The Blackout

by K J Kalis

  Whether they would come or not wasn’t the question. The question was whether they could get to Ned and his teams in time.

  54

  Freddie had turned the SUV around and, with Van’s help, had found the turn off to the cabin. In just the time it took for them to pass the road, the smoke had thickened to the point that it was difficult to see much beyond ten feet in front of the truck at any given moment. The winds seemed to have buffeted against the mountain without giving the smoke anywhere to go. It hovered over everything.

  “Watch out,” Kat yelled, pointing in front of the truck. A tree had fallen in the road. They would have to go around. The SUV dipped and struggled but made it back up on the trail.

  “From what I can tell, we aren’t far now,” Van said. Kat could see him squinting at the map.

  Yasmin leaned forward, “I think we should walk the rest of the way.”

  “In the smoke?” Kat wondered if Yasmin had been paying attention to what was going on outside.

  “Yeah. If we drive right up to the front door, he’s going to see us coming. We’ve gotta go in quietly. No telling what he’s gonna do.”

  Van scratched his forehead and glanced at Freddie, who gave a nod. “Okay, we’ll pull off here. We are only about a mile away. Who has those radios the ranger gave us?”

  Kat reached into the back of the SUV and handed them to Van. There were two. Van looked at Freddie, “I think you and Yasmin should carry these. You guys are on duty.”

  Freddie smiled, the toothpick moving in his mouth as he spoke, “As opposed to you two interlopers?”

  Kat closed her eyes for a moment, grateful that Freddie could still have a sense of humor. “You could say that,” Van answered, a smirk on his face. “But you gotta know I’m watching you, big man.”

  “Noted.”

  The SUV stopped, Freddie pulling it off to the side of what might be considered a road given the rough terrain they were in. Kat got out of the car and immediately started coughing. Freddie came up behind her and offered her a mask. “It’s not a full respirator, but it’ll keep some of the particulates out of your mouth and lungs.” Kat pulled it on, grateful that Freddie had supplies in the back of the SUV.

  Van stood apart from the group, pointing toward where the cabin was. “Ready?” he asked, his voice muffled by his own mask. The way he was standing, Kat could tell that he was anxious to get moving, the map folded in his back pocket. Everyone nodded.

  Hiking to the cabin for the last mile should have been an easy walk, but the terrain, covered in smoke and filled with brambles and briars, made it hard to walk. They tried to stick to the road as much as possible, but it was hardly a road. It looked more like two ruts ground into the dirt over years of travel, rocks and holes littering their path.

  They had been hiking for about ten minutes when Kat turned to see Yasmin go down. She landed on the ground with a thump and a yelp. By the time Kat got to her, she was holding her ankle. “I think I sprained it,” she said, wincing.

  Freddie knelt down. “Lemme take a look. See if I remember anything from my paramedic classes.” He felt around for a moment. “Can you stand on it?”

  Freddie and Van pulled her up, but she couldn’t put weight on it. “It’s okay,” she said, “Go ahead. I’ll just rest here for a couple of minutes.”

  Van shook his head, “I don’t like the idea of leaving you alone.”

  “I don’t like the idea of Connor Lewis getting away, so go,” Yasmin snapped, sitting back down on the ground, pulling her mask back over her face. “Without me slowing you down, you guys can get there in a couple of minutes.” She pulled the radio off her belt. “I’ve got this. If I need you, I’ll call.”

  Van nodded. “Channel five.”

  “Yes. Now go.”

  Kat followed Freddie and Van, looking back at Yasmin, who waved them forward. What were they going to do without Yasmin? Each step took them closer to the cabin. It made Kat’s skin crawl.

  As the cabin came into view, Kat’s breath started to catch in her mask. She pulled it off, thinking particulates were a better idea than claustrophobia. Freddie and Van knelt down behind a couple of bushes near the driveway. Kat knelt down behind them.

  “I bet that’s his truck,” Van said, pointing toward the house. “Why don’t you guys stay here and let me do a little recon around the cabin, see what’s going on?”

  Freddie started to object but Van was having none of it. “How much recon have you done in your career?”

