Fatal Burn

  Travis! The horses!

  Through the window she saw flames skyrocket through the roof of the stable.

  Travis threw open the door of the horse barn. Fire, smoke and intense heat radiated toward him from the far side, the paddock side of the building. The horses, trapped in their stalls were panicked, shrieking. Smoke lay thick and black, stinging his eyes, blinding him as it billowed toward him. Coughing, spraying retardant in front of him, Travis started with the first stall, unlatching the gate, inching forward.

  A buckskin horse hurtled past him, hooves clattering on the cement as she headed at full gallop toward the open door to the parking lot.

  He moved six feet to his left and found another stall and quickly unlocked the gate. Again a huge animal raced past him, nearly knocking him down.

  Shit, he couldn’t see anything, but so far, there was more smoke than flames. He moved forward, one stall at a time, horses racing toward him and at the far end, when the smoke cleared he saw her.

  His daughter. Bound and gagged, standing just inside the door to the paddock.

  He couldn’t believe his eyes. She was alive! And so close. She was shaking her head violently, terror in her eyes as he stepped forward. A heartbeat later he knew his mistake as a thin line at his ankle level broke.

  He threw himself forward.

  An explosion rocked the building.

  He was blasted from his feet.

  He landed against a stall door and stunned, saw fireballs shoot through the building.

  Dani! Where was she?

  “No!” Shannon screamed. Not Travis! She ran from the kennels to the stable, seeing the horses flying out of the burning building. “Travis!” she screamed frantically, coughing, the smoke stinging her nose and eyes. “Travis!”

  Far in the distance, she heard sirens.

  “Hurry, damn it,” she thought, racing into the burning building. “Travis!” The smoke was so thick and black, she couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe. Flames crawled up the walls and one lone horse screamed in terror.

  Pushing herself forward, feeling the heat, she saw the final stall. The horse, a bay gelding, was terror-stricken, running in circles, rearing and whistling. “Hang on,” Shannon said, spraying retardant, choking and forcing herself forward. “Travis!” she cried as a window shattered. Glass sprayed wildly. Shards rained on her hair, scratched her face. The horse screamed in terror. “Travis!” Where was he? Jesus, please let him be safe. “Travis!”

  The gelding was out of his mind. His eyes were wide with terror, rimmed in white. Lather, now red with blood from the flying shards of glass, stained his dark, wet coat. “It’s okay, boy,” she said soothingly, all the while searching for Travis. “Shan…. Calm down.”

  Her lungs were scorched, on fire. Her fingers fumbled with the latch. Come on, come on! Where the hell was Travis? Where?

  Finally the latch gave way, she pulled the gate open and the horse shot through, running wildly, careening down the hallway. “Travis!” she called again as she sprayed at the flames, watched in horror as they climbed up the walls.

  BAM!

  Another explosion sent her feet out from under her. She saw the roof, aflame, start to collapse.

  “Oh, God, no!” Scrambling, crawling backward, she tried to escape. Her boots slid as splinters of glass drove deep into her palms. She had to get out. “Travis!” she cried. She couldn’t lose him. Couldn’t! With a groan a burning beam listed, started to fall.

  Shooting to her feet, Shannon ran after the horses, hearing the sirens wailing. Closer. Oh, please! Hurry, hurry, hurry!

  She flung herself through the doorway, gasping and choking, tears streaming from her eyes as she searched for Travis. The horses and dogs were running down the road, in jeopardy of being hit by fire engines racing toward the inferno.

  What had happened? What?

  She looked to the corner of the woods and she spied a girl. Standing alone, shivering and shaking, her hands and feet bound, her mouth gagged, visible because of the hideous orange light climbing skyward.

  Dani!

  Shannon recognized her in an instant.

  Her daughter.

  Alive!

  Oh, baby!

  Her heart squeezed and she rushed forward, racing across the gravel of the lot, ignoring the fact that blood was running from her face, from her hands. “I’m coming,” she yelled, coughing, still dazed as the sirens shrieked and smoke poured into the night sky. Who had done this to her? Why?

