Page 3 of Burning Justice

Despite the Trouble Boys not wanting her to be his target again, she’d found out what she needed to know about who the man was. And what he had done.

Three weeks after her capture, she’d been rescued by a Delta Force unit who’d been betrayed by people who should’ve had their backs. All because their teammate had sold them out, they’d landed in a mission that nearly got them all killed.

These men had fought for her.

Stuck with her.

Called her family.

They’d never given up.

Maria swiped tears from her face. Their fight had become hers. Her fight had become theirs.

If she didn’t figure out how to finish it soon, she could lose them all.

Day seven hundred thirteen of being dead started like any other day. Kane Foster tied the laces on his boots and didn’t bother to run his hands through his hair. It wasn’t like there was a mirror out here.

He glanced at Mack. “Ready?”

The kid was twenty as of last week, and finally quit texting long enough to realize Kane was talking to him. “What—yep, ready.” He unfolded those wiry limbs and stood, his features darker than his older brother Hammer.

“How is Alexis today?” Who else would the kid be texting other than a certain young woman he’d met last summer?

Mack eyed him. “How is Sanchez?”

Kane shoved his shoulder. “Bet you can’t beat me to the trailhead.” He swiped up his pack and took off running west, to the spot where the others had gathered. The carb-loaded breakfast sat heavy in his stomach, but he would need all the energy for the day. He hadn’t lied to Sanchez about that.

Mack caught up, his dark eyes and long lashes far too knowing. “Alexis is fine, by the way.”

“Good. She’s at the teens camp?”

“Wildlands Academy, yeah.” Mack nodded. “She said they took a field trip and fought a fire from a train with a water tank car. They rode the train and sprayed the fire.”

“And now you wanna put out a fire from a train?”

Mack glanced over. “Don’t you?”

“Okay, fair point,” Kane said. “That would be cool.”

“She also found out she got a job as an EMT in Bozeman, so she’s moving in a couple of weeks.”

“Tell her I said well done, yeah?”

Mack nodded, and Kane spotted the pinch of frustration at the edge of his expression. The kid had met Alexis last year in Montana. She was the daughter of a buddy of theirs, a firefighter from Last Chance County who’d joined the Ember crew as a hotshot. One of the smokejumpers here in Alaska, Orion Price, was Alexis’s half brother. Mack had earned a lot of respect—and it was probably why Charlie let the kid text with his daughter.

Kane said, “Patience is a good thing. Same with not being reckless when the most likely outcome is that someone gets hurt.”

Mack walked beside him to the trailhead, over the uneven, rocky ground normally traversed by four-legged creatures. Not so many two-legged, except them. “Still sucks.”

“But it’s the right thing. She might be eighteen now, but she’s still young.” Kane reached over and squeezed the back of the kid’s neck. “You know where she is when the time is right.”

“Pretty sure it’ll be right as soon as the season is done. If the mission is finished then.”

“I get you.” Kane chuckled. “And I hope the mission is finished as well. Being dead is getting old.”

They caught up to the rest of the hotshots and started the hike to the fire line.

Kane’s phone buzzed in his pocket. It was almost as if thinking about family connections had summoned a text from his cousin in Last Chance County.

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