Page 99 of High Frequency

Swinging around, I focus on Shelby.

“It’s okay, the cavalry arrived. Sit tight, we’ll get you out of here,” I assure her before tucking my gun in its holster and reaching for the door.

Pulling it open I step outside and swing toward the deputy I’d seen coming around the corner.

“Glad to see you here. Do you have a toolbox on your quad? I’ve got Shelby Vandermeer held captive inside, and I need something to get her out of those shackles.”

“Shackles? Show me,” Jason says, following closely as I start leading the way inside.

I aim a reassuring smile at Shelby when I walk in the door, but she’s not looking at me.

She’s looking straight over my shoulder, her face a picture of sheer terror.

There’s an instant flashback to this morning, when Shelby and I were in the feedstore talking, and I caught her glancing over my shoulder with a weird expression on her face.

Jason had been behind me then too, sitting in his cruiser outside.

Jason?

He’d been at the end of his shift, offered to drive me to the feedstore. He even mentioned heading straight home when he dropped me off at the sheriff’s office.

So what is he doing here?

Not understanding, I turn my head to look over my shoulder, when I catch sight of something swinging toward me.

Then my world goes dark.

Dan

“Do you smell smoke?”

I slow Will down and sniff a few times.

Fuck.

He’s right. I can smell it, but I can’t see anything.

August and September are the worst months for wildfires here, especially the past couple of years. But something tells me this is no wildfire.

“How much farther?”

“The cutoff to the cabin is up there past that next bend,” Wolff provides. “We can’t come storming up though. We have to approach with caution. Stay behind me.”

I reluctantly hold Will back to fall in line behind Judge. It’s costing me, not forging ahead, but Wolff has training for this kind of stuff. He leads the way off the trail, cutting a diagonal path through the trees in the approximate direction of the cabin.

The smell of smoke is definitely thicker here, but as I’m about to mention that, I hear the sound of an engine firing up. For a moment Wolff appears to hesitate. Then he urges his horse forward, no longer worried about approaching with caution.

I have to duck out of the way of low-hanging branches whipping at me, and one too-close pass by a tree trunk almost takes out my left knee. But, I’m still in the saddle when our horses burst out of the trees just as an ATV whips past, speeding away from the cabin.

One look to my left and my heart lodges in my throat. A small structure in a clearing at the top of the trail appears to be fully engulfed in flames, and I swear I can hear a woman screaming.

Fuck the guy on the ATV. My gut tells me Sloane is in trouble up there.

By the time I bring Will to a sliding halt, I’ve already noticed the roof of the cabin isn’t quite engulfed, but tall flames are shooting up along the entire front of the structure. Including the front door. My guess is an accelerant was used.

Fire tends to be loud, but it still doesn’t drown out the frantic screams coming from inside. I dive into my saddlebags and dig up my folding axe before leaping off Will’s back. The axe is the only tool I could think of that might be useful. Unfortunately, I can’t even get close enough to the front door to reach it.

Growing frantic, I start running around the side, hoping for a window or another door I can get in.

---