Then I almost spun out when I turned onto the road leading to the ranch. I was less than a half mile out when I noticed a plume of smoke curling over the trees.
Thick black, oily smoke like a fire cause by kerosene.
My baby was running out of time. The fucker had trapped her. Oh, God. Please. I couldn’t lose her. Not the woman I loved. Not now. Not ever.
The son of a bitch would die by my hands. So fucking help me God.
I made a sharp turn rolling into her driveway, the sight of the flames licking from the roof of the barn creating spots in front of my eyes.
Crazed from rage, I jumped out, rushing toward the building. The fucker had padlocked her in. Sirens were everywhere, the screaming sound filling the twilight sky.
The fire was burning hot, so much so one side of the building was completely ablaze, flames coming from the roof.
“Grace! Are you in there?”
The horses were going nuts. From the sounds of it, they were charging the stalls.
Smoke rolled from the building, thick and acrid.
Fuck. I didn’t hear anything.
Backing away, I tried to think about how the fuck to get in.Think. Fucking think.
The hatchet.
I rushed back to the truck, grabbing my go bag, digging inside until I felt the handle. I also grabbed a flashlight, darkness rolling across the horizon. By the time I approached the building once again, there were several trucks rolling down the driveway.
Smokejumpers.
They’d gotten here before the fire department.
“Move. Move. Move!” Steel yelled above the roar of engines.
I couldn’t wait for the cavalry, taking a solid swing at the padlock.
Embers fell from the sky, raining down just like a few nights before. The fire was hot as shit and while the horses inside were still making noise, I could tell how much distress they were in.
“Hold on, Grace. Hold on, baby.”
“What can we do?” Axe roared as soon as he was beside me.
“Get whatever you have. Anything. We need to break in. My Grace is in there.” I wasn’t interested in waiting, hitting the lock with strike after strike. When the goddamn thing was taking too long to break, I moved to the wood.
There was a flurry of activity around me, men calling out and sirens coming closer.
They were fighting with the fire using everything they could find.
All I could and would concentrate on was getting inside.
With every swing, I chipped away at the wood until there was a space big enough to get inside.
“Wait for the fire department,” one of the jumpers yelled.
“Not a fucking chance.” Nothing would stop me from getting to her. One single kick and I could get through.
So I went in, immediately turning on the light.
The walls and ceiling were creaking, debris falling.
