Page 27 of Burning Justice (Chasing Fire: Alaska #6)

Fourteen

Water hit the fire, and mist evaporated into the air. The entire hillside next to the train blazed with flames. The two water tankers on the train both had spray hoses attached, and Mack had commandeered one. Crew was on the other.

Grizz let loose on the whistle again. Mitch was up there in the engine car with him and the driver and conductor, trying to contact the smokejumpers on the radio.

They weren’t dead. Maria refused to believe it.

“You get the feeling this is about boys and their toys?” Raine stood beside her in the open-air car, no windows and just a fiberglass roof above them. “They seemed a little too excited to take the train.”

Maria wanted to smile, because both Mack and Grizz had been overjoyed at the chance to ride a train.

They’d convinced the conductor and some other guys to take them on a ride to save a group of smokejumpers when no one else could get to them.

Tristan and Crispin weren’t far behind them in the open-air car, looking serious and talking quietly.

Rio paced up and down the train car, talking on his phone and gesturing wildly.

The special agent still working his case.

But he was all in to be here when his wife needed saving.

He’d been insistent with his boss that he was going with them—and already in the car when he told his special agent in charge in no uncertain terms why he was leaving the suspect in the hands of the local sheriff.

Raine glanced over at Tristan.

Who just happened to be looking at her exactly at that moment.

“Please tell me you’re going to figure things out with him,” Maria said. “Before you get arrested for attempted murder.”

“I can’t believe he covered for me and told Tucker it was him.” Raine winced, turning to look out at the trees going by. They weren’t able to go as fast as Maria wanted to be going, but it was quicker than she’d be able to manage in this terrain on foot.

The train trudged up the side of the mountain, rounding the edge where this peak met the next and cargo could be transported between Copper Mountain and the more remote communities to the north.

Smoke hung in the air. Probably, if there was no fire, the view would be spectacular. “I’m glad we can’t see out that side.”

“Steep drop-off.” Raine nudged her elbow. “Long way down.”

Maria shuddered.

“It’s kind of funny that the big bad super CIA agent is scared of heights,” Raine said. “You never did that thing in the movies where they run across rooftops trying to escape the bad guys?”

“No.” She spotted something in the smoke. Where the mountain backed away from them and across a stretch of ground that wasn’t so steep, she saw a group of people. Too far to make out who they were. Huddled together, a glint of silver between them.

“Shame.”

“I see them.” Maria turned to the others. “I see them!”

Tristan ran to the end of the car and hit a button. “Stop the train!”

They were half a mile away at least, the smoke in the clearing dissipating enough that she could see more and more every second.

Crew and Mack continued spraying water on the fire around them.

The train brakes squealed. It would take time for the long, heavy vehicle to come to a complete stop. Maria wasn’t going to wait that long.

She went to the door at one end of the open-air car and unlatched it. The door swung open and clattered against the outside of the wall. She held on to the frame and stepped down onto the metal step. Still pretty high. Was she really going to jump?

The train continued to slow.

“Uh, Maria…” Rio came up behind her.

She jumped.

The ground came up fast. She landed, bending her knees, and didn’t go down. Thank You. She was going to ignore the slightly throbbing pain in her fingers.

Maria ran up the hill, picking her way over uneven ground and boulders set into the grass. Through the thick smoke, ash still falling all around them, the sun trying to clear the shadows.

It was them.

Kane spotted her running and set off toward her.

She found herself smiling, and as they collided in the middle, he picked her up and swung her around. Maria laughed. She rounded his head with her arms, hanging on for dear life before he set her down.

He was covered in dirt and ash, soaked through with sweat, and a little shell-shocked in his glassy gaze. But he’d never looked better.

The others raced up the hill behind her. Rio caught up Skye. Raine ran to Orion where he, Saxon, Vince, and Hammer had set Tori down. Tristan came over. Crispin and Crew found Jade and JoJo.

“Hammer!” Mack raced up the hill.

The two brothers hugged, slapping each other’s backs hard. Hammer squeezed the back of Mack’s neck. “Did you steal a train, bro?”

Mack’s cheeks reddened. “Grizz helped.”

Maria fought back tears. “Is Tori okay?”

“She needs a hospital.”

“Let’s go.” She slid her arms from around Kane’s neck, reluctant to let go, but if they had to get Tori seen by a doctor, then there was no time to lose.

A helicopter’s rotor blades cut through the sound of the train, which was still in the process of coming to a complete stop.

