Hot for You (19 page)

The match’s flame flickered and he could see
the explosion as if he were right there at that very moment. In his
mind he could hear the deafening
boom
followed by the fire’s
roar.

The explosion had been spectacular. The way
it continued to replay through his mind it was like it had just
happened rather than having been almost twenty-four hours ago.

After planting the bomb and the Barbie, he’d
watched from the bushes, a good distance away. He’d held his breath
as everything went up, the flames reaching high into the night sky
like white-hot fingers. It had been a living thing of beauty, of
true artistry.

Nathan felt heat and then pain as his fingers
burned and he dropped the match to the linoleum floor. He stepped
on the flame, putting it out, picked up the remnants of the
matchstick, then tossed it onto the pile on the tray.

He lit another match, stared into the flame,
and his mind turned back to last night.

When the explosion had illuminated the night,
he’d cursed as he’d seen a man running away from the house. Nathan
had watched the man drop to the ground and moments later Carilyn
jumped out of the truck and ran straight to him. It had to be Cody
McBride.

In that moment, Nathan could only hope that
whatever McBride had been hit with from the explosion had killed
him.

Obviously, McBride had found the device
before the bomb had gone off. Nathan cursed again. He wasn’t an
experienced bomb-maker, but he’d done a magnificent job on his
first one. It would have been perfect if the timer had gone off
when McBride had been inside.

His hope that McBride had been killed faded
as he had watched the paramedics attend to the bastard. Nathan had
ground his teeth as he’d watched.

Again Nathan’s fingers burned and he sucked
in his breath as he dropped what was left of the match and stepped
on the flame to put it out. He reached down and plucked the stick
up from the floor and then tossed it onto the growing pile on the
tray.

Fingers red and irritated from being burned,
he lit another match and held it up to stare into the flame as he
tried to plan his next move.

McBride was weakened now. Nathan had to
strike again, and he had to strike quickly and ruthlessly.

The questions were where, when, and how. It
needed to be as soon as possible. He smiled to himself. Maybe he
should blow up the hotel where McBride and Carilyn were staying.
He’d planted a tracking device on the car Carilyn had driven to the
ranch, just in case, and now he was glad he had. Early this morning
he had tracked them to the hotel they were staying in. He’d
retreated to his home base to think…and plan…and think…and
plan…

This time Nathan blew out the match before it
could burn his sore fingers and he set the stick on top of the pile
on the tray. He reached for the matchbox, saw that it was empty,
and set it aside.

He reached for a redheaded Barbie sitting on
the table to his right. This morning he’d made a run to Phoenix and
had gone to three different toy stores to buy redheaded dolls. He
hadn’t wanted to buy them all at the same place—that might attract
attention. And he definitely wouldn’t buy anything locally or even
as close as Flagstaff.

Of course he’d disguised himself so that if
anyone looked at security tapes they wouldn’t recognize him. He’d
worn a felt hat that he’d pulled low over his eyes, a bushy
reddish-brown mustache that matched his beard, and a pair of
horn-rimmed glasses. The last thing he’d ever wear was a tweed
suit, so that was exactly what he’d worn to the stores when he’d
purchased the dolls. His disguise had been perfect.

Using scissors to cut away the packaging, he
took the Barbie out of her box then knocked the garbage aside. The
doll was wearing a short green dress dotted with big white polka
dots, green plastic heels, and had a small green plastic purse. Her
red hair was pulled back into a long ponytail and she wore green
plastic sunglasses. And of course the requisite big plastic
smile.

After he set the Barbie down on the tabletop,
he picked up a small can of lighter fluid, which he poured over the
pile of matchsticks on the stainless steel tray. He placed the doll
onto the pile of matchsticks and poured lighter fluid on her,
too.

Earlier he’d set up the laptop, the camera,
and the lights. He moved them into place, putting a spotlight on
the Barbie and bringing the camera in tight on the doll and the
matchsticks. He glanced at his laptop and saw that everything was
almost perfectly set up. A few more adjustments and he was
ready.

