Chapter Five

“There, Mark. It’s dancing up the wall now,” Dyna called to one of her hands. “Help is on the way. Let’s keep spraying the walls and those beams.”

Mark nodded and tried to spray the climbing heat.

Dyna coughed, the smell of smoke and extinguisher foam overtaking her. Clothes drenched with sweat and water and her hair plastered around her neck, she ignored the shock of what she’d seen when she’d first run toward the barn. Thankful it wasn’t the main stable, she still fought to contain the fire.

“Do you have any enemies?” She hadn’t answered Rico’s question and she wouldn’t think about that. Not now.

This building had been blown open and torn into shreds, fire now leaping up what was left of the walls. Her heart hammered and rammed against her chest, her hands burned with blisters from holding and tugging at the industrial strength garden hose they kept around for just about everything, including fire emergencies. Whatever had exploded inside the storage barn had done enough damage to cause the fire to spread up into the rafters. The fire extinguisher had stopped some of it but the blast had sent sparks flying out everywhere. They were losing the battle.

Thankfully, the local fire department arrived while she held a spray of water against the nearest flames. Another minute or so and this whole barn would be up in smoke.

“Are all the other stables and horses secured?” she asked her foreman, Jonah Stewart, when he came hurrying from the main stable.

“Yeah,” he called out, breathless, his brown eyes full of worry. Jonah was three years older than Dyna but one of the few who considered her a good boss. Maybe because they’d dated in high school and he still had feelings for her that she couldn’t return. “All in the east corral.”

Dyna stepped back and gulped a cough, her breath cut off by the thickening smoke. “Thank you, Jonah.”

He nodded and quietly went back to helping the other hands contain the fire. Firemen dressed in protective gear came rushing in, barking orders.

“Everyone, clear out so these men can do their jobs,” she shouted over the hissing and popping as the greedy fire seared through one-hundred-year-old beams and support walls. Dyna held tightly to the heavy water hose, a fit of coughing overtaking her.

A fireman rushed by. “Ma’am, we need you to get out of here. Go to the truck and get yourself checked out.”

“I’m fine,” she said, digging in her heels even though the heat was scorching hot on her skin.

A firm hand on her arm tugged her around.

Rico Knight.

“C’mon.” He grabbed the hose and passed it to a fireman and then pushed her toward the open doors and air.

“I’m not—”

“Now, Dyna.”

Dyna glared at Rico and reluctantly left through the door on the side of the barn that wasn’t on fire.

“I need to be in there,” she shouted between fits of dry coughs. “I need to help.”

“They’ve got it,” Rico said. “Here, sit down so they can examine you and give you some oxygen.” Forcing her toward the fire truck, he motioned for one of the responders. “This woman needs medical attention.”

“No, I don’t.” But her limbs seemed to melt away from her and the sky, so bright with stars, went black and wiggly.

Rico caught her up against him and half carried her to the fire truck. In a matter of seconds, she had an oxygen mask over her face and a medic checking her vitals.

Rico stood in front of her and then started pacing and watching, a dark frown shadowing his face. What was the man thinking?

And why did she care?

Maybe he thought this wasn’t an accidental fire, same as her gut reaction. Nothing stored in the tack room could cause such a blast. So what had happened?

Finally, the medic cleared her but told her to stay on the oxygen a few more minutes. Rico came to sit with her then found a light blanket to put over her shoulders.

“I’m not cold.”

“You’re shaking. Shock.”

“Okay, yes, I’m in shock and I’m mad.”

“Mad is allowed.” He turned to wipe damp hair off her face. “Are you all right?”

“What do you think? My barn is on fire. How’s that for a perfect ranch scenario.”

“Someone set an explosion in there,” he said without preamble. “You need to tell me who was on the phone with you today.”

* * *

“What?” Dyna stared up at him, her body betraying her with tremors and chills. “No, I don’t know who that was, honestly.”

