake, "he refers to them as queens. In the game of chess, queens are not protected."

  "They are feared."

  "Feared?" Leland questioned as he paced the room, his hair disheveled from running his fingers through it.

  "In chess, the queen can move in any direction at any time. If used correctly, they can clear the board of all the other pieces."

  "The fire bug messed up his references in his haste to write it, so what?"

  "It's more than that. In the video, he said we needed to protect the women. Why would he say that and then turn around, not even twelve hours later, and threaten them?"

  "He has never threatened them before?" Jensen watched as the emotions moved across the other man's face.

  "Never."

  "Finally, our arsonist is past the small barrel fire that produces lots of smoke stage. He has worked his way up to full-blown, life-threatening fires, and he isn't going back. He can't. They won't satisfy his need any longer."

  "What are you saying?" The question didn't need to be asked. Everyone in the room knew, but the need to hear the words was great.

  "We have a copycat." The room erupted in curses. Jensen's fists bounced off the massive desk. Leland collapsed into a chair, his elbows on his knees and his hands steepled between his legs. Atticus wasn't done. ""Other than the people who were in the room when the clip played, only three other people saw the video. Those three were all accounted for and miles away when the letter was put in the rig."

  A harsh laugh huffed from Jensen's chest. "That means it's an inside job."

  "This information does not get shared with anyone. We cannot risk this getting back to him. It would be catastrophic."

  Chapter 8

  "I don't think I have ever needed coffee this badly in my life." The hot mug warmed Gwen's cold fingers as she brought it to her lips. She was still chilled from spending all morning in the cold March weather.

  As she relaxed into her seat, she watched Autumn take a seat across from her. "I can already taste the bacon."

  "I have to use the john. I'll be right back."

  Autumn turned to Gwen as soon as the man was out of sight. "Leland is trying to decide if we should cancel tonight."

  "Cancel what?"

  A wicked smile spread across the other woman's face. "We are hosting a get together at our house tonight. You should come."

  She eyed the woman across from her suspiciously. "What are you up to?"

  Before Gwen could get more information out of her, Jensen walked up to the table. "Where's Boisy?"

  "Bathroom," they both responded at the same time.

  "Stay here," he commanded as he, too, walked away.

  "Are they going to be this bossy all the time?"

  "That depends."

  "On what?"

  "Two things, really. How freaked out they are over the arsonist's announcement, and whether or not this is what you want."

  "This is absolutely what I want." It was Gwen's turn to smile. "I haven't gotten a chance to explore with him yet, but I have a feeling that is going to change. If I have my way, it will be sooner, rather than later."

  "I could help with that. Come to the house tonight. We're going to play cards, and there's always room for more." At her questioning look, Autumn continued. "Everyone who is going to be there are people who practice the same lifestyle we do. Not anything intentionally kinky, but it never stays vanilla for long."

  "I'll ask Jensen about it. God knows I'm dying to see his secrets."

  "Me, too!" She sipped her coffee with a faraway look in her eyes. "Now, you have to come."

  The men stepped up to the table before she could respond. "It isn't up to you, princess. That is up to her and her Dom."

  "Scoot in, bellissima."

  "Please goes a long way there, boss man."

 
"Yet you started sliding over without thought." He smiled at her once more before turning to the other couple and allowing his expression to become serious.

  "Can we order breakfast before everyone goes somber?" Autumn asked as she rubbed her belly. "Standing around, watching you guys fight a fire takes a lot out of a woman."

  "We already ordered." With a deep breath, he jumped right in. "We're worried. The arsonist confirmed yesterday morning that he has special interest in the two of you, and we don't want to take any chances."

  "You mean, last night?"

  The men shared a look. "Exactly."

  "We need to know the two of you are safe."

  "While a leave of absence would—"

  "No!" both women interrupted at the same time.

  "Princess, listen."

  "Don't 'princess' her. You knew we would never agree to give up our jobs, even temporarily."

  "Gwen, that—"

  "How dare you guys even suggest this? If it were you two being targeted, this wouldn't even be a suggestion."

  "Gwendolyn."

  The growled warning made her pause for a second before she added, "No. You don't get to use my full name and think I am just going to quietly do as I'm told. Fuck that."

  Before she knew what was happening, she was hauled across the booth seat, pulled to her feet and guided to the back of the restaurant.

  Once in the privacy of the back-hall, Jensen spun her around to face him before pinning her to the wall with a hand planted on either upper arm. Stuck. "You never being in a relationship like this before is the only reason I am not taking you back to my house to roast your ass right now." He placed his pointer finger over her mouth. "Not a word, Gwendolyn. We will talk about this later, but for right now, we will go back out there and finish the conversation we were having, and you will listen to what we have to say before you start popping off at the mouth and assuming you know what we are talking about. And when you do speak, you will do so respectfully."