His heart beat faster and he felt a giddy
excitement bubbling up inside of him. He grabbed the matchbox and
scowled when he saw that it was empty. He got up and dug in a
duffel filled with matchboxes and pulled out a large one.

When he sat, he placed the box of matches in
front of him then took out a match. He struck it on the side of the
box.

Instantly the flame burst on the end of the
matchstick. Manic glee overtook him and he almost forgot to click
the key on his laptop that would start the recording. The flame was
getting dangerously close to his fingers as he started the
camera.

It was the first time he’d tried this and he
couldn’t wait to watch.

He glanced at the laptop and saw the red
record
light was on. With a smile he tossed the match onto
the Barbie and pile of matchsticks on the tray.

Fire whooshed up, instantly engulfing the
matchsticks and the doll.

He leaned back in the chair and watched as
the doll bubbled and burned in the fire. The air was filled with an
acrid, bitter odor of burning plastic. He kept the camera going
until the fire finally died away.

How he hated to see a fire snuffed out. He
loved being able to watch it to the very end of its life.
Unfortunately, firefighters put out most fires he set before they
could burn all the way down. It was immensely satisfying to be able
to watch it all the way to the end.

When the fire was gone, he pressed the key
that would stop the recording. He spent the next several minutes
watching the video again. When it ended he typed in a message that
he made into an image that he tacked on to the end of the
video.

A grin spread over his face as he uploaded
the video to YouTube, using an account he had named “Firebug” when
he’d uploaded another video. He labeled this video,
“You’re
next, redhead.”

When he was finished, he opened his email
account and started a new email.

***

Carilyn took a drink of ice water then set
the glass down while she sat at the writing desk in the hotel and
booted up her fourth laptop in just over a week. This time she
wasn’t bothering with setting up her machine beyond what she had to
do to get up and running. Later she would worry about having it the
way she wanted for work and personal use.

This time she had one purpose, and one
purpose only.

To find the bastard who tried to kill Cody
and me.

It had barely been thirty-six hours since the
explosion but it felt like it had just happened. She could still
hear the massive blast and could still see Cody dropping to the
ground.

The thought of him almost dying from the
arsonist’s bomb made her blood boil in ways it never had before. It
had been bad enough that the arsonist had burned up her car. Now
he’d blown up Cody’s house and had almost killed him and her,
too.

The bastard wasn’t going to get away with it.
She was going to stop him before anyone got seriously hurt or
killed. Finding the arsonist had just become her one and only
mission.

Yesterday, after getting her new laptop,
she’d sent an email to LordoftheFuneralPyre, but she hadn’t
received a response from him yet. First thing she did after she
booted up her laptop was open her email from a web-based
browser.

Two emails jumped out at her at once. The
first was from
LordoftheFuneralPyre
.

The second was from
Firebug
.

Her throat worked as she stared at the two
emails, then made up her mind. She’d open Lord’s first, download
the software she needed, and track Firebug as soon as she read his
email.

She clicked on Lord’s email reply.

WizardAsp

Getting the feeling you could use a little
luck. This will lead you in the right direction.

May the force be with you.

LOTFP

A link was embedded in the email. First she
replied to Lord with a brief thank you note, then clicked on the
link. The link took her to a secure site where she used her
personal passcode and downloaded all of the software she needed.
That included the tracking software as well as incredibly
sophisticated anti-spyware not available to anyone but the elite
hackers who had developed it. She had been one of the developers,
so she knew it backward and forward.

The whole time she worked to get what she
needed, she continued to think about the email from Firebug,
wondering what it said this time.

Someone pounded on the hotel room door and
Carilyn startled, knocking the glass of water over. Cold fear iced
her veins. Could it be Firebug?

As she stared at the door, she automatically
picked up the laptop as water spilled onto the desk’s surface.

Ignoring the water pooling on the desk, she
got up from her seat, still holding the laptop. A knock sounded at
the door again and she flinched.

