“Does that make you the target?” Liam asks, eyes darting up to me.
“Or is he just the most visible?” Luke counters.
Nate raises his hands. “Okay, hold on. Everyone take a breath. You get tons of comments, and everyone knows you’re a firefighter.”
We all look at him. After watching him and Brody fight about the arsonist, I figured Nate’s reaction would be this. The voice of reason. The reason he’s lieutenant.
I nod. “And maybe it is random. But the username, Nate. Did you note that?”
Nate’s eyes glance back to the screen, along with the other two men. Luke whistles, and Liam curses.
“Fire to fire could mean arson to firefighter,” I say, explaining the thought I had on the way over here. “Eight-thirty-one is ourarea code, and Station Nine is rather obvious, don’t you think. Plus, it’s not like the usual comments I get.”
“You mean the thirsty ones?” Liam smirks.
“Exactly what I mean. When you add all that up, plus the tripping comment,” I point it out on the screen, “it’s sus, man. I mean, how would anyone know I tripped? You guys haven’t stolen my phone and posted that video yet.”
“Yet being the keyword.” Luke elbows Liam and they share a grin.
“Enough, you two,” Nate snaps at both of them. He runs a hand through his hair, then rubs at the back of his neck. “You’re sure you haven’t said anything about tripping in any of your videos?”
Eyebrows raising, forehead creasing, I give him a dubious look. “You think I’d post about that shit? Never.”
“You know, I saw Tyson last week and he mentioned you tripped the week before you left Station Six, too,” Liam says, lighting up like he’d forgotten the story until now. “Trip really is a suitable nickname.”
Fuck. I was hoping that would never get out.
“Wait.” Nate holds up a hand. “You’re telling me you’ve tripped at two different scenes?”
Deflating like a balloon that my dad just popped, I cringe, locking my phone and sliding it into my pocket for something to do so I don’t fidget under his scrutinizing gaze. They aren’t my proudest moments, especially since it happened twice. It’s like I didn’t learn my lesson the first time around.
“Hey, I don’t give a shit if you’ve tripped, it’s not a big deal,” Nate says, picking up my train of thought. “We’ve all done some stupid shit. But if you’ve done it at two different scenes, maybe this guyistargeting you.”
Slapping my hands on top of my head, my fingers interlock. “It was the arson fire that I tripped at.”
That was one piece I hadn’t put together.
A lot of arsonists stick around the fires they set to watch the excitement afterwards. If this guy has been watching me, chances are he saw me trip at one or both fires.
Silence fills the space between the four of us as we all look around at each other, letting this sink in.
Am I the target? If I am, why?
“Nate, didn’t you say there were fires at other stations, though?” Luke asks as serious as I’ve probably ever seen him when not on a call.
Nate nods. “One and Four.”
“So maybe Wyatt isn’t the target,” Liam suggests, and I’d love to agree with him.
“Or maybe he wasn’t to begin with, and the arsonist picked him along the way for some reason,” Luke counters, crossing his arms over his chest.
Nate hasn’t looked away from me, but I can see the gears turning in his head. “Can you remember anything happening at that fire other than tripping? Anything stand out? A passerby yelling or you interacting with someone?”
Thinking back to the call, I sift through my memory of what happened. It was an easy, standard grass fire. Similar to the first one we all fought together. Didn’t take us long to put it out. The only thing that stands out is when I came around the truck and tripped myself up on the hose Tyson was holding. He had a front row seat to the entire thing and laughed until he almost pissed himself.
“Nah, nothing,” I finally tell them. “Other than me tripping and landing on my face.”
“I’m gonna call Tina,” Nate informs us, pulling out hisphone. “You available today if she wants to talk to you?”
