Page 3 of Deadly Revenge
Maya went over to their Jeep and pulled out the cooler and grabbed some other items. Their camping trip was canceled. She knew they’d be called into work. Both of them would have to help with the fire response.
She went inside where Josh was on the phone, probably with her grandfather, Wayne Thompson. He was the local Western River County Sheriff who Maya fondly called Pops. Setting the items down, Mayaquickly unloaded the food back into the refrigerator. Josh was listening and then said goodbye and hung up.
“What’s the word?” Maya asked.
“Local fire crews are already heading out. So far all we know is that the fire is in a remote location. I’ll get changed and head into the station to help with the response in case we need to evacuate anyone.”
“I thought it looked like a wilderness area, but there’s campgrounds not far from there. I’ll get changed and call Todd to see what he needs from me,” Maya said, referring to Todd Davis, her patrol captain and boss.
“Do you think campers started it?” Josh asked.
“I don’t know.” Maya shrugged, knowing that this would be Josh’s first forest fire response. He’d moved to Colorado from Chicago and had fallen in love with the mountains. But his time in Colorado hadn’t included a fire and Maya knew it would be a learning curve for him. “It could have also been one of the dry thunderstorms we’ve had. All that lightning and very little rain along with lots of dry fuel sets up the forests to burn. A lightning strike can start a small fire that smolders under pine needles or other forest debris and then if the wind is just right, it can take off. I’m sure the wildland fire investigators will figure it out eventually. Hopefully they can get control over this one quickly. We don’t need another Cameron Peak fire.”
Maya shuddered at the memory of Colorado’s largest fire in history, which burned over 200,000 acres. It was believed to be caused by humans and was stillunder investigation. The last thing the area needed was another large fire like that one.
They both went into their bedroom and started changing into their uniforms. Maya grabbed her duty belt and strapped it on. Juniper, forgetting she was pouting, started yipping excitedly. Finn decided to join in and howl for the fun of it.
“How do you always know when I’m changing into my uniform?” Maya muttered.
“I was wondering the same thing,” Josh said with a laugh. “Guess we better bring them with.”
“Let’s take their food and our fire go-bag,” Maya said. “I have a bad feeling this fire might really get going and there’s always a possibility that Pinecone Junction will be evacuated.”
“Okay,” Josh said, grabbing the bags they had sitting inside their closet with important papers, passports and other items that couldn’t easily be replaced.
They organized everything and then headed outside to load up their patrol vehicles. The air already smelled a little like a campfire and when Maya glanced to the west, her stomach churned. The small wisp of smoke had exploded into a giant plume. The fire must have found some good fuel and had already doubled in size.
They had a battle ahead of them and Maya knew this opponent was unpredictable and ruthless.
Chapter Three
Hope pulled her knees closer to her chest, hugging her arms around her legs. She glared at the two people driving the van. She’d learned their names were Jake and Vicki. Or the assholes, as she preferred to call them. Her mom would be pissed that she used that language, but that’s what they were.
Her hair was greasy and gross. She didn’t know anymore if the body odor was her or the assholes. She was tired and didn’t totally want to admit it, but she was scared. What were these people planning with her?
When she’d come to from the first round of drugs, Hope had clawed and kicked. But she was small for her age and Vicki overpowered her. Then Vicki had covered Hope’s face with her hand when she tried to scream. Jake turned around and clocked her in the head with his fist.
Stunned, Hope stopped screaming for a moment. Vicki took that chance to stab her with a syringe full of something. Again. And all Hope could remember was getting sleepy really fast. Then she’d woken up and found herself bound and gagged.
They’d stopped at some point and at least took outthe cloth in her mouth, but told Hope, if she screamed, they’d shoot her. Jake pulled out a gun and showed it to her. Hope didn’t mention to him that she knew how to use it. Her uncle had taught her. He had said it would be good for Hope to know how to shoot and handle a weapon.
At the time she’d only gone to the range with her uncle because she wanted to spend time with him. She kept telling herself that her uncle would find her. That’s what he did for a living with the marshals. Her mom was probably freaking out.
Hope would give anything right now to be at home with her mom. Even though they’d fought a lot lately, she knew her mom was doing the best she could as a single parent working full-time.
She didn’t know how long she’d been out or where they were. Hope strained to see out one of the windows without Jake and Vicki seeing her. Not only had they threatened her with a gun, but Vicki had also shown her another syringe full of liquid. The same stuff that knocked Hope out before. If there was any way to escape, Hope knew she couldn’t be drugged so she’d agreed to cooperate.
But at some point, she’d get away. Her uncle had taught her that sometimes you had to find the right moment. He’d told her stories about catching fugitives and how he and his partner would often do surveillance and just wait. He’d told her that people make mistakes when they become comfortable.
Hope wanted Jake and Vicki to think she wasscared, which she was, but not to the point of not trying to flee. If she could wait them out, they might get comfortable like her uncle talked about and stop watching her so closely. Then she could escape.
Hope managed to sit up a little taller and peer out the window. They were in the mountains, but she didn’t know which state. These mountains seemed different from Montana, but it wasn’t like she was a nature expert.
“Get away from that window,” Vicki snapped at her.
“Sorry,” Hope said.
“You’ll be sorry if you don’t listen,” Vicki said, muttering some other things about stupid teenage girls under her breath and then asking Jake, “How much farther is it?”
