Page 25 of Burning Justice (Chasing Fire: Alaska #6)

Thirteen

Maria coughed. Dust particles floated in the air. The bartender had paled and looked a little wary of moving, even though the shooting had stopped a minute ago.

“Okay.” Maria had to cough again. “We can do this slowly.”

“I’m Vic, by the way.”

“Maria. Ready?” She held out her good hand.

Vic motioned to Maria’s other hand with a lift of her chin. “What did you do to that hand?”

“Had a run-in with a Chinese hitman.”

Vic looked like she didn’t believe her.

Honestly, Maria didn’t blame the woman. “We can go slow, all right?” She turned her head to the side. “Special Agent Parker!”

He called back, “Yeah?”

“You good?”

“It’s clear,” Rio shouted. “Everyone stay put. We’ll assess you one by one.” His tone lowered. “I want an update on that vehicle. Now. ”

Maria winced. Someone had pursued the car outside, surely. Whoever the shooter had been and whatever they’d been driving, they weren’t going to get far in a town like this. “Let’s get out from behind this bar.”

Vic grabbed her hand and they stood, but it seemed like the bartender thought Maria was the one who needed help.

They rounded the open end of the bar, and Maria got a look at the carnage.

Whoever had shot at the exterior of the building knew what they were doing.

All the windows had shattered, letting in the cool air from outside.

Bullet holes in the siding let in beams of sunlight that reflected off all the dust and particles floating in the air.

Tables had flipped over. Stools and chairs. Bottles on the back wall had shattered. Liquid had splashed across the floor along with broken glass and plastic cups.

“Is anyone hit?” Maria looked around.

People started to stir, emerging from where they’d hunkered down.

“Anyone bleeding?”

Rio grabbed up the guy she’d been talking to—the man Elias had sent as a scapegoat, fully intending to kill him along with the rest of them.

Thankfully, Kane and the rest of the smokejumpers were out fighting fire, away from what was happening in Copper Mountain.

Maria went over to…what had Rio said his name was? “Wilson Cartwright.”

He practically rolled his eyes at her.

“Guess you’re nothing but a loose end, just like the rest of us. Expendable.”

He made a face.

Rio said, “Tell us where to find Elias Redding and that canister, and I’ll talk to the US attorney about forgiving some of the numerous charges you’re facing.”

Wilson had to think about that for a second.

“Tick, tock.” Maria folded her arms, mostly just so she could tuck her injured fingers out of sight. Everything hurt, and she needed more pain meds, but it was much better to look strong even if she didn’t feel it.

She’d prayed.

In the heat of the moment, when she’d figured she was about to be killed. Leaving all this business unfinished. Never seeing her father, even though she’d been searching for him for fifteen years. She’d prayed to God because He was the only one who could fix a situation that bad.

Maria wasn’t so sure how she felt about that.

She supposed that meant she believed.

Which, to be honest, wasn’t so much of a stretch. After all, why would she want to live in a world that didn’t have a God in control of everything? All the evil. All the pain. If there was no hope, then why would she want to be here?

She certainly wouldn’t want to beg to live.

It hadn’t been about self-preservation in that moment. Nor had it been about bringing Elias to justice or saving people’s lives—saving the country. It had been about something far deeper.

Hope.

A future.

It had been about Kane.

“I don’t know where he is.” Wilson looked at the front windows—where they used to be.

“But you know how to find him, right? You have his number. He’s the one who ordered you to come here.” Rio sounded like the tough FBI agent he was. A guy who wasn’t going to back down when lives were on the line.

Maria’s eyes filled with tears, but it was just about the dust in the air. It wasn’t because she realized that even without her boys here, she wasn’t alone. She had the support of people like Rio, Crew, and Tristan. Her friends. Her family.

Even with nothing, she still had everything she needed.

“He has a cabin. It’s remote, and no one knows where it is,” Wilson said. “So there’s no point trying to beat it out of me.”

“What if we get a Chinese guy to break a few of your fingers?” Maria said.

Rio glanced at her.

Fine. Maria walked away to the door, where she followed a couple outside. They didn’t look banged up, just shaken.

An ambulance pulled up out front, followed by a green-painted rural fire truck.

Crew crouched in front of a young woman sitting on the curb who was holding a napkin or cloth against her forehead.

Tristan was helping a lady out of her car, which had taken a header into a light pole.

She went to Crispin, standing by their vehicle, talking on his phone. She kind of ignored him, got the passenger door open, and sat with her legs out, her feet on the ground. She needed that anchor right now.

