until finally, she hit pavement. Less than a half-mile down the road, she veered to the left onto another dirt path that obviously hadn’t been used, it was so full of weeds. The path took her through dusty brush, thick grass, and short, spindly trees. Sumac, she thought as she steered a hard right and came to a gentle stop. At last the long, elegant car was out of sight from the road.
Mr. Vlad was either asleep, unconscious, or dead by then, but, short of leaving Jameson behind, she’d done all she could. Scared to death he might already be dead, she ran like the wind, backtracking with her meager arsenal to burn the barn down. The night was dark, but there was just enough ambient light to keep her headed in the right direction. Past all those flat tires and into the deep, dark shadowy barn she raced, her pulse a pounding, throbbing beast in her chest, making it harder and harder to catch a breath. Finally, at the haystack piled at the far wall, with the tire iron at her side, she dropped to her knees and prayed this crazy plan worked.
A single BOOM from the house snapped her head up. God, she hoped that was Jameson’s signal. There was no longer a choice. She had to act now! As if he were standing right there beside her, his other encouraging words flashed to mind. I like that you’re willing to fight for our lives.
“I’m sure trying,” she told him, her heart pounding so hard that her chest felt ready to explode. She flicked the lighter’s igniter wheel, but her fingers were trembling, and she was breathing too hard, and she blew the tiny flame out the second it sprang to life.
“OhGodOhGodOhGod, help me.” She’d just managed another spark when—
BLAM, BLAM, BOOM! Jameson was in trouble!
Hurry, hurry, hurry! Into the hay went that little, orange spark and—
WHOOSH!
“Oh, crap!” The entire pile of hay ignited into one huge, hungry fireball. Without taking a breath, it leaped straight up into the wooden timbers of the loft overhead, its wicked tendrils jumping from one rafter to another as if they were in a race. Another hissing whoosh sent sparks flying in all directions. She’d created a monster fireworks show that had morphed from a tiny spark into an out-of-control inferno. Even now, long, crackling tongues of fire licked at the roof overhead. The single, tiny flame from a gas station convenience store was igniting every speck of wood it touched. And some it didn’t.
Scared for her life and crab-crawling backward as fast as she could, Maddie scrambled out of the burning barn and made it between two parked cars just as the farmhouse door burst open.
Right on cue, some guy bellowed, “Fire!”
Good grief! She was on fire, too! Her pants were smoking. She patted her thighs and legs, smothering whatever sparks had gotten into the fabric, then she rolled to her knees for a fast getaway. She’d known fumes and dust were incendiary and could explode, seeing the power it held was another thing all together. She had no idea this old barn would burn that fast or so hot. Her face felt sunburned, and that lightning quick ignition had literally sucked the oxygen out of her lungs.
But it was done. No one had yet spotted the flat tires. Most of the guys were running around, looking for hoses. Mission accomplished. One man down. One to rescue. Maddie Bannister, the woman her father had never believed in, had, in fact, never heard or actually seen—not even once—through all her seventeen years living in his house, would rescue the man she cared about. Jameson said he’d wanted a date, well, tonight was that night.
“I’m c-c-coming,” she told him over the roar of the flames behind her, “and you’d better be ready to go when I g-g-get there.”
Chapter Eleven
Jameson turned himself into a radar dish, his senses unfurled like solar panels into the universe of sight and sound, soaking up every last nuance radiating off the men standing outside his door. They were here to kill him. He’d heard them coming, had even startled them with a shot from his pistol. Sure, it brought a shitload of trouble his way, but that was okay. He’d anticipated three shots, but had been surprised when one of those blasts came from a shotgun. That hollow core door was now splintered, and he knew he’d probably die in the next few minutes. But Maddie would live.