  Dani, crying, was shaking her head wildly, but not moving. As if she was pinned to the spot. She was frantic. Crazed. No doubt from her ordeal. “Hang on!” Shannon said, staring into the girl’s terrified eyes.

  Only when she was within ten feet did she realize that Dani wasn’t shaking her head from fear, but because she was trying to say something, to warn her.

  A trap?

  She stepped forward and heard a horrifying whoosh. In a heartbeat a ring of fire surrounded her, separating her from the girl as gas ignited the ground around her.

  Spinning, she saw her attacker.

  Her heart plummeted.

  A man in black, wearing a hood over his head, looking like Satan himself approached her. She tried to scramble backward as eyes gleamed through the slits over his eyes. “Who are you? What do you want?” she cried, but he didn’t say a word. “Where’s Travis?”

  She started to run, but faced a wall of flame.

  And then he was on her. She fought hard, flailing, trying to wound him, writhing and squirming as the flames crackled and hissed around her. She couldn’t let him win. She had to get to Dani. To Travis. But he was heavy and strong, forcing her onto the ground, seemingly unconcerned about the fire. Her shoulder screamed in pain.

  He grabbed a handful of hair, pulled back and the stitches in her scalp ripped. She struggled desperately to fling him off and smelled gas.

  Gasoline?

  Here? In this conflagration?

  Her eyes widened in horror. He was pressing her chest and abdomen on the ground, his long body over hers. Reaching around her head with his free hand, he stuffed a gasoline soaked rag over her nose and mouth. She tried to bite his hand and failed, the taste of gasoline filling her mouth. She gagged and he snarled against her ear, “Fight me, and you’ll fry.”

  She didn’t doubt him for a second.

  She tried to scream, to get away, but the fumes of gasoline, so dangerous, were close to the flames and filling her nose, her mouth, her throat. “That’s right, Shannon,” he hissed in a voice that was chillingly familiar. “Try anything smart, and I’ll light a match and watch as the flames crawl straight into your lungs.”

  She froze. Fought the urge to pass out.

  A few more minutes.

  Only a few more minutes.

  The fire trucks are near!

  Hang on, she told herself as blackness pulled at the edges of her consciousness. Don’t let this bastard win.

  But it was too late. She couldn’t draw a breath without being overwhelmed by the fumes.

  Her head was swimming. Her stomach roiled.

  Despite her best efforts, she lost consciousness.

  Dani screamed, her lungs feeling as if they would explode, her mouth gagged. The woman—her mother—was being dragged away by the Beast and the flames were getting so close. She kicked at the rope that restrained her, held her tight to the ring of fire where he’d swooped down on her mother.

  Dani was staked to the ground. He’d used one of the spikes for tethering horses to keep her in one position. The rope holding her to the stake was short, didn’t give her much room to move. Damn it all! She’d fought him when he’d brought her here, tried to get away. She’d jabbed the nail at his eyes and felt it sink through flesh. He’d howled in pain and fury, but he’d still held her fast, tightening her to the stake while blood poured down his snarling face. She’d thought he might kill her then, but he’d kept on his mission. While she was tethered, like some kind of bait for a predator, her efforts t
o free herself in vain, she’d watched in horror as he set his plan in motion. Lights in an upstairs room went out, then the Beast started bringing over the gallons of gasoline he’d lugged from the truck, which was parked half a mile away on a back road.

  She’d tried to warn someone.

  Screamed long and hard until her throat was raw.

  Because of the damned gag no one had heard her and though a few of the dogs had barked, no one had paid any attention.

  Until he’d set the fire and come back for her. To use her as damned bait!

  She’d seen her father and the woman running across the parking lot, going into the buildings that the Beast had booby-trapped.

  “No! No! No!” she’d yelled as he’d positioned her near the horse barn. Dani had cried and stomped her feet, but the creep had held her fast. Until her father, in the barn that was burning, had seen her. He’d tried to reach her, but couldn’t.

