Michael ducked his head up to see what was happening. Where was Kyra? Was she safe? Over the crackles of the fire, he hadn’t heard any gunshots. But if there was someone out there by the car, at least Kyra had a weapon. She was trained and could take care of herself. Why didn’t that make him feel any better?

  “What’s going on?” Bill asked, stooping down on the ground by the base of his tree several feet away from Michael.

  His gaze connected with the old man’s, full of terror, the wrinkles on Bill’s face more pronounced. “The car blew up.”

  “It looked fine when I checked it out.”

  “How long ago?”

  “An hour and a half ago. I called the police station and talked to the dispatcher. I thought someone would be out here sooner from what she’d said. Then I remembered the search for your sister this morning, so I figured that was why there was a delay. I was kinda surprised to see you here.”

  Why had it taken so long for Gabe to call Kyra? So many questions plagued him. “The fire is spreading. We’ve got to move back. The problem is someone set an explosion, and that person could still be around.”

  “Whatever for and who is he?”

  “Both good questions. I don’t have answers for either one.”

  The blare of sirens grew closer. Michael peered over to where Kyra was holed up. The fire inched nearer to her location. Smoke swirled and mushroomed from the blast. From his angle he could see her back away from the log then swing around and crouch down to hurry away.

  “Let’s get out of here, Bill. Stay there. I’ll come to you. We’ll need to move fast.”

  Lord, we could use Your help.

  Michael darted to Bill and helped him to his feet. Supporting some of the older man’s weight, Michael started toward the edge of the orchard. Bill stumbled and went down, toppling both of them.

  Kyra met Connors and the fire trucks as they came into the yard. While the firefighters began setting up to contain the blaze, she turned to Connors. “The car exploded right before we reached it. If I hadn’t thought I saw something in the bushes, we could have been closer and not made it out alive.”

  “Where’s Dr. Hunt?”

  “I saw them heading this way. They should be here by now.” She pivoted to scour the area for them. Did the assailant stay after all and somehow get to Michael and Bill? With the sounds of the fire and sirens, a shot could be masked, especially if he used a silencer. She started toward the smoke-filled orchard.

  “Where are you going?” Connors asked.

  “After them. They might be in trouble.”

  Urgency quickened her steps. She heard a firefighter behind her yell at her to stop, but she kept going into the grove. She had told Michael she would protect him. He’d covered her when the car exploded and had taken the brunt of the raining bits of car. He’d risked his life for her. The least he deserved was her returning the favor.

  Pulling the collar of her shirt over her mouth and nose, she rushed toward the area where she’d last seen Michael and Bill. Through the haze of smoke she saw two bodies down on the ground. The sight surged her pace, adrenaline pumping through her veins.

  A few feet away Michael shoved himself up, locking gazes with her. Relief momentarily gleamed in his eyes before he swept his attention to Bill still down. He scrambled toward the old man, who moved his head around to look at Michael. Bill groaned.

  “What happened?” Kyra knelt beside them.

  “We were hurrying. Bill tripped and we went down. Where do you hurt?” Michael asked Bill as he checked his body.

  “Ankle. I think I twisted it or something.”

  “We’ve gotta get both of you out of here. The fire is spreading.” A series of coughs racked her body.

  The sound of the fire grew nearer, louder. Through the smoke, flames lit the earth, devouring anything in their way.

  Michael rose and assisted Bill to his feet. Michael wrapped his arms around the old man and bore most of his weight. Kyra led the way, scanning their path ahead for any signs the blaze had cropped up in front of them or for the person who set the bomb in the VW.

  As they emerged from the orchard, Connors hurried up to them and helped Michael with Bill. “The fire chief wants us to get back. Bill, your house should be all right for now. The wind is blowing in the opposite direction, but a firefighter hosed it down just in case.”

  “Let’s get him to my car. I need to get him to the clinic.”

  “Shouldn’t you all be checked for smoke inhalation?” Connors said as Bill coughed.

