“Is anyone in here?”
Coughing and choking on the smoke, Liam fought his way inside. The swirling smoke made it hard to see, and he crashed around, bumping into shelves and tools and finally tripping over something on the ground.
“Steel?” Tory rushed past him and dropped to her knees. “Steel! Wake up!”
“Too much smoke,” Liam told her. Now he saw why Steel hadn’t gotten out on his own. His hands were trussed. So were his feet. Somehow he’d tied a bit of cloth to the handle of a rake and lifted it aloft to poke it out the window. That must have been some maneuver. When he’d passed out, the handle had stayed jammed in the broken window frame. Liam didn’t bother to try to free Steel. “Help me.”
Tory doubled over coughing as the smoke in the building thickened, but she pulled on Steel’s arm, and they got him into a sitting position. With Tory’s assistance, Liam was able to get him over his shoulder. He staggered to his feet under Steel’s weight.
“Come on,” Tory yelled. “This way.” She led him to the door, tugging him in the right direction when he couldn’t see. Outside, it was easier. Tory raced to open the passenger door, and Liam slung Steel in.
Tory arranged Steel’s limbs inside the cab and climbed in awkwardly herself. Liam shut the door behind them, raced around the truck and got in the other side.
“Go, go, go!” she shouted as soon as he was inside.
Liam saw why.
In their absence, the wind had whipped the flames even higher, driving them forward to circle the shed. The front wall was fully alight. Behind them, the way they’d come, was an unbroken wall of flames.
Tory looked from side to side. Saw the same thing he did. “How do we get out of here?”
Liam didn’t know.
“We have to turn around,” Tory said, fighting rising panic again, fighting to breathe in the smoky air. “Liam, we have to turn around, now.”
He put the truck in Reverse, backed up a few feet, whipped the wheel around, shoved the gear shift into Forward and spun the truck in as tight a circle as he could. Confronted with the full force of the fire, he hesitated again. “Which way did we come?”
“That way!”
“We didn’t drive straight up. We curved in.”
“It doesn’t matter—we have to go.”
“It matters!” The fire was so much bigger than it had been just minutes ago. If he chose wrong, they’d roast alive.
“Liam, drive—now!”
Tory shrieked as he gunned the motor again, and they plunged into the flames. Liam fought with the wheel. Tory fought to keep Steel from hitting his head on the windshield. “Go, go!” she kept screaming. “Go, Liam!”
Time had never stretched so long before the flames suddenly parted again, revealing pasture, blue sky—and fire engines racing their way. Sirens filled the air as Liam swerved out of their path and finally stopped the truck a quarter mile from the flames.
Tory sobbed with relief, finding it hard to get air in her lungs until Liam reached across her and pushed open her door. Moments later, Enid reached them.
“What the hell are you thinking? Tory Cooper, I’m going to skin you alive!” She stopped, clapped a hand to her mouth and then lunged into the truck’s cab when she spotted Steel.
Tory helped her get him upright. He was covered in soot, his face slack.
Uniformed men converged around Enid in the doorway.
“Any injuries?” a man yelled as more fire trucks raced past them. Enid stepped back, and the men reached into the vehicle. Tory wiggled out around them as they positioned a stretcher in place and lifted Steel onto it with a practiced maneuver.
“Tory?” Stella had come racing, too, and caught her around the waist as she stumbled. “You okay?”
Tory tried to answer. Found she couldn’t.
She saw Liam as if from a great distance away as he rounded the truck toward her.
“Liam, you’re bleeding,” someone said.
Time did funny things after that, moving fast and then slow. Tory had an impression of a crowd of faces around her, sirens filling the air, vehicles hurtling past. Next thing she knew she was in the back of an ambulance. Then a stretcher. A hospital room.
More faces hovered over her.
“Smoke inhalation,” someone said.
“Shock.”
Tory didn’t know how much time passed after that before she opened her eyes again. Saw Enid sleeping upright in a chair. Saw sunlight streaming through a window. A door opened, and a woman in purple scrubs came in.
“Someone’s awake,” she said. “Are you thirsty?”
“Very,” Tory croaked. “Where—?”
“Tory? Honey, are you okay?” Her mother woke with a start and lunged forward to take her hand.
“I think so.”
Suddenly it all came rushing back. The fire, the wind and the sparks, the white rag waving—
The ride through the flames.
“Steel? Where’s Steel?”
“He’s fine, sweetie. He’s being treated for smoke inhalation and some burns, but he’s going to be okay.”
“Why aren’t you with him?”
“Olivia’s with him. We’ve been taking turns.”
Tory lay back. Blinked. A tear slipped down her cheek. “Thorn Hill?” she managed.
“Thorn Hill’s fine. We did it—we saved our ranch. With a little help.” Enid’s voice thickened. “I don’t know if we could have done it without the Turners.”
“Liam?” she whispered.
“Liam’s okay, too. Minor cuts and scrapes. All of us are coughing like we smoke five packs a day, but that will pass.” Enid paused a moment. “The Ridley house—all the outbuildings—they’re all gone. But that’s not important.”
No, Tory thought. It wasn’t important at all. Not compared to everyone’s lives. “Who set the fire?”
Enid frowned. “I don’t know.”
“Who tied…” Tory stumbled on the words. “Who tied up Steel and left him to die?”
“I don’t know that, either,” Enid said softly. “The sheriff questioned him, but he’s not saying much.” Her displeasure was clear.
The door opened again, and Liam poked his head in. The nurse, who’d been checking Tory’s vital statistics, shook her head. “No visitors.”
“He’s family,” Tory said, her voice as raspy as an old saw. “Come in, Liam.”
He did and crossed to stand by her
