Chapter 39 Reed
reed
Wayne huffed frustrated breaths against the ground, kicking up little puffs of dust. It was so fucking dry, I thought I could smell smoke.
“Tell me!” I yelled into his ear, pushing him harder into the dirt, wishing I could push and push until the earth swallowed him whole, burying him beneath.
He gurgled a word beneath the force of my hand against his jaw. I racked the slide, chambering the round, punctuating just how serious I was this time.
His lips moved, trying to form words. I eased up enough for him to get some sound out. “Your daughter,” he managed to say.
My stomach dropped, and cold, clammy fear washed over me. “What about my daughter?”
The scent of smoke permeated the air, and I thought I could hear the crack and popping of wood as it was consumed with fire. I sniffed, lifting my head, looking around me. A tree about a hundred yards from me was burning, smoke building and billowing behind it.
From the direction of the ranch!
“Fuck!”
I sprang to my feet.
Wayne sputtered and coughed, rolling onto his back. The side of his face was all scraped up from the rocks and dirt. “It smells like you’re too late,” Wayne said, chuckling through his coughs.
The fire was building and growing, inching closer as if a clock were ticking down.
I glared at Wayne, aiming the gun at him. “Where’s my daughter?”
His dirt and tobacco-stained teeth flashed at me in a snarling grin. “Where do you think?”
My hand gripped the Glock, my finger squeezing the trigger as I aimed for his thigh. The gun was heavy in my grasp as I steadied my hand, then fired.
It took him a moment, but then he gripped his leg in shock. “You shot me!”
“Where’s Penn and Lina?” I repeated, clearing the chamber.
Wayne’s eyes narrowed on me in defiance.
I knelt down beside him, and he looked at me suspiciously. Digging the barrel of the gun into his now bleeding leg, he flinched, then cried out when I dug harder. “Fucking tell me!” I roared.
He cocked his head toward the fire that was quickly consuming the forest around us. I looked toward the flames, but all I saw was smoke. I could feel the blistering heat now.
I stood, turning my back on Wayne where he lay, still holding his thigh.
“Let’s see how you get out of this one,” I said, racking another round and aiming for his foot. The shot rang off the bluffs, and he howled in pain. “I hope you fucking burn.” I turned away from him.
And ran toward the fire.
I held my shirt collar over my nose and mouth, my eyes burning from the thickening smoke all around me. I was determined to reach them. The fire seemed to intensify the deeper I went, the heat feeling like a fucking sunburn against my skin.
But I was nearing the southeast property line of Thornbrush.
I knew if I walked nearly a mile away from the fire, I’d reach a trail that separated the dense pines from the ranch.
The trail ran along the fence line. I could get around it, then, and hopefully reach Penn and Lina.
We’d have to start evacuating the horses.
Fear and love fueled me. My muscles were straining and my lungs burned, but I didn’t fucking care. I needed to reach them before it was too late.
lina
“Penn!” The fire was spreading, catching every dry blade of grass, cutting off my path.
Junior was already scooping her up. Panic was rushing through my veins.
“I’m coming!” I yelled, rushing over to the stock tank and turning on the spigot.
The well-line thumped and sputtered with air before a gush of water rushed out to fill the bone-dry trough.
The hum of an ATV sounded in the distance, and I spun around to see Romy with Charli on her back in a carrier behind the wheel.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
The last thing I wanted was to risk Romy and Charli. Jude would never forgive me.
She didn’t even respond, her chin set stubbornly as she jumped off the vehicle and ran to unstrap the buckets she had on the back.
“I saw the fire from the house,” she explained, rushing over to me. Charli bounced at her back, oblivious to everything as she sucked her fist. “I already called the fire department.”
We did not have any time to wait. Who knew how long it’d take for firetrucks to reach us out here.
“Thank fuck.” I sighed, taking a bucket from her.
We both rushed over to the stock tank, scooping up water and running to extinguish the flames.
Junior wrestled to get Penn in the truck.
But I was so proud of our girl. She was thrashing, kicking, and biting.
Doing everything possible to make it challenging for him to keep hold of her as he dragged her back to his truck.
The flames separated us, only giving me glimpses as the fire moved like waves in the ocean.
The fire was spreading fast—too fast. It had already jumped to the other side of the trail, lighting the forest on fire.
