Wildfire Hurricane (A Ryder Boys Novel Book 1) (12 page)

A child’s laugh caught her attention, and she looked around at what they’d accomplished. Families gathered close, as comfortable as possible while the police assisted people with their needs. Strangers helped each other for no apparent reason. Surely she could expect the same from her staff, even the one she didn’t particularly like. “Can I count on you to help me keep order here?”

“It’s my job.” Cassie pressed her lips together and tapped the screen. “I got something.”

“Give me the worst.”

“Hurricane Opal is now a category five storm—catastrophic. Sustained winds over one hundred seventy miles an hour. Several tornado warnings have been issued.”

“What about the fire?”

“I’ll try to find something.” Her fingernails clicked on the screen. “The Wi-Fi signal is gone.”

Cold sweat trickled down her spine, and Simone hugged her arms as she leaned back against the bleachers. The corner of Dash’s book poked her in the ribs. She pulled it out and flipped through the pages.

“What’s that?” Cassie glanced at the cover.

“Dash wrote this…after we broke up.” Gut-wrenching words leaped off the page, wrapping her heart in an icy grip.

“He’s a writer?” Cassie frowned and leaned over to peek at a page.

“A poet.” Simone flipped the book closed, hiding the harsh words he’d written with her in mind. “He never told you?”

“No.” She tilted her head as if searching her memory. “Some of the things he said to me were kind of lyrical, but I never knew he’d written a book.”

“I didn’t either.” He’d only written down one poem, the one he passed to her in history class the day he told her he loved her. She still kept it buried in her jewelry box. Every other poem she knew about had been whispered in her ear, usually between kisses. “I found it next to his bunk.”

Cassie arched an eyebrow. “When were you in his bunk?”

Images of their recent tryst slapped her in the face, warming her cheeks. “Do you really want me to answer that?”

“I don’t think so.” Cassie tapped at her screen. “Are we going to keep fighting over him?”

“I can’t believe you haven’t given up yet.”

She gasped as if she’d expected a different answer. “Do you want him back?”

“I…” She still loved him. She knew that much. But could they make it work again? “We had a volatile relationship. I don’t know if that can last long-term.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I’m not going to.” She slid aside and flipped the book open, holding it close to her face so Cassie couldn’t see. The words blurred momentarily, then came into focus, sharp and stabbing.

True love’s kiss died on her lips

and rotted into my soul.

Without her, I’m a stinking corpse.

Mindless, dead to everything.

Except pain.

Ouch.
Writing must’ve been therapeutic for him. But the pain and anger still lingered. She’d seen it in his face, heard it in his voice, felt it in his thrusts. A shudder wracked her body, mixing regret and desire.
Do I want him back?

Animated conversation disrupted her thoughts, and she slapped the book shut. “I’m going for a walk.” She stood and stretched, selling the idea that she needed exercise. Cassie ignored her, and Flynn played a game on his phone.

Simone wandered down the hallway past the still rank locker rooms. The school had been built in a block with classrooms lining the outside walls, surrounding the gym and a library in the center. She ducked into the library and closed the door, blocking out the noise. “Quiet isn’t much better. Now I have to think.”

Cassie’s too-personal question buzzed in her brain while she strolled among the stacks, dragging her fingertips along rows of books. She found a dark alcove and sat down on the floor, flipping through Dash’s poems in the hope of finding an answer. The volume fell open in her hands, and the pages flipped to a crease in the spine as if that place had been read many times.

One title jumped out at her:

She Never Said the Words.

Obviously, I’m she.
But what words?

Chapter 11

The Belladonna’s Peak Fire Chief met Dash and the remainder of his crew in the middle of the street surrounded by burning homes. “We’ve got this.”

“Yeah, looks like it.” Dash fought back the urge to run to his home and assess its fate. He wouldn’t take the time to gather his belongings. Everything precious to him he carried in his heart. Things could be replaced. People couldn’t.

Wind swirled around them, flinging flaming debris onto roofs and setting them on fire. The unmistakable roar of a tornado thundered in the distance. Dash spotted the funnel cloud.
It’s headed for the command center.

He grabbed his radio. “Wilhelm HC to command, come in, over.” Static mocked him. “Simone! Flynn! Where are you?”

A tornado warning signal screeched through the speaker. The command staff would hear it and take cover. Maybe they already had.

Chief Rodgers sent her firefighters to a home in danger, but pulled Dash’s crew back.

“Let us help!” Dash clipped the radio to his belt and grabbed his axe. AJ and Jordy joined him.

The chief waved him off. “New orders. You and your crew are relieved.”

“Whose orders?”
Goddamn it, if Simone interfered again…!

“The governor. He’s sending in crews from all over the country. Take care of your homes and families.”

A plume of black smoke shot up one block over.
My street.
“My home is lost.” A lump caught in his throat and he swallowed hard.

“Then go after the people you love.” Chief Rodgers nodded toward the tornado’s path. “Good luck.” She smacked his arm, pushing him toward his truck.

