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So how much longer before he could put boots on the ground and get out of this conversation?
Kane drove the truck through the campground, also avoiding the conversation. But Houston still craned his body around from the passenger side, looking at Dakota. Waiting.
“So, Masterson, what was it that made you switch from SWAT to hotshot again?”
“Guess it’s my turn now.” Dakota grabbed the speaker from the middle console and tried for a playful grin. “This is the Jude County Hotshots firefighter crew. Please evacuatethe campground as quickly and safely as possible. This is a mandatory evacuation.”
He peered out the windows as they rolled down the winding road through the big campground dotted with tents and campers and surrounded by towering pines. “I still can’t believe there’s this many people here. This is going to take a while.”
Finally, the truck in front of them stopped. “Looks like we’re ready to start knocking on campers.”
And that was just fine with him.
Kane brought the truck to a halt, and they piled out. The man didn’t talk a whole lot. Usually got right to the point and spent the rest of the time brooding. But he was quick on his feet and strong. Not a bad kind of guy to have as a partner. He’d have to make sure he stuck with Kane for whatever assignment came next and avoid Houston.
The three men approached the hotshots leader, Conner Young, and the others gathered around him.
“Masterson and Kane, catch up with Emily and take sites two hundred to three hundred. James, go with Sax and Sanchez and take the four hundreds spots on this loop. The others are covered.”
Whew. Houston would go with the quiet Saxon and prickly Sanchez. Maybe he could use his youth pastor skills and figure out whatever it was that made the Latina woman walk around like she was angry with the world.
Dakota and Kane walked past the few empty campsites. Smoke hung thick in the air. Why would anyonewantto stick around in this? But tents and RVs still remained. Kane and Dakota walked up to the first RV and knocked on the door.
An older man in a Hawaiian shirt answered. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I heard ya. We’re packing.”
“Sorry to disturb you, sir. And make sure you avoid the highway south. They’re detouring everyone west.”
The man nodded. “Understood.” With the slap of the screen door, they were dismissed.
Alrighty then.
The next few sites were vacant. Emily Micah stood talking to a woman by a yellow-and-orange tent. Something about the woman was familiar, but her back faced Dakota. She was petite with medium-length, sable-brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. A black Lab on a lead sniffed Emily’s boots.
Why did something about the stranger stir his memory, like he knew her? He didn’t know anyone with a dog like that.
The woman turned to call the dog, her profile now in view.
No. It couldn’t be.
Here? In the middle of nowhere? He’d thought—okay, he’d hoped—he would never see her again. But was it even the same woman from over a year ago, the one who’d driven him from Benson, Washington, to Last Chance County for rehab?
Didn’t that just beat all? He’d come to the wilderness—where no one would know him—for a fresh start, and here was Allie Monroe, whoseonlyconnection to him was the fact that she knew his brother and had driven him to rehab. And she was already talking to Emily.
“You comin’ or what?” Kane, having walked on, looked back at him.
And have to talk to her? “Ya know, why don’t we split up? I’ll cut across and start over?—”
“Oh no. You’re the smooth talker. I’m the intimidation. Besides, looks like Emily found a friend I wouldn’t mind being introduced to.”
Right. Because Allie did have rather alluring hazel eyes. Eyes that had never once judged him, despite seeing him at his absolute worst. And shewasbeautiful.
But she could also destroy everything he was building here with a few words.
Dakota attempted to tamp down the unease in his middle as he followed Kane. This was what he got for wanting to keep the past in the past. He should’ve known he could never outrun it.
Maybe Allie wouldn’t remember him. They’d only met once.
Then again, they’d spent eight hours in that car together. Of course she was going to remember him.