“Why?” Christ, it was hard to think. “Why am I all dressed up?”

“To celebrate.”

“Celebrate what?”

“You,” Paul replied. “We’re here to celebrate you, how special you are. You’re the belle of the ball, Grace. Are you right-handed or left-handed?”

CHAPTER 47

ELLIE GLANCED AT the dashboard GPS. It said they were five minutes from the Santa Paula address.

“How are you going to play it when we get there?” Ellie asked. “You still haven’t explained that to me.”

“I told you, I’ll talk to Dixon until he gives Paul up.”

“Then why’d you pack the trunk with all that firepower?”

“You ever fire an AR-15?”

“No,” Ellie replied, although she had, several times. The AR was the weapon you wanted if you went to war.

“Person sees a weapon like that,” Sebastian said, “they suddenly become more eager to cooperate.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“I’ll offer him incentives.” His eyes cut sideways to hers, and he added, “Don’t worry—you won’t have to get your hands dirty.”

“I’m worried about how many people might be there.”

“We’ll find out any minute now, won’t we?”

The house in Santa Paula was one of those sprawling modern things designed to look like country homes. It was isolated, as Candice had said, nothing around for miles.

Except the wildfires, Ellie thought.

The mountains and hills in the far distance looked black under the bloodred sky. Some surfaces glowed red and orange from burning embers. The air inside the Range Rover was breathable, but even with the air-conditioning’s filters she could smell woodsmoke and burnt vegetation.

Sebastian had her park on a hilly dirt road overlooking the house. He studied the house, using a pair of military-grade binoculars equipped with both night vision and thermal imaging.

“I don’t see any other vehicles here,” he said. “Or any heat signatures.”

“What about the garage?”

“Let’s go check it out. And let’s use this.” Sebastian removed a compact Glock from his coat pocket and handed it to her. “I’ll take the lead on this. Just watch my back.”

They parked in the driveway, in front of the garage, and looked through one of the windows. Ellie saw a single car parked in there—a vintage Shelby Mustang.

An evacuation sticker had been placed on the front door, to let firefighters and responders know that no people were inside. Which, she thought, was odd. During the drive, Sebastian had kept checking a state-run website that offered real-time wildfire updates—well, at least until the unstable cell signal eventually dropped. He told her that Santa Paula was in the clear.

Then again, he could very well be lying to her. He had, so far, refused to tell her the truth about why Ron Wolff and his men had packed up and left.

It was clear that Sebastian was driven to find his daughter—and Paul—no matter what the cost. And that worried her. Desperate men didn’t think their actions through. That made them unpredictable. Dangerous.

When no one answered the door, Sebastian used his elbow to smash one of the small panes of decorative stained glass built around the doorframe.