The alert sounded on his cell phone just as he, Paul, and Shannon were saddling their horses to move the herd. Benton stepped out of the box to check the details without giving Major a chance to knock the phone out of his hand with his big horse head.
The emergency text announced a two-vehicle collision on the highway with fuel leaking onto the road, fire personnel requested.
“Another drill?” Shannon asked.
“No, the real thing. Car crash,” Benton replied, reaching for the saddle that he had not yet cinched around the stallion’s girth.
“Go. I’ll put your stuff away,” she offered. “Paul and I can move the cattle.” She pulled the brim of her hat a little more firmly onto her brown hair. “Did they say who it was?”
“No.” He had to assume Claire would have contacted him if it was her. If she was able to. He shook off the thought. He had to keep focused. “Lock up everything before you head out. With all the robberies, I don’t think we should risk anything, especially since Mom and Dad won’t be in the house.” His dad was driving his mom to a medical appointment in Virden, and Clay was out on an errand.
“For the record, I don’t believe for a second that Claire is involved with the robberies. I wouldn’t trust her an inch when it came to giving me directions, but she’s not a thief,” Shannon told him. “I like her. I like that she supports you too. And that she saved me a piece of your promotion cake. Now go earn it.”
The firehouse was on the edge of town, the same side as the Royal Oak Ranch, which meant that Benton snuck in under the mandated fifteen-minute radius. He was in his gear within minutes and was getting the situation update from Chief Zazney in the cabin of the pumper truck minutes after that as they sped out of town.
“A pickup pulling a horse trailer pulled onto the highway in front of oncoming traffic. The second vehicle swerved but still hit the horse trailer. A third vehicle pulled over to assist. They said that the truck disconnected the overturned trailer and fled the scene. The RCMP detachment has been notified, and the ambulance is en route to check out the crash victims. We’re going there to clean up the fuel spill on the road and ensure nothing happens when the vehicles are cleared from the scene,” Zaz reported.
“Were any animals in the trailer?” Rob asked from the front seat.
“None reported. Lawson, you’re going to take Happy and Nick and hose down the ditch. If something sparks, we don’t want anything that could catch fire in range. It’s been so dry that things can get away from us pretty quickly if we aren’t paying attention.”
Benton was prepared and ready to move when they arrived on the scene. He exited the cab and assembled his team. Then he stuttered to a stop when he recognized the demolished car on the shoulder.
“What’s up?” Happy asked. “See trouble?”
“That’s my parents’ car.” Rather, what was left of it. The hood was crumpled like an accordion, and the passenger side front tire was ninety degrees to what it should be. Clay’s truck was parked beyond it with its hazard lights flashing. “Let’s move. I’m good.” He hefted the large extinguisher to his shoulder.
“Take a minute and talk to them. Reassure them that the ambulance is on its way. I don’t know why it didn’t beat us here,” Zaz said from behind him.
“Yes, Chief.”
Benton jogged down the shoulder, leaping over a trickle of fluid running from the overturned trailer to the rush-filled ditch along the highway. The passenger door to Clay’s vehicle was open, and he saw his brother’s sweat-stained back as he leaned into the vehicle. “Mom, Dad, are you okay?”
“What are you doing here?” Clay asked.
“Somebody called the fire department. The ambulance is on its way. Do you need medical assistance?”
He got twin responses of “I’m fine” in stereo. The way his mother held her arm and head spoiled that lie. “Mom, do you want to try that again?”
“I got a little bumped around. I’m okay,” his mother insisted.
“Marjorie?” His dad wasn’t messing around, and Benton didn’t blame him, not with her medical history.
“Doc Little can check me out when we get back to town. I don’t need an ambulance.”
The chief jogged over to join them and caught her last words. “The ambulance was already out on a call. They’ll be delayed. Lawson?”
“Mrs. Lawson needs medical attention, but she’s good to travel. Clay, I want you to take her directly to the hospital. We’ll call ahead and let them know what to expect. Do not let her talk you out of it,” Benton ordered. His mom had always downplayed being ill. There had been nothing that he could do about it when he was a kid. Now he could.
