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Temporarily out of options, she dropped one lit match after another against Joseph's cabin, and then, suddenly, Jenny's cold hands were on Maya's wrists and she was duct-taping them together behind her back.
Maya clasped the half-full box of matches tightly in her palm. They were all she had, her only potential weapon.
“Good job,” Jenny praised. “Now let's go for a hike.” Jenny pushed her forward with the gun, then picked up a chainsaw. “Move it.”
Maya felt her eyes go wide as she looked at the machine and forced herself to speak calmly. “You don't want to do this, Jenny.”
“Sure I do. I couldn't believe how lucky I was when you showed up to investigate. Here I thought I was only going to f**k with Logan's life by lighting the wildfire and calling the tip line, but now I get to take you down too. This is going to be superfun.”
Fumbling with the matchbox at Jenny's straightforward admission of guilt, Maya forced herself to calm down so that she could slide it open and slip out a match. She let it fall to the ground for Logan to find.
“If you get caught for starting a wildfire and burning buildings, you won't be in jail too long,” she lied. “But if you murder people—”
“Too late,” Jenny said cheerfully. “That young hotshot is already dead. Which is really too bad, because he was kind of cute. You know what's really sad, though? I hadn't gotten around to f**king him yet. The young ones are always so energetic and eager to please.”
Maya stumbled over a rock, stunned by the woman's cruelty. She dropped another match to the ground, praying her trail of bread crumbs wouldn't catch fire and disappear before Logan found them.
“How many hotshots have you slept with?”
She'd need to know these things when she got away, when she was testifying against Jenny in court, even though she couldn't stand the thought of Logan or any of his men in bed with this horrible woman.
“Not as many hotshots as I'd like. It's a pain that they're gone for so many months every year. But most of the guys in town.”
Maya's skin went cold and clammy, even though they moved closer to the heat of the fire with every step up the trail. Ignoring the push of metal against her ribs, she spun around.
“Did you know Tony Jackson?”
Jenny's lips curved up. “Oh yeah, I knew Tony.”
Her words snaked around Maya's heart like a huge, deadly anaconda. “Did you sleep with him?”
“Of course I did. He was one of the best I ever had. Too bad he had to die.” Jenny poked her head closer to Maya's and asked, “Why, did you know him or something?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
HOLY SHIT.”
Logan nearly barreled into Joseph, who'd cursed and then gone dead silent as he stood in the center of the trail. What now? Logan moved out of the shade of a baby oak and that's when he saw that Joseph's cabin was engulfed in flames. His heart stopped cold.
“Maya's inside.”
Joseph grabbed Logan's shoulders as if he were still seventeen years old. “Goddamn it, go save her!”
Logan sprinted downhill. All he'd been doing for the past two days was running up and down this goddamned mountain. First to save Connor. Then Joseph. And now Maya.
His house was gone. Joseph's cabin would be nothing but ashes very soon. But Robbie was dead. Dead.
Someone had killed him. And if it turned out to be Jenny, Logan hoped she'd burn in hell for what she'd done.
He was long past the point of pain as he sprinted onto Joseph's property. Flames leapt ten feet in the air and the stench of gasoline filled his lungs.
“Maya,” he roared into the smoke-filled sky, yelling her name over and over, praying she'd answer.
A quick check of the property's perimeter confirmed what he'd already guessed: Maya was gone. She'd promised to be here waiting for him, but she hadn't bet on Jenny. Neither of them had.
Logan had never been this scared and knew it would be nearly impossible to treat this situation like any one of the hundreds of emergencies he'd worked. But he wouldn't be worth shit if he didn't calm down. He unclenched his fists and forcibly slowed his heart rate.
Maya was one of the smartest women he knew. She wasn't going to let someone haul her off without leaving a clue as to her whereabouts. And Jenny's truck was parked between two pine trees. Which meant they couldn't have gone far.
He quickly ruled out the driveway. If they'd been headed to the road, Jenny would have taken her truck. Which meant they had to be back up in the mountains, on a different fork of the trail than he and Joseph had taken.
He looked down and saw a match on the ground, and then another, heading toward the trailhead. Logan sprinted back toward the mountain, passing Joseph, who was on his way down.
“You didn't find her?”
“No. But I will. She left me a trail of matches.”
“Smart girl.” Joseph stripped off his fire-resistant jacket. “Put this on. It'll buy you some time if you need it. I'll run out to the freeway and get some help.”
Joseph didn't tell him to be careful. Not when he already seemed to know that Logan would do whatever it took—and risk everything—to ensure Maya's safety.
Logan put the jacket on as he ran uphill, not giving the burning cabin another glance. It was just another building, wood and nails, not flesh and blood.
Maya was all that mattered now.
“Did I know him?” Intense, unending rage raced through Maya, from head to toe and back again as she launched herself at Jenny, swinging her bound arms around in an arc, knocking the woman into the mountain, screaming “You f**king bitch, he was my brother!”
She spun around, wanting to hit Jenny harder, faster this time. But before she could make contact, a sharp blade whacked against her skull and knocked her back into a tree trunk. She felt something warm and wet trickle through her hair.
Jenny threw the bloodstained chainsaw down into the dirt. Taking advantage of Maya's momentary shock, she quickly rolled duct tape around her body. Maya kicked and yelled, but without the use of her hands, she was soon imprisoned against the tree.
