Quin was alive. Lorraine hadn’t lied about the cabin, and for the first time Nora felt a sliver of forgiveness. Her anger and resentment toward her mother faded a bit, now that she knew Quin was safe, that Lorraine had helped to save her.
The heavy weight of fear, worry, and guilt lifted from Nora’s shoulders. Now she could focus on her suspect, Maggie O’Dell.
Sean said in the walkie-talkie, “Move it, Nora.”
She started walking, then running. The sense of being followed increased as the smoke blew in her direction. The wind was increasing, which was the worst thing for the fire other than the dry needles and brush lining the forest floor.
A rock the size of a large fist fell from the hill and rolled in front of her, and she had to jump over it to avoid twisting her ankle. Another rock rolled down, and another; then one grazed her in the shoulder, this one smaller but with greater velocity. Damn, that hurt.
She pulled out her gun, unable to see her predator.
Sean asked, “What are you doing?”
“Where are you? Sean, get down here. Someone’s up there!” It had to be Maggie.
They were sitting ducks here on the road. Nora couldn’t see Maggie, but Maggie had sight of her enough to throw rocks.
“I’m coming-I’m on the road behind you.”
Another rock hit her in the shoulder, and she dropped her gun. She dove against the mountainside, grabbing her gun on the way.
Sean rounded the corner, and rocks were flung at him. Maggie must have a slingshot, and was damn accurate with it. A good-size rock hit Sean in the side of the face, knocking him to his knees.
Maggie could stone them to death if they couldn’t find cover.
Nora shouted, “Maggie! Show yourself.”
“You brought someone?” A voice came from above. Nora looked, but couldn’t see anyone. The air was getting thick. “It’s your fault that he’s going to die.”
Another rock hit Sean as he rose, this one in his lower back. He fell back down.
Nora aimed her gun toward where the rocks were coming from and fired. Once. Twice. Three times, then ran to Sean as he struggled to rise from the road.
“Come on, Sean, please,” she ordered.
He stood, shook his head as if to clear it, and ran unsteadily with Nora back against the cliff. “This is the safest place,” she whispered. “Stay close to trees and-”
A rock hit her on the top of her head and she fell to her knees, her vision gone. She tried to shake it off, but couldn’t move. Sean picked her up and sat her back against a redwood. “Nora-shit.” He touched her head and she winced. “You’re bleeding.”
“You can sit there as long as you want,” Maggie’s voice called from above. “You’ll die from the fire if you hide, or I’ll pummel you to death if you move.”
Nora whispered, “Fire tower. I’ll bet there’s a fire tower up there.”
Sean tried calling Duke on his cell. “Damn, I’m not getting through. We’re going to have to make a run for it. If we can get just a bit more down the road, we’ll be out of her range.”
“I can’t. Wait a minute.”
“Okay.”
Nora put her head in her hands and willed herself to stand, but she couldn’t. Sitting still she felt dizzy, but standing she’d pass out. She had to get over this.
“You go,” she told Sean. “I’ll cover you.” Her hand was shaking as it held her Glock.
“You’ll shoot yourself in the foot. I’m not leaving you. I’ll think of something.” He coughed. “If we wait ten minutes, she won’t be able to see us through the smoke.”
“It’ll be too late. Do you hear it?”
They listened to the fire crackling on the other side of the peak. “Small consolation that she’ll die in the blaze, too,” Nora said.
“You’re not going to die. Duke would never forgive me.”
“I could say the same about you,” Nora told Sean.
“Then think.”
Duke heard the gunshots and followed the footpath up the south side of the mountain. Fire was to the west of him moving north, and the wind kept the worst of the smoke away from him.
And toward Sean and Nora.
He picked up his pace, faster than he should be going on the steep path, but suddenly it flattened out on Last Chance Road and he saw the trail to the fire tower J.T. had told him about. He glanced at the digital map. The trail was a steep incline all the way up for more than a hundred yards, which meant he’d be seriously winded, with Maggie well prepared for his arrival.
Or he could go toward the smoke and come up the western slope. Less steep, but harder to breathe.
He chose the path obscured with smoke.
He heard helicopters in the distance. He had to give Maggie credit-she’d set the fires in a pattern, starting closer to the interstate and moving southeast. That would keep the firefighters working first on the flare-ups closer to the population centers, leaving Maggie, him, Sean, and Nora alone on this lonely road.
A text message from Sean popped up on his screen.
Duke ran into the smoke.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Hooper passed Quin off to the paramedics. She had lost consciousness completely in the car, her skin extremely pale.
“She was injected with heparin,” Hooper told them. He pulled the vials out of his pocket and showed the EMT. “Will one of these counteract it?”
The EMT handed the vials to the lead paramedic. “This is heparin, this is ethylene chlorohydrin.”
“Can that help her?”
“It’d kill her pretty quickly if injected.”
Duke had been right, Hooper thought. If Nora had found Quin she might have taken what O’Dell said on the video at face value and injected her thinking she’d save her, only to end up killing her.
“Is she going to be okay?” Hooper asked.
“She needs blood.” He got a vial ready.
“What’s that?”
“Vitamin K. It will counteract the effect of the heparin, but it’s going to take a while. Have you typed her?” he asked the EMT.
“A-negative.”
“Ask around, we need blood now. She’s not going to make it to the hospital.”
Hooper was B-positive. He called his SWAT team, which was only five minutes up the road. “Anyone there have A-negative blood?”
A moment later, one of the men responded. “O-negative.”
Hooper asked the medics. “Is O-negative acceptable?”
“The universal donor. Get him over here.”
Duke’s lungs were burning as he reached the base of the fire tower. Here, the smoke wasn’t as bad, but it
