“This is Chief O’Rourke. Ms. Harp, there is an out-of-control forest fire heading your way. I’m ordering a mandatory evacuation.”

“I have no intention of leaving.”

“Maybe you didn’t hear me. There’s a raging fire—”

“I heard you. I’m not deaf or stupid. I’m also not leaving my home, my property.”

“Fire personnel will not be able to respond to your residence in the event you need help.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m not asking for help. I can take care of myself. I have defensible space.”

The intercom clicked off. Tess had only a second of openmouthed shock before her phone rang. It was Oliver. He hadn’t wanted her to go, telling her that she’d already completed her duty when it came to warning people and facilitating evacuation. A recent fast-moving fire in northern California had amped up his angst; people there lost their lives when the fires moved toward them so fast they had no chance to get away. Putting herself directly in harm’s way was not in her job description.

“Tess, you need to get back here now!” The emotion in his voice touched her deep inside, making her wish she could hold his face in both hands and assure him that she was fine.

Tess heard debris smack her car, and she felt it move as a strong wind gust slammed into it. She’d been in a car pelted with sand during a sandstorm in the Arizona desert years ago, and that was what this felt like.

“I’m heading back now,” she said and then realized the phone was dead, the connection dropped. She plopped the phone on the seat next to her, frowning because she knew Oliver was justifiably worried. Briefly, she considered a radio call to the incident command center so someone could let him know that she was okay.

Tess looked in her rearview mirror and saw a tornado of flames. She was certain the house she’d just left was lost. The flames were angry, clawing at the sky, and the smoke dark and ominous. She jammed her car into reverse as a large explosion rent the air, deafening even to her with her windows rolled up. The Coopers’ propane tank must have exploded. As if shot from a flamethrower, fire squirted across the road. Tess was cut off.

She reached out and punched the intercom again. There was no choice but to hunker down with the recluse.

But would the woman open the gate?

Tess waited for a response even as her rearview mirror showed a wall of smoke and flames coming closer.

2

Oliver Macpherson stared at his phone as his connection to Tess dropped. Cell phone reception was spotty at times in Rogue’s Hollow as it was, but with two fires raging, and one close to the nearest cell tower, fire personnel had told him that coverage might be affected.

Is Tess okay?