I paused in shock, taking in the blaze around us. Dried grass and sagebrush was starting to light, spreading toward us, scorching the earth black.
“Romy!” I cried. “Our ranch is on fire!”
I couldn’t believe it. My family’s land. My home. How were we going to stop this?
We were driven by fear and panic, filling bucket after bucket of water, dousing out what flames we could as it licked across the pasture.
“Penn!” I heard a terrified cry.
I spun toward his voice and froze, seeing Reed sprinting toward Penn and Junior.
“Daddy!” she yelled back, still fighting against Junior’s hold.
“Get your fucking hands off my daughter!”
Desperate now, I grabbed another bucketful. “We need to find a break in the line,” I told Romy. “Reed is over there. We need to get them out of there!”
My heart pounded with my feet. I didn’t stop. Frantically moving my way down the fence line with each bucketful.
“Junior!” Reed roared.
He was pointing his pistol at Junior, who now stood frozen at his driver’s side door, Penn still thrashing against his grip.
“You’re not going to shoot me, Reed.” Junior’s voice was unnervingly calm. “Not when I have your daughter.”
“Let her go.” Reed leveled his eyes on Junior, aiming well above Penn.
I wanted to cry out to him, but I was too scared that any distraction meant taking his eyes off Penn for a single second. A single, precious second Junior could use to throw Penn in his truck, creating an even greater barrier to reach her.
“Shouldn’t you be over there helping your slut save her ranch?” Junior sneered. “See, you fucked up, Reed. All I had to do was give you Lina’s little stalker, and I knew Penn would be reachable.”
Reed’s eyes flicked to me for just a moment, a flash of fear as he spotted me on the other side of the fire. But it didn’t cause Reed to lose focus. The determined, strong man that he was only turned his hard gaze back on Junior.
“Are you really going to let the land you believe to be yours burn over a woman and her child?” Reed threw back at him.
“Because I can tell you right now, if you don’t let my daughter go, I will put a bullet through your head and this land will never be yours.
Any claim you think you have will die with you, right here and now. ”
“Reed.” I sobbed, hearing his words. He had to see the gun at Junior’s waist. He had to know he could pull it just as easily as he could.
My heart pounded, the smoke stinging my eyes and throat.
“Reed, please,” I breathed, knowing I was too quiet for him to hear me against the roaring flames …
knowing I could barely get the words out as I watched him take a step toward them, the barrel trained on Junior.
“Let her go, Junior. You’re burning your land down.”
Junior appeared to be contemplating something. His jaw moved as if he were chewing his thoughts as his wheels turned.
Without a word, his hold barely loosened, and Penn was out of his grasp.
Running toward her dad. “Daddy!”
I choked a sob. Tears were streaming down my face, the heat drying them as soon as they fell.
Junior hopped into his truck. The engine roared to life. He put it into reverse, hitting the gas pedal. Hard. The truck barreled backward down the trail. Backing up right toward them, gaining on Penn as she tried her hardest to outrun the tires.
“Penn! The truck!” I screamed, my voice cracking against the choking smoke. I couldn’t watch this. I couldn’t see this terror play out.
Reed took off running toward her. My heart was in my throat, watching him as he swooped her up into his arms and took one giant step off the trail just as Junior’s truck rushed past them, nearly clipping them.
I clapped a hand to my mouth, sobbing.
“Give me that bucket.” Romy grabbed the bucket from my hand.
I stumbled toward the fire, watching them on the other side. I was completely helpless. My body was trembling. I couldn’t reach them. The fire was spreading, growing, covering them. What wasn’t ablaze was as black as tar.
“Reed,” I cried.
He looked at me through the flames, his eyes tortured as he gripped his daughter to him.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” he told me.
“No,” I shook my head. “No.”
“Go, Lina,” Romy pleaded. “Go get Mushu and Warrior. Tell Reed to get to the river. You’re going to need to ride fast now. I’ll keep shoveling buckets until the fire department gets here.”
I turned to look at her. I couldn’t leave her and Charli to deal with this.
But her mouth was set in determination, her eyes bright with urgency. “Go!” she repeated.
I gave a single nod, staring at Reed and Penn for the last time.
“Get to the river!” I shouted over the blaze. “I’m coming to get you.”