Page 76 of Heat Advisory

“What?” she asked into the phone.

“The fires were started because of the trees," I explained. “And I think Darren is behind it.”

“Darren, your ex-boyfriend?” she asked. “The one who works for BAER?”

I knew she likely thought I was crazy, so I rushed through my explanation, hoping it would make sense. “The points of origin of all these fires were in forested areas that had certain kinds of trees. Lodgepole pines and giant sequoias, to be exact. Darren mentioned those at each of the events. I remember him being sad since one of them was highly endangered and the others were being chopped down a lot for timber. Remember?”

She didn’t answer right away, and I thought I may have lost her. “Jade? You there?”

“It’s not what you think,” she replied, and I quickly realized her voice wasn’t coming through on the phone, but rather right behind me.

I whipped around to see her and Darren standing there together.

Both of them were wearing fire gear. Not the protective kind we wore when we were doing an assessment, but what firefighters wore to protect themselves from a fire.

“We’re losing so many sequoias every year, Cora. This is the best way to help them,” Jade replied.

“But we’ve learned our lesson, and we’re timing the fires right now so that nobody else gets killed,” Darren replied. While his comment sounded sympathetic, there was no remorse whatsoever in his voice.

A rumble of thunder sounded in the distance, and I turned around to see that the sky had darkened significantly behind me.

All the final pieces came together. The gear they were wearing, the comment about learning their lesson, the storm.

“You’re setting another fire,” I whispered out loud.

“We don’t want to kill anyone, but we need those pinecones to open,” Darren said nonchalantly. “Tonight is perfect because it’s going to rain. A natural way to get rid of the fire quickly, but after the pinecones have burned enough to release new seeds.”

Just then, the gust front from ahead of the storm arrived, which caused the wind to increase and whip into a different direction. That’s when I saw the smoke.

“You already set the fire?” I practically yelled.

“It’s going to rain soon, Cora. This is a good thing!” Jade yelled.

“Shit,” Darren said, staring at the flames, which were now fanning out in all directions thanks to the wind.

“It’s okay. Look, you can see the rain right there in the distance.” Jade pointed behind us.

“We need to leave—now,” I told them.

“Cora!” I heard Jay calling my name in the distance.

“No!” Darren yelled. “Not until you agree that you won’t say anything.”

“Cora!” Jay’s voice cut through the wind, getting closer and more frantic.

I spun around, heart hammering.

He was sprinting toward us, wide eyes locked on me, then darting to Darren and Jade, and then to the smoke now billowing to the side of us.

I knew he was trying to assess the situation based on the very little information I gave him in the texts, but I didn’t have time to fill him in now. We needed to leave.

“We have to go,” I told him, starting in his direction, but I watched Jay’s eyes flare and panic set in quickly.

“Neither of you are going anywhere,” Jade’s voice cut in, full of anger and determination.

“Cora!” Jay shouted, pulling my arm toward him and then behind his body as he finally reached us.

My eyes darted in Jade’s direction to see she now had a gun pointed loosely in our direction. Jay was using his body as a shield.