  “Not much.”

  “Well, let the professionals do their job.” Van set off without giving Freddie a chance to object. Kat glanced at him. There was sweat running down the back of Freddie’s neck, dampening the skin. She thought it was more than just the temperature or the hike. They were getting close to something. What would happen, she didn’t know. “Should I go back and check on Yasmin?” she whispered.

  “Not a good plan,” he scowled. “If your man gets back here and you’ve left, he’ll throw me off the cliff.” He put his hand on Kat’s arm. “Don’t worry. We’ll grab her on the way to the truck.”

  Van came back. “There’s no movement, just a blanket out on a chair by the front door. Looks like he was sitting outside.”

  “I was,” said a voice behind them. The three of them turned at the same time. Kat swallowed. It was Connor Lewis. He had come up behind them, carrying a shotgun, hidden by the smoke. It was pointed at them. “I suppose you are here to talk to me about my little project?”

  “Is that what you call it?” Kat said, standing up slowly. She didn’t want to spook him and get all of them killed. Van tried to pull her behind him, but she pushed away.

  Connor must have noticed the movement. He squinted. “Your man, if that’s what he is, wants to protect you and you won’t let him? Curious.” He waited for a minute. No one else said anything. He motioned with the shotgun. “Move.”

  Kat, Van and Freddie put their hands up, a river of terror running through Kat’s body. She was so scared she could barely walk. She tripped on a rock that was in front of her, going down on her knees. “Get up!” Connor shouted, poking at her with the barrel. She scrambled up and kept walking, following Freddie and Van.

  “Where are we going?” Van asked. Kat glanced at him. Every muscle in his body looked tense. Kat couldn’t focus. All she could do was put one foot in front of the other.

  The group made their way across what could be called the front lawn of the cabin, though there was no grass, except for the wild kind. In the dry air, if anything had been green, it wasn’t any longer. “Line up over there.” Connor gestured with his shotgun to an area that made a corner. Each side had a deep drop down into a canyon.

  Kat glanced over and saw the fire. It was racing up the side of the mountain. She guessed that it wouldn’t take more than a half-hour for it to be on top of them. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Connor said, looking right at Kat.

  “Why did you do this? Why hurt all those people?” Kat stammered, unsure what else to say, a wash of anger and fear coming over her. “What? Are you just mad because Bart made something of himself and you didn’t?”

  Connor’s face darkened. ”You have no fear, do you?”

  “Looks like we know how this story’s gonna end. If you are going to kill us, at least have the decency to tell me why!”

  “That snake Bart Walsh stole my life,” Connor hissed. “You probably don’t understand. Who are you anyway? You police?”

  “Hardly. I’m a journalist.”

  Connor laughed, throwing his head back. “You think you can figure this out? Planning on writing a big piece about me, huh?”

  “Not quite. Theresa Walsh was my friend.”

  “Oh, that little piece of work. She should never have gotten involved with Bart. I told her that.”

  Kat squinted. Nothing they had come across demonstrated a relationship between Connor and Theresa. Connor must have figured that out by her expression, “Oh, you didn’t know? Isn’t that cute!
Bart not only stole my idea for the power management system, which, as you can see,” he said, gesturing with the shotgun, “isn’t infallible, but he stole my college sweetheart. Yeah, Theresa and the idea — they were both mine.”

  “Wait, you knew Theresa in college? She never mentioned…”

  “Oh, she wouldn’t. Not with her cushy life. She was my girlfriend until Bart took her away.” His face calmed for a minute. “I got the better end of that deal, though. I got Janet. She was the love of my life.”

  “Did you start the church fire?” Freddie stammered.

  “As a matter of fact, I did. The marina too.”

  Kat tried not to look right at Connor, worried she might make his anger worse. She was stalling but didn’t know why. “Why the church? I understand the marina. Bart had a boat there, right?”

  “He did. It burned. The church? That pastor took my family. They were supposed to be home with me, not in the Congo. If I had just told them to stay home… if I had made them stay home, Janet and Grace would still be here.” Connor looked right at Kat. “Those people at the church had to pay. Bart had to pay, too.”

