“Another fire?”
“Uh, huh,” she focused on trying to pick the lock of the cuffs. She had done it once before when Thomas had taught her how, but never with a bobby pin.
“East of us,” he groaned. “We’re in deep because those fires are both headed this way. It’s even worse because if those fires converge with each other...with the cold front and this wind, God that thing is going to burn until there’s nothing left to burn.”
She didn’t care about that right now. First concern was getting Adam free. Second concern was getting out of there. Third, was hoping the firefighters could stop this thing before it became a monster.
“Eve, do you understand what I’m saying here?”
“I hear you,” she said.
“Do you understand? If you can’t get me loose you have to go. You have to get out of here and keep going. Don’t stop at Palm Coast because if this thing becomes the monster it’s threatening to become, there won’t be a Palm Coast left.”
She fidgeted around more with the lock until it popped and the cuff opened. “Let’s go,” she said briskly.
“Thanks.” His legs nearly buckled as he took hold of her arm. “I’m okay,” he assured her as he started to lead her south. Ashes begin to fall from the sky. It looked like gray snow, floating and fluttering to the ground and into their hair. “It’s too close,” he said. “We won’t make it.”
“The radio,” she handed it to him. “I don’t know the frequency.”
“I do.”
“They already commissioned the FireFlight so we just have to hold out.”
“How long ago did they commission it? We don’t have fifteen minutes,” he said. “No way in hell do we have fifteen minutes.” He called in their location, yelling over the raging sound of the rapidly approaching fire.
He looked at her, as if this was it, as if they didn’t have any other options. “There’s another fire coming from the south.”
“Oh God,” she moaned. “What do we do?”
“We hold up here. The FireFlight is minutes away. If we can survive that long we’ll be saved.”
“Then we’ll hold out; we have to.”
“It’s going to get hot.”
It was already hot. It was so hot she felt as if she was suffocating.
“Real hot,” he added as if he could read her mind.
“I have this,” she reached into the pack and pulled out the blanket.
“Thank God,” he took it from her, opened it up and brought her down to the ground before spreading it over their bodies. She looked at him, hearing the sound of the fire surrounding them, feeling the heat and knowing this was probably it. This was going to be how they died, and by God she was determined she wouldn’t die before he knew.
She looked deep into his eyes. The bright blue was a contrast to his ash covered face. “I love you,” she said. “And in the eyes of God, right here, right now, today and for the rest of my life I am in my heart your wife.”
“I love you too, Eve. And when we get out of here I plan to make sure we take vows for both our families to see. But today, and for the rest of my life, I am your husband.”
He gripped the silver blanket over their bodies. She pulled closer to him praying, crying, holding on to him as the flames started to pass over them. This was it. There would be no tomorrow.
Chapter Fourteen
“How is he?” Thomas rested his big hand on Eve’s head. They had been so lucky the FireFlight reached them in time. When the water crashed down on them she knew they would be okay. It wasn’t long after that, that she and Adam had been able to start their journey out of the woods. She helped him. She supported his weight as much as she could because leaving him sitting there waiting for somebody to come back for him was not an option. They met up with a fire crew along the way, and once they were back at the base she caught hell from the people in charge. Of course the other firefighters congratulated her with a big slap on the back.
“He’s okay. He’s resting,” she looked at Adam lying in the bed. She had refused to stay in her own room. The moment she had clearance to get up and walk she went to Adam’s room, pulled up a chair and sat at his bedside. He was okay. The doctors were monitoring him for the head injury he had sustained, but fortunately, even that wasn’t life threatening.
“That was one crazy stunt you pulled, young lady.”
“What would you have done, Thomas? If that were Thena in there, what would you have done?”
“I would have gone in after her,” he admitted reluctantly. “But that doesn’t mean that’s what I would want my little sister to do.”
She looked at Adam, reaching her hand out she gently caressed his cheek. “Sometimes you do what you have to do to save somebody you love.”
“Yeah,” he whispered. “I know.”
“Did they get the fire contained?”
“Twenty percent,” he nodded. “I know that’s crap given the wind speeds out there, but it’s better than nothing.”
“I think we’ll all breathe easier once it’s out.”
“Hey,” the groggy voice preceded Adam opening his eyes. He looked at her and then at Thomas before looking back to her. “I thought you were talking to Mitch,” he said in a voice that told her he was still very much angry with Mitch.
“Mitch is dead, honey. He was murdered.”
“When?”
“Two days ago now. You’ve been in here, in this bed, in and out of consciousness for a little while.” The doctors had been keeping him on medications that kept him knocked out most of the day. He had minimal burns on the palms of his hands, but the doctors said that in time those wounds would heal perfectly.
“Murdered?”
“Don’t worry about it, honey. Just go back to sleep.” She wanted him to rest as much as he could. She knew at some point she would have to tell him why Thomas was in town. Part of it was because he came the moment he found out she was in the hospital. The other part was that he wanted a piece of the bastard who had tried to kill her with that bomb. She knew her brother. She knew the look of revenge in his heart. This was no longer about just getting justice. This was about making Sabian pay for the pain he had caused, for the lives he had taken, and for the lives he was still trying to take. Right now she didn’t have room to lecture Thomas, because if she could get her hands on the rat bastard arsonist she would extract her own type of revenge for what he had done to Adam.
