“You’re right.” I ripped off the seat belt and opened my door. “I want to talk to my father. Please don’t follow me, and don’t have Gabriel or Max follow me. If they do, I’m afraid I might kill them.”
Lightning lit up the sky, and rain began to fall as I stomped toward the hill. Everything inside me was turning upside down as memories filled my mind. The dam broke, and emotions flowed through me like tsunamis, ripping and tearing at the fabric of my sanity. I swung open the gate, fell to my knees on his grave, and pounded the ground with my fists. Tears fell, mixing with the rain as I began to scream.
34
Gabriel lifted the drapes and stared out the living room window. “The storm is getting worse. I’m going after her.”
“You can’t do that, Gabriel.” Karen came to stand beside him. “She has to do this on her own in her own way. She’s going to be okay.”
Dakota screamed, and it ripped through him, making him shudder. “Does that sound okay to you?”
“Actually, it does. I used to tell my clients the same thing I told Dakota. When life becomes too stressful, find a quiet place and scream at the sky. It’s very therapeutic.”
“I don’t know how long I can stand it.”
The screams continued for another five minutes. “Damn, the silence is worse than the screaming. Can I go now?”
Karen shook her head. “No. She has to find her way home.”
“Max, a little help.”
“Karen’s the expert here. Against my better judgment, we all agreed to let her handle this.” Max turned away from both of them. “I need a drink.”
Another flash of lightning streaked across the sky, and thunder clapped. “This is crazy. What if she’s hurt? She could have passed out.” Gabriel glared at Karen.
Karen sighed. “Give it five more minutes. If she’s not back by then, you can go looking for her. I’ll remind you, though—she said if we followed, she’d kill us.”
Gabriel grabbed a rain slicker from the coat rack near the door. “I’m dying anyway, so if she’s going to kill me, five minutes isn’t going to make that much of a difference. Lock the door behind me.”
A window smashed upstairs, and Karen grabbed his arm. “What was that?” The lights flickered once before plunging them into darkness.
“Max?” Gabriel whispered.
“I think he went to his bedroom.” Karen’s voice quivered. “I saw some candles earlier in the kitchen.”
Gabriel searched his memory for the layout of the house. “There’s a candelabra on the mantel.” He drew his gun and placed it in Karen’s hands. “Keep that trained on the stairway. If anybody comes down those stairs, shoot them.”
“What if it’s Dakota?”
“Shoot her.”
Gabriel banged his knee on the coffee table. “Damn, that hurts.” The mantel should be straight in front of him. He felt along the edge until his fingers closed around the candelabra. Kneeling, he slid his fingers along the fireplace wall until he found the box of matches. His hands were shaking. It took three tries before a tiny flame sparked. Get a grip, Browne. He lit the candles. “You okay, Karen?”
“Better now that we have some light. We should go find Max.”
Gabriel crossed the room and stared down the dark hallway. “One of us has to guard the stairs.”
“Great. Can’t we just call for him? If I scream loud enough, he should hear me.”
A crash came from the back of the house.
“Stay here.” Gabriel placed the candles on the floor and sprinted down the hallway.
“Be careful,” Karen whispered.
“I love your hair. It feels like silk.”
The water was warm, and I closed my eyes, wanting to sink beneath the surface.
“This will all be over soon. We can go away and start a new life.”
My body felt weightless. Smoke filled the room as the flames burned higher.
Max was lying on the floor, blood seeping from a gash in his head.
“Max,” I whispered.
“Max!” Rain slashed at my face as I used the tombstone to pull myself up. A bolt of lightning lit up the night, outlining the figure near the apple orchard. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew who it was. “Salyer!”
I drew my gun. There was no way I could hit him from there, and if I chased him, Max would die. I sprinted toward the house, his laughter carrying on the wind as he disappeared into the trees.
The house was dark as I took the steps two at a time, hand outstretched to open the door. Locked. “Let me in!”
The door opened slowly, and I ignored the gun pointed at me. “Where’s Max?”
“Gabriel went to find him.” Karen lowered the gun. “I think something happened to him. There was noise upstairs too. The lights went out.”
“Lock the door and stay here. Salyer’s out there.”
“Really?” Karen’s eyes enlarged, and her hands shook.
I flipped the locks on the door. “On second thought, grab the candles and come with me.” I hurried down the hallway with Karen hot on my heels. Smoke was beginning to balloon near the end. “Gabriel! Max!”
“Down here!” Gabriel coughed. “I can’t get the door open. When the electricity went off, it sealed.”
“The fuse box is in the basement. You and Karen check it out. Don’t open the door until I get the fire out, and be careful. Salyer is somewhere in the area.” I headed up the hallway.
“Where are you going?” Gabriel called after me.
“To save my partner.” I didn’t stop to explain as I ran through my fire training in my mind. The door is closed, so I should be safe in breaking the window as long as I get in and out fast. Salyer had made a mistake. We had made most of Max’s rooms fireproof. Only the wood around the door and the ceiling would burn, but that would be enough to kill Max from smoke inhalation. I exited the house, having stopped only long enough to grab a fire extinguisher and turn the bottom lock so the door would lock behind me.
The storm was raging as I jumped down the steps and sprinted around the house. My spine was tingling from the knowledge that Salyer could be lurking close by. “If he wants to stop me, he’ll have to kill me.” I drew my gun as I ran, and when I reached the back, I pumped six bullets into the window. Using the fire extinguisher, I knocked off the glass remaining at the bottom, then I tossed the extinguisher into the room.
Holstering my gun, I removed my jacket quickly, tossed it over the sill, and hefted myself up. “I’m coming, Max.”
Smoke billowed out of the window, and flames shot toward the roof. Max was lying in front of his desk, and I prayed being close to the floor had saved him. He moaned as I rolled him over.
“I’ve got you, partner.” I wouldn’t be able to carry him outside. The best I could do was drag him toward the window and heft him up so his head was in fresh air. “Please don’t die on me, Max. I need you to live.” I grabbed him under both arms and moved slowly backward until my back touched the wall, then I moved my arms underneath his and wrapped them around his chest. “One, two, three.” I hefted his upper body and leaned him over the windowsill. “Be right back, buddy.”