Paradise Peak (New Americana 5)

Travis shoved open his door and ran after her, skidding to a stop by her side. Wind, heat, and ash hit his face and he scrubbed his eyes with the hem of his T-shirt before surveying the figures at his feet.

Liz was sitting on the ground, blank-faced, with Zeke in her arms. The boy pointed to the blaze several feet in front of them, his face red and tears rolling down his cheeks as he sobbed. The fire cast an eerie reddish-orange flicker over the pair.

“I can’t get Liz in the car.” Vernon stepped forward, covered in soot from head to toe. An anguished expression crossed his face as he looked up at Travis. “Gloria and I have tried, but she won’t come.” He raised his arm in the direction of the fire, then let it fall limply to his side. “There was nothing—no warning. Just wind and fire. Ben came over and got us out, but . . .”

“Daddy!” Zeke cried, stretching his arms in the direction of the fire.

Vernon’s face crumpled and his shoulders shook.

Travis, gut knotting, took a step toward the fire.

A crash erupted from the blaze. The cabin collapsed and the flames shot higher. Waves of heat and hot embers swept across the yard toward them, scattering in all directions on gusts of wind.

“Travis, don’t.” Hannah halted his steps with a hand on his arm, her eyes panicked and pleading.

He stared at the flames. There was no point in trying to enter the blazing structure; it had already collapsed, and anyone inside it would’ve been lost long before that.

Throat tightening, Travis grabbed Vernon’s elbow and hustled him across the road to where Gloria waited by the car. “Get back in your car and keep the engine running. We’ll bring them to you.”

Gloria, tears coursing down her face, nodded, then sat in the passenger’s seat and closed the door. Vernon followed suit and Travis shut the door behind him.

Zeke’s sobs had grown louder by the time Travis returned to the other side of the road.

“Liz, we have to go.” Hannah, squatting by Liz, gripped the other woman’s shoulders and pulled.

Liz, still dazed, shook her head. “No.”

Zeke strained against his mother’s hold and cried louder, his arms reaching out in the direction of a downed tree.

Hannah pressed closer. “Liz, you have to—”

“Ben’s still in there!” Liz’s expression contorted. “I won’t leave him.”

Zeke, sobbing, pulled at his mother’s arms.

“Then at least let us take Zeke,” Hannah pleaded, her voice breaking. “Please, Liz!”

“I won’t leave him! Ben!” A keening sound escaped Liz’s lips and she doubled over, moaning, “Oh, God!”

Chin trembling, Hannah looked up at Travis, her eyes welling, and shook her head. “What do we do?”

Vision blurring, Travis knelt, hooked his arms around Zeke’s waist, and pulled him from Liz’s arms. “Take him to the car.”

He pressed Zeke into Hannah’s open arms, then slid his arms under Liz, picked her up, held her tight against his chest, and carried her across the road behind Hannah and Zeke.

When he reached the car, he edged past Hannah and lowered Liz into the backseat with Zeke, who crawled over her lap toward him.

“Blondie!” Zeke cried, pointing out the open door toward the downed tree.

Travis nudged the boy back into Liz’s arms, saying softly, “I’ll look for her.” He smoothed his hand over the boy’s soft hair and wiped away a tear from the child’s cheek with his thumb. “I promise.”

Zeke continued calling for his dog.

Grimacing, Travis shut the door, then rapped his knuckle against Vernon’s window.

Vernon lowered it and Travis bent close, saying, “There’s a tree down about a mile and a half up the road. Pass it on the left shoulder, then keep going till you clear the smoke—however far that is.” He straightened and banged his fist once on the hood. “Go. We’ll follow soon.”

Vernon nodded, rolled up his window, then pulled off.