“You too.” Dash switched the radio on. “Simone! I’m coming for you.” He didn’t know if she’d heard him or not, but announcing his intentions steeled his resolve as he jumped in his truck.

Jordy climbed in the passenger side. “My family evacuated and our home is gone. I’m counting on you to save my ass, Superintendent.”

“And we’re here to save yours.” Mason and AJ hopped in the truck bed.

Dash stomped on the gas and they tore out of the burning subdivision, following the funnel cloud until it dissipated. Tree branches and siding ripped from buildings pummeled the truck. Mason and AJ took cover while Jordy navigated Dash away from hazards.

“Jesus.” Dash muttered the word as they neared the command center, swerving around piles of twisted metal and shattered glass. Broken boards and tattered shingles covered the street. Smoke blew in from the west as the fire raced closer.

“Look at that!” Jordy pointed directly ahead as they slowed to a stop. Half the roof of the command center had been jerked off and dropped into the parking lot. The other half collapsed into the building. The roof on the office next door looked as if a giant hand had peeled it back, exposing the interior to the harsh conditions outside.

Dash jumped out of the truck and ran to the broken door. “Simone!” He kicked debris aside and tripped down the stairs. Sparking computers and shattered monitors surrounded him. “Hello! Anyone?” His heart pounded and cold sweat drenched his shirt.
I can’t lose her. Not forever.

His crew joined the search, but the building had been abandoned. “They must’ve got out.” Mason ducked as a tree branch dropped from the sky.

“Where’d they go?” AJ spun as the wind ripped the door from its frame.

“The school!” Dash sprinted up the stairs and surveyed the area. Billowing clouds of black smoke rolled across the landscape, filling the shortest route to the shelter with suffocating ash and soot.

“Can’t go north.” Jordy ran for the truck.

Dash gunned the engine. “We’ll have to take the Lincoln Bridge.” Blackened leaves and glowing embers rained down from the sky.

“Hope it’s still standing.” Mason shouted from the back.

I did
not
need to hear that.

Dash turned the truck south, driving at full speed while dodging flaming branches. “Where is this coming from?”

Jordy scanned the horizon. “There. Another fire is burning southwest of downtown.”

“Shit.” Last night when he couldn’t sleep, he’d dug though the personnel files and found Simone’s address. A violation of her privacy, unethical and probably illegal, but he had to know where she lived. In case of emergency, he’d told himself, as he’d committed the information to memory. Nice apartment complex. He’d checked the place out when he first moved to town.

But now it lay directly in the fire’s path. “I hope she didn’t go home.” Searching for her there would take them miles away from the bridge, but if he didn’t go look for her now, it would be too late to go back once they got to the school.
Damn it!
“What would Simone do?”

“Why’d you drag me to this thing?” Dash sat down on the first row of bleachers and took a bite from the hot dog dripping ketchup on his hand.

“Wyatt asked us to come. It’s his last game before he goes back to college.” Simone sipped her Coke. “And I didn’t drag you. Your mom drove.”

“As soon as I get my driver’s license, I’ll take us anywhere we want.”

“Two more years.”

Wyatt stepped up to bat and the crowd leaped to its feet, cheering their hero. Simone clapped and hollered, but Dash kept his seat, munching on the hot dog. “Why bother with all the noise? He can’t hear it.”

Simone sat down and swiped his last bite. “He’s deaf, not blind. He knows we’re here.”

“Yeah, but it’s just weird.” The hot dog rolled in his stomach. He glanced at the sun, his friends in the bleachers, Simone sucking her drink through a straw—anywhere but at his brother taking practice swings. “I don’t know how to talk to him.”

“Just like you talk to anyone else. He reads lips.”

“Yeah, but I’m afraid…” Crap, he hadn’t meant to say that. Stupid words came out before he knew what they meant. “He’s different. I don’t know what to do with that.”

“I’m different.” She laid her dark hand on his pale arm. “Why aren’t you afraid of me?”

“Because you’re a girl.”

“You’re such a dork.” She rolled her eyes and popped the lid off her cup. “I’m a black girl. Didn’t you see how the other white boys moved away from me when we sat down?”

Dash peered around her at the empty space between her and their classmates. “They were just making room for us.”

Simone glanced over her shoulder. “Brian moved all the way to the top row.” She stabbed the ice cubes with her straw. “And he said the N word.”

“I didn’t hear that.”

“He didn’t say it out loud. I can read lips too, especially that word.”

Dash turned and stared at Brian, narrowing his eyes at the creep who’d said something so vile to his best friend. He clenched his fist and shook it at the bastard as the sound of splitting wood ripped across the park, and Simone moved beside him.

“Duck!” She fell forward and hit the ground.

He spun and spotted half the bat flying toward him. A short scream escaped his dry mouth as instinct threw his arms up, crossing them in front of his throat. The bat hit his arm and deflected up, scratching across his cheek. Blood gushed from the wound. Dash pressed his fingers to his stinging face as Simone stood and dusted off her jeans.