She tensed. “Is that one of ours?”

A helicopter had shot at them just days ago. She didn’t want to have to run for her life to a slow-moving train. That wasn’t a great getaway vehicle.

Kane shielded his eyes with his hand. “It’s ours.” He glanced around. “Everyone back up and make a space!”

Orion crouched by Tori, and Maria saw the other woman open her eyes. She had a bandage of some kind on the side of her face and seemed a little singed, but she was alive.

All of them were alive.

Maria’s legs started to sag. Kane caught her. “You okay?”

“Just…thankful.” Too thankful for words. Thank You. Because it was God who had kept them all safe this far. Surely He would continue to do it. She didn’t think this thing was fully over. Elias was still out there. The canister. Her father.

Elias had tried to kill them all, but he hadn’t won.

She touched Kane’s cheek, and while he held her close, she pressed her lips to his. The kiss was full of a whole lot of relief, gratitude, and all those just-happy-to-be-alive emotions that overflowed until tears slid down her cheeks.

“Hey.” He swiped his thumbs across her cheeks, wiping them away.

“It’s okay. I’m fine.”

Kane’s lips curled up. “Since you’re fine and all…”

“What?”

He dipped his head close. “I love you.”

Her hand on him tightened reflexively. “That wasn’t the plan.”

“I know.”

“But it’s a good ending.”

“Yeah?”

The helicopter whipped smoke and debris into the air, swirling her hair around her head. She leaned closer to Kane so she could whisper in his ear. “I love you too.”

The guys got Tori loaded in the chopper, and Orion climbed in. Kane held Maria while they waved at the departing helicopter.

“We should get moving or we’ll miss the train.” Mack grinned.

Hammer laughed, swinging his arm around his brother’s shoulders.

“Move it or lose it.” JoJo ran ahead of them to the waiting train.

Maria grinned, and they all followed her down the hill, jogging to the open-air car. Crew waited at the top of the steps, holding out his hand and hauling each person on board one by one.

Vince led Cadee to the far end of the car, the two of them talking. Crispin and Jade. Skye and Rio talking close, touching each other’s faces. Kissing.

Maria looked away and found Hammer and Saxon staring at her. “What?”

Saxon smirked. “Not a thing.”

“You guys are annoying.”

They both hugged her.

“Hey, back off.” Kane shoved them out of the way.

Mack looked a little lost.

Maria said, “You good, kid?”

He nodded.

She wandered to him, widening her arms. Mack stepped into them, and she gave him a reassuring hug. “All good, yeah?”

He nodded against her shoulder.

“Plus you got to fight a fire from a train.”

He backed up from her, grinning. Kane wrapped his arm around her waist.

Raine moved behind Mack, and Maria found Tristan on the other side of the train car, watching her intently. Which was interesting.

“We need to find Elias and finish this.” Maria looked around. “A lot of people could’ve died today.”

Skye pulled away from Rio. “You aren’t going to stop me. I’m quitting smokejumping.”

Everyone turned to them.

Rio did not look happy. “Just like that? We get into crazy situations all the time. You’re just gonna give up?”

“I wanna have a family.”

Rio’s eyes flared.

Skye held out her hand. “What do you say, Special Agent Parker? Do you want to have kids with me?”

Maria figured the answer was probably yes, since they were married, but her asking him was basically adorable. Kane’s arm tightened on her waist. Not going there. They might have said I love you , but that didn’t mean the future was set.

Rio took his wife’s hand. “I thought you’d never ask.”

He kissed her, and someone whooped.

Maria smiled, leaning her head on Kane’s shoulder. He kissed her forehead, and he didn’t let go.

She hoped he never did.

Kane took the fastest shower of his life and got dressed—including his shoes. Maria had told him why she looked like she’d been rolling around in dust on board that train. He couldn’t believe Elias had done that. A two-pronged attack designed to kill them all so he could escape.

He strode out into the living area of the men’s cabin, which was full of people.

Couples. Brothers. Even Jubal, the dog, was in here with them, sitting on the couch, half in Grizz’s lap while Dani gave the long-haired labradoodle pets.

Dani was about to go back to Washington DC, her packed bags already in the back of Grizz’s car.

She was only staying long enough to see what happened next, and Maria didn’t blame her for not wanting to leave before this was done.

Over by the kitchen counter, Maria set her mug down. She lifted another and held it out to Kane.