“I will.” Tess disconnected, glad that he sounded calmer. She parked her car and undid the seat belt.

Harp hadn’t moved. She stood on the porch, watching Tess.

Tess opened the door and climbed out. “Thank you for letting me in here,” Tess said as she approached the stairs.

“I’m sorry you felt the need to come here. I can take care of myself no matter what.”

“It’s my job to make sure people are safe. The evacuation order was made yesterday—”

“I will not evacuate.” She stepped back as Tess reached the top of the porch.

“Now there’s no choice,” Tess countered.

Tess regarded the mysterious prepper for a moment. Harp was taller than Tess, but not by much. And she was older, Tess guessed by at least ten years. She also looked lithe and fit, reminding Tess a little of Linda Hamilton from the Terminator movies, wearing dark jeans and a dark tank top. Her gray-streaked hair was pulled back into a ponytail. And there was an energy about her like she was a coiled spring, ready to explode. Tess had seen energy like that in good cops and in bad criminals. It had to do with a sure sense of purpose. Harp was confident and assured, ready for anything. That made Tess more curious, not less, and she wondered what the next hours would bring.

She made a mental note to do as much digging into the woman’s background as possible—if they survived the fire.

“We’ll be fine,” Harp said as if reading Tess’s mind. She looked away and gestured with the shotgun barrel. “My livestock are out of harm’s way, and I’ve got all the space cleared of brush around my home, a good well, and cisterns full of water. I’m prepared for any contingency.”

Tess coughed as a blast of smoke rolled over them. Briefly she wondered if the wind had weakened as Oliver said. If it had, that would certainly help the fighting effort. The flames were visible through the eerie smoke haze, off to the left, on the hillside, running this way. She heard a chopper and then saw it drop a load of water on the leading edge of the flames.

Harp set the shotgun down. “We may need to man some fire lines. Are you up for that?”

Tess nodded as a dry pine tree caught fire to their right, crackling and popping as the flames took hold. She followed Harp as the woman jumped off the porch and jogged to a heavy-duty diesel-powered ATV. On the back was a spool of thick fire hose.

“Hop on,” she said to Tess. As Tess climbed onto the vehicle, Harp turned on a valve. She then hopped into the driver’s seat, and they headed for the fire.