  Terror had filled her. The Beast had killed her father. He couldn’t have survived.

  But the pervert hadn’t been finished. He’d brought her back to this small clearing and staked her where she would be visible from the parking lot. Animals had begun streaming from the buildings. Then the explosions had begun.

  Desperately she’d kicked and fought, tried to pull away.

  Now she lunged forward and ended up falling flat on her face, her eyes only inches from flames that were crawling closer, eating the dry twigs and leaves and grass that surrounded her. Dust and soot filled her nostrils and every muscle in her body ached. But she couldn’t give in.

  She trembled, scooting backward, knowing she was doomed.

  That prick had finally done it. He’d found a way to kill her. Bastard! she thought. Sick, perverted creep!

  What could she do?

  How could she save herself?

  She heard the sound of sirens…Please, please, would they see her in time? She tried to get to her feet again. Only to fall.

  The flames were licking closer when she saw movement.

  A dark shadow.

  Her heart sank. The psycho had come back for her.

  “I’ve got you,” a strong male voice said, and pulling a sharp knife from his pocket, he sliced through the tether. Grabbing her, he hauled her from the flames just as the first fire engine, lights flashing, siren screeching, roared into the area.

  The truck slid to a stop.

  Firefighters poured from the big vehicle as an ambulance arrived.

  “Are you okay?” the man holding her asked as he pulled off her gag.

  She nodded. “Who are you?”

  “Nate Santana. I know your father and…and your birth mother.”

  “My dad,” she said, tears filling her eyes.

  “Shh. He’s okay.” He placed her on the ground and cut her wrists and ankles free. “I got to him first.” He managed a thin smile. “He’s gonna be glad to see you. Come on.”

  He nodded toward the house while other trucks arrived. She saw her dad propped up against the porch, gasping for air. At the sight of him, she broke into a run. “Dad!” she cried and before he could climb to his feet she threw herself at him, landing in his arms, clinging to him and sobbing wildly.

  “Dani,” he whispered, his voice rough as he held her as if he would never let her go. “Dani.” Tears ran from his soot-streaked face and though he fought it, she felt him begin to sob. “Are you okay? Honey?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did he hurt you?”

  “No…Dad…he…I’m okay.” She looked up at him with her wide green eyes. “Really.”

  His voice cracked. “You’re safe, now. Oh, God, you’re safe, little girl. I won’t let anything like this ever happen to you again! I swear.”

  She was crying, too, clinging to him as he, still holding her, climbed to his feet. Around them the firefighters snaked hoses, started pumping water, barked orders. The horse barn was ablaze, flames threatening the garage. Firefighters trained nozzles on the roofs of the surrounding buildings. Gallons of water shot into the air, wetting down the roof of the house, garage and kennel, while firefighters battled the flames roaring in the stable.

  “Hey you,” a female firefighter yelled, pointing their way. “Get out of the way! Is there anyone else here?”

  “Shannon,” Travis said, looking around. His heart lurched when he didn’t see her and realized that all the stock was set free. “She’s here—”

  “No! He’s got her,” Dani blurted out.

  “What?” God, she looked thin and pale. It was all Travis could do not to hold her and rock her and forget everything else.

  “He took her away.”

  Oh, God no! “What do you mean?” he demanded, but he knew, deep in his soul, he knew what his daughter meant. Abject horror clawed at him.

  “He’s got her!” Dani said, her eyes filled with a wisdom far beyond her years. Travis’s blood turned to ice. “The woman with the curly red hair, the one in the picture…She’s my mom, isn’t she?” Her little chin was thrust out, her eyes pinning him, daring him to lie, looking so much like Shannon, his heart cracked.

  “Yes,” he admitted, thinking how desperate Dani had been to find her birth mother and now that she had, Shannon was missing, in the clutches of the psycho who had abducted her. For a second he felt as if his entire world had collapsed. Having come this far, having found his daughter, knowing Dani was safe, only to lose Shannon. He squeezed Dani as if afraid she would vanish into thin air.

