Smell...smoke?
Jasper pulled his head away from hers. “What the hell?”
He whirled away and yanked open the office door. Over his shoulder, Veronica caught a glimpse of Wyatt rushing toward them.
“Get out of here!” Wyatt yelled. He had keys in his hand. “The storage room in the back is burning!”
Then Veronica heard the crackles of flames.
An explosion shook the building, reverberating with a stunning echo even as a blast of heat seemed to lance over her skin.
Before she could do more than suck in a shocked breath, Jasper was hauling her out of the office and away from the flames—flames that weren’t just in the back room any longer. The flames were spreading around the station, burning with deadly ferocity.
Burning.
Everything around them was burning as greedy flames leaped across the station, destroying everything in their path.
Chapter Three
“Keep her safe,” Jasper barked as he pushed Veronica toward Gunner. The sniper had just come back through the station’s front door, rushing toward the flames, and his timing was pretty damn perfect. Jasper wanted a guard on Veronica while he went back in to help the sheriff, and Gunner was one of the best guards that Jasper had ever met.
Gunner nodded, but his gaze drifted back to the flames. Jasper knew that Gunner wanted to be the one running back inside. The guy was always drawn to the fire.
One of his good points.
And his weaknesses.
“Jasper!” Veronica called his name as he ran back inside. He didn’t stop. Wyatt would need another pair of hands to get those prisoners out of that burning building.
The fire wasn’t one that would be controlled easily. He’d heard that explosion, a too-familiar sound. The initial flames in the storage room had been a diversion. The detonation he’d heard had been deliberate. A trap.
A premeditated inferno.
Once he made it back to the holding area, Jasper saw that Wyatt had his gun on the prisoners. He’d already cuffed them and was trying to lead them outside. He couldn’t do the job alone. Jasper grabbed the first guy, then ducked low to try to get some fresh air into his lungs. “Get your butt out of here!” he ordered the guy.
Wyatt whirled on him. “The deputy...Jimmy...he came back... I’ve got to find him...”
Jasper nodded grimly. “I’ve got these two.” The would-be kidnappers were shaking with their fear. They just wanted to get away from the fire. They weren’t planning an attack on him.
The sheriff coughed. He started to hand Jasper his gun, then hesitated.
“There’s a federal agent...” Jasper covered his mouth. The flames were getting worse. The sprinklers had shot on overhead, but they weren’t doing much of a job at stopping the flames. “The agent’s right outside.” And one is right in front of you. “You can count on us.”
The sheriff gave him the gun.
Jasper led out the two prisoners. He cast one quick look back at the sheriff. He sure hoped that Wyatt knew what he was doing. Jasper didn’t like leaving any man to the flames. Leaving a man behind—that wasn’t the way he was programmed to operate.
The prisoners rushed outside. And, as he’d expected, Gunner was there, waiting on them. Gunner had his gun drawn and a fierce don’t try anything expression etched on his face.
Jasper glanced back at the station’s door. Where was the sheriff? Would he come out the front or make his way out the back?
He’d go check, make sure everyone was safe and—
Gunfire ripped through the night. One blast. Two.
The two prisoners fell instantly. Blood bloomed on their chests and their bodies hit the pavement.
Swearing, Jasper leaped forward and slammed his body into Veronica’s. They fell to the ground, and he kept her covered, using his body as a shield. At any moment, he expected to hear the blast of more gunfire, and he expected to feel bullets slam into his back. “Gunner!” Jasper bellowed. His yell was an order. Jasper would protect Veronica, and Gunner would find the shooter.
Keeping his body over Veronica’s, Jasper led her behind his parked truck. It wasn’t much in the way of shelter, but it was better than nothing. An old garage was at their back, the truck in front of them.
Jasper’s head turned toward the men on the ground. They weren’t moving, and that dark bloom on their chests told him that he wouldn’t be getting any more information from them.
Heart shots. Both of them. Dead-on. Just...
Dead.
Veronica was silent beneath him. He heard footsteps pounding toward him and he looked up to see an ash-covered Wyatt racing across the station’s small parking lot. The deputy—pale, with wide eyes—was right on his heels. The men were right out in the open. Perfect targets.
“Get down!” Jasper roared at them. “We’ve got a shooter.” A very skilled shooter who’d just taken out two men who were less than five feet away from Jasper.
Two men...but after those hits, the gunman hadn’t fired another shot. Gunner and Veronica were the two who’d been out in the open the longest.
He didn’t aim for us. He’d waited and taken the shots when his real targets came out of the sheriff’s station.
“Stay low,” Jasper ordered Veronica as he finally lifted his body off hers. “Keep your head down,” he told her because the last thing he wanted was for her to become a target.
She grabbed his hand when he turned to leave. “Where are you going?” There was a scratch on her cheek, and her palms looked red and raw. Jasper knew the injuries had come from the impact, when he’d shoved her to the ground.
Just for a second, his fingers brushed over the scrapes on her palm. Then he told her the truth, “I’m going hunting.” Because that was what he did best.
Her face tensed, but he didn’t hesitate any longer. He got his weapon ready and eased away from his cover. He knew where the gunfire had come from. He’d been trained to track back to the source of a shot. In the dead of night like this, no one else was around, so the tracking was even easier for him. A fast glance assured him that the little strip in town was deserted. Flames kept crackling, and Jasper didn’t even know where the fire department was, but he sure hoped Wyatt was calling for help.
Moving with barely a whisper of sound, Jasper headed up to the right. He caught a glimpse of Gunner, moving fast in the same direction. They were both closing in on their prey. The angle of the shots, the trajectory—they knew where their shooter should be.
Only when they closed in, he wasn’t there. No one was there.