  Kyra’s throat burned and her chest felt tight. She couldn’t understand why anyone would smoke and breathe in this stuff willingly. That thought again reminded her of her assailant last night. Did he smoke or was he around someone who did?

  “I’ve got everything we need back at the clinic. I can be there in ten minutes.”

  Kyra rushed forward and opened the back door to Michael’s car. “Why don’t I drive in case Bill needs you.”

  “Child, I’ll be fine. Just a twisted ankle. I’ll be hopping around in a few days,” Bill protested.

  Michael chuckled. “You might want to wait a little longer than that. Let’s get an X-ray first and some oxygen. Then you can go out dancing if you want.”

  When the two men were settled in the backseat, Kyra switched on the engine and pulled away from Bill’s house. In the rearview mirror her attention fixed on the smoke and flames bellowing into the sky. Someone hadn’t wanted them to see the car. Why? Or was it something else? A way to stop Michael and her? If so, how did he know they were coming to look at the VW? Did Bill tell anyone else but the dispatcher and Gabe?

  Kyra let Gabe into her place and gestured toward the great room. As she shut the door, lightning streaked across the sky. Dark clouds hung low, menacingly. It was five and it looked like nighttime over two hours early. Thunder rocked the house as she and Gabe made their way into the room where Michael and Aunt Ellen were.

  “I pray Amy and Laurie are inside somewhere protected. This isn’t going to be a gentle summer shower,” Kyra said in a low voice to Gabe at the entrance.

  “I was hoping the tropical storm Edna would bypass us totally, but it looks like we’re getting the western edge.” He frowned, his gaze straying to the picture window that overlooked the beach and gulf.

  Whitecaps covered the water for as far as Kyra could see. Palms swayed in the wind. Another flash of lightning lit up the dark immediately followed by a loud clap of thunder.

  Kyra sought Michael in the great room. His eyebrows swept downward, his mouth pressed in a tight line. The haunted expression in his eyes ripped at her. By the time he finished at the clinic with Bill as well as himself and her, the tropical storm was moving in and Gabe had called to tell him they were coming back to Flamingo Cay early. Even knowing about the storm, Michael had been determined to go out in his partner’s airboat and do some searching. But the coast guard had issued a small-craft warning.

  Michael surged to his feet and strode to the window, staring outside, his hands stuffed in his pockets. “This doesn’t look good.”

  Gabe moved farther into the room. “It should blow through quickly. We can be back out tomorrow looking for Amy. Finding Laurie’s car means they are most likely around here somewhere. If that’s the case, we’ll find them. I’ll be going over the map tonight with Wilson and Nichols. Certain areas will have priority over others.”

  Michael pivoted, his back to the window. “Her friends couldn’t really help. No one recognized the places in the photos. Hailey said Amy mentioned a place around Manatee Creek.”

  The view of him in plain sight for anyone out on the beach made Kyra uncomfortable. She cut the distance between them and shut the drapes. “No reason to take any chances.” Everything was escalating. The bombing wrenched up the stakes even higher.

  Gabe removed his ball cap and took a seat on the couch with Aunt Ellen. “That’s almost two hours away by boat. It’s a pretty desolate area.”

  “But maybe a great place to hide.” Kyra sat in a lounge chair across from Gabe. “They don’t have a car anymore. If Amy is comfortable in the swamp, then I could see her fleeing there to hide.”

  “We’ve finished covering the area around Alligator Island. We’ll expand our search tomorrow. Take a look at the Glades between Flamingo Cay and Manatee Creek.”

  “How about Tern Bay? There was a dock down below the orchard. Did Amy and Laurie escape that way after abandoning the car? Bill said he kept a couple of boats at his pier. That needs to be checked on tomorrow.” Michael tousled his hair with his fingers. “I still don’t understand the car being at the orchard. That’s in the opposite direction from Manatee Creek. What if someone else moved it there and laid a trap for us? The car blew up as we approached. We’d have been caught in the blast if Kyra hadn’t stopped when she did and pulled me back.”