She set the laptop on the bed and slowly
walked to the door. Her heart pounded like mad as she looked
through the peephole.

Relief flooded through her followed by shock
when she saw who was there.

She opened the door, her eyes wide.
“Sam?”

“Hi, baby.” He grinned at her.
“Surprise.”

She stumbled over her words. “How—what are
you doing here?”

His blue eyes glinted with amusement. “May I
come in?”

“Oh.” She brushed her hands down the blouse
and jeans she had purchased yesterday before the laptop. She opened
the door and stepped out of the way. “How did you find me?”

“Don’t I get a hug hello?” He was still
grinning. He was five-ten with a runner’s physique. He had
frequently run marathons before going into the Peace Corps.

“Of course.” She let him take her in his arms
and hugged him back. “It’s good to see you, Sam.”

When they parted, he held her by the
shoulders and looked her. His grin faded into a frown. “Something’s
wrong. What is it, Cari?”

She didn’t want to explain why she was on
edge. She didn’t need to worry him, too.

“I’m okay.” She tried for a smile but
couldn’t make it. “What are you doing? How did you find me? Aren’t
you supposed to be in the Peace Corps for a while?”

“Remember that Find My iPhone application
that we installed back when we were dating?” he asked. “It led me
right to you. As far as the Peace Corps, I signed up for a
short-term technical assignment to get my feet wet. If I liked it I
was going to sign up for a long-term assignment.”

She felt a stab of irritation that he’d
tracked her down using a phone app they’d installed when they were
dating. “You should have called.”

“I did. Twice.” He had the same perpetual air
of cheerfulness as he almost always had. “I had to see you.”

She tried not to frown. “Why?”

He cupped her face in his hands. “I came back
for you. I can’t bear to be parted from you any longer.”

She stared at him in shock. He caught her
completely off guard as he brought her to him and pressed his mouth
against hers. She tried to pull away, but he was so strong. She put
her hands on his chest and pushed.

He stepped back, still holding her arms. “You
haven’t forgiven me for leaving you.”

“That’s not it.” She held his gaze. “Let’s
sit down.”

She stepped away from him and sat on one end
of the mattress of the king-sized bed with its tangled sheets and
bedspread. He sat several inches from her and they faced each
other.

She reached out and took his hands in hers.
“I’ve found someone else.”

He stared at her in astonishment, no longer
looking happy. “You’re with another man?”

She gave a slow nod. “I met someone here, in
Prescott.”

His forehead wrinkled as he frowned. “You
haven’t been here very long, have you?”

“No.” She shook her head. “Not long at
all.”

“Then how do you know it’s real?” Sam gripped
her hands. “What you and I had—we were together a long time and you
know it was real. We were so good together.”

She tilted her head to the side. “You left
me. I was hurt, but I got over it.”

“Did you really?” he asked as if he didn’t
believe her. “What we had was special.”

She tried to remove her hand from his but he
had a firm grip on it. “Yes, it was special,” she said quietly.
“But you left, and I moved on.”

“Give me another chance.” He gave her a
pleading look. “It can be good again.”

“I told you, Sam.” This time she was able to
extract her hand. “I’m in love with someone else.”

He got to his feet, took both of her hands
and pulled her to her feet. He gave her a hug. “I’ll always be here
for you, Cari. If he hurts you in any way, I want you to call
me.”

“Cody’s not going to hurt me.” She thought
about the fact that she was supposed to be going back to Kansas
City in just a couple of weeks—if anyone was going to do the
hurting, it would be her. Right now she felt like she was being
torn in two.

She pushed all of those thoughts aside. She
wasn’t going to worry about any of it for now. She smiled. “Thank
you, but I’m going to be all right. I’m a big girl.”

Sam brought her into his embrace again. “I’ve
missed you, Cari. I wish I would never have let you go.”

She let him hold her for a moment, breathing
in his familiar scent and feeling his comfortable embrace. She
wondered if she did love him still but as she thought about him
leaving and going back to Kansas, she felt nothing but fondness for
him.