Winter's Fire (Welcome to Covendale #7) (14 page)

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Authors: Morgan Blaze

BOOK: Winter's Fire (Welcome to Covendale #7)

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“No. You’re just going to shoot me anyway.”

“Well, believe it or not, I don’t want to use this either. But I will.” The chief frowned and took a step toward him. “Your little girlfriend should’ve listened. If she’d just left town, no one would have to die.”

“Except Ben, you son of a bitch,” Adam spat. “He was your
friend.
”

“Yes, he was. Friend, partner in crime…traitor.” Chief Smallwood’s eyes narrowed. “That sorry bastard was going to turn himself in and drag me down with him. Just because I made him retire. I couldn’t let him do that, so he had an accident.”

Adam shivered despite the heat in the air. “You’re lying. Ben would never—”

“Oh, but he would. For the right price, anyone would. The man had three kids to put through college, didn’t he?” The chief gestured with the gun. “Now, put that thing down…or your father’s going to have an accident, too.”

Glaring, Adam lowered the axe slowly to the ground. “Do you really think you’re going to get away with this?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” He stepped forward again. “Take off your gear,” he said. “You’re going in there, and you’re not coming back out.”

Adam reached for the hardhat and pulled it off, keeping an eye on the chief. Waiting for an opening. If he got the chance, he’d rush the bastard, try to get the gun away.

The sharp sound of shattering glass split the air. From the corner of his eye, Adam caught something black and rectangular sailing from an upstairs window.
Winter.
She was still alive. Whatever it was, she must’ve thrown it to get attention, to let them know where she was.

Chief Smallwood turned his head to look.

Adam lunged at him. His injured shoulder screamed as he rammed into the other man, but he wrapped both arms around the chief and bore him to the ground. The chief’s helmet jerked on impact and slid over his face.

Snarling, Adam wrenched the gun from his hand and scrambled up.

Chief Smallwood batted the helmet away, glared at him and propped himself on his elbows. “Come on, Rhodes,” he said. “You’re not going to shoot me.”

“You know, I swore I’d never use one of these things,” Adam said almost conversationally, taking careful aim. “But for you, I’ll make an exception.”

He pulled the trigger.

* * * *

Winter struggled to stay awake and listen. Throwing the tower had taken the last of her strength—she couldn’t get up again if she wanted to. She heard the powerful gush of fire hoses, and raised voices that seemed to be outside the broken window.

Then she heard a gunshot.

“No!” Her desperate scream emerged a rusty whimper. Chief Smallwood had a gun, and she couldn’t think of any reason for one to go off here…unless he’d just shot Adam.

She tried to move anyway. It was just a few feet to the window.

She’d never make it.

More sounds spilled into the room. Shouting, running feet, the rumble of an engine. A long mechanical whine, a thud that shook the floor.

Breaking glass. There was someone at the window. They must’ve brought the ladder truck back.

“Here,” she croaked, barely audible even to herself. “I’m here.” She hoped it wasn’t the chief—if it was, she was finished. She had nothing left.

She’d destroyed the lamp, and the faint light from the window wasn’t enough to reveal the face of the figure dressed in bulky gear that climbed inside. She managed to move an arm, just a tiny bit. “Here…” she whispered.

“Winter?”

Adam
. The tears that spilled down her cheeks surprised her. She didn’t think she had enough moisture left in her body to cry.

He bent over her, lifted her to him. Cradling her with one arm, he slipped a gas mask over her face. “I knew you’d make it,” he said roughly. “Shall we get out of here?”

She would’ve laughed, if any part of her responded.

He carried her to the window, and she grayed out more than once as she was handed off to another firefighter and conveyed to the ground. Someone laid her gently on the grass. Figures clustered over her—she couldn’t tell how many. Her vision was blurring. Doubling, maybe tripling.

As the fresh air hit her lungs, she started to gag. The mask was removed and she curled on her side, coughing up wads of phlegm that tasted like burnt wood. Finally, she managed to draw a great gulp of air, and her vision cleared slowly.

Adam was there beside her.

“I thought he shot you,” she whispered. “The chief.”

“He didn’t. I shot him.”

Her eyes widened. “He’s dead?”

“No, but he’ll never walk right again. And even if he did shoot me, I would’ve come for you. I promised I would never give up.” His blue eyes blazed, the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. “You were right,” he said. “It wasn’t Ethan.”

She laughed. The sound ended in a groan as the motion reawakened throbbing pain in her head. “Course I was right. It’s my job to know these things.”

“Well, you’re damned good at your job.”

“So are you.” She reached for him, and he took her hand with infinite care. “If you weren’t, I’d be dead right now.”

“That’s not all I’m good at.”

“What else?” she said.

Instead of answering, he leaned down and kissed her.

She had to agree he was good at that.

Chapter 16

Winter stood outside the Covendale bus-station-slash-Laundromat, convenience store and entertainment center, thinking
this is where I came in.

Teddy had offered to drive down and pick her up, but she’d opted to take the bus back. She needed a little downtime after the past few days. Ben Schaeffer had been laid to rest, and Chief Smallwood had been charged with his murder. The evidence she’d rescued from the fire would convict him. Ethan Goddard was sentenced to two years for aggravated assault. And there was talk around the station that Adam would be the next fire chief.

She couldn’t think of a better man for the job.

“This is going to sound pathetic, but I miss you already.”

She turned to smile at Adam, who’d come out of the little depot with coffee for both of them. “I’ll be back in a few days,” she said. “This weekend, remember?”

“That’s still a few days too long for me.” He handed one of the coffees to her and sighed. “I guess it’s better than a year.”

“Definitely.”

He slipped an arm around her waist, and she leaned into him as she opened the coffee and took a sip. Maybe it was pathetic, but she was going to miss him, too. Besides, there was something he didn’t know.

She opened her mouth to tell him, and he said, “So what then?”

Her brow furrowed. “What…when?”

“You come for the weekend, and then what? Maybe you come back another weekend sometime? Or maybe I go to Greenway to see you. Either way, it’s—” He stopped, and his jaw clenched. “I’m not losing you again, Winter.”

“Adam…”

“I mean it. I’ll get on that bus and follow you home.”

“Adam!” She reached up and laid a finger on his lips. “Listen.”

The tension went out of him. “All right. I’m listening.”

“You’re going to get your budget back, and then some,” she said. “You can expand back into Valley Ridge, maybe even the next town or two over. Your fire department can really do some good now.
And
,” she said firmly when he tried to interrupt. “The county fire marshal thinks we should have a more hands-on relationship with the Covendale FD.”

“Hands-on relationship,” he repeated.

“Yes. Teddy’s going to open an auxiliary office here in Covendale,” she said. “And that office is going to need a director. Preferably someone who has an established rapport with certain key fire department personnel—like the next chief.”

He was already grinning before she finished. “I don’t speak corporate too well,” he said. “Can I get that in English?”

She smiled. “Try this. When I come back, I’m not leaving again. Ever.”

He grabbed her so fast that she dropped her coffee. She didn’t care. Her feet left the ground, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, laughing and breathless. “So I guess you’re stuck with bland, boring me,” she said.

“You are
not
boring,” he said. “And you’re definitely my type.”

“Professional?”

“Perfect,” he rasped. “You’re perfect.”

He claimed her mouth. She kissed him back with wild abandon, ignoring the rest of the world as he filled hers with the fire she’d forgotten was in her—until she met a stranger on a beach one summer, and gave him her heart.

She almost missed her bus.

* * * *

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