Against the Fire
Praise for Kat Martin
“Kat Martin is one of the best authors around! She has an incredible gift for writing.”
—Literary Times
“[Martin] produces irresistible novels that blend the eerie and unexplainable with her own uniquely sensual and exciting style.”
—RT Book Reviews
“A tidal wave of emotion, bittersweet, poignant romance and a tantalizing primal sexuality…the inimitable trademarks of multitalented author Kat Martin.”
—Winterhaven News
“A real page-turner…The Summit is a superb story.”
—Romance Reviews Today
“Martin dishes up sizzling passion and true love, then serves it up with savoir faire.”
—Los Angeles Daily News
“WOW! Kat Martin’s talent knows no boundaries.
[Scent of Roses] is to die for…a tremendous story that will keep you up at night.”
—Writers Unlimited
“Kat Martin is a consummate storyteller!”
—The Romance Reader’s Connection
Also by Kat Martin
SEASON OF STRANGERS
THE SUMMIT
SCENT OF ROSES
The Raines of Wind Canyon
AGINST THE WIND
The Bride Trilogy
RULE’S BRIDE
REESE’S BRIDE
ROYAL’S BRIDE
The Heart Trilogy
HEART OF COURAGE
HEART OF FIRE
HEART OF HONOR
The Necklace Trilogy
THE HANDMAIDEN’S NECKLACE
THE DEVIL’S NECKLACE
THE BRIDE’S NECKLACE
Watch for the next book in The Raines of Wind Canyon
AGAINST THE LAW
from MIRA Books
KAT MARTIN
AGAINST THE FIRE
To Carolyn Pomerene, a longtime friend,
for her help with the psychology in this book,
as well as her work on Scent of Roses.
Contents
One
The screech of the siren didn’t reach him at first. Exhausted from a hard day’s work, Gabriel Raines slept soundly. But as the shrill cry drew closer and the flashing red lights lit the walls inside his bedroom, something registered in the depths of his mind and he stirred.
Gabe blinked awake, eyes instantly alert as had become his habit during his years as a marine. He’d been out of the corps for years but some things just didn’t change.
The wail of the siren grew louder on the street below the window of his downtown Dallas condominium, then the fire truck shot past and the sounds began to dim as the vehicle drove farther away. With a weary sigh, Gabe turned to look at the red neon numbers on his alarm clock. Three-thirty.
Running a hand over his face, he lay back against the pillow, hoping like hell he’d be able to get back to sleep.
He might have if his cell phone hadn’t started ringing.
The siren’s wail had stopped. The fire truck had reached its destination, which meant the fire was nearby, and the sound of a second engine was beginning to fill the night. Gabe reached toward the nightstand and picked up his cell phone, flipped it open and pressed it against his ear.
“Whoever this is,” he grumbled, “this had better be important.”
“There’s a fire at the Dallas Towers.” The voice of his foreman, Sam McBride, floated over the line. “Looks like all our hard work is going up in smoke.”
Adrenaline jolted through him. Gabe swung his long legs to the side of the bed. “Are you sure it’s the Towers?”
“I was on my way home, about a block away when I heard the first fire truck. I saw it turn toward the Towers and decided to see what was going on.”
Already off the mattress, Gabe pressed the phone more tightly against his ear. “You see what part of the structure is involved?”
“I could see flames in the lobby.”
“Son of a bitch.” They were almost finished with the major renovation they were doing on the Tower’s soaring marble lobby. Almost.
He took a breath to steady himself as he walked toward his closet. “If you were just heading home, you must have had a pretty hot date.”
“I didn’t spend the night if that tells you anything.”
Like Gabe, Sam was a bachelor and both of them lived downtown. An area that formerly consisted of run-down buildings was being revitalized, turned into a chic little district of shops and boutiques. Gabe had built the condos Sam lived in, as well as the Las Posas development that housed his own unit.
“I’m getting dressed. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Gabe closed the phone. He should have known things were going too well. In his experience, every time life went a little too smoothly, bad news lurked around the corner.
Naked, he crossed to the oak dresser against the far wall, jerked open his underwear drawer and pulled out briefs and a pair of socks. Dragging on a pair of jeans and a Dallas Cowboys T-shirt, he ignored the row of Western boots sitting on the closet floor and shoved his size-thirteen feet into the heavy leather boots he wore when he was working.
Gabe left the condo and a few minutes later, he was pulling his big white GMC extended cab pickup over to the curb just a little ways down the block from the Towers. Smoke and flame billowed out through the open glass doors leading into the lobby, but the fire boys were at work inside and had three powerful jets of water hitting the building from different angles. With any luck, the blaze would be brought under control before it burned into the offices on the floors above.
The bad news was, the lobby would have to be completely rebuilt.
Son of a bitch.
“At least the building was insured.” Sam McBride strode toward him, almost as tall as Gabe’s six-foot-two-inch frame, but instead of having Gabe’s dark hair, blue eyes and muscular build, Sam was blond and lanky. On top of being a damned good employee, he was Gabe’s best friend.
“Well, I guess that’s something. It’ll sure put us behind schedule, though. I was hoping to finish up here, split the crew up, use the guys to finish our other projects.”