  “Oh, dear, do you think someone was waiting for you before detonating the bomb?” Aunt Ellen shifted a few inches closer to Gabe on the couch.

  “Right before I got here, the fire chief told me it looks like that was what happened, but nothing is official until an investigator can check the car out thoroughly. Or at least what is left of it.”

  “How’s Bill’s orchard?” Aunt Ellen asked.

  “He lost about fifty percent of his trees in that orchard. He has two more orchards on the other side of his house.”

  “I’m going to have to bake him some cookies. That ought to raise his spirits a bit. People always seem glad to get a batch. Did he go home?”

  “Ken was taking him home after his last breathing treatment. Thankfully his house wasn’t affected by the fire.” Michael paced the room. “Before coming back here, Kyra and I went to the hospital in Clear Springs. Cherie stirred some, but she hadn’t come out of her coma. Her chances, though, have improved throughout the day. The doctor took her off the critical list this afternoon.”

  Aunt Ellen put her hands on her thighs and stood. “Well, I hope y’all are starved. I made some spaghetti. Gabe, I hope you’ll stay tonight.”

  The police chief grinned. “A home-cooked meal. You won’t see me turn down one when offered. Can I help you?”

  “Sure. You can set the table while I put the French bread in the oven and throw together a salad.”

  “I love spaghetti. Have I ever told you I’m a fourth-generation Italian on my mother’s side. She used to make the best spaghetti and…” Gabe’s voice faded the further into the kitchen he went.

  “Should I warn Gabe?” Kyra asked with a chuckle.

  “What about?”

  “Aunt Ellen’s cooking. I definitely should call Bill about the cookies she wants to bring him.”

  “It can’t be that bad.” Michael took a whiff of the air. “It smells good.”

  “Maybe she’s improved. Dad used to complain all the time to me about her cooking, but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything to her. She got such pleasure out of it. You would think after years she would have gotten better from doing it so many times.”

  “Nah. You shouldn’t say anything to Gabe. He may love what she fixes.” Michael walked to the drapes over the picture window and fingered them apart a few inches. “It’s really coming down now. I thought about trying to call Ginny to let her know what’s going on with Amy, but I know she was leaving for the interior and wouldn’t be available until next weekend when she returns to the mission.”

  “Hopefully by next week everything will be over and Amy will be back home safe.”

  He threw a glance at her. “You really feel that way? She has a killer after her who has now decided we are his target, too. She’s caught up in something we don’t know anything about. She’s probably out in the Glades in this thunderstorm. Doesn’t look too good to me.”

  “I’ve got to believe she’ll be all right. Once I begin buying into the fact Amy isn’t then that’s when things turn for the worse.”

  “Hey, I was always the optimistic one. You were the pessimistic one. What’s changed you?”

  “When I came to believe in the Lord wholeheartedly, I realized He’s my strength. He gives me hope. Hope is what keeps me going forward. What caused you to change?”

  Michael’s gaze cut through her. A faraway look entered his eyes. “After the first couple of patients I lost in the E.R., I began to feel helpless. When I couldn’t save Sarah, I couldn’t understand why all my years of training went for nothing. I’d wanted to spend the rest of my years with her, and there was nothing I could do to keep her alive.”

  “It was her time to go. You don’t have a say in that.”

  He faced her. “I know it in here—” he tapped his temple “—but I’m having a hard time understanding it in here.” He splayed his hand over his heart.

  “You’re fighting for control. Ultimately the Lord is in control. When you realize that, you’ll come out the winner.”

  Laughter drifted to them from the kitchen. Kyra peered behind her toward the door that led into that room. “I think we’d better go break up those two.”

  Michael inhaled deeply. “Yeah, I think the bread is burning.”

