Page 32 of Wildfire
As I look at the pictures again, I can't shake the feeling that I've seen the logo before. But where? There are no words, just a symbol, and I have nothing else to go on. That lighter had been the only clue I had until now.
"Good work, Seth. How are things going otherwise?"
"Quiet tonight."
"That's what we want. Nice and quiet."
He blows out a breath, and I can tell he is nervous. He's been my deputy since Chief Johnson died when I moved from deputy to Chief. We'd trained together as volunteers, but he was a bit younger than me, so the council didn't think he was ready to move up as quickly as I did.
"You need anything from the store before it closes?"
"Nah, Jenny set me up with a big dinner."
"Alright. The guys are ready if you get any calls, and once I come to relieve you, it's lights out. You need to rest. I'm working with another town to get some of their volunteers up to speed so we can have extra people to rotate for these shifts. Don't want to burn out our volunteer squad."
"Thanks, Chief."
"You bet. And you give Jenny my love in the morning."
Seth raises an eyebrow at me playfully.
"Not that kind of love, you animal. But it's good to see your sense of humor is still intact. Don't worry, Seth. We're going to find out who's behind all this."
He nods solemnly, and I jump back in my truck to drive home.
Chapter Sixteen: Renée
"You have to marry him. Don't let him get away. Did you see the way he looked at you? If a guy ever looked at me like that, I would hang a no vacancy sign on my vag to let the other ones know it was game over."
"Zoe! I can't, and you know why."
She curls up next to me on the bed with a bag of chips in her hand. "Please have sex with him then, for me?"
It's not that I haven't thought about it multiple times, but I know it would mess things up.
"Why don't you tell me why you have time off instead."
"Ugh. The stupid algorithm."
"You know that I don't know what that means."
"The platform I use to run my e-commerce site updated its algorithm and uses A.I. to manage some things. But the problem is that I don't think anyone is double-checking the damn program's work. So, I got a notice last week saying they suspended my account because it doesn't meet their community standards. I don't know what the hell that's about because I've been on there for years. Anyway, I wrote them to ask what standard I violated so I can appeal, and they said they have made their final decision."
"So they shut down your business?"
"Essentially, yes."
"What the—"
"I know. And it's been happening to others, too. I've seen it on some forums. But I wanted to set up my own website and stop giving them a cut anyway, so I guess this is my sign it's time. I don't have a choice on the matter either way."
"But what about all your hard work developing clients?"
"The good news is, your girl is smart enough that I collected email addresses and added people to a list. I sent a mass email letting them know what happened and that I'd be back online as soon as possible. But it really fucking sucks because I had a lot of positive ratings, and not everyone who bought from me is on my email list. And now I have to build back what I created over several years in as little time as possible."
"Wow. That's… I'm so sorry, Zoe."
"Thanks. It's my first major setback, so I should consider myself lucky."