“She’d save her own ass.” He signaled right, toward her apartment.

‘I have the responsibility of managing this county’s emergency systems and personnel.’
Simone’s declaration echoed in his head.

The broken bat had cut deep, leaving a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his face, but the injury could’ve been much worse. If Simone hadn’t warned him, it would’ve stabbed him in the neck.
She saved me. Why did I never see it before?
The girl he knew in high school would’ve taken care of herself, but his new boss protected her assets first. Going to the shelter and taking her staff with her appeared to be the logical option.

Dash pushed the gas pedal to the floor and headed for the bridge, hoping he’d made the right choice. He’d find Simone, keep her safe, and then…
Love her until I get hurt again?

Flames licked the grass alongside the highway, chasing the truck as it sped toward the bridge. The clouds above them twisted into a vortex of black smoke and green storm. Ashes swirled up from the ground and ignited, creating a blazing fire whirl.

“It’s coming straight for us!” Mason ducked behind the cab.

“Hang on!” Dash sped past the flaming core, racing over the bridge as the fiery tornado consumed an abandoned car behind them.

“Pull over! I gotta puke.” AJ leaned over the side and retched while Dash sped toward the school.

The truck roared down the empty road beside the river, passing the TV station. Would Cassie be there? Dash gazed at the sprawling brick building. He’d been there once when Cassie had given him a tour that ended with them having sex in a room filled with computer components and wires.

“Jesus Christ.” Jordy stared out the window on Dash’s side of the truck. AJ and Mason looked west too with their mouths hanging open. Dash slowed to a stop at a green light in a deserted intersection. He followed his crew’s gaze toward the horizon. From this point, he could see the entire city across the river. The fire had moved down the mountainside, leaving behind blackened destruction. Homes and businesses, including city hall, burned in an angry orange glow. Wind-blown debris and tree branches covered the streets.

“The entire east side is gone.” AJ sank down in the truck bed.

Mason rubbed his hand over his heart. “Will anything ever be the same?”

Dash’s hands slipped from the steering wheel, dragged by the enormous loss. How could they recover from this? They’d lost so much. Sure, the city could rebuild, but Brett and Ray could never be replaced.
Oh God.
He’d have to tell their families…if they survived. “We need to get to the school and find people.”

The light turned red, blurring in front of him. He wiped his eyes and drove around scattered tree branches, picking up speed as they passed a row of fast food restaurants, still open, still serving customers.

Life goes on.
He’d have to pick up the pieces of his shattered world and put it back together. He’d done it once before, but this time he wouldn’t do it alone. The school appeared on the horizon as clouds of smoke blotted out the sunset, and he took a short-cut across the football field.

“In a hurry?” Jordy held onto the door.

“I need to find someone.” One name rang in his ears. One goal, one purpose: put the past behind and start over even if the future looked uncertain and absolutely terrifying.

He spotted the EMS vehicle and pulled up next to it. “They’re here!” Dash led his crew to the front door, and found a police officer waiting to escort them to the gym. Eerie quiet greeted them. Most people slept on beds of blankets, towels, and even clothes they’d managed to bring with them. The officer gave them bottles of water and sent them to a less crowded area near the bleachers.

Cassie’s golden blonde hair spilled onto the floor while she curled up under a coat. Flynn leaned back against the bleachers, tapping away at his phone, oblivious to his surroundings.

“Where’s Simone?”
Dash spun, scanning the crowded gym.

Flynn tossed the mobile device aside and leaped to his feet. “Mad Dash is here to save us!”

Dash’s hand shot out and latched onto Flynn’s collar. “What did you call me?”

“Sorry.” The young man wheezed. “Simone told me how you got your nickname.”

“I’m gonna have words with her.” He released Flynn and flexed the tension from his fingers. “Don’t ever tell anyone.”

“But I love it.” Flynn pouted. “It fits my hero perfectly.”

“I’m no one’s hero.” Dash wandered over to a corner, hoping the darkness would swallow him up and snuff out his pain.

Flynn scurried after him. “But you are. You risked your life to save your crew during the Nightfall Canyon fire.”

He’d been the first on the scene, established a safety zone and escape routes, so when the fire turned against them, they been able to get away. “I did my job.” After they’d contained the fire, overblown stories about their battle had turned him into a hotshot legend.

“You drove into the burning mountains today and faced a hurricane, and God knows what other fiery hell to protect this city.”

But he’d lost two good men. His gut twisted and he braced his hands against the wall.

“Even if I make your crew, I’ll never be as awesome as you are.”

“Stop it!” Dash spun and nearly trampled his clinging fan. “Being a hero isn’t about doing amazing things. It’s about being there for people, not giving up when things get rough, and…”
Oh my God, I’m a failure and a fool.
He’d left Simone when life turned darkest, and he never came back. Never gave her a chance to prove him wrong. She’d needed him, but he’d been too wrapped up in his own pain and pride to see it.
Please forgive me, darlin’.