Page 57 of Shrouded Past

“That’s smoke.” Bryce ran toward the living room with Piper at his heels.

Curtains had caught and the fire was spreading. Piper stared in horror as the fire spread quickly. The scent of gasoline hung heavy in the air.

“Someone threw a Molotov cocktail inside. He somehow got the board loose and shoved the cocktail inside by breaking the window.

The three women ran into the room. “Oh, no. The fuel for the generator. If the fire reaches the basement, this place will explode. We need to stop that from happening.” Rachel hurried to the kitchen and searched for fire extinguishers.

“If we can get the board loose, maybe the rain will blow in and help stop the fire.” Piper started for the door, but Bryce stopped her.

“You can’t go out there. It’s a trap. He’s trying to flush us out. Help me find buckets or whatever we can hold water in to stop the fire.”

“There’s no fire extinguisher,” Rachel exclaimed in shock.

“Gather water.” Katrina dug out as many pots as she could and began filling them but it was a losing battle.

“We’ve got to get help. Even with the rain from the storm I don’t think we can stop it on our own.” Bryce pointed to the back door. “Maybe the neighbor will have a landline.”

Piper frantically searched for Bella. She couldn’t leave the kitten. Smoke poured through the house, making it impossible to see more than a few feet in front of her. “Bella, where are you?”

The tiniest of meows came from under the kitchen table. Piper gathered the kitten against her body and held her tight.

Janine and Katrina gathered the laptops and placed them inside two weather resistant backpacks.

They followed Rachel, who held her Bible under her arm as she shoved the door open. The wind whipped it from her hands, and it slammed against the side of the house.

Bryce stayed close to her as they stepped from the house. Rain immediately soaked through their clothes. The wind threatened to knock Piper over. Bryce grabbed her arm. A panicked Bella struggled to free herself. Piper held her tight.

The three women ahead of them locked arms and struggled to stay upright. Putting one foot in front of another through the gale-force winds pummeling them proved nearly impossible. Every step was a struggle. And every moment they were out in the open had Piper searching her limited line of sight for the person who set the fire.

He wouldn’t just start the blaze and then leave. Everything inside her warned he’d been trying to force them out of the house.

Katrina yelled toward them, but the wind snatched the words away before Piper could make them out. Katrina pointed up ahead, and Piper saw something through the driving rain. Hedges.

“We’re almost there.” Bryce had to yell just for her to hear him over the storm.

“Where is he?” she asked and glanced behind them. She couldn’t see anything. The man who was hunting them could be right on top of them before they even knew it.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it.” Bryce guided her through the hedges as they stayed close to the women of the Hope Island Securities team.

Walking against the wind, they headed toward the house.

Almost there.Another horrifying thought occurred. What if the owners weren’t home?

Fighting every step of the way, they reached the porch. Katrina, Janine, and Rachel went first. They reached the door. Janine grabbed the knob. It turned freely in her hand. She immediately whipped out her weapon.

“Maybe the wind blew it open.” Rachel pointed to the boarded windows. “The owners obviously knew the storm was coming and prepared for it. They probably were in a rush to evacuate.”

Fear worked its way through Piper’s body. She didn’t believe it.

Janine entered the house first, followed by Katrina and then Rachel.

Piper started after them when a noise above the storm had her turning back to Bryce.

A man emerged from the coverage of the storm.

“Bryce.”

The first thing to grab her attention was the fact the man knew Bryce, followed on its heels by his disheveled appearance.

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