Page 86 of Deadly Attraction
She nodded. “They were both wearing camouflage pants and black jackets with a symbol on the back. A gold flaming sword with an all-seeing eye on the hilt.”
His jaw jumped again. “The Reckoners.”
“You’re familiar with the group?”
“You could say that. How do you know about them?”
“I worked with one of them and evaluated him for a colleague a few years ago. A man by the name of Sean Gordon. Ring any bells?”
Mitch chuckled without humor. “Should have known, Doc.”
He took one of her hands and brought her fingers to his lips, where he kissed them as he sent her a heated look. “Our paths were bound to cross one way or another over this wildfire, weren’t they?”
Her heart leaped in her chest for a moment, both at the look he was giving her and the synchronicity of the situation. “Sean Gordon is a Reckoner. He’s also a fan ofThe Mary Monahan Chronicles. Online, he goes by the avatar, Armagordon.”
“I’ll be damned.” He kept her hand locked in his, his gaze gliding to the window again as his mind worked through the implications. “So, he and his Reckoner brother are working with Goodsman and Brown. Gordon started the fire and Brown was part of that, like we hypothesized.”
“She hoped it would spread west and endanger the prison. Sean probably knew the best place to start it and when.”
“Exactly. Data about the path of wildfires in this area for the past fifty years isn’t hard to come by. Historically, the fires sweep southwest because of the way the valley is situated. The winds sweep down from the north and the fires naturally follow the forest line that spreads west.”
Pieces of the puzzle plunked into place for her. “So Sean and Linda snuck out of the park and they followed the creek bed. It took two days after the fires began in the park before they’d spread far enough west to endanger the prison. She had plenty of time to make it back to civilization and join the heist to free Chris.”
Mitch nodded. “The man who helped Brown take out the transport van and rescue Chris is probably the same one out there with Gordon now.”
“Gordon is an arsonist, but the other man is the murderer. He helped Linda take out the officers on Chris’s transport van, killed Carla, and nearly killed Danika. He lives for blood.”
Mitch released her to once again use the telescope and scan the area. “Is Gordon’s boner for you because of Goodsman, or does he have a personal ax to grind over whatever happened a few years ago when you evaluated him for your colleague?”
“Most likely, both.”
“Great.” He said it softly, almost like a sigh.
His back was slightly curved over the telescope, the muscles rippling under his shirt. She put a hand there. “There’s a bolt cutter in the barn. We can remove the padlock and open the gates for your team members.”
He shook his head. “That lock is a high-end, professional, security lock. The shackle is probably armored steel and the base laminated steel, so a hacksaw or bolt cutters won’t cut through it. Can’t pick it either, because of the tumbler system.”
Emma bit her lower lip. “We could remove the hinges on the gates and simply take them down.”
“Meanwhile, we’re exposed. They could shoot us at any point.”
True, and it was a solid half mile down to the gate. Even if Mitch’s team got there, it was a long way to walk, run, or ride in the open. “So what do we do?”
Mitch straightened and squeezed her hand. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”
She watched him until he got to the attic stairs, then dropped her eye to the telescope. What she saw made her hesitate for a moment before she followed the tendril of smoke in front of her to her right.
Her heart sunk, the hair on the back of her neck standing straight up. “Mitch!”
He came hammering back up the stairs. “What?”
Panic building in her chest, she motioned him over and moved back so he could see what she’d spotted.
“Aw, shit,” he said under his breath.
“The horses,” Emma said, her voice catching. Tears welled in her eyes.
Mitch ran for the stairs, yelling for her to stay inside.