  “The Beast has her. We have to save her!”

  “We will, honey. We will,” Travis vowed, hoping that, as water ran beneath his feet and the air was filled with the stench of damp, charred wood, he wasn’t lying.

  Santana pinned Dani with intense eyes. “Who’s the Beast?”

  “The psycho!” Dani clarified as if Nate was an idiot. “That weird pervert who tricked me!”

  “Shit,” Nate said.

  The female firefighter, her face already streaked beneath her helmet, her expression severe, bore down on them. “Is there anyone in the house or any of the buildings?” Silhouetted by the backdrop of angry flames hissing and sparking to the heavens, she looked from one to the other.

  “No.” Travis shook his head.

  She glanced at Nate for confirmation while firefighters shouted, yelled orders, and dragged hoses through the soggy mud and trails of water, all the while spraying great flumes upon the buildings. Dogs barked wildly, horses shrilled and the lights of the engines strobed the night.

  “No one,” Nate shouted over the din. “Everyone’s out. But there’s a woman missing. Shannon Flannery. The owner of this place.” Nate pointed to Dani. “This is Dani Settler, the girl the police have been looking for. She says that the guy who abducted her brought her here, used her as bait to get at Shannon, then abducted her.” His face was hard and set, a mirror of the firefighter’s as he stared down at Dani. “Isn’t that right?”

  “Exactly.” Dani nodded and her fists balled.

  Travis’s heart tore. He held his daughter tighter. “You’re safe now,” he whispered, though fear for Shannon nearly strangled him. Where had the monster taken her? Was she alive? He thought of Oliver and Mary Beth and Blanche. The madman wouldn’t be satisfied until he’d killed Shannon, too. Oh, God, they had to find her. Had to!

  The female firefighter stared down at Dani. “I think you’d better tell that to the police. I’ll call the station and make sure whoever’s in charge is told.”

  “Detective Paterno,” Travis said, feeling the minutes passing by too quickly, knowing that with each passing second, Shannon was being dragged farther away. “Just let Paterno know what’s going on. We don’t have time to wait.”

  “Who kidnapped you?” Nate asked Dani.

  “The Beast. I don’t know his name, but he had a picture of her and he…he took her. He’d planned it for a long time.” She looked up at her father. “I was the bait. But he didn’t want me. He wanted her.”

  “Where did he take her?” Nat
e demanded.

  “I don’t know. But…I think to the cabin,” she said.

  “What cabin?”

  “The one where he kept me.” Her smoke-streaked face was tense. “If he didn’t take her there, then I don’t know. He didn’t say.”

  Tires crunched on the driveway and Travis looked up to see a news van stopping not thirty feet away.

  “Goddamned press,” the firefighter said.

  “Do you know where the cabin is?” Travis asked his daughter and she shook her head.

  “I don’t think I can find it.” She bit her lip, but she didn’t break down.

  Travis, gently, though panic was rushing through him, said, “Tell us what you know about it.”

  “It’s…it’s a long ways away, in the mountains. He locked me in a room with the windows boarded up,” she said as smoke continued to billow upward. “It was old and really, really crummy…uh, rustic. No electricity. No real plumbing. He, um, he made a fire every night and a train went by sometimes.” She looked up at Travis and her expression changed. Hardened. “I got away once and I followed deer trails, like you taught me. I headed downhill, always downhill and then I found the railroad tracks and started following them, you know, hoping that I’d come to a town or something.” Her eyes clouded over at the memory. “I should have gotten away. I almost did. But I came to a bridge and that’s where he caught me.”

  Nate tensed. “What kind of bridge?” he asked quickly. “Can you be more specific?”

  “A railroad bridge. I told you—”

  “A trestle? Made of wood and beams, right?”

  “Yeah.” She nodded. “It went across a really deep canyon and…And not far away, there was another bridge that you could see, not for a train but one for cars and trucks.”