Page 64 of Burning Justice

People started to stir, emerging from where they’d hunkered down.

“Anyone bleeding?”

Rio grabbed up the guy she’d been talking to—the man Elias had sent as a scapegoat, fully intending to kill him along with the rest of them.

Thankfully, Kane and the rest of the smokejumpers were out fighting fire, away from what was happening in Copper Mountain.

Maria went over to…what had Rio said his name was? “Wilson Cartwright.”

He practically rolled his eyes at her.

“Guess you’re nothing but a loose end, just like the rest of us. Expendable.”

He made a face.

Rio said, “Tell us where to find Elias Redding and that canister, and I’ll talk to the US attorney about forgiving some of the numerous charges you’re facing.”

Wilson had to think about that for a second.

“Tick, tock.” Maria folded her arms, mostly just so she could tuck her injured fingers out of sight. Everything hurt, and she needed more pain meds, but it was much better to look strong even if she didn’t feel it.

She’d prayed.

In the heat of the moment, when she’d figured she was about to be killed. Leaving all this business unfinished. Never seeing her father, even though she’d been searching for him for fifteen years. She’d prayed to God because He was the only one who could fix a situation that bad.

Maria wasn’t so sure how she felt about that.

She supposed that meant she believed.

Which, to be honest, wasn’t so much of a stretch. After all, why would she want to live in a world that didn’t have a God in control of everything? All the evil. All the pain. If there was no hope, then why would she want to be here?

She certainly wouldn’t want to beg to live.

It hadn’t been about self-preservation in that moment. Nor had it been about bringing Elias to justice or saving people’s lives—saving the country. It had been about something far deeper.

Hope.

A future.

It had been about Kane.

“I don’t know where he is.” Wilson looked at the front windows—where they used to be.

“But you know how to find him, right? You have his number. He’s the one who ordered you to come here.” Rio sounded like the tough FBI agent he was. A guy who wasn’t going to back down when lives were on the line.

Maria’s eyes filled with tears, but it was just about the dust in the air. It wasn’t because she realized that even without her boys here, she wasn’t alone. She had the support of people like Rio, Crew, and Tristan. Her friends. Her family.

Even with nothing, she still had everything she needed.

“He has a cabin. It’s remote, and no one knows where it is,” Wilson said. “So there’s no point trying to beat it out of me.”

“What if we get a Chinese guy to break a few of your fingers?” Maria said.

Rio glanced at her.

Fine. Maria walked away to the door, where she followed a couple outside. They didn’t look banged up, just shaken.

An ambulance pulled up out front, followed by a green-painted rural fire truck.

---