Page 72 of Steel

“So why are we involved?” Rock asked. He stood like normal with his arms folded, skeptical of the information.

“Because the kids have escalated from a little breaking and entering to starting fires for the fuck of it. Including at the local high school where I suspect most of them attended, although we haven’t been able to prove anything at this point. They are a little more organized than usual.”

“Any other fires?” I asked.

“Well, they did start one at a local breeder and on top of that, they stole a bunch of purebred black labrador puppies worth a lot of money. They were about to head to their new homes. Anyway, after stealing about eight of them, they tried to burn down the facility. Their methods are crude, which is why the fire department was able to douse the flames before they got out of hand.”

“Were the puppies found?” Axe asked.

“Most but not all. However, I won’t tell you what these… kids did to a couple of them. Their methods are escalating into animal torture. Including with horses at one of the local ranches. There’re a couple other fires that we think they were responsible for, but can’t prove a thing.”

“Shit,” Viper hissed. “I need to warn Grace. The animal sanctuary could be hit.”

If anything happened to his wife’s sanctuary, she would hunt the kids down herself. And I’d help her.

“Last night, there was a report of a house fire that could be attributed to them. Then there was a break-in at a local hardware store, where they stole more supplies. And with what the owner reported missing, we have a bad feeling they’re planning something much bigger. We’re putting everyone on notice. Every police station. Every fire department. Now, you guys. The park ranger found some evidence that they’ve been camping out. Including some evidence of some crude explosives.”

Black lab puppies.

Zorro. Shit. That could be why the puppy was tangled in rope.

How could I break it to Violet, let alone Damon?

“The fire we had a couple days ago almost took the life of one of our firefighters. Since we’re not dealing with experts, these kids don’t know how dangerous and volatile the material being used can be,” the fire chief added.

“Sorry to call some of you in on your day off, but we’re concerned about their escalated activities,” Chief Taylor said, sighing as he did.

For some reason, I had a bad feeling there was more to the story. “Do you have the name of the breeder?”

“Yeah, it’s with the captain. Needless to say, if you see any of the pups, give them a call. Don’t let the fact that by all appearances we’re dealing with teenagers fool you. I have a very bad feeling about what they might do. We need to stop them before they kill someone.”

Even before the meeting ended, my thoughts turned to both Violet and Damon.

The rope hadn’t been on my property. Was it possible the kids had planned on doing something?

Whatever the case, I had yet another urge to keep her safe.

At all costs.

CHAPTER 15

Violet

The term God’s country didn’t do Missoula justice.

I was in awe of the incredible scenery. The mountains were majestic, the sky crystal clear on this beautiful June day. I couldn’t believe that the highest peaks were still covered by snow but seeing the natural beauty while driving and now while pulling into the parking lot of the airport hangar, I was completely blown away.

There were only a few clouds in the sky, big puffy ones gently rolling by with the light breeze. The day had turned out much better than expected, including grabbing some of the most pristine preliminary location shots. Through ideas already pitched by the team, I put them all together in a plan. Now it was about finding the right locations. And the right fit with models.

I’d managed to email a few to Brenda so she could disseminate them to the team. I’d even made an appointment with the owner of a local ranch in hopes of being able to convince him to allow me to use his horses for a few select shots.

However, now that I’d spent the morning researching smokejumpers, I was firmly convinced that concentrating on their skills and good looks for the calendar was the best way to go. With a little crossover including using Steel’s brother as another favored model, perhaps Mr. December, I knew the damn thing was going to be a bestseller.

I was almost giddy with excitement from all I’d accomplished over the last few hours. Including learning more about just how vital and dangerous the work the smokejumpers handled was. I planned on putting together a promo paragraph for every page. They were indeed considered legends in Missoula, the local newspaper providing several incredible articles on their accomplishments.

They’d saved thousands of acres and countless lives. I planned on digging deeper when I had more time.

Now I needed to confess my sins to my neighbor and his incredible coworkers once and for all.