Hunter's Moon (A Hunter Kincaid Novel)

“The drones, look.” She pointed at the side window where one drone hovered over the driver’s seat.

“Hiyoki’s got eyes on us.” Buck said. “I’m glad you got out of there before those things released the gas.”

“Tell me.” She looked around, “You have any spare gas?”

“In the barn, come on.”

Buck led her to a far corner of the shed where a single five-gallon can of gasoline sat in a small, open-faced cabinet. They carried the can to the edge of the fire, and by now Hunter could hear the buzzing of many drones inside the van.

She said, “I’m gonna carry this up to the van and push it underneath the back where nothing’s burning yet.”

“And open the cap?”

“Once it’s down, yeah.”

“Don’t dawdle coming off that pile, it may go right up because of the fumes.”

Hunter nodded and grabbed the gas can, lugging it against one leg as she climbed the hot, smoking debris pile. When she pushed it under the van and unscrewed the cap to let the gas drain down, the drones escalated their pitch as if angry. She knew Hiyoki saw and couldn’t find a way to stop her.

Once off the pile, Buck walked by her with an oil-soaked rag sticking out of a gas-filled Dr. Pepper bottle and lit the rag. It caught fire and oily black smoke rose into the air. He tossed it at the van and the glass bottle shattered against the bumper.

Flames shot out and up around the van. The heat was so intense that Buck and Hunter backed up a few steps. Hunter said, “You know how to throw a party, I’ll give you that.”

He said, “There won’t be anything left after this fire, nothing to show your bosses but ashes.”

“The only ones who’ll be upset are Lincoln and Ashton.”

“Might be trouble for you.”

“I’ll ask them what they would have done in our place.”

“They may think of something different than this,” He pointed at the burning van.

“If they do, I’ll tell them it’s a great idea and the very next time I’m in this situation, I’ll do exactly that.”

Once the flames overwhelmed the van, it went up fast, with the gas tank making a small whump as it ignited, but not like the big explosions one sees in movies. Flames ate at it and the dripping, burning fuel helped accelerate the fire in the wood and rubble until the entire van was engulfed by fire and surrounded by flames ten feet high. The buzzing sound was no more.

Buck said, “What about Hiyoki? There’s men still with him.”

“We can follow the tracks, but I’m sure they’re headed to the river to cross.”

“Probably can’t catch them before that. Might be able to catch sight of them, though.”

Hunter looked at Buck for a few seconds, with him avoiding her eyes, then she said, “Oh no, we’re not gonna shoot them from long distance.”

Buck sighed, “Oh-kay.”

Hunter checked her cell phone and saw it had one bar. Whatever was blocking it had disappeared with the departure of Hiyo

ki. She called the Sheriff and filled him in, then she asked him to tell the other agencies what had happened, and that the kids were safe with her and Buck.

Buck said, “That’ll stir up the Sheriff’s offices in both Presidio and Brewster counties, maybe even in Terrell County, too.”

“It’ll stir up a few other agencies to boot.” She called Art’s number, but again there was no answer, so she called Lincoln Jones’ number and when Ashton answered she said, “Is Lincoln there?”

“He’s away from his phone for a moment. What’s up?”

Hunter told him and then asked, “Have you located Art? You’ve got out the word to everyone, right?”