She watched Adam close his eyes. His breathing slowed and she could tell the medication the doctors had him on was still keeping him out like the proverbial light. “He should be ready to go home in a couple days,” she heard the shakiness in her own voice. “I’m going to stay with him.”
“I know,” Thomas pulled her up into his arms and she started crying. She hated crying in front of people, but with Thomas she felt safe enough to show her emotions. He would never take advantage of it. He would never use her weaknesses against her. Adam, whether she readily admitted it or not, was her weak spot. When she saw that nobody was going in to find him she didn’t think about the dangers to herself. She just threw caution to the wind, placed her camera on the bench, took the supplies she thought she would need and went after him. In hindsight she realized what she had done was stupid—plain and simple lunacy—because she had no idea of where she was going really. He could have been east or west, or on his way out of the fire zone in the first place. For all she knew, his radio had fallen and broken and he hadn’t been able to call to tell the other men that he was on his way back. But she didn’t think that was the case. If she had to do it all over again she wouldn’t change a thing…well, maybe she would take a fire extinguisher with her, although she wasn’t sure that would have done much good.
“Why was he out there alone? Why didn’t he come back when Hank left him? Why would Hank leave him out there anyway?” She pulled back and looked up at Thomas. “I mean aren’t they supposed to be in pairs? Everything I’ve learned so far makes me think that they are�
�and there he was, out there alone.”
“I don’t know, Eve. But when he’s better you can ask him those questions.”
She understood his words, and the tone behind them. Let the man recover fully first; assault him with questions second. She could do that. “Thanks for coming. I know you have a life of your own, and work…”
“This is more important.”
“I’m so sorry I let you down, Thomas.” She wiped a tear from her cheek. “Eve all grown up and I can’t even make it out on my own without needing your help.”
“We’re family. We ask for help when we need it, and we help each other; sometimes even if it’s not asked for. That’s not weakness; it’s strength. The sooner you realize that you don’t have anything to prove to us the better off you’ll be.”
“I’m not trying to prove it to them. I’m trying to prove it to you.” Her voice was soft. “I watched you come back from nearly dying. I watched you struggle and fight; and you came back stronger. I just…I want so much to be like you, Thomas. I want so much to make you proud of me.”
He pulled her into his arms, enfolding her into his embrace. “Oh Eve,” he exhaled slowly. “I am proud of you. You’ve made so many accomplishments at such a young age. You graduated school early—high school and college. Seriously, you’re the only one of us who had the guts to go into that college prep program and do both high school courses and college courses at the same time. You’ve gone places I wish you hadn’t, but you survived them. You’re an amazing photographer, with talent and skills and vision. And I know you’re going to continue your success. But you’re also my baby sister, and there’s something in that that won’t allow me to ever stop feeling the need to keep you safe. That doesn’t mean I’m not proud of you. It doesn’t mean that I don’t think you’re capable. It just means that I need to protect you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
She wrapped her arms tighter around his waist. “You’re proud of me?”
“Yeah, kid. I’m proud of you. I’m so proud of you that I spend most of my poker games talking about your latest assignments.” He laughed. “I think those guys know more about you than anybody outside of family ever really should.”
She laughed. “Thanks.” She pulled back and looked up at him again. “I can’t promise that I won’t keep trying to impress you. But I’ll try, the emphasis is on try,” she stressed because she wanted him to know she couldn’t flip a switch and change overnight. “I’ll try to willingly ask for help when I need it.”
“Good. Because if I get another call from a doctor telling me you’re in the hospital for any reason I think I might gray overnight.”
“I’m sorry about that. They must have gone through my pockets when they brought me in and found my emergency card.” She had passed out, at least that’s what they told her when she woke up on the hospital bed. “I didn’t want them to call you. I was going to call you once I got home.” He scowled down at her. “You’re busy, Thomas. And honestly, there’s a bigger issue right now—mainly, who set that bomb and who killed Mitch? Did you find out anything?”
“Yeah. It’s something I’m sure is linked to Sabian, but I would have a hard time proving it. There was a witness, one the cops aren’t taking seriously since he was drunk and living in a cardboard box in that alley, but I’m taking him seriously. He was in the military himself at one point and he knew the tattoo the man had on his arm was one Marines would often brand on themselves. That, to the cops, isn’t much to go on. If they even believed him they would still have a tough job because it’s not like there’s only one Marine in the world.”
She understood that issue, but she also understood and trusted Thomas’ gut feelings.
“Did you talk to him—the homeless guy?”
“Not yet. I plan to go see him today. I wanted to see you first.”
“I’ll go with you if you check me out of here.”
“Wouldn’t you rather stay at his bedside?” She knew Thomas was just trying to keep her away from danger, away from the heat, but she needed to go.
