“Now calm down, Katrina. I’m sure we can figure something out that will work for everyone.”
Patronizing asshole! Fifteen people in the last four years alone had gone missing in those mountains. Fifteen families she had to console, assuring them they were doing all they could to find their loved ones. Knowing the whole time that they were dead and wouldn’t be found.
“Yes, of course we can,” Cole agreed. “Whatever you and Robert need, Katrina. Money is not an issue.”
Katrina ignored Cole. “Jesus, Jefferson! You’ve lived here a long time, and youknowwhat might happen if those lands are disturbed.”
“I do. In fact, I know a little more than you, and it’s exactly why we plan to develop them.” He clasped his hands together. “Now, if you’ll sit, we can discuss the best way forward. This town is dying, Katrina. Dying under your leadership. Surely you want jobs for the locals, people moving in . . . your daughter to come back?”
She shook her head. “Not at that cost. You will never get people to fall for this—I will never support it. I will speak to every member of council, every landowner, to make sure your plan never goes ahead.”
Jefferson sighed with barely contained exasperation.
“I’m tired and you look tired. Perhaps tomorrow, around noon, you could come over, and we can take you step by step through the development. We are confident that once you hear what we plan to do, you will be on our side.” He looked at Cole, who nodded in agreement.
Katrina clenched her teeth. There was nothing he could say that would change her mind. Even if they got some of the landowners to agree to sell their shares of the land, the Native Americans would never allow it. The sacred burial grounds needed protection.
“Fine, tomorrow at noon. But I doubt you will change my mind.”
Jefferson sat back in his chair with an air of confidence and hooking his ankle over his thigh.
“I’m certain that once you know the full story, you will be our biggest ambassador.” He gave a wolfish grin.
Katrina left the office, Robert by her side, thinking about the people who went missing. They’d never been able to pinpoint the exact cause. Most of the cases were not technically closed, but were written off as missing persons, and the coroner reports always stated they were presumed dead. Without bodies, it couldn’t be verified. Rumors of hauntings kept the locals away. The out-of-town folk were an entirely different matter. If they put a swarm of them at the base of the mountain, she shuddered to think how many might vanish.
The wind had erupted from the calm of the night with vigor. Katrina wrapped her arms around her waist and tucked her head down as they walked toward their car.
Robert wrapped his arm around her back. “What do they know that they think will change our minds?”
“I have no idea, but I can’t imagine anything would be worth the risk. Unless his plans include only the base of the site, and he closes the mountain off to the public?”
On the horizon, lightning sliced the sky. She lifted her head, gazing over the mountains, shrouded by dark, turbulent clouds twisted and churned as if offering some kind of ominous foreboding.
“I guess we’ll find out tomorrow,” Robert mused, taking his hand from her back to open the car door.
Perhaps it was the noise of the wind, or because both their minds were concerned with the proposed development, but they didn’t hear the man approaching. There was no internal warning that alerted them, nothing to let them know danger was imminent; all they felt was an intense flash of pain on the back of their heads. And then they knew no more.
Chapter 26
Karson
The scent of smoke burned the back of Karson’s throat.
He looked up into the night sky. Smoke rose like black death from the crust of the earth.
Karson’s stomach plummeted. The thick plumes churned above Serenity Lake.
Amelia.
He slammed the gas pedal to the floor and the car lurched forward with a growl of power. It reached sixty miles per hour in around three seconds and still it wasn’t fast enough.
His hand drifted to the wing of the raven tattoo on his chest, beneath was the darkest part, his heart, and it yanked with an intensity he didn’t understand. His mind whirled. The fire looked like it was blocking the only escape she had. There was a lake in front of her cabin. She wasn’t stupid; she’d flee to it. But even that didn’t mean she was safe.The smoke would be toxic, and the sheer heat from a fire could swell her airways and kill her, even if the flames never touched her skin.
He drew to a screeching to a stop on the side of the road directly west of where her cabin was. There was at least a mile of forestry-fueled wildfire between him and her home.
Orange clawed the sky, a thousand dragons engulfing the night. The sound of wailing lashed at his ears, as if the forest itself was screaming in despair.
He needed to leave her. She’d make it out. If he tried to rescue her, he could be badly burnt . . .
