“You sure she’s there?”Pain asked.
“I pray she’s not, but I’m not leaving until I know for sure,” I said.
Pain nodded, a single curt dip of the chin.“Everyone leaves their bikes here.”
“Like fuck,” I said, knowing this was a battle I absolutely had to win.Pain being a doctor in his former life would guarantee he thought he could control the situation if he kept us all together.Which would mean, if he thought it was too dangerous, he could pull me back.“I’ll take my bike and leave it there if I have to.”
Pain gave me a hard look.“This will not turn into a suicide mission, Oktober.I’ll shoot you in the knee before I let you kill yourself.”
“You tell me exactly what you’d do if Nadine was with Mia right now.If it’s different than --”
“Shut the fuck up and get going,” Pain snapped.“I get it.I’m just saying.”
“Well, say something else.”
Pain addressed Noose.“You drive.I’ll ride in the back so I can make sure I have everything we might need ready if… if anyone’s hurt.”He glanced at me briefly.“Leave your bike here, Inferno.Let Knight know and he’ll make sure someone gets it.”
“Copy that, Pain.”Inferno gave me a nod as he flicked away the cigarette.“We’ll get her back, brother.”He moved his bike behind a shed next to the main convenience store.Normally no one would ever willingly leave his bike behind.None of the brothers but me balked at leaving his bike in this quest.And I only stubbed up because I knew Pain would try to pull me back.
I led us out, Mia’s face burning behind my eyelids like a second sun.Ash drifted across the blacktop, thicker now, more like a light snowfall than the occasional fleck.The air tasted bitter, and every breath pulled the fire closer.My instinct had been to stay with her.I hadn’t wanted to leave when the rest of the guys had, but I hadn’t wanted to scare her or give her a creepy vibe.The instant attraction we had for each other scared me with the intensity of it.
The next twenty miles passed in a blur of flashing hazard signs and roadwork cones and emergency vehicles barreling the other direction.I rode as fast as I dared, the haze of smoke and ash getting worse by the second.
At the cutoff to the quarry, a state trooper’s SUV blocked the road, its blue lights spinning frantically.A cop in a yellow vest waved his arms, motioning us to turn back.I slowed, but didn’t stop.The cop stepped in front of my bike, hands up and waving to get my attention.
I cut the engine and flipped up my visor.“We have someone trapped at the cabins,” I said, words clipped and fast.
The trooper shook his head, eyes wide betraying his nerves.I didn’t know if he was afraid of me or the fire.“Evac teams cleared that whole area.It’s off-limits.Fire jumped the creek and they pulled everyone out an hour ago.”
“She’s still there,” I said, voice icy.
“She’s not,” he insisted.“If she was, they would’ve brought her to the base camp.You don’t want to go in there, man.It’s a Goddamn furnace.The air tankers can’t get here for another two hours.”
“You said they got everyone out an hour ago,” I said, taking a step toward the officer.“Did the place they took her to have cell service?”
The guy gave me a confused look.“Yeah.I guess.Been talking to my base commander and that’s where he’s set up.”
“She would have called me the second she got out.I know she would have found a way to call because she’s expecting me to come get her if she can’t get out.”
At some point, the Bronco pulled up behind us and Pain stepped up beside me, fixing the cop with a calm, unblinking stare.“We appreciate your concern, officer.But we need to check for ourselves.”
The cop shook his head.“I can’t stop you, but no one will come after you, either.If you get in trouble, you’re on your own.”
I nodded once.“Gut.”
I didn’t waste time, getting back on my bike, starting it up, and gunning past the trooper, deeper into the smoke.It didn’t take long to find the logging road.It served as the back way in but was more of a trail covered with loose gravel and fallen branches than an actual road.My phone vibrated one time.I wanted to stop and see if it was Mia, to see if she’d made it out and I could turn around, but it only vibrated once so there wasn’t much point.I forced the bike up a small embankment, engine howling in protest as we climbed the last ridge.The air here was black, not gray, visibility down to fifteen feet at best.The world shrank to the pool of my headlight and the Bronco’s white beams ghosting through the gloom.I’d honestly expected Noose not to make it in the cage but he managed.No doubt it had been a really bumpy ride for Pain in the back.
We topped the ridge.Through a break in the smoke, I saw the far side of the lake.The sky above glowed a hot, infernal red, painting the water the color of blood.Embers spun in the updrafts, pinwheeling overhead like angry insects.The wind shifted again, hard enough to nearly push me off the bike.We were close.
I felt the last mile in every muscle of my body.I pushed my bike harder than I should have on the uneven, debris-ridden trail, but an urgency churned in my gut with the need to get to Mia.The first cabin roofs appeared suddenly through the black.I gunned the engine down the slope, braking hard as I reached the gravel turnaround.I killed the engine and leaped off the bike, nearly losing my footing.
The Bronco skidded to a halt beside my bike, doors shoved open as Noose and Inferno jumped out, scanning the perimeter with their flashlights.Pain followed from the rear of the vehicle as we all headed to the cabin.
“Her car’s gone,” Noose said as we got to the porch.I bolted to the front door.It was unlocked but jammed by the pressure differential from the wind.I kicked it in and called her name.
“Mia!”I called out as I did a quick search, but she wasn’t here.
Pain and Inferno appeared behind me.“She’s not here.”
