3

Downtown Torchwood Lake, normally a quaint and homey place, was deserted and ominous-looking, like some evil mirror-land version of itself.

I pulled onto Main Street and punched the accelerator, wanting to get the hell out of there. The road was empty, but the smoke descended as we left town and Highway 349 became, once again, surrounded by trees.

Jack was in the back seat now, and he didn't say anything, but he laid a hand on my shoulder. Yeah, he was right. Visibility was for shit. I slowed down a little. We'd hit the evacuation line sooner or later, and I supposed it would be better if that hit wasn't literal. I would have driven 100 mph if I could, because I was pretty fucking anxious. Now that I had Grandy, all I wanted was to get out of the mountains.

I imagined us pulling into the Denny's in Aubretta—Grandy's favorite—and having a late breakfast. Heaven! Right down to the crappy coffee. Hell, I'd get on my knees and kiss Denny's horrible wall-to-wall carpet. Then this would all seem like a bad dream. Well, except for the hot Bugman, who was more like a really good dream. The way he barked orders and seemed so protective was kind of a turn-on.

Yes, Officer!

Better still, his eyes had gotten a lot warmer when he looked at me and Grandy. Which was nice and all. But, you know. Priorities, Ianto. Like, not burning to death. That was my goal for the day. Anything beyond that would be gravy.

"Does it seem brighter out here to you than it did on the way up? 'Cause it does to me." I looked at Jack in the rear-view. Jack's gaze met mine.

"Yeah. I think so." But the tightness around his eyes wasn't reassuring. I leaned forward to look at the sky. Definitely brighter. But also redder. The sky had a reddish glow. I noticed that the wind had picked up, too, swirling tendrils of smoke around on the asphalt like whirling dervishes. It was also hotter. By a lot. It had been a coolish September morning when I'd left Obama, and I didn't recall it being this hot in the car on the drive to Torchwood Lake, but it was an oven now.

I wanted to take off my hoodie, but I didn't want to stop driving long enough to do it. I turned on the AC as we drove past a sign for Torchwood Lake State Park. Hell, we'd barely left town.

"Watch out!" Jack called out. I saw the red lights in front of me and slammed on the brakes. We jerked to a halt a foot from a Volvo.

"Sorry," I winced.

Grandy shook his head. "You're gonna kill me! Won't that be ironic."

"Oh, stop. We're fine." I nudged his arm. But my gut clenched. The evacuation line was all the way back here? And not moving. What if we were stuck here? I looked in the rear-view mirror at Jack again. He was glancing around outside the car, and then his gaze met mine. He tried for a reassuring smile.

"They opened up both lanes to outbound traffic. We'll start moving soon."

"Cool." I tried for an upbeat tone for Grandy. I licked my lips, which felt super dry. I touched my face. My skin felt tight.

"I'm gonna take a look around," Jack opened his door.

"Wait! What if we start moving again?"

"I'll be right back," he promised. And he was gone. I craned my neck around to see where he was going. The smoke cleared momentarily, and I saw two guys standing around outside their skimmers. As soon as they saw Jack and his uniform, they converged on him, probably asking questions he didn't have answers to.

"You like him," Grandy said. "Seems like a responsible fellow. I give him two thumbs-up."

I blew a raspberry. "Grandy, he's straight."

Grandy raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure? 'Cause I watched him watching you when you were laying on the floor of the apartment throwing a hissy fit, and that wasn't the look of a straight man."

"What do you mean?" I asked, suddenly very interested. "Was it, like, an amused look? Because maybe he thought I was funny, but that doesn't mean he's not straight. Or did he look worried? Like, was it a what the hell are you doing look? It wasn't like I want to jump your bones? Was it?"

Grandy snorted. "My grandson. We're about to become bar-be-cue, and he's still thinking with his dick."

"You brought it up!"

"'Cause you were staring after him like a lost puppy!"

"I was not! I'm hoping to ascertain if he's still alive or got swallowed by a fire dragon the moment he stepped out the door. For future reference for my own personal safety—and yours! You're welcome."

Grandy laughed. "Ascertain. You always pull out those fifty-cent words when you're fibbing."

"I do not!"

A Bugman in a yellow-striped Jacket approached the front of the skimmer, speaking into a radio. I felt relief for a moment, thinking we'd run into a whole team of Bug Fighters. Then I saw it was Jack. He'd put on his hard hat and mask. He paused at the hood, speaking into the radio. I had no idea what they were saying, but from his tense body language, it wasn't good news. He finished and put the radio in a pocket. He stood there, looking out over the scene, and wiped a hand over his brows… a gesture which, to my eyes, read as we're fucked.