“Not gonna happen,” Sam said.
Gabe looked up to see one of the firemen walking toward them in full battle gear: fire protection suit, helmet, goggles, high rubber boots.
“Be better if you stepped back a little,” the fireman said, “kept out of the way.”
“I’m Gabriel Raines. My company’s been rebuilding the lobby. A lot of my equipment is still in there.”
“Sorry to hear that, Mr. Raines. Most everything in the lobby’s completely gone. It was a hot, fast fire. We’re lucky we were able to get a handle on it so quickly.”
Gabe blew out a breath. “I hope nobody was hurt.”
“Not that we know of.”
“How’d it start?”
“Too soon to tell. If the lobby was under construction, there was probably a lot of flammable material around. Paint thinner, drop cloths, stuff that really gets a fire going.”
“We’re really careful to seal everything up at the end of the day, pick up whatever we’ve been using.”
“Like I said, it’s too soon to tell. Our investigators will be taking a look at everything, including the security tapes.”
Gabe shook his head. “Afraid that won’t help. The old cameras are down. New ones aren’t up yet.”
“How many people knew that?”
“Not many. Replacing the old cameras was kind of a last-minute management decision. Only a few people knew they weren’t up and working.”
The fireman nodded and headed back toward the fire, pausing for a moment to speak to a second man in a blue uniform, late forties, salt-and-pepper hair. Gabe realized the man had been moving through the crowd that had gathered to watch the blaze, asking onlookers questions. Now he approached Gabe and Sam.
“I’m Captain Daily with the arson investigation squad,” he said. “You’re Raines?”
“That’s right.”
“I understand your company’s been working on the lobby reconstruction.”
“Actually, we were damned near done.”
“We’ve never met but I know who you are. You helped my dad once, Jim Daily? He needed a permit to add a room to his dry-cleaning shop. The building was old and the city was giving him a hard time about it. You put in a good word for him and the permit came through. I appreciate that.”
“I liked your dad. I was sorry to hear he passed away.”
“He was a good man.” Daily straightened, returning to the business at hand. He looked over at the destruction in the lobby of the Towers. “I’ll need to ask you a couple of questions.”
“No problem. This is my foreman, Sam McBride.”
Daily gave Sam a nod and returned his attention to Gabe. “What time did you get here?”
“About twenty minutes ago. We both live in the area. Sam was heading home from a date. He followed the fire trucks and gave me a call.”
“You see anyone going in or out of the building?”
“You guys were already here by the time I arrived,” Gabe said. “I didn’t see anyone else go in or out.”
Daily turned to Sam. “How about you?”
Sam glanced over to the crews mopping up the scene. “The first truck was just pulling up. I saw the flames in the lobby and called Gabe. I watched you guys working until he got here. It wasn’t long before a crowd started to gather. But no, I didn’t see anyone coming or going.”
The captain nodded. “The fireman you were talking to…that’s Mike Dougherty. He says the cameras are down.”
“Didn’t seem like a big deal. No one was going in and out of the lobby during the remodeling.”
“I’m going to need a list of the people who knew.”
“No problem.”
“Thanks. We’ll be in touch if we have any more questions.” Daily started back toward the men working the fire and disappeared among the throng of spectators.
Gabe and Sam stood watching as the fire crews worked. Eventually, the smoke began to thin and one of the water hoses was turned off.
“Anything you can think of we could have done to cause this thing?” Gabe asked.
“I was here at the end of the day. We left the place clean as a whistle.” Sam shook his head. “We were so damned close to finished.”
“Shit happens,” Gabe said.
“I guess.”
“At least the fire didn’t get too out of control and it doesn’t look like anyone got hurt. I’ll call Fred Parsons, see what he wants us to do.” Parsons managed the building. He had hired Raines Construction to do the remodel. The owner was eager to get the lobby finished and the building running smoothly again. Gabe was sure Parsons would want him to get his crew back on the job as soon as possible.
“I’ll talk to Rich Simmons, too,” Gabe said. Simmons worked for American Insurance. “We’ll need to file a claim.” But even if they did, there was a fairly high deductible. Nothing was ever cheap.
Sam slapped him on the back. “Come on. It’s damn near dawn. Neither of us is going to get any more sleep. Let’s go get some breakfast.”
They might as well. The horizon had begun to turn a pale purple-gray. Gabe’s crew started work at seven and though this job was down for a while, there was still work to be done on several other projects they had going in the area.
“You’re thinking Mrs. Olson’s?” Gabe asked. Mrs. Olson’s Café down the block had the best breakfast in the downtown area and the place opened early.
“Yeah. I could really use a cup of coffee.”
Gabe checked his heavy stainless-steel wristwatch. “It’s after five. Should be open by now.”
They both climbed into Gabe’s pickup. The company name, Raines Construction, printed on the door in bold black letters, flashed in the early dawn light. He fired up the big, gas-guzzling V-8 he had vowed to replace with a more economical vehicle on his next purchase and pulled off down the street.
His stomach growled. A big plate of bacon and eggs was beginning to sound damned good. Might take his mind off having to rebuild the damnable lobby of the Towers.