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Will I want to slam my head against a brick wall and transport myself back here, because at least then, I don’t have to see her on the arm of another man?
A hypothetical man I practically flung her at.
Yep.
Nevertheless, I have no choice but to attend. Because it’s my sister’s birthday, and if love wasn’t enough to get me on a plane and back to town, Preston’s threats are.
Love and loyalty are reason enough. But add in the possibility of having an enemy in Checkmate Security… it’s a no-brainer.
I climb a small hill of rocks and fallen trees and emerge on top to find a wall of burning pines. Angry, glowing, unforgiving waves of fire make my skin sting, even beneath my turnouts. Sweat beads on my brow, and my heart thunders, not only from the run, but from the very real chance I could get stuck here and ruin my sister’s birthday anyway.
Death by burning: the exact outcome I wanted to save us all from.
“Feeney?” Ruiz’s voice booms in my ear. “That’s five minutes. Where you at?”
I reach up to my radio. “I’ve come to a crest, but she’s not passable. Fire surrounding three sides, and streamers licking across the last.” I look straight up and grit my teeth as fingers of fire reach out to jump straight across. “Even if the water is here, we can’t touch it.”
“Alright, fall back, kid. Come find me. We’ll call in the foam and see if we can douse her.”
“Falling back.” I turn on my heels and jog in the direction I came. But fire chases, kissing my ass and propelling me forward. “You can stop calling me ‘kid’ now, Lieutenant.” My breath comes fast as I run. “I’m not a child, and you insisting I am is disrespectful.”
“Good lecture,kid. But I’m not opening this channel so we can chat. Where are you at?”
“On my way.”
My lungs clamor for fresh air, and my legs sing under the weight I carry. I dart around a small ravine and put my head down for the final charge home. But Ruiz’s booming ‘Heads up!’ has me skidding to a stop and my eyes shooting up.
A blazing pine arcs through the sky, angled straight for me as it slices through the thick smoke.
“Fuck!” I skid backward a dozen or more steps, and bounce when the tree crashes down and the ground rumbles beneath my feet.
Dirt, ashes, smoke, and filthy debris fling into the air and threaten to choke me.
“Feeney!” Ruiz’s chainsaw engine cuts out, and his feet slamming the hard packed dirt are loud enough I hear them in real time, and not through my radio. “Feeney! Call out.”
I glance to my left, then quickly to my right. The trees are packed tight inside this forest, and so many of them act as torches right now.
“Feeney!Call out.”
“I’m here.” I approach the fallen pine on shaking legs and scan its smoldering bulk to find Ruiz on the other side, chainsaw in one hand, and his chest heaving as he searches.
Our eyes meet, and for a single second, his show relief. But then disdain takes over and impatience follows.
“And this is why you’re just a kid to me. Fucking useless.” He rips the cord of his chainsaw until the engine roars to life. And while the rest of our crew works to create a line of fallen trees, Ruiz slices through my prison and knocks chunks of trunk out of the way until I have a clear path. “You’re not an asset to this team, kid. You’re my punishment. A fucking child to babysit while I have better things to do.”
“Yeah? Well, you whine more than any child I’ve ever met.”
I clap my hand to his in thanks and continue forward while the hum of a plane’s engine roars above.
“Take cover!” Ruiz yanks me left when my feet carry me right, and bringing us both beneath the cover of an overhanging log, he hunkers down and shakes his head when fire foam soaks not only the dragon bordering our space, but me too, pink foam dribbling over my helmet and into my underwear.
I swear I’m not as useless as Ruiz says I am.
He’s just always around to watch my fuck-ups.
“Alright.” He emerges—notsoaked in pink—and shouts into his radio. “We’re gonna put her out and get back home. Our flight’s waiting for us, team. Let’s not keep the pilot waiting.”
* * *
