12-Alarm Cowboys (160 page)

Just to ease his mind, he raced up the stairs and looked room to room. He could leave nothing to chance. Heading out, he did the same. Losing possessions was one thing, losing Makenna was something else entirely. Coming to the barn, he looked everywhere before putting a saddle and a bridle on Valiant. “It’s just you and me, boy. You’re going to have to be my fire horse.”

Mounting up, he began to ride toward the smoke.

*

Tears ran down
Makenna’s cheeks. She was so afraid. “Help! Help!” The odor of smoke filled the air. Through the windows she could see the fiery flames shooting skyward as the blaze consumed the trees and undergrowth.

She began to squirm, twisting her hands. But the ropes held tight. She rocked the chair, maybe if she could turn it over it would break and she could escape.

Panic washed over her. She’d been so young when the bomb had exploded, but the fear and the dread were the same. In her mind, she went back—back to the time when she was helpless, hearing people scream. The heat and the noise was overwhelming.

Despair made her weak.

The dawning truth was more than she could process—she was about to die.

Wringing and twisting her hands, desperation drove her to try. She knew she’d struggle until the flames licked up her body. Fighting to save her baby was pure maternal instinct.

Suddenly, her fingers touched something hard.

What was that?

She bowed and twisted, shifting her weight, trying to get her fingers into her back pocket.

The knife! The knife Titan had made for her was in her grasp.

*

Titan rode toward
the horizon. His ranch was going up like a tinder box. The whole sky was bright red and orange. Pulling Valiant to a stop, it was like he was seeing the whole scene from above. He sat on horseback, a lone dark silhouette against the curtain of fire before him. A cowboy pitted against hell. He knew his friends would come. They’d bring their trucks, they’d bring their equipment. The best and bravest would fight a blaze set by a madman.

Damien Wade set this fire, there was no doubt in his mind.

As he rode toward the inferno, a movement in the periphery of his vision made him turn his head. Someone was out here. Heading deeper into the hot zone, Titan had to force his mount to stay on course. His horse had more sense than he did. But if someone was in danger…he had to make sure they were able to get out.

His radio went off and Titan grabbed it. “Go ahead, I copy.”

“Chief! This is Dallas. We’re on our way. Where are you?”

“I’m at the blaze site, about three miles west of my house, near the boundary fence that butts up to the highway. I thought I saw someone, I’m checking it out.”

“Listen, Chief. This is serious. There’s a triangulation of fires. They’re spreading out, but the corners of the burn paths seem to be converging on what Hotshot keeps calling Miner’s Ridge. Do you know where that is?”

“Yea, that’s where my cabin is located. Thank goodness it’s vacant.” The news he was being given was horrendous. His cattle were in danger. Hell, everything he had was in danger. “Can you send someone to cut the fence between my property and the Woods place? I need to give my livestock a way out of this mess.”

“I’ll make some calls.”

Titan could hear the sirens, both on the radio and in the distance. The whine and wail was a comfort to his soul. As he stared into the smoke-filled distance, he saw movement again. “Dallas, I think I got a twenty on whoever’s up here. Let me get back to you.”

“Be careful, Chief, I hate to say this is Wade’s work, but I got this creepy feeling. These fires are too precise, too geometric to be random. You need to watch your back.”

Until that moment, his own fears hadn’t coalesced. What if…oh God, what if…and then as he drew closer, Titan got a good look. It was Wade! On foot, carrying a backpack full of God knows what. “Damien! Stop!”

Instead of obeying or coming toward him, the fool ran back toward the fire. Titan urged Valiant into a gallop. He could feel his mount’s reluctance in the uneven, but obedient gait. “Damien!”

The man was no older than Titan, but he’d inhaled smoke. He wasn’t as fast as he would be normally, so when he came alongside him, Titan dove off and brought him down. “This is the last fire you set, Wade!”

He fought back, throwing punches and butting Titan with his head. “This is the last fire I need to set.”

“You’re going to jail for the rest of your life if I have anything to do with it.” Titan landed a right hook and knocked the SOB to the ground. He was about to try and subdue him when he heard a click.

“Don’t move or I’ll kill you where you stand, Sloan. You know I will.”

Titan froze, looking down the barrel of the revolver. Around them fire was raging, consuming everything in its path. “I know you would, but you’re not going to get the chance.” With a vicious kick, he sent the gun flying.

Boom! The gun went off as it spun through the air. “Get up, you coward. You set fires because you can’t deal with your problems face to face.”

Damien rolled to one side, rose and tried to run. Titan jumped him, wrestling him to the ground. He kept one knee to his back while he pulled off his own belt to tie Wade’s hands.

“She’s dead, you know.”

His cold words stopped Titan’s heart. “What did you say?”

“My slut of a wife is dead. I tied her up in your cabin. It’s ashes by now.”

“No!” Titan’s scream echoed over the Devil’s Backbone.” For one moment, he almost did it—he almost took the son of a bitch by the neck and snapped it.