"I'll be right back." I opened my car door.

"I could be home right now watching a movie," Grandy groused. I ignored him. As I moved to the front of the car, the wind blew my hair into my eyes. I pushed it away in time to see bugs skitter across the asphalt and disappear under the skimmer in front of me. Oh shit. Not good. Then, on the left side of the road, I saw fire in the brush. The swarm was right there. Looking up ahead at the road, all I could see were red taillights… in both lanes.

"Jack?" I asked, my voice sounding funny. Somehow I was standing right next to him, though I didn't recall walking there. He turned to look at me, his face grim.

"Let's talk over here." He took my arm and led me to the back of the skimmer and a few feet beyond that, like he didn't want the other drivers to hear. He spoke low. "Listen, don't freak out, okay?"

"Uh… no? I absolutely reserve the right to freak out. What's going on?"

Jack grimaced. "There's a burning tree across the road. I ran into a guy who saw it. He says it's maybe fifty skimmers up, and it's not going anywhere without heavy equipment. It's swarming with bugs so we can't get hear it if we tried."

"Oh my God!" I looked at all the skimmers in front of us. "What… I mean… should we drive back to town, or….?"

His lips pressed tight. "No. We can't go back. I just called in, and the fire's reached the town. They're gonna try to get a tow truck here to move the tree."

"How can anyone get to us? Both lanes are full!"

"Yeah," he admitted reluctantly. "Opening up both lanes for outbound traffic blocks emergency vehicles from getting in, so it was a risk. But Chief thought there was time to run both lanes for at least an hour, try to clear the jam."

"Only the wind's picked up. And now there's no time." I finished the thought.

Jack visibly swallowed. His gaze was locked with mine. He'd gone pale, despite the heat, and his eyes looked scared. I couldn't help thinking how cute he was. And how we were probably going to die together. Which might sound romantic in a book but turned out to suck balls in real life. I also remembered that he was a rookie. He'd been on the job… what had he said? only two weeks. And here he was, stranded without his crew. I felt bad for him. For us all. My chest grew tight and a tear ran down my cheek, practically sizzling. Fuck, it was hot out here. I coughed, hard.

"Where's your mask?" Jack asked. I waved a dismissive hand.

"In the skimmer. So if we can't get past the road block, and we can't go back to Torchwood Lake, what do we do?" I tried to stay calm and not go all drama queen. But right now, having Jack here was the only reason I wasn't hysterical.

Jack reached out and wiped the tear off my cheek. "Okay, listen… the procedure in this circumstance is that you shelter in your skimmer. It's not ideal, but it's better than being caught outside, where you have no protection at all. At least the skimmer has a protective coat."

"In the skimmer!" Images of blackened, burned-out cars from other fires that I'd seen on TV flooded my brain. "Oh no. Oh God! We're gonna die."

Jack grabbed my upper arms. "Ianto! Listen to me. You roll up the windows, close the vents, and get down on the floor of the skimmer, as low as you can. Do you have any wool blankets? We can put those over us."

"I'm a Boeshanninan! And a college student! Why on Boe would I have wool blankets in my car?" We were definitely going to die. I shook my head adamantly. "Simmers burn! The power cell will explode!"

He got a tiny smile. "No. Power cells don't explode. That's only in the movies. It's really rare for…"

"Rare?" I shouted. "Oh my God!"

Even if Jack and I could survive inside a skimmer that was on fire, wouldn't it be like being in an oven? Wouldn't we be burned? And Grandy… Grandy would never make it.

"Excuse me!" It was Grandy. He was leaning out his window. "I know I'm just the old guy, but I have an idea."

"What's that, Sir?" Jack asked, not sounding hopeful.

"The lake." Grandy pointed to the right. "Before you two showed up, I figured if things got too hairy, I could roll myself down to the lake. Get in the water. We just passed the entrance to the state park. That road goes right to the lake."

"Oh, Grandy! You're a genius," I breathed. Escaping into the water sounded really good about now. It sounded a hell of a lot better than being trapped in a burning skimmer. Jack hesitated, looking around. He was probably thinking that if we left the line now, and they managed to clear that tree, we'd miss our chance to escape, and he'd miss his chance to get back to work. But the woods to the left were on fire and not just a little bit. The air was getting hotter by the second and there were bugs flying around… a lot of them.

Suddenly, I didn't want to be there. Not that I hadn't been frightened for the past few hours, but this was more like a bone-deep impulse. Run. Maybe Jack felt it too. Because before I could open my mouth to say anything, he spoke up. "We're the last skimmer in line. Let's back up and take the state park road. Check it out."