  “What did you want Bart to do, Connor? What were you hoping for?” Kat didn’t know why she was still talking.

  “That jerk? Be fair. He stole my idea.”

  “I saw the article from when you were in college.”

  “You did, did you? Well, then you know. I even reached out to him. He laughed at me. Sent his attorneys to tell me to go away. He ruined my life.” The fury returned. “Enough talking. Each of you take a step back. Who wants to get shot first?”

  Kat waited as Connor raised the shotgun up to his shoulder, “You are going to have a lovely trip down to the fiery depths. Hope you love the flames as much as I do.”

  Kat stopped breathing as she looked down the barrel of the gun. Out of the corner of her eye, Kat saw something. “FBI! Put the gun down, Lewis!”

  Yasmin limped toward them, her pistol leveled at Connor. How she was walking, Kat didn’t know. Without warning, Kat was knocked over into Freddie, the two of them toppling onto the ground, Van on top of her. Connor, hearing the voice, swung the shotgun toward Yasmin. The crack of five rounds leaving the chamber broke the silence. Connor’s body flew backward, the shotgun clattering on the rocks, Connor’s body dropping over the edge.

  Kat closed her eyes and tried to breathe. A second passed, and she opened them. Van was sitting on the ground, nursing a bloody elbow. Freddie was kneeling, his hands bracing his body. “You guys okay?” Yasmin said, limping toward them.

  “Thanks to you,” Van said, wiping the blood on his jeans. “He was just about to kill us all.”

  Kat got up and scrambled over to where Connor had been standing. She stared down in the canyon below the cabin. Connor’s body had landed flat on his back suspended between tree branches and the rock face of the mountain, his eyes open, blood all over his chest. Flames were just below him. Kat kept watching for a moment as the branches broke. Connor’s body tumbled into the fire. He was gone.

  “Oh my God,” Kat breathed. She didn’t know what else to say. She was numb. It was Freddie who got the group moving again.

  “Listen, I’d love to stay and chat about what just happened, but in case you haven’t noticed, we are in the middle of a huge wildfire.”

  No matter where Kat’s gaze landed, there was fire. It was just a matter of time before the blaze pressed up and over them, burning the cabin to the ground. Freddie shook his head, “I just called down. The roads are closed. We’ve got no way out.”

  Kat stopped, realizing how serious of a situation they were in. The roads were covered with the wildfire that was climbing the mountain. Going up wouldn’t help them. She tried to calm herself. She needed to think quickly.

  Freddie looked around. “If we can find a ditch or something, we might make it through. We could try to hike to the other side, but there’s no guarantee we can outrun it.” He shook his head, “This is a hot one.”

  It was hopeless. Kat wouldn’t see Jack or the dogs again. Her relationship with Van was over. “I’m scared,” she breathed just loud enough for Van to hear. He grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. Kat stared out over the canyon. The smoke had thickened and so had the heat. Unless there was a miracle, they wouldn’t make it out. Her heart pounded in her chest. She could only think of Jack and the dogs, wondering how Chuck would tell Jack what happened...

  From behind them, she heard a noise. It was so faint at first that she thought it was the fire creaking and breaking its way toward them. Then the noise got louder. She looked up, the smoke swirling over them. From over the top of the mountain behind them came a black helicopter, zeroing in on their location. “We’re here!” Kat jumped up and yelled, waving her hands. “Help!”

  “They know we’re here,” Yasmin said, limping up behind her. “I called them on the ranger’s radio. Just try to relax Kat, we’ll get you out.” Kat didn’t know what to say. She just stood in place watching the helicopter, tears running down her face.

  The helicopter couldn’t land with the winds and the fire. They lowered a basket and Kat got in, the first to be hauled up. She was greeted by a technician and a medic, “Welcome aboard,” a man wearing a helicopter helmet emblazoned with yellow FBI letters on it said. “Let’s get your friends up here.” Kat slithered to the back of the helicopter, putting on a headset that was handed to her. A medic started checking her and had just removed a blood pressure cuff when Yasmin was pulled on board.