“Titan, we’ve brought your gear!” Hotshot called from some distance away. Seeing the despair on his friend’s face, he came running. “What’s wrong?” When he drew nearer, he saw Damien. “You’ve got him.”

“Take him, Jericho, take him before I kill him.”

Hotshot got Damien Wade to his feet.

“I’ve got to go.” Titan went to his horse. His eyes were blinded by tears.

“But…where?” he asked, seeing Titan head into the thick of the smoke.

“He said Makenna’s dead. I’ve got to go to her.” Before Hotshot could say more, he was gone.

*

Wildfire. Texas Wildfire.

Firefighters were striving to subdue a wind-fed razing dragon consuming miles of timber and pastureland. The heat was like an oven, visibility was impossible. Helicopters flew over, dumping water. Pump truck after pump truck emptied their bowels into the conflagration to no avail. Men stood side by side, shooting foam onto the flames, while mechanical beasts dug ditches, leaving scars in the earth to inhibit the spread of the wildfire.

Ignoring the cries for him to stop, Titan rode through. His horse was nearly mad with fear, yet he obeyed his master, battling heat and death to reach where the cabin once stood. Now there was nothing more than glowing embers. One of the crews had reached it, but just put out the fire as part of the general process.

Dropping Valiant’s reins, Titan dismounted with a heart-rending bellow of grief. “Makenna! Makenna!” If Maverick hadn’t been there to stop him, he would have run full-throttle into the red-hot debris. “Did any of you see her?”

They didn’t have to ask, Hotshot had radioed ahead.

“We didn’t see her, Chief. If she’s there, she’s buried beneath the rubble.”

Titan turned on him, almost attacking him in his incomprehensible sorrow. The horse whinnied and danced on its feet, its remaining at the scene untethered a statement of its loyalty.

Standing there, staring at the destruction, Titan felt hopeless. He’d lost the most important thing in the world to him. And…the baby! He’d lost her and their child. “No, God, no!” he shouted to the heavens, then bowed his head in utter inconsolable grief.

“Maybe she’s not there, Titan. Maybe she escaped.” Maverick shadowed him, trying to offer his friend something to hold on to.

Titan stared at the cabin, remembering the time they’d spent together here. “Damien said she was tied up.” His heart sank at the idea.

“We need to go back, Chief.” Maverick touched his arm. “There’s nothing you can do here till it cools off where we can search.”

His radio sounded again. Titan raised it to his ear slowly. He had lost all heart to fight. “Sloan. Go ahead.”

“Your cattle are safe and we’ve plowed a barrier. You won’t lose your house.”

Titan recognized Ronan’s voice. He sounded so happy, he thought he had good news. Ronan had no idea that Titan would give everything he had just to hear the sound of her voice.

“Titan?”

Titan’s whole body clenched. He was hearing things.

“Titan?”

There it was again. Bracing, Titan turned—and there she was. Black soot on her face. Her hair was askew. Her clothes were torn. She was the most beautiful sight he’d ever beheld in his life.

“Makenna,” he whispered, staring, trying to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

“Go to her man, she’s waiting. She needs you.”

Maverick didn’t have to tell Titan twice. He mounted his horse, clicked the reins and rode toward her. When he drew nearer, she held up her arms and Titan pulled her to safety.

“Titan!” she cried, her arms going around his neck. “He did this. He destroyed your ranch. I’m so sorry. It was my fault. He was trying to kill me.”

Titan buried his face in her neck. “You’re alive.” He raised his head and kissed her with all the love in his heart. “You’re alive and that’s all that matters, you and the baby are safe.”

“You know!” She wiped her tears. “You found my note and the test.”

“Yes,” he said, trying to control his horse, who was still spooked from the chaos. “Let me get you to safety and then we’ll talk.”

She clung to him as he carried her out of the danger zone. All around him, the waste of the wildfire proclaimed the work of a madman. But he had all that mattered in his arms. As the cowboy/firefighter rode by, his friends saluted him. Today the hero had prevailed.

When they arrived back at the house, he helped her down, reluctant to let her go for even a moment. “Are you hurt?” He began to run his hands over her face, her arms, her body.

“No, just a few scratches and scrapes.” She smiled at him. “Titan, you’re shaking.” Her big, powerful giant of a man was shaking.

Titan sank to his knees and pressed his lips to the soft flesh beneath her breasts. “I thought you were dead. He told me you were dead. He said he’d tied you up and set the fires so the cabin was in their path.”

She cradled him to her, taking off his hat so she could kiss his head. “The knife you made for me, I had it in my back pocket, Titan. I cut myself free.” In her arms she felt him tremble. “Then I ran to the springs and hid in the cave from the fire.” She kissed him again. “I was safe. You gave me what I needed to be safe.”

Titan stood to his feet and picked Makenna up. His heart was near to bursting. “You’re my everything, Makenna. I would never want to live without you.” He kissed her. “You and our baby are my world.”

‡