As her legs pounded on the hard, rocky ground, Maya could barely keep up with Hope. The teen was sprinting up the hill heading to where she and Josh had done the surveillance.
“Get to those trees and get down in the grass,” Maya yelled at Hope. Could the girl even hear her with how fast she was running? But she must have. As they approached the aspen grove, Hope followed her instructions, going back into the tree area and then dropping to her knees in the tall brown grass. Maya and Juniper joined her.
“Is the other cop okay?” Hope asked.
“He’ll be good,” Maya said, trying to sound confident. She was worried about Josh too. “I need to go back to help him. Are you okay staying here?”
Hope nodded.
“All right, then stay down in the grass. I’ll be back for you. I promise.” Maya and Juniper stood and started running back to the lodge. What had happened? Was Josh okay? If Abigail had a chance, she would kill him. Maya would do everything in her power to make sure that didn’t happen. She didn’t know how she would survive if anything happened to Josh. This was the reality of their jobs. She knew that, but at the same time, Maya needed him to come home tonight. And every night after that.
They were getting closer to the lodge when she heard a sound like a large campfire mixed with a freight train. Flames arced up over the ridge and caught some nearby trees on fire. The lodge had good defensible space, but outside of that area was a thick forest with old trees that had no fire mitigation. Once that ignited, the fire would take off and head in the direction where she’d left Hope.
“Josh!” Maya yelled at the top of her lungs. She didn’t expect an answer, but had to admit, she was wishing he would come out of the lodge and they could take off together. The fire picked up speed and Maya was debating getting around it before it cut her off from Josh and the lodge. Where was he? What had happened? Her radio was quiet. Why wasn’t he calling for backup? Was it because he was down? Maya tried to call into dispatch and discovered she was ina dead spot to transmit. If she and Juniper sprinted hard, they could probably beat the fire and get back into range to call for help.
But that would mean leaving Hope on her own. She wouldn’t do that. Not after everything the girl had been through. Josh had to be okay. He would have signal and could call for help... if he was able. As difficult as it was, Maya stayed on her side of the fire and turned around to sprint back to where Hope was hiding. Just as she ran, a tree shattered in front of her.
At first, Maya thought it was the fire, but then it exploded again and the noise that came with it was very familiar. Gunfire. Maya and Juniper ran faster.
She had no doubt it was Abigail shooting at them.
They had to get back to Hope and save her. Abigail wasn’t going to take one more loved one from Maya. Juniper, hearing the gunshots, once again wanted to turn and apprehend, but Maya glanced over her shoulder. Abigail was far enough back she didn’t have a good shot with a handgun. That was good and probably why she’d hit the trees. Where was Josh? If he was still in the lodge, then the fire’s path had cut them off from each other.
Maya was able to get to where Hope was hiding. The girl was sitting, knees pulled up to her chest, shaking. Maya put a hand on each shoulder. “Look at me, Hope.”
Hope started rocking. She was going into shock. Maya had to keep her from completely shutting down. She was obviously quick, but the fire was moving fastas it found good fuel. Could they outrun the fire? They had to get going. Now.
“Hope.” Maya shook her gently. “Look at me. You have to get up. We need to leave. I’ll be with you. Juniper will be with us. You’ll be okay.”
For a moment, Maya thought she was going to have to hoist Hope to her feet and drag her, but finally, the girl seemed to come back to the moment. She stood and the tree near them exploded from another bullet. That one was a little too close.
“We need to leave,” Maya said, grabbing Hope’s hand. “I know where we can go where it’ll be safer.”
Or at least I think it’ll be safer.Maya didn’t want to say that out loud. She knew a good location, but could they beat Abigail and the fire?
Just as another bullet whizzed by, Maya saw the area where she wanted to turn. They would have to go back deep into the forest to get to one of her favorite spots, Clear Lake. The lake had water fed from glaciers. They would need to get through a heavily forested area and then do an extreme climb in elevation, but Maya didn’t think they had any other choice.
Would Hope be able to make the hike while running? Maya trained in the mountains, but she had no idea if Hope did any kind of sport. It hit her that even though she felt protective over Hope because they were blood relatives, she didn’t know her at all. Right now, this felt like their only option. The other good places to take cover were on fire.
The lake might help as a natural barrier if the fire came their way. There were also rocky formations andareas surrounding the lake that they would be able to get back into and hide. Maya thought she should have a radio signal there. She wasn’t sure about cell service. She doubted that, but if she could at least radio their location, then maybe a helicopter could get to them.
Josh flashed through her mind again. Was he okay? He’d tell her to stop thinking about him and focus. She forced herself to concentrate on the most important thing, which was keeping Hope safe.
They came to the area where the path they were following would start climbing in elevation. Sweat poured down Maya’s face. Juniper seemed fine, but she wanted to get her a drink at some point. The water was still back in the spot where they’d done surveillance. Hope had slowed down and her face was flushed red. They all needed a break.
“Come on, keep going,” Maya encouraged her. “We don’t have much farther.”
Hope nodded and kept trudging along. Maya admired her for continuing after all she’d been through. She was one tough cookie.
The change in elevation made Maya’s heart pound. Each step seemed more and more difficult. Her feet felt heavy and her legs ached. Maya had to give Hope credit; she could tell by how slow Hope was moving this was difficult. But she knew if they could get to the top, the terrain would smooth out and they could find a place to rest.
Just when Maya thought she couldn’t go any farther, they came to the top of the hill. The lake spread out in front of them, more an emerald color than clear.The water lapped gently at the edge of the shore. For a moment everything seemed quiet and serene. Hope was doubled over, breathing hard.
“You’re doing great,” Maya said. “Follow me. There’re some good areas to hide and take cover. You can catch your breath too.”
“I thought you were supposed to save me. I think instead you’re trying to kill me too,” Hope said, with some disdain.
“I know, this is not what I had planned. But hey, if you can be sarcastic, then you can make it a little bit farther.”
