Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“P lease, pick up.”
Val lost count of how many times he’d called Saint, but it went to voicemail.
Regardless he kept doing it, each time hoping that would be the call Saint picked up.
In his gut, he knew Saint was in trouble, but he refused to believe worse.
The man he loved was fucking smart and resilient.
He’d been through so much and survived. Val wasn’t going to lose him, not at the hands of that asshole.
Adrian Floyde.
Never in a million years would Val have thought one of his firefighters would go to such lengths to get rid of him.
Adrian had never warmed up to him, but before Val had come out, he’d at least been respectful, taking orders and doing his job.
Everything went to shit with him after Val came out, but he never would have thought the guy was capable of murder.
What Adrian had done back then had been bad enough, but something must have happened to send him over the edge like this. Val’s phone, connected to the car’s Bluetooth, rang, and he hit the answer button.
“Mason.”
“Dammit, Serrano. I’ve been calling your ass for the last twenty minutes!”
“Sorry, I’ve been trying to get a hold of Saint.”
“I’m guessing you’ve had no luck?”
“No. You know what’s going on?”
“Ryden brought us up to speed. Me and the guys are almost there. Where are you?”
“About to turn onto 16 th Street.”
“We’ll see you soon.”
Val hung up, his stomach feeling like it was full of lead at the sight of the black smoke filling the sky, a glow coming from Saint’s apartment building.
He turned on Atlantis Circle and into the parking lot.
It was filled with flashing lights from the various first responder vehicles.
It was all hands on deck as they tried to put the fire out, but it would take at least another hour or two for a three-story apartment building of this size.
Quickly parking, Val jumped out of his SUV and cursed.
Flames shot up into the night sky, and the entire top floor of the building was engulfed.
Adrian had used an accelerant. There would be no saving the building.
As he got closer, he saw a large group of people outside near the second apartment building, some talking to officers.
They had to be the building’s residents.
Police tape had been set up across the lot, keeping pedestrians and neighbors from getting any closer.
Val moved through the crowd that had gathered, most likely from the apartment building across the lot, along with neighboring homes.
He excused himself as he pushed through, looking for Saint.
Damn it. Saint wasn’t there, but then he hadn’t expected him to be.
When he reached the police officer near the tape, he was thankful he recognized the man.
“Hey, Carter.”
“Hey, Chief. Sorry, I mean, Val. Still getting used to that.”
“I need to get through.”
Carter worried his bottom lip. “I don’t know. You’re a civilian now. I don’t think the new chief would—”
“Please, Carter. This is my boyfriend’s apartment building, and he’s not answering his phone.”
“Shit.” Carter hesitated but lifted the tape, and Val thanked him as he ducked under it. He spotted his former lieutenant and ran over.
“Martinez!”
Martinez flipped his visor up, his frown deep. “Chi—I mean, Val. What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here. The building isn’t safe.”
“This is my boyfriend’s apartment building. Talk to me. Please.”
“We believe the fire was caused by an explosion in one of the apartments on the top floor. We have no idea if there are any more devices, but my guess is they would have gone off by now if there were. There was a second smaller explosion, but we don’t believe an incendiary device caused it.
An accelerant was likely used from what the tenants described and how fast the fire spread. ”
Val ran a hand over his face. “Okay, um, my boyfriend. Have you seen him? He’s over six feet tall, brown hair, wearing a black T-shirt and gray cargo pants.”
“I haven’t seen him, but the building was cleared before we arrived. One of the tenants said her neighbor helped everyone out. Former military?”
“That’s him. Who did you speak to?”
Martinez turned and pointed into the crowd. “The lady with the white hair and gray shawl.”
“Thanks.” Val hurried over, stopping in front of the older woman. “Hi. I was told you saw Saint.”
She blinked at him.
“Santos?”
“Oh, yes! Such a good boy. He helped everyone get out of the building.”
Val had no doubt Saint had risked his life to get everyone to safety. He just hoped he’d managed to do the same for himself.
“Are you Mrs. Alvarez?”
“Yes.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“After Santos helped us, he moved us here, away from the building. He said it was not safe. Then he told us to wait for the police and left.”
