As Jonah neared the gates to the ranch, however, he forgot about Mike Remington. Green fields spread endlessly to the horizon. Stands of oaks gave shade to the hills, which were bright with patches of wildflowers. All land he owned…Then Jonah spotted two spirals of gray smoke rising against the deep blue sky, and he wondered what was burning.
As he drove along, watching the plumes of smoke darken and expand, Jonah had a gut feeling that something was wrong. The ranch hands could be burning off a field, but he didn’t think so.
Clamping his teeth together, he pressed the accelerator, speeding along until he reached the turn to the ranch house, then bouncing over the cattle guard. The ominous black smoke increased and he gunned the engine, skidding on gravel along the drive.
In the distance he heard sirens that only confirmed his suspicions. Another few seconds of driving and he saw bright orange tongues of flame spiraling in the sky. He caught up with a pickup truck speeding ahead of him.
Then, at another turn, the ranch house, barn and outbuildings came into view. Trees burned in two areas while flames shot up one wall of the barn, Jonah saw, but the roof hadn’t yet caught and men were pouring water on the blaze. Men fought the three blazes.
Other men carried equipment out of the barn. The wail of sirens grew louder as Jonah ran to help save the barn.
He approached the gang pouring water on the barn fire. Jonah took a hose from one of the men to relieve him, and directed ranch hands where to turn other hoses. He yelled for someone to get a ladder, and in seconds he’d braced the ladder against the barn wall. He climbed to the roof, tugging the heavy hose up with him and then motioning to a man on the ground to turn the water on again.
Flames danced in front of Jonah’s face, but he knew if they could keep the roof from going up they could contain the fire.
Two pumper trucks had arrived and started to spray big streams of water on the blaze. They could easily reach the roof, so Jonah tossed down his hose and climbed back down the ladder.
When he reached the ground, he took the hose and ran around to the entranceway, planning to go into the burning barn.
“Mr. Whitewolf! Don’t go in there!” Scott Adamson, the barrel-chested foreman, yelled at him.
Jonah shook his head and charged into the barn, where he spotted flames in a far corner. Dragging the hose, he ran forward and turned the hose on the conflagration.
A cowboy arrived to help him, and Jonah motioned to the loft. “I’m going up,” he yelled above the roar of the fire.
“That blaze could consume the loft in minutes,” the man warned, but Jonah was already climbing. “Pass the hose to me,” he called.
The man climbed behind Jonah, then handed him the nozzle. Jonah tugged on the hose and turned it on the flames.
Sweat poured off him and he could hear men yelling outside, but within minutes the blaze inside seemed under control.
When he climbed down from the loft, there were four other men in the barn, fighting the dying fire. He looked at the charred structure and knew the corner would have to be rebuilt, but the flames would be doused in minutes and the barn had been saved. The other fires had been brought under control.
He handed the hose to one of the cowboys. “I want to look around in here,” he said, skirting smoldering embers. “Keep the water flowing, because this could all burst back into flame.”
It took him only five minutes to find where he thought the fire had started. He straightened up and strode outside, past firemen who kept hoses trained on the charred and blackened wood. Cowboys had turned off the spigots to the ranch’s well water, no longer needed now.
Scott Adamson walked up to Jonah and shook his hand. “Thanks for your help, but you shouldn’t have put yourself at risk by going into the building.”
“It was safe enough,” Jonah said, brushing aside his foreman’s concern. “I need to talk to one of the officials about the fire. It was deliberately set.”
“Aw, hell!”
“You don’t sound surprised or shocked,” Jonah said, his eyes narrowing.
Adamson took his hat off to wipe sweat from his brow and rake his red hair back from his face. “We’ve had bad things happen lately. Some sick cattle—someone put poison in a water tank—some smashed fences. I thought it was kids doing pranks that got out of hand, but now I don’t know. This happened in broad daylight. Plus it was three separate fires. Someone set them. Fortunately, one of the men spotted the fires when they had just started and we had men close at hand to fight the flames.”
“It doesn’t look like the work of kids.”
“C’mon. I’ll introduce you to Tank Grayson. He’s the man you need to talk to. He knows fires, but then I guess you do, too.”
Jonah spent the next thirty minutes with the thin, blond fireman, who went inside the barn with him and confirmed Jonah’s suspicions.
“We’ll have an official analysis, but you’re right. This was started with kerosene and rags. So was the one in the trees. Anyone opposed to you moving here?”
“Not that I know of,” Jonah answered, perplexed. “Scott Adamson said that other things have been happening around here—poison in a stock tank. That kind of thing.”
The fireman shook his head. “This could have been a hell of a lot worse. We’ll let you know what we find out.”
Jonah shook hands with him and went outside to thank all the others for their help. As he shook his foreman’s hand and thanked him, Scott nodded.
“Anytime there’s a fire, everyone pitches in. We’re fortunate to have a good supply of well water, and Mr. Frates put in a fine system of water mains and spigots. Otherwise this barn would have been gone.”
“Well, I’m grateful for everyone’s help. We can rebuild that corner and it’ll be like new again. I’ll see if I can’t arrange a bonus for everyone with the next paycheck.”
“That would make a lot of guys happy, although they didn’t do this for a bonus.”
“I know that, but they took some risks fighting that fire.”
“Not like the ones you took.” Scott eyed Jonah. “I guess you’re going to live up to your reputation.”
“How so?”
The older man shrugged as he looked at the barn. “All that Special Forces stuff…Damn, I don’t know why anyone would do this.”
“I don’t, either. Well, I’m going to go get cleaned up.”
He glanced down the road at houses of people who worked on the ranch. If the fire had gotten out of control it could have spread to the bunkhouse, office and other outbuildings. They had been lucky. Jonah headed to the sprawling ranch house. Entering through the back door, he walked quietly through spacious rooms where sunlight spilled across polished hardwood floors and over classic furniture. Even though he was moving his things in tomorrow, it was still difficult to realize this was all his.
The house was rustic, yet with state-of-the-art appliances and conveniences, and a collector’s elegance to its antique furniture. Jonah didn’t know much about antiques, but Kate had been into collecting and had taught him a little about styles she liked.
He was spending tonight at the ranch, but he wanted to return to town and buy a pair of boots. He also planned to get pictures developed from a disposable camera he’d picked up on the way, to send to his folks.
When Jonah drove back to San Antonio,