"Good idea." I was in the skimmer in a flash, ready to go, but I had to wait while Jack walked to the front of the car and called out to the other drivers.

"We're going back to the state park entrance to check out the lake as a possibility. I'll be back as soon as I can to let you know." For some reason, that made me get out of my own freak-out enough to realize that it wasn't just about us. There were a lot of people stuck on this road… families, kids, old people. What had Jack said… the tree blocking the road was maybe fifty skimmers up? All those people were in trouble too. And Jack was the only authority in sight.

My mouth went dry at the thought. Holy shit. We had to do something. Jack got into the back seat. I threw the skimmer into reverse and gunned it. There was nobody behind us, one perk of being the absolute last to evacuate, and I was back at the state park entrance within seconds. I made the right-hand turn onto the empty park road, and Myfanwy sped along like a bullet.

Smoke was pouring out of the woods to the right and I saw flames. That section was on fire too. That meant the swarm was on at least two sides of us. And it could so easily cross this park road. If that happened, even the way to the lake would be blocked off.

"Go right! Right," Grandy shouted. "To the boat launch!"

"Why not the beach?" I asked, braking hard as I approached the turn.

"Canoe rentals!" Grandy shouted, reaching over to grab the wheel. Oh, yeah. They did have rentals here. I'd taken a canoe out once on a date. Hopefully, they were still there and not in storage for the winter. Only one way to find out.

I swung to the right, following the signs for the boat launch. The road was narrow, but there wasn't a skimmer in sight, only a few deer crossing the road, running full out. Escaping the fire. Oh. Oh hell. All the wildlife. It made my heart hurt.

"There!" Jack shouted. The lake had come into view. It looked like an impressionist painting. The sky all hazy with gray and red streaks where the sun tried to break through, the water choppy in the wind. You couldn't see the other side of the lake—it lay beyond a bank of smoke, like in that Carpenter movie, The Fog. And now I got why that was so fucking scary.

"Boat rentals! Fantastic!" Jack said. The boats hadn't gone to storage for the winter, thank God. Canoes, paddle boats, kayaks, and SUP board surrounded the little Rentals shack, which was closed.

I screeched to a stop in the boat rentals parking lot, and Jack and I hopped out. We ran over to the dock. The kayaks and canoes were in racks on the dock, the paddle boats in the water, tied to hooks on the dock. The SUP boards were to the side of the rental shack, with a cable lock linked through them.

"No oars," I said.

"Ianto! Come back here and get me my chair!" Grandy hollered. He was standing up, leaning against the skimmer.

"I'll be back." I raced for the skimmer. Grandy's bluster was a facade for fear, and I knew that. But for the first time that morning, my own fear fell away and relief poured in. We were going to be okay. We had this huge lake, and boats, which meant we weren't going to burn to death, at the very least, no matter how bad the fire got.

Thank you, Goddess.

I got Grandy's chair, made sure he had his bag and mask, and wheeled him over to the dock. Jack was at the shack. He used his elbow to break the glass in the door. Then he reached in and unlocked it.

"Breaking and entering?" I asked, surprised.

"We need oars. And the lock key to that cable." His expression was deadly serious. I left Grandy and went to help. We dragged out oars and life preservers, dropping them on the grass by the dock, and Jack found a ring of keys and went out and unlocked the SUPS and the kayak racks, which also had a cable lock.

We pulled out an aluminium canoe, carrying it between us off the dock and down to the little beach. I rolled Grandy over, the wheels struggling in the sand.

"I can do it!" Grandy insisted, trying to get out of the chair before I'd even stopped. My grandfather! I wondered if I'd be as crazy stubborn as him when I was his age. Oh, never mind. I already was.

We got him into the canoe and Jack handed him a paddle, then looked at me. "You go on. I'm gonna go back and direct traffic this way."

I looked at Grandy. "Can you row by yourself?"

He made a face. "My hip was busted, not my arm! I'd like to see you beat me at padding."

"Maybe another time, Grandy," I grinned. He was hilarious. "I'm gonna go help Jack."

"No, you're staying here." Jack used that hard-ass voice that was so sexy. "It's too dangerous. Fire swarms can spread like a bomb."

He didn't have to say that the conditions looked ripe for that on the road, because I'd already sensed it. "Then we'd better hurry and get those people out of there."

I put my hands on my hips and jutted out my chin. "Two of us can talk to drivers faster than one."

"Son, arguing with Ianto is like trying to lecture a tree," Grandy advised. "Just hurry up and go if you're going. And keep my grandson safe!"

So we went.