“You said the voice sounded familiar,” he reminded her. “Think, Dyna. Your championship horse turns docile and stops doing his job, you get strange dropped calls and now a threat to get even with you. With all of you.” Holding his hands on his hips, he stared at her. “And an explosion in one of your out-buildings is sure one way to get even.”

Dyna stopped and stared at the burning building in front of her. “What would cause this type of boom?”

“A little bit of gasoline in a bottle, ignited,” Rico replied, his gaze moving from her to the fire. There were a lot of acrid smells in the air, but Rico thought he smelled motor oil or possibly gasoline. But then, this was a working ranch with every kind of smell around, from manure to feed and hay to saddle soap and leather polish.

“As in bomb type material?”

“Yes, or any kind of accelerant, and it wouldn’t take much,” he replied. “But we’ll have to see if the firemen can find the source right away. Or bring in a fire inspector to search for some answers if they can’t pinpoint what caused this.”

“So you think someone blew up the barn? That this wasn’t just an accident? Hay can mold and cause a fire, you know. All sorts of things. A cigarette. Although my guys know not to smoke on the job.”

“I’m just speculating,” he replied. “But what I heard was definitely an explosion. I think someone set the fire in a very combustible place.”

“Just what I need,” she replied, yanking the mask off. “Which is why I can’t be sitting here. I need to … figure this out and I can’t believe someone would deliberately do this.”

“Dyna?”

Dyna whirled so fast, she got dizzy again. Rico caught her just in time for her mother to see the action, Wendy’s green eyes moving from the burning building to Dyna and Rico joined at the hip.

“Oh, darling, what in the world? I come home to find fire trucks and people running everywhere. Are you okay?” Wendy kept asking redundant questions while she tried to tug Dyna close.

Dyna extracted herself from the warmth of Rico’s arms and stood tall then gently pushed her mother away. “I’m okay, Mother. Something happened in the supply barn. I don’t know what. An explosion of some kind.”

Wendy pushed at her fluffy bangs and stared at what was left of the barn, Butch and Sundance prancing around her. The dogs had obviously picked up on the excitement around here. “Was Domino near there?”

“No,” Dyna replied, thinking that was an odd question coming from the woman who detested Domino.

“Oh, good.” Then her mother patted her hair. “Let’s get you up to the house. Edwin is on his way.”

Dyna glanced at Rico. His frown shouted confusion. Without saying a word, he shifted closer to her.

“I don’t need Edwin, Mother,” Dyna said. “You go to the house and keep him, and the dogs, there. We’ve got this under control.”

Wendy opened her mouth to protest but thought better of it. “All right. I’ll get Sharon to help me make some sandwiches and fresh tea for the men. And you know the local news stations will send a reporter out here. I’ll field questions.”

Which meant her mother would instruct the housekeeper to do all of the grunt work while she primed and reapplied her makeup for the cameras.

“Mother, do not speak to the press. We don’t have any details.”

“She’s right,” Rico said. “She’ll have to find out what happened here before anything is released to the press.”

“Okay, got it,” Wendy replied, turning tart. “It’s a fire. No one was hurt and our livestock is safe. That’s what we tell them.” Calling to the dogs, she strutted back toward the house.
“Mother, no comment,” Dyna said again.

After her mother left, Dyna took the bottle of water Rico handed her and pretended it was tequila. Then she gave him an apologetic glance. “She means well, but she’s never really had a clue. She thinks I should have sold Domino years ago. And now she has Edwin to back her on that.”

“You don’t like Edwin, do you?” he asked, surprising her yet again.

“Do you like him?” she asked in turn, already trusting Rico more than she should.

“I don’t know him that well but he’s good friends with my father and he did call me to come here,” Rico admitted. “He seems to care about you and your mother though.”

“He cares all right,” she barked back. “About Mesa Malloy. He pretends he doesn’t want to take over, but I believe differently. The man owns land all over Nevada and is always looking for more. Mesa Malloy would be another feather in his cap.”

Rico came close, his eyes going as dark as the remnants of smoke behind them. “Does he want this place bad enough to blow up a few things?”