Page 40 of Lone Star Witness

No way to get through it without risking serious injury.

“Is there another exit that way?” Jace asked the colonel, tipping his head toward the man’s office. “Maybe a fire escape or balcony?”

Rosa shook his head. “Just the windows.”

“Then, we’re going out the windows,” Slade insisted, and he was very much aware of a couple of really bad things.

Someone had set that fire.

And the someone could be waiting for them to escape.

“We locked the exterior doors,” Slade said to Rosa, and they hurried into the office. “Who has the keycode to the house?”

“Stephanie and me, of course. And the housekeepers. Probably Julian,” he tacked onto that.

Not that many people, but that didn’t mean one of them other than Rosa hadn’t given the codes to someone like Sonny. Someone willing to attack and kill to cover up a murder.

Because that’s exactly what this was.

With their vehicles parked on the side of the house, the arsonist would have known there were people inside, and he or she had trapped those people with the placement of the fire.

Once they were all in Stephanie’s office, Slade shut the door and locked it in case the arsonist had managed to get into a position to attack them from inside the house. That wasn’t likely, but he needed to cover all possibilities.

Angel was working on some things as well, and Slade heard him complete his call to ask for not only backup but also the fire department. Slade hoped they made it in time to put out the flames before they destroyed the evidence of what had to have been a murder.

Keeping Marise right next to him, Slade went to the window and peered down at the yard one floor below them. It was way too high up and dark for his liking, but the stench from the gasoline and smoke was already making its way toward them. They’d have to get out of there and fast.

“I’ll go first,” Jericho offered, glancing down at Slade’s bandaged arm. “If the arsonist is out there, I’ll deal with him.”

Slade was both resentful he needed that offer but was also thankful for it. He wanted to do this himself, but jumping out of a second floor window was going to hurt like hell. Added to that, it’d be next to impossible for him to break his fall without causing himself even more intense pain.

Jericho opened the window, kicking out the screen, and in the same motion, he grabbed the chair cushion and some throw pillows from the small leather sofa. He dropped them down onto the ground.

“It won’t soften the fall much,” Jericho said, “but it’s better than nothing.” He looked at the colonel and Marise. “Lessen the distance of the fall by climbing out and hanging onto the sill before you let yourself go. Try to relax your body and land on the balls of your feet, rolling forward to lessen the impact. Whatever you do, don’t land on your head or bash it against the side of the house. Some of us already have enough injuries on that particular body part.”

Jericho aimed a look at Slade for that last bit.

The instructions were no doubt whirling in Marise’s mind, but there wasn’t time to have him repeat it. Jericho caught onto the window frame, dangling above the ground for a couple of seconds before he plunged down.

Slade watched his brother land, and then he dropped and rolled to the side, still staying close to the house but not hitting it. He didn’t stay down long. Jericho scrambled to get into a standing position and drew his gun.

“Clear,” Jericho said a moment later. He didn’t shout it either. Probably because he didn’t want to alert the arsonist to their position.

But who had done this?

Not Stephanie. She’d appeared on Slade’s security camera less than fifteen minutes ago. There hadn’t been enough time for her to make it across town.

So, maybe this was Sonny’s doing.

But that didn’t feel right either. Sonny was a more in your face kind of thug. Setting a fire seemed more like a coward’s move. Then again, maybe the fire hadn’t been meant to kill them but rather just to destroy evidence.

“Jace, you go out next,” Slade said while Angel used his phone to make a video of the blood-stained rug. “I want Jericho to have some backup down there.”

Jace didn’t argue, and with all the agility of a cat, he slipped out the window, dangling by one hand before he used his feet to push off from the sill and then let go. He landed much the way Jericho had. The two men immediately moved back to back, their gazes and their guns sweeping around the grounds.

From the corner of his eye, Slade saw the smoke squeezing its way through the sides and bottom of the office door. The stench burned her throat, and he wondered how long it’d be before the fire ate through the door and reached them. They had time, but the seconds were ticking off fast.

“Colonel Rosa,” Slade said. “Drop and then roll and after you’re back on your feet, scramble behind those shrubs.”

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