“Do you know where he went?”
She pointed to the side of the burning building. There was a small pond and lots of greenery, shrubs, and trees. He could just about make out a white fence at the back.
“Thank you.” He took off in the same direction Saint had gone in.
If he’d run off and left his neighbors, it had to be because Adrian had been here.
Had he stayed to admire his handy work? To make sure Saint had died?
The bomb had most likely been placed in Saint’s apartment since it was on the third floor.
Val had no idea how Saint knew or how he’d managed to get out when he did, but Val was extremely grateful.
As much as Val knew Saint could handle himself, Adrian was dangerous and unpredictable. Who knew what else he had planned? He’d put so many lives in danger, and for what?
When Val arrived at the fence, he frowned. Well, shit. He’d bet his tavern that Saint had jumped over. Val grabbed the top of the fence and one of the fence posts. He propped his foot on a horizontal slat and pulled himself up with a groan.
“I’m too fucking old for this bullshit.”
“Hey there, Chief. Need help?”
Val blinked at Joker and Jack standing on the other side of the fence. What the…?
“You know the fence ends over there, right?” Joker pointed to Val’s right, and from his position at the top, he could see that, sure enough, the damned fence stopped because of some trees.
“Son of a bitch.” Val glared at Joker. “How long have you two assholes been standing there?” He finished climbing over the fence and jumped down, landing on the grass.
“Long enough to hear you questioning your life choices,” Jack replied with a big grin.
“Fuck you,” Val growled. “I’m not questioning my life choices, but I might be questioning my choice in friends.”
The pair of mischief-makers laughed when a shadow sped out from the trees, scaring the shit out of Val. That made Joker laugh even harder.
“Holy shit! You jumped so high I thought you were going to end up back on the other side of the fence.”
“Can’t you put reflectors or something on your demon dog?” Val asked, a hand over his heart. “Fucking hell.”
“If I did, then you’d see him coming.”
Chip was practically invisible. With his all-black fur and dark eyes, he almost vanished in the shadows.
He sat perfectly still, his gaze on Joker.
It looked like Chip was in work mode because he was waiting for orders.
With Chip here, their chances of finding Saint faster had vastly improved.
Chip was a bomb-sniffing dog, and Val would guess that either Saint or Adrian reeked of smoke and chemicals.
“Hey.”
Val turned at the familiar drawl, glad to see Mason.
He wasn’t surprised Ace and Lucky were with him; he was surprised to see King.
But then, after what Adrian had done, he should have known.
The guys were dressed in all black. Black T-shirts with black tactical pants and boots.
If they were armed, their weapons were concealed.
“What are we dealing with?” King asked, right to the point.
“His name is Adrian Floyde, and he was one of my pipemen.”
Jack shook his head. “That can’t be right. He was one of the guys I looked into. He moved into his mother’s house in South Carolina shortly after he was fired. He hasn’t left the state since. There’s a digital paper trail of him working at the local grocery store.”
“Was there footage? Did you actually see him working at the store?” Mason asked.
Jack frowned. “The town is so small, the only building that has any surveillance is the bank, and it’s nowhere near the grocery store. I checked his credit card statements and bank records. There were no charges made outside of his town.”
“He could have paid cash,” Ace said. “That’s what I would do if I didn’t want someone keeping tabs on me.”
“I thought of that, so I called the store, and the manager said Adrian was in the back stocking shelves. Son of a bitch lied to me.” Jack shook his head, frustrated.
“Don’t beat yourself up. Adrian is smart. He’s either been planning this for a while or thinking about it.”
“Who is he?” Mason asked.
“He was behind the sexual assault charges several years ago. The big court case.”
“I remember,” Mason pitched in. “It was before I made detective. The case was dismissed after another firefighter submitted evidence showing the whole thing had been a set-up.”
“Yeah. Pete wasn’t a bad guy,” Val said.
“He let his best friend rope him into that mess, convincing him it was for the good of the firehouse, but in the end, Pete couldn’t go through with it.
The recording that was supposed to have incriminated me ended up showing the truth and getting the case dismissed. ”
“Recording?” Jack asked, confused.