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My stomach flips as I take in her words. “Doused?”
Cindy nods, then twists, leans over, and throws up.
What level of fucked up has this firebug reached?
Dusk flings itself into a crazy midnight with a full moon hiding behind puffs of cloud and smoke. The fire’s out. It’s destroyed half of the Thompson’s crops and all the backpacker lodgings. We’ve lost two workers, and after three more ambos and the chopper arrived, all our patients have been safely mobilized to hospitals down south.
I remove my last pair of latex gloves and dump them in the yellow temporary medical waste bag, then force my exhausted body to make its way over to where Jay, Rhett, and Thomas are standing.
“The inspector won’t be here until the morning.” Rhett looks up to the disappearing night sky. “And by the looks of it, there’s some heavy rain on its way.”
“It’ll wash away any evidence.” Jay grumbled.
“Yeah, but he’s given the go ahead for Thomas and his Interpol connections.”
“Excellent. I’ll get cracking. Can I borrow some of your men?” Thomas asks Rhett and Nellie, our local copper in charge.
“Absolutely!” they answer in unison.
I spot movement in the bush a few yards from where we are. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I tap the screen and its flashlight comes to life. It immediately falls on a face.
“Hey, stop!” I shout and take off as the person darts off not giving the situation and the danger involved a second thought.
“Simmi!” a chorus of voices call after me.
But it’s too late. I’m in flight or fight. I rush through the smoldering bush surrounding the living quarters. The air is hot and thick. My lungs burn and my eyes water.
I’m gonna get this prick and imma gonna beat the shit outta him… her… My mind flicks back to the face as I rush through half burned bush. Grass and detritus crunches under my feet as branches thwack me across the torso and my face.
The human form I can see thanks to my awesome phone stumbles, slows, then shoots off as a surge of adrenaline rushes through their veins. My mind registers someone in the background, but there’s no time to stop and take notice. My legs burn, and my lungs fight against the ash I’m inhaling.
The figure stumbles again and this time, they drop to the ground.
In the best rugby tackle I can muster, thanks to big bro Mike, I shove my phone in my pocket, brace, and leap, pinning the person to the ground.
He’s strong… “Shit!”
He’s a she I discover as I straddle her bony body and twist her around. Her hoodie falls off, but I don’t have my phone to make out the details of her profile. Though there’s just enough light… WTF!
“It wasn’t me…” the small voice pleads before she bucks.
I try to wrap my legs tighter around her. She swings with a mean left hook, but I see it in time and lean out of the way landing one of my own punches.
“Ow!” It fucking hurts.
Then she catches me unawares as her leg knees me in my back. I lurch forward and she headbutts me.
FYI, yes, you see stars and Tweety birds and then nothing!
“Simmi… babe…”
I wake with a slapping sensation on my cheek. My lungs are on fire. I sit up straight and cough and heave and wheeze before someone shoves an oxygen mask over my nose and mouth. My eyelids flutter, and the world comes into focus. I’m sitting on a treatment bed in the clinic. Rochelle is checking my IV, and Jay is frowning down at me.
The emotion flooding his expression is unlike anything I’ve ever seen anyone give me and my heart splinters.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Jay’s hoarse voice resounds across the room.
“Easy now. She’s been through a lot. She’s stable, let the IV run. If she deteriorates call. See you back at the house.” Rochelle pats his shoulder.
