“Good evening, gentlemen.”
He climbed off his horse and wrapped the reins around a piece of steel attached to the eighteen-wheeler. “Let’s get this show on the road, shall we.” He strolled to the end of the trailer and opened up the back. Inside were numerous barrels of gasoline. He already had multiple 5-gallon canisters ready for them to load onto a small fishing boat down by the water. The two guys with him gave him a hand to take it all down. It seemed like more than the boat could handle, but he reassured them that they’d already tested the weight. As they were loading up the boat, Zeke called out.
“Jess. Come take a look at this.”
“I’ll be right back.”
He jogged down to the wooden dock. “What is it?”
Zeke handed him the binoculars without saying anything and then pointed. “Up there. You see that?” He squinted, peering through the night vision binoculars, scanning the top of the mall. At first, he didn’t see anything until Zeke guided him.
“There.”
“Who the hell is that?” he said, noticing six men on top of the building. They weren’t cops. They were wearing tight black gear. Their faces blacked out. He watched with curiosity as they emptied the contents of gasoline cans all over the roof, going back and forth, creating lines. Down below, there were another three doing the same thing but splashing gasoline up the walls. He walked away with the binoculars and made his way back up to Israel. “Hey. Are those your guys over there?”
“What?” Israel said as he handed off another gasoline canister to his buddy.
“On the mall. Someone is doing our job for us. Here. Take a look.” He handed the binoculars over, and Israel peered through them.
“They’re not with us.”
“Well, they’re not with us either.”
A moment later, flames burst into view. The same men headed down to the water. Though they didn’t get into boats. He watched them shrug into scuba tanks hidden in the brush and then enter the water. They disappeared below the surface as the fire licked up the sides, and consumed the top of the building. The flames moved quickly, chewing through the outside like it was nothing but cardboard.
“We need to get out of here.”
They peeled out, knowing that once the cops realized where it could have been started, they would send a patrol unit over to Fairhaven. They had to be long gone by then. Their ATVs roared up the road, leaving the peninsula behind. Jessie looked off to his right as smoke carried on the wind, and the inferno consumed the building.
His heart raced, his mind whirled.
When they made it back, their mother was on the porch with a few of his sisters. He turned off the engine and made his way up. “Is it done?” she asked.
“It is.” Jessie glanced at his brothers. “But not by us.”
Her brow furrowed, and she rose from her rocking chair. “What?”
“Someone else beat us to the punch.”
“The Stricklands?”
“No. That wasn’t the Stricklands.”
“Then who was it?”
Sheriff Dan Wilder held Lily’s hand, sitting beside a bed in St. Joseph Hospital. He remained there until they said they needed to check on her vitals and run a few tests. She’d been lucky. Lucky to have survived. While there was no guarantee there wouldn’t be lasting damage, he was just pleased that she was breathing and a team was on hand.
He’d arrived hours ago, carrying her inside, distraught, begging them to help. Nurses took over, wheeling her away on a stretcher and telling him to wait. For several hours he’d hung around the hospital. They’d taken whatever generators that were working, and a few that had been repaired, and placed them in the hospital to ensure the continuation of medical treatment. A skeleton crew was operating around the clock, offering whatever they could with what little resources they had. With no delivery trucks, he’d sent out several guys to towns further afield to see what they could find in the way of hospital supplies and medicine. They’d returned empty-handed. It was another reason why he hoped the arrangement with the militia worked out.
He sat in a chair, chewing on the corner of his finger, a habit ingrained from his mother. When he was worried, he’d often strip away skin until it was red and raw. Across from him sat a mother with a young child. The girl couldn’t have been older than six. She stared at him and at some point got up off the chair and walked over and offered him a candy from a small bag. He cracked a smile. “You keep them, sweetie. But thank you.”
She returned to her mother and she hugged her. “Thanks for what you are doing in the town, sheriff.”
It had been the first time he’d received any praise.
Since the event, he’d heard nothing more than demands. People stating what they felt they deserved. “You’re welcome. It’s not much. I’m glad to help.”
“You here for someone?”
He nodded but didn’t say who.
“Have you heard when the lights might come back on again?”
He slowly shook his head. “Not yet. But we are confident that it won’t last long. FEMA is out there, helping people. I’m sure they or the National Guard will make their way here soon.”
She smiled and ran a hand through her child’s hair. “I heard you arrested one of the Rikers. Is that right?”
He tilted his head ever so slightly. “Yes.”
“Good. About time. Them and those Stricklands are like a disease around here.”
She had no idea about his ties to Hank. Good. It was better that way.
He got up and smiled and went outside to get some fresh air. As soon as he exited the building he smelled smoke. He sniffed the air and then saw out in the parking lot people looking off into the distance. All of them staring in the same direction. Dan wandered out to where they were. As
