Page 24 of Fireline

Logan laughed. “Yeah, man, we’re a captive audience. Let’s hear it.”

“What about you?” He turned to look at Nova. “You up for a Crazy Henry story?”

She threw out her hands. “I’m all ears.” As if he could top their real-life arsonist and would-be assassin.

“Okay, here’s a story. The team was down in Middle of Nowhere, Arkansas. Intel pointed to some local hillbillies selling seed technology to foreign agents. It’s middle of summer. Hotter’n the hinges on the gates of Hades—as the locals kept sayin’.”

“My grandfather always said ‘hotter’n the devil’s armpit,’” Finn added.

“Let the man tell his story,” JoJo said, tossing a napkin at Finn.

“Okay, so…Crazy Henry was captured by these zealous militia guys. They dragged him into a barn and tied him to a post. Said they were holding him until the leader came. But they made a mistake. They left him alone.

“It didn’t take long before Henry got himself free. When he realized the barn was storage for bomb-making supplies, he helped himself to a little fertilizer and some chemicals. Made his own incendiary device. Ended up blowing half the barn apart. And that’s how Henry rescued himself from the backwoods of Arkansas.”

Nova felt her eyebrows shoot up. “Seed technology, fertilizer bomb? Really? We’re supposed to believe this?”

Booth shrugged. “You’d be surprised what’s happening right in your neighbor’s backyard.”

Like today.

A killer in her own backyard.

The gravity of Booth’s statement hung heavy in the air, and one by one, the crew said good night.

“Something I said?” Booth asked.

She stood. “You sure know how to clear the room. Thanks for the story.” Nova smiled to herself and headed across the field. She paused and turned around. “And…thanks for the help.”

Before he could respond, Nova jogged toward the house.

“Good night, Wildfire Girl,” Booth called.

Still smiling, she went inside Sophie’s. The pretty rancher had offered to let “the girls” stay in her spare bedrooms, but Nova and JoJo had opted to sleep in their tents like the rest of the crew. Nova would take her up on the hot shower part though, because she hadn’t worked up the nerve to go near the horses.

Inside, the shower whooshed from behind the closed bathroom door. Two doors down, Aria sat on the bed in the guest room, combing her wet hair. They’d beaten her to it, but Nova was used to cold showers. Sometimes no shower if she was working the line.

“JoJo just got in there.” Aria patted the bed. “Sit. She won’t be long.”

Nova glanced at her pants and caught a whiff of the campfire on herself. “I’d better take the floor until I bathe.”

Aria pulled a wide-tooth comb through her long blonde hair. “What’s up?”

“Nothing. Tired is all.” Nova sat on the floor and started to lean against the wall, then thought better of it. She’d probably leave a smear of ash and sweat on Sophie’s beautiful paint.

“Out with it. You know I’m a great listener.”

Nova rested her elbows on her knees. Should she open up about what was really on her mind? It was no secret that an arsonist was responsible for the fire at HQ, but few knew that Tank had been hired to kill Booth. “I’ve been thinking about Booth. I can’t quite figure him out.”

Aria lifted a brow. “Getting under your skin?”

“Yes!” She pointed. “Exactly. There’s just this…this mystery behind him. He came here pretty much out of nowhere with the skills of a veteran smokejumper. And he’s such a great storyteller, it makes me wonder what secrets he might be hiding in his past.”

“You want to unravel the mystery?”

“Yes!” Nova furrowed her brow. “Is that so crazy?”

“Not at all.” Aria paused her combing and smiled. “Look, every year we have rookies strolling in here, cocky as you please, thinking they’re tougher than ‘the girls’”—she made air quotes around the last part?—“and you just roll with it.”

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