“I was planning on killing you,” Jenny said viciously, “but now I'm thinking I should just leave you here to burn. It'll hurt so much more that way, take so much longer for you to die.”
rarily out of options, she dropped one lit match after another against Joseph's cabin, and then, suddenly, Jenny's cold hands were on Maya's wrists and she was duct-taping them together behind her back.
Maya clasped the half-full box of matches tightly in her palm. They were all she had, her only potential weapon.
“Good job,” Jenny praised. “Now let's go for a hike.” Jenny pushed her forward with the gun, then picked up a chainsaw. “Move it.”
Maya felt her eyes go wide as she looked at the machine and forced herself to speak calmly. “You don't want to do this, Jenny.”
“Sure I do. I couldn't believe how lucky I was when you showed up to investigate. Here I thought I was only going to f**k with Logan's life by lighting the wildfire and calling the tip line, but now I get to take you down too. This is going to be superfun.”
Fumbling with the matchbox at Jenny's straightforward admission of guilt, Maya forced herself to calm down so that she could slide it open and slip out a match. She let it fall to the ground for Logan to find.
“If you get caught for starting a wildfire and burning buildings, you won't be in jail too long,” she lied. “But if you murder people—”
“Too late,” Jenny said cheerfully. “That young hotshot is already dead. Which is really too bad, because he was kind of cute. You know what's really sad, though? I hadn't gotten around to f**king him yet. The young ones are always so energetic and eager to please.”
Maya stumbled over a rock, stunned by the woman's cruelty. She dropped another match to the ground, praying her trail of bread crumbs wouldn't catch fire and disappear before Logan found them.
“How many hotshots have you slept with?”
She'd need to know these things when she got away, when she was testifying against Jenny in court, even though she couldn't stand the thought of Logan or any of his men in bed with this horrible woman.
“Not as many hotshots as I'd like. It's a pain that they're gone for so many months every year. But most of the guys in town.”
Maya's skin went cold and clammy, even though they moved closer to the heat of the fire with every step up the trail. Ignoring the push of metal against her ribs, she spun around.
“Did you know Tony Jackson?”
Jenny's lips curved up. “Oh yeah, I knew Tony.”
Her words snaked around Maya's heart like a huge, deadly anaconda. “Did you sleep with him?”
“Of course I did. He was one of the best I ever had. Too bad he had to die.” Jenny poked her head closer to Maya's and asked, “Why, did you know him or something?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
HOLY SHIT.”
Logan nearly barreled into Joseph, who'd cursed and then gone dead silent as he stood in the center of the trail. What now? Logan moved out of the shade of a baby oak and that's when he saw that Joseph's cabin was engulfed in flames. His heart stopped cold.
“Maya's inside.”
Joseph grabbed Logan's shoulders as if he were still seventeen years old. “Goddamn it, go save her!”
Logan sprinted downhill. All he'd been doing for the past two days was running up and down this goddamned mountain. First to save Connor. Then Joseph. And now Maya.
His house was gone. Joseph's cabin would be nothing but ashes very soon. But Robbie was dead. Dead.
Someone had killed him. And if it turned out to be Jenny, Logan hoped she'd burn in hell for what she'd done.
He was long past the point of pain as he sprinted onto Joseph's property. Flames leapt ten feet in the air and the stench of gasoline filled his lungs.
“Maya,” he roared into the smoke-filled sky, yelling her name over and over, praying she'd answer.
A quick check of the property's perimeter confirmed what he'd already guessed: Maya was gone. She'd promised to be here waiting for him, but she hadn't bet on Jenny. Neither of them had.
Logan had never been this scared and knew it would be nearly impossible to treat this situation like any one of the hundreds of emergencies he'd worked. But he wouldn't be worth shit if he didn't calm down. He unclenched his fists and forcibly slowed his heart rate.
Maya was one of the smartest women he knew. She wasn't going to let someone haul her off without leaving a clue as to her whereabouts. And Jenny's truck was parked between two pine trees. Which meant they couldn't have gone far.
He quickly ruled out the driveway. If they'd been headed to the road, Jenny would have taken her truck. Which meant they had to be back up in the mountains, on a different fork of the trail than he and Joseph had taken.
He looked down and saw a match on the ground, and then another, heading toward the trailhead. Logan sprinted back toward the mountain, passing Joseph, who was on his way down.
“You didn't find her?”
“No. But I will. She left me a trail of matches.”
“Smart girl.” Joseph stripped off his fire-resistant jacket. “Put this on. It'll buy you some time if you need it. I'll run out to the freeway and get some help.”
Joseph didn't tell him to be careful. Not when he already seemed to know that Logan would do whatever it took—and risk everything—to ensure Maya's safety.
Logan put the jacket on as he ran uphill, not giving the burning cabin another glance. It was just another building, wood and nails, not flesh and blood.
Maya was all that mattered now.
“Did I know him?” Intense, unending rage raced through Maya, from head to toe and back again as she launched herself at Jenny, swinging her bound arms around in an arc, knocking the woman into the mountain, screaming “You f**king bitch, he was my brother!”
She spun around, wanting to hit Jenny harder, faster this time. But before she could make contact, a sharp blade whacked against her skull and knocked her back into a tree trunk. She felt something warm and wet trickle through her hair.
Jenny threw the bloodstained chainsaw down into the dirt. Taking advantage of Maya's momentary shock, she quickly rolled duct tape around her body. Maya kicked and yelled, but without the use of her hands, she was soon imprisoned against the tree.
“I was planning on killing you,” Jenny said viciously, “but now I'm thinking I should just leave you here to burn. It'll hurt so much more that way, take so much longer for you to die.”
