“I’m sorry, sir. There was an incident. I’m afraid the business is closed,” the firefighter said.
“Yeah, no shit Sherlock. I can see that. Is Zach okay? What caused this?”
“The owner of the business is perfectly fine. He wasn’t in when the fire happened. I’m afraid we’re not at liberty to discuss the investigation,” said the other firefighter who didn’t look a day over eighteen.
“Investigation? So this was deliberate?”
I should have felt relief. I should have been happy Zach was okay. But something crawled up my chest. Something dark and toxic, and it threatened to make me explode.
“I’m sorry, sir. I can’t say anything at this stage,” said the barely legal firefighter and I huffed, turned around and marched right back to my car.
They might not be able to enlighten me, but I had a pretty good idea who could. After all, whatever destruction happened on the island always carried his signature.
I got to Cotton Beach so fast the whole ride there was all but a blur. I’d probably broken a few speed limits, but I didn’t care. The more I thought about what happened—what had been happening on this island for over a year now —the angrier I got.
I all but leapt out of the truck and stormed into The Outpost, Wyatt’s bar with a seaside view, mouthwatering burgers and danger guaranteed. Especially if anyone decided to associate themselves with that man.
“You!” I shouted at him, and he turned around to stare at me from behind the bar. “What have you done?”
Wyatt narrowed his eyes and cocked his head looking at me like a clueless idiot, but he was anything but. You didn’t end up a Lieutenant Commander of a SEAL Task Unit by being clueless or an idiot.
“Dare,” he croaked. “Wh-what are you—” he started but even the sound of his voice made me feel sick.
“You and your stupid fucking war on this island. How many people’s lives do you have to put at risk before you put an end to this, huh? How many?”
Wyatt put the dish towel down on the counter and leaned forward.
“What are you talking about? They all know what they signed up for. They all know?—”
“They know shit. You’re not in the Navy anymore, Wyatt. You don’t have the benefit of an amorphous, impersonal, indirect enemy. This is real life, where real people are pitted against a dangerous organization that you don’t have the power or the skills to stop no matter what you think.” I could feel my voice getting louder and more growly with each sentence and yet I didn’t have the wherewithal to stop or calm down.
How could I when Zach’s truck was gone? What if he’d been inside? What if he was the target? What whoever did this went after him again? Maybe they were trying to send a message or maybe they simply wanted the young baker dead.
“I think you’ll find we’re close to bringing them down,” he said and I glared at him.
“So what? What’s the point of bringing those assholes down if you’re going to put everyone’s lives in danger? You say theyknow what they signed up for, but what about all the innocent people caught in the crossfire?”
“I don’t—” Wyatt started when Autumn appeared by his side and put her hands on his shoulders.
“I think Dare is referring to what happened to Zach,” she said and immediately something lodged in my throat making it hard to breathe.
“What happened to Zach? Is he okay?” I asked her.
“He’s fine. He’s okay. It’s just his truck…” she replied and I huffed.
“Yeah. Today it was his truck, tomorrow it will be him. What did you do?” I turned my attention back to Wyatt who stared back at me in absolute silence.
“What happened to Zach had nothing to do with Salieri,” Autumn said.
“Who the fuck is Salieri?” I asked.
“The man who runs the show,” Wyatt said.
I huffed.
“And you don’t think he’s behind it? How is that possible? Who else would burn Zach’s truck to the ground? What reason would they have?”
Why couldn’t Wyatt have settled back on his home island and retired like normal people did? Why did he have to go up against a criminal organization and invite all my old colleagues and teammates to join him in this dangerous game? Why couldn’t he let go and simply be? Run his bar, do whatever the fuck he did these days and just leave those fuckers alone.