  Not able to sleep beyond a few hours, Michael paced the den, plowing his fingers through his hair. He walked to the drapes and looked out the slit. The rain had finally stopped around three in the morning, but the wind still blew enough to whip the palm fronds like flags. Nothing was going to stop him from being involved in the search for Amy today.

  He could feel his little sister’s fear. He imagined her shivering in the cool, wet night air. She knew the swamp, but he doubted she could avoid a killer for long or for that matter survive for long in the desolate part of the Everglades where he thought she might have gone. Creeks that were hard to travel down. Tangled mangroves choking the other vegetation. Muddy bogs that slowed a person’s progress. Predators that usually stayed away from humans until they came into their territory.

  And Amy was in the middle of it. Gabe and his officers had done a thorough search of Flamingo Cay. The whole town was on the lookout for his sister and Laurie. They weren’t here. They were out there in the Glades.

  Streaks of light ushered the coming of dawn. He’d already talked with Ken about using his airboat to take him as far as he could go with it. Then he was going to use his kayak for the less navigable waterways around Manatee Creek.

  While he waited for morning, restlessness agitated him. He shouldn’t go outside, but the walls pressed in on him. He opened the French doors and stepped out onto the back deck. The wind created large waves that crashed against the shore. The tails of his short-sleeve shirt caught on the breeze and whipped about him. Humidity hung thick in the air.

  He strolled to the railing and leaned into it, taking deep breaths of the cool, salty air. Later it would feel miserably hot when the sun came out, but for now he enjoyed the refreshing start to the day.

  When his cell rang, the sound startled him, and he jerked back, quickly digging in his pocket for the phone. He didn’t recognize the number as he answered, “Yes?”

  “Michael, I’m in trouble and don’t know what to do.” Amy’s frightened voice scared him more than her words.

  NINE

  “Where are you? I’m coming to get you. I’ll keep you safe.” Michael prayed that was possible, especially after the near miss today with the car explosion.

  “You can’t tell anyone where I am, especially the police.”

  “Why?” The feel of eyes on him slithered down his length. He strode toward the French doors and reentered the house, then turned the lock. “What’s going on, Amy?”

  “The man after me is being protected by a cop. I heard him say that. I don’t know who. Please promise me you won’t let the police know where I am.”

  The plea in his sister’s voice ripped at his composure. Michael sank onto the couch where he’d slept earlier. “I won’t.”

  “It’s where we went exploring and found that old Native American burial ground near Winn River.”

  “You went that far from here?”

  “It’s the only really isolated place I know. I’m not there yet. We just entered the creek and cell reception is going. Our canoe has several holes in it from hitting logs, but I think we can make it. Laurie and me will be in the hut near the burial ground. I didn’t know where else to hide.” Tears laced her voice. The last word ended on a sob.

  “I’m on my way. We’ll talk when I get there. I’m not going to let anything happen to you or Laurie.”

  “Please hurry. He could find us again.”

  “Again?” Panic bolted through Michael.

  “Yes, we were trying to leave town, and he followed us. We had to abandon Laurie’s car and barely escaped getting caught by…”

  Her voice faded in and out. “Amy? Are you there?”

  “Yes,” she cried.

  “Do you know the man after you?”

  “Never seen—him before three days—”

  Their connection went dead. The panic Michael had tried to hold at bay ran rampant through him as he surged to his feet. For a few seconds, he stood frozen, unable to think or do anything.

  Then quickly plans began to form in his mind. He would sneak out of Kyra’s house and leave Ken’s pier before anyone else knew what he was doing. He would take his kayak with him because there were only places a paddleboat could go on the last part of the trip. He didn’t want to put Kyra in any more danger. She could have died today in the orchard, not to mention what had happened to her the night before on the beach. A few more feet and the blast would have done some serious damage. As it was she’d been cut from flying debris, and he had stitched up several of her wounds. Her last few encounters had made her look as if she’d been in a street fight and lost. All of this was because of what his kid sister had gotten caught up in. Because he had asked her to help.