Page 23 of Wild Fires

I groaned. “Not you too.”

“See you in a bit,” Ryan said before hanging up on him.

“You are going to behave right?”

Would I? Could I? No. If one of my guys was in danger and it meant me running into a burning fire, then I wouldn't hesitate to do it. I knew it couldn’t hurt me, but it could hurt one of them.

“I'll try,” I told him honestly. As long as no one was truly in danger, I was pretty sure I could sit back and watch them in action.

In the end it didn't matter. By the time we arrived on site they already had the fire out.

Clarence sighed and held up his hand. “Don't start with me, Gracie. I told you that I was benching you. You shouldn't even be here.”

“That's my fault, sir. I stopped by the firehouse this morning and saw that the place was empty. I thought maybe it was related.”

He clearly was trying not to go into details, but everyone here knew what was up.

“Undecided. This was a much bigger fire.”

“I can see that,” Ryan told him.

Meanwhile, my mind was going a million miles a minute, taking it all in. It was an abandoned barn. I'd gone to a few keggers there back in the day. It had been a popular hangout when I was in high school.

“Was it just some kids having a party?” I asked.

“We don't know yet,” Andrew admitted.

He was covered in soot and sweat.

“You okay?” I asked him.

“Yeah. We're all good. Missed you out here.”

I shrugged. “Probably just would have caused trouble, right?”

“Nah.”

“How bad was it?”

“Went up fast. Old wood and all.”

Something in the field caught my attention. Before I could question it, Ryan stood up holding a black feather.

“You've got to be shitting me.”

Andrew had already moved on.

I walked over to Ryan.

“Seriously?”

He shrugged triumphantly.

“It's a pattern.”

“It's Ravenden.”

“Maybe. Now where's that match of yours.”

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