He would have said more, but something else froze him in place. His brain took a second to register the new input he was smelling. Benton tucked his mother’s leg into the footwell and closed the truck door. “Clay, get them moving. Chief, something’s burning.”
As he ran back to the truck and passed the trailer laying on its side, he paused when he came to the trickle of fuel, turned, and followed it. “Happy, grab a shovel and stop this stream from hitting the ditch. Nick, see if you can open the door to that thing and see what’s leaking.” He shrugged off the extinguisher and covered the smoldering grass with foam, consciously taking his time so he didn’t miss any embers or sparks.
He looked over his shoulder when he heard the sound of steel scraping gravel and saw Happy digging into the soft dirt on the side of the road and throwing it onto the fuel, smothering any chance of it catching fire. That’s when he saw his brother standing slack-jawed, watching him. “Clay, move your butt. Now. Get Mom to Doc Little. Have him check out Dad, too.” His voice left no room for argument. Clay responded to his orders like his fellow firefighters had. “Chief, does the hospital know they have incoming?”
“It’s done, Lawson. What do you have?”
“Secondary leak from the horse trailer. How’s the car?”
“Leaking everything.”
The hiss of an active extinguisher had them running to the trailer. Nick loosed a second stream out of sight. He came out and gulped at the fresh air. “There was a riding lawnmower in there. Not that there’s much left of it now. It’s leaking all over.”
The pumper truck’s horn sounded, bringing the men to attention. A familiar pickup wound its way around the crashed vehicles and stopped even with them. An RCMP cruiser, lights flashing, pulled up behind it. “Claire, what are you doing here?”
She grinned. “Going to work. With a buddy,” she said, gesturing at the car behind her. “Is everybody okay here?”
“We’re good. Clay is taking my parents to the hospital to be checked out."
“Are they injured?”
“No, but we want to be sure. Clay will call Paul and Shannon in to hover as well.”
“What happened?”
“My folks said a black pickup pulled out in front of them, then ditched the trailer once it was damaged. They went that way,” Benton said, pointing in the direction she was already headed. “Do you know where you’re going?”
“We’ve got a good idea.”
“Be safe, Claire King. I’m not pretend in love with you.” He couldn’t let it go unsaid. Not with car crashes and fires and real-life cops and robbers happening at every turn. When she first arrived in Hopewell, she’d had to trust him with her life to keep her cover intact. In return, he’d trusted her with his family and friends. Throughout it all, they’d gotten to know each other better than anyone else, their hopes and dreams and ambitions. It wasn’t a far stretch to trust her with his heart after that.
“We are going to have a conversation about your timing when we’re both done here, Benton Lawson,” she said. “But kiss me goodbye before I go.”
He leaned through her open window, looked into her green eyes, and gave her a kiss that left no room for misinterpretation. When his ears stopped buzzing from the power of their kiss, they started ringing from the hooting and hollering from his fire crew.
“Hey, Lawson, when’s the wedding?” one of the clowns he worked with shouted.
Claire grabbed the collar of his fire jacket. “Again with our engagement, Benton?”
“When we have that conversation, we’ll figure out what the answer is going to be.” He kissed her again quickly. “Go catch some bad guys.”
“Get back to work, hot stuff.”
That got more shouts of laughter as he stepped back and let her and Corporal Random pass. “Okay, you jokers. Let’s get this site contained so the vehicles can be towed. Keep an eye on the ditches. We don’t want contaminants spreading and hanging around once they dry up. It’ll be an extra hazard later in the summer.”
The chief caught his eye and gave him a nod, agreeing with his instructions. “You heard the man. Move it. Lawson, hang back a minute.”
Benton waited for the rest of the firefighters to return to their assignments. “Problem, Chief?”
“No. Not at all. That’s how I know I made the right decision. Go stick with Happy. He’s the newest recruit out today. Make sure he knows what he’s looking for.”
Benton gave a quick nod and jogged off. His position on the fire crew, his job at the Royal Oak Ranch, his girlfriend—he wasn’t about to goof around and mess things up now.