  Over the radio, Kat heard the pilot say, “Let’s move this along. I’ve got about thirty seconds before I’ve got to get out of here. It’s getting too hot.”

  “We’ve got two left, sir!”

  “Do a tandem pull then. No choice.”

  Yasmin looked at Kat and put her hand on Kat’s leg. The technician quickly attached two blue harnesses to the winch, sending them down to the ground. “No basket?” Kat felt a new wave of fear run through her. What if Van or Freddie fell?

  “No time. Fires too hot, ma’am. Don’t worry, we’ll get them out.”

  Kat stepped over Yasmin and slid to the window where she could see. The harnesses had just reached Freddie and Van. Van looped the padded cable around his body, showed Freddie how to do the same and gave a thumbs up. Kat couldn’t watch, she couldn’t breathe. The thought of Van falling to the canyon floor in the fire was just too much to bear.

  Yasmin’s voice cut through her thoughts, “Kat, Van knows what to do. He’s a Marine, right?”

  Kat nodded, tears running down her cheeks. She couldn’t lose him. She couldn’t.

  * * *

  The chopper landed twenty minutes later at a staging area on the other side of the fire, after winching Van and Freddie into the cabin, putting down in a school parking lot. There was hustle and bustle in every corner. Everything from a Cal Fire command center truck to ambulances and fire trucks were parked, waiting for orders. The group was escorted to the medical tent. Yasmin insisted on walking the whole way, though it was obvious there was a serious problem with her ankle.

  The open-air medical tent had been quickly assembled. Van sat on one side of her and Freddie on the other. They both had oxygen masks on. A plume of smoke had covered them when the pilot had lifted them out of the blaze. Kat sat in the middle, an ice pack on her knee, soot on her face. She tried to wipe some of it away with her sleeve.

  Van pulled the mask away from his face. “You look nice with soot on you,” he smiled.

  Kat shook her head. After what they had been through, she wasn’t sure how he could joke but she was grateful for it. She stared out to the parking lot, wondering how the few trucks there would be able to put out the massive fire Connor Lewis had started. She wondered how many people were trapped, facing walls of fire like they did in evacuating their home.

  A blaring of a horn cut through the hum of activity at the staging area. Around the back of the school, a caravan of trucks, their American flags waving behind them, appeared. The
re had to be fifty units coming in all at once, filled with equipment and personnel to fight the fire Connor had started. A plane flew overhead, low to the ground, the pilot dipping one wing in salute to the staging area.

  “Did I just see the crest of the State of Ohio on that plane?” Kat asked Freddie.

  He nodded, taking his oxygen mask off. “The calvary. They’ve come. We’re going to be okay.”

  Epilogue

  “Residents of the State of California, I know this has been a difficult week for all of you.” The Governor shifted his gaze to his teleprompter to read the next lines. Kat watched from a house they had rented for the week. They had paid a small fortune with so many homes destroyed, but at least they had a roof over their heads.

  He continued, “These fires were made all the more devastating by the fact that they were set intentionally. I’m here to tell you today the person responsible has been stopped. Our local and state firefighters have done a noble job of getting the fire under control. I want to thank the departments in over thirty states that came to assist. We are in your debt…”

  Kat turned away from the television. Jack sat on the floor playing a game with Mike that Chuck had bought for him. Bart was letting Mike stay with them for a bit. It was good for both of the boys. Woof was lying on his side by Jack’s feet, his back leg wrapped in a blue bandage. Tyrant sat nearby, keeping watch.

  Van and Freddie leaned over the table in the kitchen, playing cards and eating pizza. “Did you leave any for me?” Kat asked, walking to the table, smiling.

  “You snooze, you lose,” Freddie said. Van grabbed her hand and planted a kiss on it.

  Everything was back in place, at least for now.

  About the Author

  K. J. Kalis specializes in thrillers and Christian non-fiction. Currently living in the Midwest, when she’s not working, K. J. spends her time chasing her two dogs, traveling and trying to get her husband to pick up his socks.