Page 7 of Burning Justice

She looked him in the eyes. “I have to know.”

“I know you do.” He had an almost sad, understanding look on his face. “I know what it’s like to worry over someone and not know what happened to them. Believe me, I know. But what I don’t know is if you can follow orders when it really counts.”

“Depends who is giving them.”

“Hopefully I’ve earned that respect by now. Otherwise, we have no business being on the same team.”

Maria let go of her boss, breathing hard. She stared through the trees and could make out a newer-looking cabin in the middle of a clearing. Not as nice as the cabins she and the boys had constructed during the offseason. They’d turned the Midnight Sun jump base from a derelict, forgotten military airfield that doubled as a base for the wildland firefighters—a couple of hangars and outbuildings and a stinky Quonset hut—into what it was now.

They’d spent all their pent-up winter energy fixing it up into a base for the hotshots, smokejumpers, and all the staff to live and work out of. A place they could enjoy and appreciate rather than turn up their noses at.

Maria was willing to concede that maybe Mitch had a point. They were supposed to be a team. “I worked alone for a long time.”

Sure, she’d had a handler. When she’d made a call, someone on the other end had picked up to offer support. But at the end of the day, she’d been alone out there on missions. She’d faced her enemy solo and tried to slip out unnoticed. Which of course hadn’t worked the one time she actually needed it to.

Cue, disaster.

The first friendly face she’d seen had been Kane’s. He’d walked into her cell dressed in camo, with paint on his face and a dark look in his eyes. On the way out of that desert compound, the truck had been hit with an RPG. They’d escaped, but in the confusion, Kane had been captured.

Because he’d come out to save her. Risked his life so she could have hers back.

The worst part was that he was still doing it.

Mitch said, “You aren’t flying solo anymore.”

Of course, it wasn’t just the Trouble Boys who wanted to be part of her life now. The hotshots and their smokejumper friends were all in to figure out what was going on in Alaska with all these militia guys. Testing chemical compounds, using her father to create a substance they were going to deploy in the Midwest.

A senator had been captured in possession of one of several canisters, but that didn’t mean it was over. There was still more out there, and they had to stop this impending attack. Only, the man who had it must’ve laid low to wait out all the attention, because there had been nothing since.

No sign of him or the substance.

Or her father.

Maria bit out a single word. “Fine.”

Mitch said, “Good. Where’s your axe? We’re going to cut another tree to fall that way.” He pointed through the trees, toward the cabin. “So you can go and find your father.”

“Helping me get what I want is worse than telling me no.”

Mitch chuckled. “It’s called support. My wife said that’s what women want.”

Maria kept her expression impassive. “What women actually want is to borrow an axe and do it themselves.”

He held it out, instructing her what tree to hit at what angle so it would fall in the right place. She had plenty of frustration built up in her, and he’d already downed one tree. Maria squeezed the axe handle and put all her strength into chopping the tree down as quick as possible.

Finally, it toppled over and hit the ground.

Mitch ducked into a crouch. She did the same beside him.

When nothing exploded, Maria said, “Maybe you should stay here.”

Mitch frowned. “And why would I do that?”

“The aforementioned wife. Your kids. Pretty sure they want you to come home at the end of the season.”

“They do. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you go into this alone.”

“That’s why we’re here.” Kane hopped off the tree, a thunderous look on his face, Saxon right behind him.

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