Another started to bolt.
Marc stepped in front of him, touched a hand to the butt of his pistol. “Don’tmake me draw my weapon.”
They handcuffed the kids and marched them to McBride’s SUV, listening to their excuses and bickering the entire way.
“It was his drone. I was just there. I didn’t actually fly it.”
“He’s lying. He flew it for a few minutes. He wanted me to fly it. You wanted to see the fire as much as I did.”
“I didn’t crash it into the helicopter. That wasyou.”
The kids probably didn’t realize they were confessing, and Marc didn’t point that out to them. All of this would go into his report of the incident.
“You got cuffs?” Marc asked McBride.
“Always.”
By the time McBride had them cuffed, Deputy Marcs had arrived, overheads flashing. She arrested them and put them in the backseat of her vehicle. “I’m taking you to the county sheriff’s office for processing. You two might have caused the deaths of four good men, men with wives and kids and families. I hope you understand how serious this is.”
One of the young men started to cry.
Marc started back toward the reservoir.
“Hey, Hunter, where are you going?” Darcangelo called after him.
“To find whatever they threw in the water.”
He’d bet his ass it was the controller. If it was, it would clinch the case against them and give Mia and Joaquin and Hawke and all of them a little justice.
Chapter 15
Vicki droveLexi’s car through nearly empty streets to The Cave, Libby following in her vehicle, Bob and Kendra still at the inn, shoving whatever they could into their Ford Bronco. It had felt strange to leave her own car behind, but then it was just a car.
Lexi needed her right now.
Lexi had insisted they stop at Team headquarters before leaving Scarlet so she could grab the hard drive that held all of the Team’s old financial records. Lexi was a supporting Team member and had taken over as the organization’s accountant after the previous one had been caught embezzling. How she could think of the Team when she was sick with worry over Austin, Vicki didn’t know.
If Eric had been missing or presumed dead, Vicki would have been a wreck.
Eric had texted her not long ago to tell her he was going up in a chopper to rescue survivors at Mato Sapa and find Austin, but so far Vicki hadn’t heard back from him. It didn’t take long to travel by helicopter, so Vicki could only assume the news wasn’t good. Otherwise, he’d have let her know right away.
Vicki pulled into the parking lot.
Lexi unbuckled her seatbelt. “It will only take a minute or two.”
“I’ll stay with Emily and Mack.” Vicki kept the engine—and the AC—running.
Emily was asleep in her car seat, her pink blankie tucked beneath her chin, her red hair in tiny pigtails, blissfully unaware that the daddy she loved was missing and maybe or…
No, Austin couldn’t be dead. The thought was just too terrible.
Lexi hurried inside, glancing over her shoulder toward the fire.
Vicki could see the wall of smoke in her rearview mirror—dark, ominous, menacing.
She’d sent a quick text message to let Eric know she was on her way down the canyon. With a raging fire threatening Scarlet, Austin missing, and people lying injured and maybe dead at Camp Mato Sapa, he needed to be able to focus on his job, not waste time worrying about her.
Libby rolled down her window, shouted to Vicki. “He called! Brandon called using someone else’s phone. I guess he left his at the firehouse.”