He had to snap into action.
Apparently the universe wasn’t finished throwing curveballs.
A second car came to a stop at the top of the mountain.
“Oh my gosh!” a young woman yelled after emerging from the driver’s side. “Hang on! I’m coming!”
Before John could even yell at her to stay back, she had thrown a leg over the twisted, bent guardrail and was going over.
Now there were at least two people who needed saving on the flaming mountainside: the driver of the car and the Good Samaritan trying to save them.
This time John didn’t bite back the curse that came to mind. He let it fly as he charged forward.
It was time to do his job. And Lord willing, no one would die today.
Not on John Barlett’s watch.
Chapter Two
Trixie Harris instantly regretted her decision to try and help.
She didn’t know the person in the car. They’d just been driving in front of her when she saw them careen off the road and over the side of the mountain. But they needed help. And leaving someone to die wasn’t an option. Trixie always tried to do the right thing.
Sometimes, though, well… she got into a bit of trouble. But her intentions were always good.
Like right now.
As her sneakers skidded atop the loose gravel and sent her sliding down a few feet, she realized she might have, once again, bitten off more than she could chew.
The heat from the crackling fire just a few hundred yards away didn’t help matters, either.
Thankfully, she stayed on her feet as she finished sliding down the slope, coming to rest at a spot right in front of two jagged boulders. She had to lean on those big rocks to stay upright, thanks to the steepness of the hill.
She looked around and sighed.
“Trixie, you’ve got yourself in quite a pickle. Yet again.”
That was putting it mildly.
The mountain only got steeper from there. And there was a fire creeping up it!
She still couldn’t reach the wrecked car. It wasn’t far away, exactly, but with the steepness of the grade, well… she couldn’t just walk over there. Perhaps she could carefully pick her way toward it. But then she ran the risk of falling—right into the fire!
Then what good could she do? She wouldn’t be of help to anyone if she was dead!
“I’m sorry,” she muttered to whoever was in that car. There was no way they could hear her, but she felt awful about not being able to help them.
She shook her head. “Maybe one day you won’t make such a mess of things, Trixie.”
There wasn’t time to say anything else or reflect on her habit of getting into trouble, because rocks cascaded down the slope at a precipitous rate.
Trixie hopped on her left foot, raising her right, to avoid one of the tumbling stones switching feet to dodge the ones falling from the other side. “Ooh. Ah! Wait!”
Losing her balance, she stumbled back and fell smack onto her butt, gritting her teeth as a jarring pain reverberated up into her back.
Rocks rolled all around her and she closed her eyes, waiting with a tensed body for the inevitable impact.
But she only heard dull thuds. Never felt anything, except for the heat radiating off the fire that was crawling toward her.