“What if he says something about what he heard and you need me to piece it together?”
“I’ll bring it back to you, but I won’t take you down there with me.”
She started to protest and he held up his hand to stop her. “No negotiating on this, Eve.”
She smiled and shook her head. “Fine. I can compromise—just this once. Don’t get comfortable with it because I won’t be making it a habit.”
“I didn’t think you would,” he mumbled.”
“I’ll be here when you finish. Come back here before you go to my place, just to let me know you’re safe.”
“I can get a hotel room.”
“No, you can sleep on the air mattress at my place.”
“Air mattress?”
“The bed is on order, but they can’t ship it just yet. There was a problem or something or other and the order got pushed back on the delivery list and…” She yawned. “Sorry,” she said as she wiped her watery eyes. “I guess I’m sleepy.” She hadn’t been sleeping well. She was too worried about Adam to sleep. She reached over to the side of his bed, where she had left her keys. She’d had them hooked onto her jeans via a carabineer that she kept her keys attached to while she was out shooting the fire for work. She also kept her ID in one of the back pockets of her pants that buttoned. A purse wasn’t convenient to carry on assignment, but not having identification was just plain stupid. If something did happen that left her unconscious she needed to be sure whoever found her knew who to contact. Beyond that point, if something happened and it made her lose her memory she wanted to be sure she could figure out who she was. She had an emergency contact card with her as well. Thomas was her only contact listed. She had to remind herself to put Gavin and Alyssa down as secondary contacts. She still hadn’t done that.
“Here’s the house key.” She handed him the entire bunch of keys while pointing out the house key, the P.O. Box key, and the car key. “Make a copy of the house key for yourself.”
He nodded. “Where’s your rental car?”
“Probably being towed from the Espanola as we speak,” she laughed. “I left it parked on the sidelines. We have so much more access since Mayor Townsend is so determined to have our paper cover the story. But I don’t think the fire crew will be happy with my car taking up space. If it ends up being in their way I’m sure they’ll have it towed.” And given the severity of the fire now she had an idea the rental was definitely going to be in their way.
“Who are you working with now that Mitch is dead?”
She knew Thomas was asking because he wanted to run a background check and be sure her new partner was going to be a safe bet. He wasn’t thrilled with Mitch’s daredevil background, but there wasn’t anything he could do about the partnership, just as there wouldn’t be anything he could do about this one.
Something about Ramsey made her uneasy. She figured it was just because he was slime of the ickiest caliber, but maybe a little background digging wouldn’t be such a bad thing. She didn’t know when she would get out of Florida and until that day came she was going to have to work with Ramsey—her boss had made that point crystal clear to her.
“Ramsey Fletcher,” she said. “He’s a jerk.” Those words flowed from her lips so freely, as if she were introducing his profession instead of his personality status. She had never liked Ramsey. He had never liked her either, but he had liked her photos. She knew that much because he had made several complaints that Mitch had the pick of the “litter” while he was stuck with a few “mediocre” photojournalists. First of all it wasn’t a few photojournalists; there was only one—Daniel Grayson. Daniel was not mediocre. He was an artist with a camera too. She had seen some of his other work—the ones that weren’t shot for the paper. He had skill and talent and a level head on his shoulders. He had been so nice to her when she came down as an intern. She felt a little guilty actually because he was senior on staff yet somehow she was th
e one getting all the great assignments while he was shooting local events.
“How long are you here for?”
“For as long as it takes,” he said. She knew that couldn’t be true. He had to get back to work.
“You have work,” she reminded him.
“Yeah, but the major thing I’m working on right now isn’t something where I have to tail somebody. I can research and fact find from here. But you’re right; I do have to be back by end of next week for a meeting with my client. If need be I’ll fly back here same day.”
She shook her head. “Thomas, do what you need to do over the next few days and then go home. Go back to Thena and McGregor Investigations, and watch over me from there. I’ll be okay.” She looked at him solidly, knowing he was already thinking of something to do to make sure somebody watched over her from a much closer distance. “And no, you are not going to bother Drake again. Seriously, the man has a life; let him live it.” She shook her head and laughed. “I’ll be fine. I swear,” she placed the palm of her hand over her heart. “I will call you if I need help.”
He growled low in his throat. “All right baby sister. I won’t ask him to come down here.”
“All right big brother,” she smiled at him. “Be careful out there.”
“Always,” he hugged her one more time before leaving the room. She had two wonderful men in town and she was worried about both of them. Her brother could take care of himself; she knew that, but this Sabian guy sounded real deadly. Thomas was having such a hard time finding him that she wondered if he ever really would. Maybe she could help—maybe she should help, she thought absently as she looked at Adam lying in the bed. She was worried about him too—and she needed to make sure he would be okay before she took on any more trouble—but once things calmed down, once she could think straight, she was going to put some of those journalistic skills Mitch had been trying to teach her to good use. She was going to help her big brother get the closure he needed. One way or another he would find this Sabian guy.
Fahrenheit Page 16
