Secret Agent Under Fire. Geri Krotow

him out of here! You will repent, Lionel, repent!”

      Lionel heard a scream that sounded like a woman in childbirth but also on the brink of death. As the brothers surrounded him and grabbed him by the arms and legs, he realized the sound was coming from him.

      “No, no, not the place of peace! Please, I tell you, the operation went fine! Please!” He started to sob but it was too late. In a few short minutes he was shoved into the back of a windowless van and shaken about as it made its way up into the deepest parts of the Appalachian Mountains that surrounded Silver Valley.

      * * *

      Abi was summoned to Trail Hiker headquarters the day after she’d allowed the arsonist to escape. Claudia hadn’t seemed upset with her yesterday at SVPD headquarters, but then again, Claudia was a professional. If she were about to reprimand Abi or, worse, fire her, she wouldn’t do it in front of anyone else. Especially not at SVPD or anywhere outside of Trail Hiker spaces. After all, it was a secret agency that didn’t officially exist.

      Inhaling deeply, she steeled herself against self-recrimination and entered her personal code into the outside door lock, after which she entered a very small, confined space in front of the real entry. As she peered into the retinal scanner and placed her finger atop the print reader, she tried to convince herself that she wasn’t about to get fired. Claudia might be angry at the situation but Abi hadn’t been hired so much to apprehend the suspect in the field as to get inside his or her mind.

      The door beeped before the loud clicks of several locks opening. When the light panel glowed green, Abi turned the lever handle and opened the twelve-inch-thick steel door into the reception area. She still wasn’t used to the plush appointments in the Trail Hikers headquarters office. Located in an office park on the outskirts of Silver Valley, it was minutes from Harrisburg and within twenty miles of several local, private runways. Trail Hiker agents were flown all over the world to participate in time-critical missions. It was far enough from the obvious headquarter sites like New York City and DC to be safe from prying eyes and collateral damage from a terrorist strike, but close enough to get to either place quickly.

      Apparently there were a lot of missions at the moment as she felt the practiced, faux-casual glances of several persons seated on the leather chairs in the waiting area. She stepped to the high desk and spoke quietly.

      “Hi, Laurel. I’m Claudia’s eight o’clock.”

      “Yes, good morning. She’s on the phone. As soon as she’s free I’ll let you in.” Laurel was strikingly beautiful and looked like she could be a supermodel if she wanted to. But Abi suspected she was also trained to handle the worst of situations—all associated with Trail Hikers needed to be able to pull for the team. It was what had appealed to her when Claudia had first approached her for TH work. Abi had been certain she was done with law enforcement but knew she was going to miss the camaraderie she’d come to rely upon in the FBI. And, since her TH work was supposedly part-time, the generous paycheck and benefits allowed her to pursue her other passions as she’d never been able to do as an FBI agent.

      Problem was that she had no idea what her passions were. She’d signed up for a yoga class, taken floral arrangement workshops, worked at the local pet rescue, but none of those endeavors had sparked any sense of her true calling.

      Not like working for the Trail Hikers did.

      “Claudia’s ready for you, Abi. Go on in.”

      “Thanks.”

      The thick, soundproof doors clicked shut behind her as she entered Claudia’s sleekly decorated office. CEO of Trail Hikers, Ltd., and retired US Marine Corps General, Claudia Michele looked ready to take on the biggest shark of Wall Street in her Armani suit and designer pumps. While her shoes weren’t five-or even four-inch heels, Claudia wore them better than women decades younger.

      “Good morning, Abi. Have a seat.”

      Claudia’s perfectly manicured hand motioned to the chrome-and-leather set of chairs in front of her executive desk. Abi held back a grin. She doubted Claudia’s manicurist knew the same hands had probably not only fired deadly weapons but were able to kill without any weapons other than Claudia’s skill and quick thinking.

      “Thank you. I’ll get right to it. Yesterday morning was a bust and it’s my fault. I didn’t get the guy, and I even had him in my sights. I didn’t want to reveal as much at SVPD headquarters yesterday.”

      “So I’ve heard. Colt Todd gave me a quick report earlier.”

      Abi inwardly cringed. Had they discussed how incompetent her actions had been?

      “I’m sorry, Claudia. I thought I’d get him—”

      Claudia held up a hand. “Stop. He got away. While I’m less than thrilled that it’s a negative mark against the Trail Hikers, it happens. If you thought this was going to be like any other case you’ve worked, this should underscore what we’ve been dealing with since Leonard Wise and his thugs moved to Silver Valley.”

      “You are certain the cult is behind the arsons, then?”

      Claudia shrugged. “Hell, no. I have no idea, not on all of the fires. That’s why we brought you into this. Your FBI experience is priceless to the team.”

      “It was worthless yesterday morning.”

      “You’re going to let one slip-up affect your sense of duty, Abi? Really?”

      “No, ma’am.”

      “Claudia. We’re both civilians here.” Claudia was adamant that she was no longer in the military and that they keep to first names only, like other corporations in the business world. It helped prevent breaking the silence on their existence.

      “Claudia. No, I’ve never let a criminal stop me and I’m not starting now. But this fire starter is far more polished than even I expected. He had someone on an ATV waiting for him, at just the right spot that even if I was close enough I couldn’t get a clear shot at him. There were too many trees and the ground was too uneven. Everything was in his favor for escape. And we had SVPD, SVFD and TH surrounding him.”

      “You’ve already developed a solid profile on him, haven’t you?” Claudia’s eyes narrowed on her and Abi resisted doing a worm squirm.

      “Not on one, but several arsonists. There is no way, in my professional opinion, that these fires were all started by the same person. The notes are all the same, from the same source, giving us a clue as to where the next fire will be. My impression is that there are at least two but probably three or more, working on starting fires in specific locations.”

      “You think there’s a team of them working together?”

      Abi shook her head. “Absolutely not. I think they are all reporting to the same entity, be it a person or group, who tells them where and when to set the blazes. They have different methods, different profiles. Each fire starter has used a different accelerant, at least in the first two I’ve been assigned to. We’ll have to wait another week to hear about yesterday’s fire, I’m sure.”

      Claudia shook her head. “No, actually, we already know. This time it was aerosol cooking oil.”

      “The pressurized can was the explosion I heard, then.” She’d thought it was fireworks, but the use of run-of-the-mill cooking spray made more sense.

      “We’re lucky none of the firefighters had gone in yet.” Claudia tapped her pencil on her desk as if in thought but there was no mistaking the direct look she gave Abi.

      “It had to stretch them awfully thin, to have so many firefighting teams at the ready in separate locations throughout Silver Valley this morning.”

      “It did. They called in every department from the county. There were even two from other counties.”

      “Claudia, don’t we risk word getting out about the op against Leonard Wise and the cult with more law-enforcement types?”

      “It