Page 19 of Burning Secrets

The sun hung low—he guessed the hour nearly midnight—and glinted off the metal Quonset hut that housed their vehicles—the four-wheelers, the snowmobiles, a couple trucks. A few smaller, private cabins were for Viper, and others for visitors. They’d had a couple since Crew’s arrival.

A training area, mandatory, held pull-up bars, a high wall, and a boxing ring.

And facing the vehicle building, in another Quonset hut, an armory. Because, you know, peaceful lumberjacks in the woods needed a stash of AR-15s, AK-47s, and Ruger 10/22 semiautomatics. A Barrett .50 sniper rifle, and he’d even spotted a M249 SAW, probably for when the FBI sieged them. They also had tactical lights and laser sights and night vision scopes—if the SEALs ever ran out of gear.

A chain-link perimeter circled the entire compound, razor wire at the top.

Yeah, it gave him fresh nightmares every time he stepped outside.

But he ignored it all now, crossing the compound at a full run.

Viper stood in front of JoJo, and Crew winced as duct tape was ripped from her mouth. Oh, that had to hurt. Hopefully shewas smart and had loosened it with saliva before it’d been torn from her skin.

And that thought had him skidding, stopping, breathing hard, slowing to a walk.

Because the last thing he wanted was to land on the wrong side here.Think,Crew.

“Who are you, and what are you doing on my property?” Viper, low, menacing.

“You’re the one who poisoned the wolf, aren’t you?”

Oh, Jo, stop talking.

“Oh, I see. You came snooping around hoping to find?—”

“Me.”

And it just fell out of his mouth, easy, like the answer had always belonged there. But as soon as he said it, the entire plan formed, just like that.

As if it might be meant to be.

“She came looking for me.”

And right then, JoJo turned, her mouth opening slightly, her eyes widening. She gasped. “Crew?”

Yeah, baby, way to play along.

He walked right up to her, took her face in his hands, met her eyes, and nodded. “Hey, honey. Sorry I vanished on you. I missed you.”

And then he kissed her.

Kissed her like he meant it, as if he’d longed to see her, as if they belonged to each other, as if her showing up had saved his life.

And maybe, just maybe, it had.

She smelled of fire and ash, tasted of coffee, and in his arms, she relaxed.

And, ever so briefly, kissed him back.

That was enough.

He let her go, turned, looked at Viper. “Sorry. I should have told you. This is Jo—my girlfriend.”

Viper stared at him, so much in his eyes that Crew didn’t want to take it apart. “Your girlfriend is a smokejumper.”

Crew raised an eyebrow, glanced at her and back to Viper. He motioned with his head and cut his voice low.

Viper followed him.

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