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There were whistles from above and one very loud, “Well shit. Another one bites the dust.”
“Shut up, Welker.” Moira, their sheriffs’ department teammate chastised him grumpily. “You wouldn’t know love if it bit you in the ass.”
“Ahh, you want to sink your teeth into my fine glutes, Bliss?” came the instant reply.
Yup. That was Welker. All bluster and no commitments. Cisco would deal with him, later. Right now, he focused on what Hilly had just revealed.
“You do? You love me?” he addressed her almost giddily, growing dizzy at her words. Or maybe his head was swimming because he’d been hanging upside-down for too long, but his heart was certainly soaring.
“Uh, huh,” she managed.
That was enough for Cisco.
“Hilly, you’ve made me the happiest man in Maine,” he replied, moisture threatening to spill from his eyes. “Now just stay quiet and I’ll be back before you know it.”
Hilly grunted her compliance, and hunkered deeper under the blanket.
“Up,” he told his teammates.
He didn’t want to leave Hilly, but passing out wouldn’t do either of them any good, and he needed to be one-hundred percent in his right mind so he could be one of the team who rappelled down and helped secure her in the litter once it arrived.
He was hauled up, slowly.
Once on solid ground, it took Cisco a minute to clear his head and get to his feet.
Welker—once Cisco was upright—was right there by his side to cuff him in the shoulder while Alvi looked at the damaged wrists he’d forgotten about, tsked, and started treating him.
“Smooth, pal,” Welker snorted. “Telling the girl you love her while she’s half-unconscious. And bro, what am I going to do for wingmen now that you and all the rest of our wuss friends have gotten shackled?” he complained, not quite tongue-in-cheek.
“Maybe get a real life,” Moira grumbled under her breath from next to them before turning and striding away.
Huh. That was interesting, and it wasn’t the first time Cisco had seen tension between the two. There was definitely something more there than met the eye, linking his buddy and the taciturn sheriff.
Cisco focused in on his friend. “Enjoy your delusions while you can, Welk. There’ll come a day when you meet a woman who’ll bowl you over, and you’ll finally understand how it is,” he schooled.
The man grimaced, glanced after the sheriff, then blanched.
Cisco gave an internal laugh. Welker was interested in Moira Bliss, but attempting to convince himself otherwise. It was a fascinating development. Cisco would have to keep an eye on his friend to make sure he didn’t blow it.
Moira was one hell of a teammate, and even if she was all business; didn’t do warm and fuzzy, she was smart, loyal, and pretty damned stunning to look at. Welk couldn’t do better than Ms. Bliss.
Hops, JD, Sandrine, and Briar brought him out of his thoughts as they broke through the trees from the north, humping in the equipment they needed.
“Emergency services are right behind us,” Sandrine told them, dropping some of the rope gear and her end of the litter on the ground at Mason’s feet. “EMTs as well, and the police to take this kidnapper and arsonist into custody.” She eyed the trussed-up form of Cottins, sneering at the asshole where he sniveled.
“Right. The fire,” Cisco recalled.
He’d been so focused on getting to Hilly, he hadn’t given another thought to the shack that had to have gone up in flames by now. He considered himself damned lucky not to have been caught in the conflagration. He’d managed, thanks to Hilly, to divest himself of his restraints, but once that had been accomplished, Cisco had been a little disoriented from the encroaching smoke. Crash—backed up by Cisco’s SWAT team—had braved the small building’s precarious safety to run inside and yank Cisco out in the nick of time. Cisco had never been more relieved to have a firefighter by his side.
“Is it raging out of control?” he asked.
Hilly would be devastated if the blaze spread to her camp.
Mason laughed. “Nope. Crash has it all under control. He stayed back and called an old colleague of his who works for the Maine Forest Service as part of a local helitack crew. The guy had a chopper in the air and was onsite within minutes. Crash told me over the mic that the helitack crew had already rappelled down, are using a fire retardant, and that they had the flames almost out.”
Cisco breathed a sigh of relief. Hilly would be very relieved to hear that. But right now, he needed to focus and gear up. Welker was right beside him, sorting through his tackle, but Alvi was already harnessed up and clipped in, ready to go.
“Come on, you slouches,” Alvero tossed out. “Let’s go get Cisco’s woman.”