Page 69 of Her Silver Fox Firefighters
“Okay.”
It’s the most I can hope for, given the situation, and it’s better than nothing. Whoever this arsonist is, he seems hell-bent on scaring every resident of Ember Ridge. I can’t figure out his motives or what drives the guy to be so hateful and determined to kill innocent people. I can only hope that my men will come back to me safe and sound.
And that Carlos and his deputies will catch the right guy this time.
21
LEO
“This reminds me of Kandahar,” I say.
We’re at the scene of a fourth arson fire, hours after we put the flames out. It’s still hot in the building, but with all of the windows smashed, along with the holes we put in the roof, it’s breathable. Good enough to take photos for a proper investigation.
It’s almost nine in the evening. The sun long gone.
Ember Ridge is winding down, except for the occasional car driving by.
“Kandahar?” Dax asks, giving me a curious look. “Which time? The IED in the market, or the car that blew up the southern bridge?”
“Neither. The time they came for us in the middle of the night.”
“When they attacked our base,” Dax sighs deeply.
Beck is taking detailed photos of every flashpoint in every room. It’s a tedious process and not part of his job description, but he likes to help, and Lord knows we need all hands on deck for this one. Two people died today. Someone will have to notify their families.
“What’s that got to do with our arsonist?” he asks.
“It’s not that. It’s the quiet, the slow-burning tension, the not knowing what Marcus’s next move is going to be,” I reply. “It’s the anticipation. At least in Kandahar we knew they were coming. It was simply a matter of when.”
“I remember,” Dax says. “Always looking over our shoulder. Guards on twenty-four-seven shifts at the base entrance.”
“And yet they still found a way in,” I say.
“They drove a fucking burning truck through the gates at three o’clock in the morning. Talk about the element of surprise.”
“Point is, I don’t like this,” I motion at the devastation around us. “It feels like a distraction.”
The walls are blackened, and some have fallen down. There’s a thick layer of soot pretty much everywhere. Fine particles of ash linger in the air, visible in my flashlight’s beam of white light. The smell of the aftermath of a deadly fire brings a grim silence along with it.
“Do you think Marcus has figured out that Olivia is in Ember Ridge yet?” Dax says with a frown, taking copious notes as he observes the burn lines and the trails of accelerant.
“I wouldn’t exclude the possibility. With Chloe in the wind, he must have Ember Ridge in the back of his mind for sure. It’s what I would do if I were hunting the girls,” I say.
Beck shakes his head. “But we haven’t seen or heard from him anywhere in town.”
“It doesn’t mean he doesn’t have eyes around here,” I point out. “Maybe we should have Olivia stay with Chloe, at least until we figure out what he’s up to.”
“She and Carlos are driving back from the cabin now,” Dax replies, briefly checking the messages on his phone. “I don’t think she’ll want to do that.”
“Agreed. In fact, she made it clear that she’s not running anymore,” Beck says. “Olivia wants a normal life. All we can do is make sure she gets it.”
I move around the room to the place where we suspect the fire started. It used to be a storage room, and it has metallic shelves and plenty of cleaning products. The metal is mostly melted, the shelf structures grossly bent and deformed from the destructive heat. The smell of chemicals is pungent and is burning my nose, even through my mask.
As I follow the traces of accelerant, I come to a corner with a stack of debris. Inanimate victims of the laws of physics: a tin canister, part of a shelf, melted brooms, mops, and buckets.
“Not knowing what the guy is up to is sending my mind through every possible scenario,” I tell the guys.
“I think we’re all processing the situation to the best of our abilities. You’ve always been our lookout, Leo, always the one who picked the highest ground, so you could see everything clearly,” Dax says.
