Page 31 of Tracking Down the Lawman's Son

“Get back,” Duncan shouted from the doorway.

With his left arm still around Bree, Luca drew his gun and started to bolt toward the still open office door. He stopped though when he saw the fire snaking along a trail of gasoline that stopped there. It had barely had time to register in his mind when the flames shot up there, too, forcing Duncan back into his office.

Luca yanked Bree away from the door. Away from the cruiser and toward the front of the sheriff’s office.

And into what he knew could be extreme danger.

He couldn’t see who’d ignited the gasoline, but he knew the person could be nearby, ready to gun them down. That’s why he moved in front of Bree. Woodrow did the same to Sandra, andhe practically dragged the woman toward Luca. Once Woodrow had her there, Luca got to a crouching position.

“Wait here,” Luca told Woodrow. “I’ll get Ronnie.”

Ronnie groaned in pain again, and Luca knew that moving might make his injuries worse. Still, it couldn’t be helped. If he stayed out in the open like that, he’d be an easier target. Luca ran toward him, the heat from the fire stinging his face. He couldn’t see any gasoline in this particular spot, but the liquid and the flames could easily spread.

Something they were already doing.

Luca had no idea how much gasoline had been spilled, maybe only a gallon or two, but it’d obviously been more than enough to create this blaze that could be a cover for another attack.

While he tried to keep watch around him, Luca hooked his left arm around Ronnie, helping the deputy to his feet. Not easily. Ronnie outsized Luca by a good thirty pounds, and Luca had to take the man’s weight so he could get them started across the parking lot.

Each step felt as if it took an eternity, and it didn’t help that everything inside Luca was telling him they could all be gunned down at any moment. Telling him, too, that Ronnie could have serious internal injuries from the fall.

Thick black smoke billowed up from the fire, cutting across his path to the building. For a few terrifying moments, Luca lost sight of Bree, and his mind immediately went into some worst-case scenarios. Maybe this wasn’t a murder attempt but a kidnapping. The killer could be trying to take her.

That possibility gave Luca an extra shot of adrenaline, and he fought his way through the smoke and heat so he could reach the side of the building. He finally saw Bree. Saw the fear and worry that was there, and he cursed their attacker for putting them through this.

Whatever this was.

Bree reached out for him, taking hold of Luca’s arm and pulling both Ronnie and him closer until they were all in a huddle.

“Tara or Manny could have done this,” Bree muttered.

Yeah, they could have, and it wouldn’t have been especially hard if they’d already had the gasoline with them. Manny and Tara had arrived separately and would have used this parking lot. If they’d parked on the other side of the cruiser, the side that wouldn’t have been easily visible from the street, one of them could have poured the gasoline from the door while seated in their vehicles. That theory worked.

But there was a problem.

He didn’t see either Manny or Tara, and their vehicles weren’t in the lot right now. So, how had the flames ignited?

Luca soon came up with the answer.

There were clusters of trees and shrubs at the far back of the parking lot, and one or both of them could have poured the gasoline, driven away and parked somewhere up the street. They could have then made their way back to the trees and shrubs and waited. If the stream of gasoline was nearby, all it would have taken was lighting a match and tossing it. Then the person could have run away and taken up the vantage point to fire some shots.

“An ambulance and the fire department are on the way,” Duncan called out.

Luca glanced at the front corner of the building and saw Duncan and Sonya. Both had their weapons drawn and were firing glances all around. Clearly, they’d braced for an attack, too.

“Try to get inside,” Duncan instructed.

Since that wouldn’t happen from the side door where the fire was still blazing, it meant going through the front. The sheriff’s office was on Main Street and there were buildings on each sideas well as across the street. Places for a gunman to hide and take aim. Still, it wasn’t safe where they were either.

Woodrow hurried to the other side of Ronnie and, along with Luca, they hoisted up the deputy. “Stay against the side of the building,” Luca told Bree and Sandra.

At least that way, a gunman would have to shoot through Woodrow, Ronnie and him to get to them. Maybe though the threat wouldn’t come from a gunshot. Luca realized that when he looked at the fire shooting up the front of the cruiser.

Hell.

Luca knew it was rare for a vehicle to actually explode during a fire, but it was possible their attacker had added something to the mix. Like maybe some other chemical that could be toxic to breathe in.

“We need to evacuate the area,” Luca shouted to Duncan, and he tipped his head to the cruiser to let him know what was going on.

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