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“Don’t” Her voice broke “Hearing you say that just scares me”

Shouts were co from down the line Beau ended the call, dropped the phone in his pocket, and ran in that direction Fifty yards down he sahat he’d dreaded most A shower of sparks, blown by the wind, had crossed the firebreak and ignited the dried grass stubble on the near side Thedirt on the fire It had worked with sh The fresh blaze roared to life, racing over the ground in a widening pool of flame

“It’stoo fast!” Beau shouted “Go! Get out of here now!”

Hearing his order, the rabbed their tools and fled back toward the ranch yard Beau watched the, he told hierous He couldn’t risk losing even one of their lives

He pressed the talk button on the tay radio “We’re done here, Will,” he said “Fire’s ju shortly Over and out”

Beau knew he didn’t have much tim

e But there was one chance left, and he had to take it The tanker truck stood a hundred yards back, ready to be brought in if needed The tank was meant for sh, but if he h to douse the fire on this side of the break

He dove in the truck and drove it as close to the fire as he dared, jus to stand on, no fire was going to burn the ranch his family had worked so hard to build—the ranch that meant so much to the people who lived and worked on this land, his land and his children’s land

With the pressure on full force, the hose was hard to handle alone, but he directed the stream at the fire and held it steady He should have known better than to try Within tenAnd now the flaet to the vehicle and an to blaze

Only then, as the gas tank went up in a whoosh of flame, did he realize the trouble he was in By now the fire had ju toward hiht be able to outrun it But he couldn’t run forever and he had nowhere to escape

Natalie’s face flashed through his et away, had to be there for her and their child Beau’s legs sprang into action In high school he’d been all-state in track, but that had been decades ago, and now his lungs were burning fro on hi weaker This was the race of his life, and he was losing

“Beau!” The fa toward hih the sht him, pulled him toward the pickup that waited ahead “What the hell did you think you were doing?”

“Trying tosave your ranch But I couldn’t” Beau was out of breath His feet stued him the last few yards and piled him into the pickup

“Our ranch, you knucklehead,” Will growled “We can talk about that later Right now let’s get us both out of here”

Seconds later they were rocketing back toward the ranch yard with a wall of s behind them