Crispin crouched in front of her, still holding the phone to his ear. “Yes, sir.” He touched her chin gently, turning her face so he could look at it. “Yes, sir.” He held a finger in front of her face and moved it to one side and then the other.

She followed his finger, then closed her eyes.

“Yes, sir. I will do, sir.” Pause. “Thank you.”

Maria needed to find her own phone, but she had no idea where she’d put it. The day hadn’t been a complete failure, especially if no one was seriously hurt.

“I’m sorry, Mr. President, I’m getting another call, and I need to take this.” Pause. “Yes, sir.”

She opened her eyes. Crispin was on the phone with President White? Never mind, of course he was.

He tapped the screen of his phone. “Hello? Oh, uh…yeah. Sure.” He held the phone out to her. “It’s Raine.”

“Put it on speaker.”

He tapped the screen.

“What’s up, Raine?” After the woman had pretty much tried to murder Tristan, Maria wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what Raine had to say.

Even if they were teammates. Even if one day she’d understand why and maybe even sympathize.

Tristan had stuck around to help Maria. He was across the Midnight Saloon parking lot, walking an elderly man toward the waiting EMTs.

Maria wasn’t convinced he’d done anything wrong.

“The smokejumpers are in trouble.” Raine let out a breathy exhale, audible through the phone. “My grandfather called me. He said Elias has it all set up. He lured the team out into a clearing so he could kill them.”

Crispin’s expression hardened. “Jade.”

And the rest of them. Maria gritted her teeth. “Where?”

“We can’t drive there. That’s why they were deployed, because it’s too remote to reach on foot or with a vehicle.”

“So we get a chopper and rappel in.” She would figure out how to do that with her hand.

Raine said, “Mack and Grizz heard the call. They said the train runs nearby, and they think they can get us close. They ran off to the other side of the base here that the BLM runs, yelling about the train.”

Maria frowned. “A train?”

“I think they’re gonna hijack it and go up the mountain. Try and save everyone.”

“Good.” Maria swung her feet in the car and grabbed the phone. To Crispin she said, “Get Crew and Tristan. And tell Rio that Skye is in trouble.”

Crispin raced away toward the destroyed restaurant.

“Why did your grandfather decide to tell you this now?”

“He feels bad. He doesn’t like what the Reddings are doing, but he had no choice. They would’ve killed him if he’d talked or even tried to get out. But Elias is crazy. My grandpa was a wildland firefighter years ago, when he was young. He doesn’t want the team to die.”

“Neither do I.”

In the background of the call, a train whistle rang out.

Raine said, “Can you meet us?”

“Where?”

“Mile marker thirty-two. There’s a turnout on the side of the highway. You’ll be able to get on the train there.”

“We’ll be there.”

She hung up in time to see Crew, Tristan, and Crispin race over, Rio right behind them. “The smokejumpers are in trouble. Let’s go.”

Kane lay still while the fire rolled over him. Crackling. Popping. The heat in the fire shelter made him feel like a potato wrapped in foil and set in a bonfire to cook. Right about now, he was feeling medium rare.

He held still like so many times in his life when he’d been forced to hold the line. To keep steady and wait. If anyone could do it, it was these people he’d been working with all summer. We can do this. Their team was solid.

Still, he hummed “Amazing Grace,” trying to keep his thoughts focused. He was all the way at the last verse, that slight sound coming from his lips, while in his mind he sang the words at full volume as if he were alone in a small country church.

The only one left.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow.

Or ash.

The sun forbear to shine.

In winter in Alaska, at least—though this far south they’d have sunlight around lunchtime. It probably felt to the locals as if they lived in darkness.

But God.

Oh boy. That was a whole sermon in itself. But God. Wasn’t that always, forever, how things began, how they continued each day, steady as the turning of the earth? And how they would come to completion. Those two words set everything to rights.

In his heart.

In the world.

In You, Lord.

He focused his thoughts and kept humming.

But God, who called me here below, will be forever mine.

Forever Yours. Kane had made that choice years ago, the same day his cousin Ridge had made that pledge. They’d given their lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Because how else were they going to have peace in their hearts and hope for the best kind of future?

The alternative wasn’t worth considering.

Like Peter had said to Jesus: “Lord, to whom shall we go?” He had the words of eternal life, and none other. Where else was Kane supposed to find peace and healing? He hadn’t found it.

He’d found Jesus.

No, Jesus had found him.