“Olivia, he just gave us the sign,” Diane said. “You first.”

“No.”

“This isn’t the time to argue, dammit.”

“No arguments. You’re not as young as I am. I’ll help steady you. Then you guys can pull me out if I need it.”

“Okay.” Diane pulled herself through the window. “But I’m insulted that you think I’m decrepit. I’ll get you for that.” She started to turn around but heard a coughing behind her that told her that Olivia had already climbed out the window.

“So much for pulling you out,” Diane whispered to her, as they crouched next to Nelson.

“Anything, Don?” Olivia asked Nelson.

“Looks clear.” He turned back and looked up at the house, which was rapidly becoming engulfed by flames. “But we need to get the hell away from here. You and Olivia run for the woods.” His hand tightened on his automatic. “I’ll be ready to cover you if he’s still out there.”

*   *   *

“OH, MY GOD.”

Kendra looked out of the helicopter window at the burning vacation house, a flaming torch on the dark hillside.

“I’m sure they got out,” Lynch said quietly.

“How do you know?” Kendra snapped. “How can anyone know?” She was dialing her phone. “I can’t get through to Mom.”

“I don’t know. But your mother is smart, and so is Olivia,” Lynch said. “And Nelson is a good agent. They’d find a way to get out of that inferno.”

“Myatt is down there,” Kendra said. “Even if they’re out of the house, they might be running straight toward him.”

“You’re right.” Griffin lowered the microphone on his telephone headset. “But I’ve just had word that the response team is down there. They’ve called the paramedics. The paramedics are four minutes out.”

Kendra felt as if she were going to jump out of her skin. “Paramedics? What the hell happened? Have they reached them? How are they?”

“We’ll find out soon.” Griffin held up a finger as he listened. He leaned toward the pilot. “Did you get that?”

“Got it,” he said. “We’ll be on the ground in sixty seconds.”

The helicopter was banking around the burning house and hovered over an empty field down the road. Kendra looked down and saw that the response team’s helicopter had already landed there. Its searchlights illuminated the field.

What was she going to find down there?

In less than a minute, Kendra unbuckled herself and jumped out of the helicopter. She bolted across the small field, which was lit up by crisscrossing searchlights from the landed copter, which also provided fierce wind and noise from their rotors.

There they were! At the edge of the field nearest the road. They were being treated by personnel of the response team.

And they didn’t look good.

“Mom?”

Kendra dropped to her knees in front of the spot where her mother, Olivia, and Agent Nelson were being treated. Blackened faces, torn and rumpled clothes. And they were each wearing oxygen masks.

Kendra took Diane’s hands in her own. “Are you okay?”

Diane pulled off her mask. “Agent Nelson needs help. Immediately. I’ve been telling them to fly him to a hospital. They’re not listening to me.”

Kendra looked over to see Nelson on his back, his shirt off and bandaged around his torso. He was being tended by two agents, one of whom leaned over and replaced the mask over Diane’s nose and mouth.

“Ma’am, the paramedics will be here any minute. They’ll help him.” From his steely tone, it was obvious Diane had been getting on his every last nerve.

An encouraging sign, Kendra decided with relief.

Diane said something that caused her mask to fog. Kendra figured it was a good thing they couldn’t understand her.

She turned to Olivia. “How are you feeling?”

Olivia just nodded. She was staring down at Nelson and holding his hand. Then she looked at Kendra. “He took a bullet for us. Myatt was out there waiting.”

“Can you tell me what happened in there?”

“It’s better if they don’t talk.” The response-team agent leaned toward Kendra. “They’ve already discussed it with the commander when we first found them. He’ll fill you in.”

Kendra looked over and saw that Griffin and Lynch were already on it, intently discussing the situation with the response-team commander.

She saw red flashers, strobing over the hillside. Relief. Two paramedic units rounded the bend and stopped on the side of the road.

As the paramedics jumped out and started to work, Kendra joined Lynch and Griffin. “Will somebody please tell me what happened?”

As they brought her up to speed, she could see that Lynch was clearly troubled. “Still no sign of Tad Martlin?” she asked.

She’d clearly hit a nerve. “Not yet.”

“I’m sure the paramedics will take Olivia and my mother to the hospital, along with Agent Nelson. I need to go with them.”

“Of course.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I’ll stay here a while and join the search for Martlin.” Lynch shook his head. “I’m the one who brought him into this.”

“He had to know what he was doing when he took this job.”

“Did he?”

“As much as any of us did.”

Lynch nodded. “Keep in touch. I’ll let you know what we find out here. The local police have already put up roadblocks on the highway. No one’s driving off this mountain without our knowing about it.”

“If he’s still on the mountain.” Kendra turned toward Nelson, who was on a gurney being placed into one of the paramedic units. “Well, that’s my cue. You know the expression, ‘Doctors make the worst patients?’ Whoever said that never met my mother.” She glanced back at Lynch. “Be careful.”

“You too.”

She looked out into the darkness of the woods as she moved toward the paramedic unit. Was Myatt there, watching, planning? Surely not. This area was crawling with agents and response teams now.

But who knew what Myatt was thinking or planning. His move in attacking her mother and Olivia had been very bold, and it had almost been successful.

When this had started, she had never dreamed that it would lead her down this twisted road. Now the only thing of which she could be certain was that Myatt would take any chance, go any distance.

And take down anyone who got in his way.

*   *   *

“YOU’RE JOKING.” Diane stared incredulously at the young female emergency-room doctor. “I am not staying the night here. Cut this bracelet off me right now.”

“Ma’am, it’s for your own safety and wellness…”

“I’m quite safe and well, thank you. I’ll make that decision.”

Kendra rolled her eyes. “Give my mother a sedative and a plausible horror story. Those are the only things that will work, trust me.”

The doctor, who appeared to be in her midtwenties, frowned in puzzlement. “A sedative and a…”

“… horror story. Tell her what can happen if she goes home right now.”

“We try not to unnecessarily frighten our patients.”

“Frighten her,” Kendra said. “It’s absolutely necessary.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Diane said to the doctor. “My daughter is just—”

“You could die,” the doctor said bluntly.

“That isn’t funny,” Diane said.

“I assure you it’s not. But you and your friends breathed poison, plain and simple. It’s unavoidable in a house fire. We have no idea what toxins are only now entering your bloodstream. We need to observe you for the next four to six hours. During that time, you can help yourself by keeping your mask on and breathing oxygen.”

“But I already feel better.”

“That’s good. But I served my residency with a physician who treated a fire victim who unknowingly breathed toxic levels of chorine and hydrogen. Apparently, the house’s molding and baseboards were made of a plastic material that released those elements at high temperature. The patient had only a minor cough, but he went home and several hours later his respiratory system shut down, and he died.”

“That’s a horror story, all right,” Diane said sourly. “Now I think I really need that sedative.”