Page 7 of Edge of Steele
Finn slid between the barriers erected by the firefighters to keep people back at the road and jogged down the hill, turning to make sure Ryleigh hadn’t tried to follow. She stood with Ryan, chatting. Looking all too comfortable. Had she dated him or just been friends? The ease she had with him was enviable. An ease Finn had once had with her too, and he missed that.
A log fell in front of him, snapping his head around.
Focus man. Can’t help anyone if you’re dead.
He began his search, swinging the light as he moved, the heavy smoke swirling around his feet. The brighter-than-usual beam of Ryan’s flashlight cut through the haze, clouding the daylight as Finn’s grid took him back and forth. Through still-standing trees. Under fallen ones. Over brush. Through scrub. Until he reached the detonation zone.
He flashed the light over the body and the area surrounding him. Bits and pieces of the bomb lay scattered in the wreckage. Looked like slivers of plastic and metal. Tiny. Fragments really. One larger chunk held some kind of electronics. Surprising that anything survived the high heat, but hopefully the debris would lead to the bomber. Thankfully the firefighters wouldn’t have to hose this area down if it didn’t spark up again, and the evidence would be spared.
He looked around the smoldering ruins for any sign of another device but found nothing of concern. He searched outside. High. Low. Nothing there either. On the way back, he avoided the flames still licking greedily over the first building. They’d jumped to nearby trees during his short trip and were ramping up into a wildland fire.
Hurry now!
Every second he took delayed the firefighters from moving in and preventing a full-fledged wildfire.
Still, be careful.
Trees could be replaced. People couldn’t. He knew that too well with the loss of his parents and recently, his best friend Felicia, who’d died, leaving her daughter Avery in Finn’s care.
He slipped through flames spreading on the grass. Felt the heat licking at his feet. His legs. Fighting to ignite his clothing. Him.
As a SEAL, this would’ve just been another day on a mission, but he was out of place here. Adrenaline-packed and thrilling for sure. Something he missed. How he missed it.
Too bad.
He picked up speed and raced toward the road.
“We’re clear,” he called out and handed the high-intensity flashlight back to Ryan.
The crew sprang into action. Barriers moved. Pump trucks rumbled ahead. Firefighters went silent and marched forward. A crew at war. The enemy, flames.
He was jonesing to join them. To battle the foe. But he hung back. He was retired from danger. Any danger. Now more of a desk jockey than anything.
Tough for him if he still craved excitement. He would sit this out. He was now Avery’s father, and she needed him. She was all that mattered.
If only he could really internalize that and stop these cravings for the thrills.
A uniformed guy jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Thanks for your help, but you need to keep moving back.”
Finn complied, slipping between the wooden barriers, but he wasn’t eager to join Ryleigh again. Sure, he was attracted to her. What man wouldn’t be? But now their obstacle to being together was gone. He’d left the team. It no longer stood between them. He could finally consider a future with her.
Didn’t matter, though. They were still living worlds apart, and he wasn’t about to move Avery when the hurt from losing her mother was still so fresh.
More importantly, Ryleigh was angry with him. Big time.
So what did he say to her? Was now the time to have that talk?
Man, he just didn’t know. He’d never been so uncertain about a woman in his life.
He looked ahead and found her watching him with that familiar spark of interest in her eyes. She didn’t look away at being caught admiring him. Of course not. She was completely confident and sure in herself.
She stood by his truck, and when he reached her, the first thing that came to mind slipped out. “I’m still shocked that you left the bureau.”
She shrugged as if it was no big deal, but he knew it was a huge life-changing decision. Just like his had been.
“The family needed an IT person,” she said, her tone devoid of any emotion, but her eyes held a certain unease. “And I’m the only one with those skills.”
Could she be regretting her decision? “They could’ve hired someone.”
