(A/N: I do not own Paw Patrol, enjoy!)
The Gas Thickens
"Ok, be safe, I love you both!" Cinder softly replied.
"Love you Cinder!" Everest chimed in.
"Love you sis, bye!" Marshall said before hanging up.
"Be safe you two" Cinder softly whispered to herself. Marshall used to rarely call her, and while the frequency had increased, he had definitely inherited a desire for family routine from their dad. Which meant Marshall fully recognized the dangers of whatever rescue mission they were heading out on and thought to call ahead.
An ultimate rescue led by Everest, they have to be going somewhere cold Cinder thought to herself with a shiver. Just the thought of whatever cold that might entail sent shivers through Cinder's short, silky smooth fur. I know Everest will be fine, but Marsh better wear a jacket so he doesn't catch a cold. Who am I kidding? I'm sure Everest won't let him freeze. Cinder giggled at the implications of that thought.
Cinder sighed as she thought about what to do with her day. It was one of those times that Skipper had walked in during shift change and informed her that she was taking the day off and that was the end of the discussion. Cinder hadn't bothered to protest, it was useless anyway. So, like an obedient pup, Cinder had left the station for the first time in weeks not on a call and headed to snag a bite.
A new Mexican food joint had caught her eye and her nose. The divine scent had not been misleading and one breakfast burrito later, Cinder's tummy was quite content. Then, Cinder ambled her way to her groomer to get her nails taken care of. Nothing fancy or course, just a quick trim to remove the clicking sound when she walked. And a quick stop at the grocery store on the way home to pickup a few things. She had just finished putting things away when Marshall called.
Cinder didn't really feel like going anywhere. The only real downside of Cinder being a workaholic was that she never really developed any hobbies. She had lots of things she enjoyed doing, but she never really got into any one thing and nothing came to mind at the moment.
Suddenly, Cinder's tag began to ring. Now who could that be? She wondered, swiping her paw to answer. "Hello?" she answered softly.
"Hey Cinder, it's Augie" a black Belgian Shepherd greeted her.
"Hi Augie, what's up?" Cinder softly greeted him. "Do we have a breakthrough in the case?"
"No" Augie answered, "I'm actually not calling about work at all. I little birdy told me you actually have the day off and we are doing a burn this afternoon. Want to join us?"
"What sort of burn?" Cinder asked, "like a controlled burn or a disposal burn or…"
"Oh, sorry" Augie apologized, "a burn is police slang for a cookout. We are cooking cheeseburgers and bratwurst and have sides to share."
"Oh" Cinder softly replied, flushing slightly from embarrassment at her misunderstanding, "uh, sure, when?"
"We are meeting at waterfront park in an hour" Augie replied, "so are you coming?"
Cinder thought for a moment before replying, "um, sure."
"Great! We can't wait to see you" Augie replied happily.
"Wait, who all will be there?" Cinder softly asked.
Augie realized too late she asked another question as he hung up. "Whoops" he said.
"Smooth bro" Kong, his big black King Shepherd brother said with a laugh. "Now come on, let's go get the meats while the girls get the sides and Darrell gets the charcoal going.
Cinder realized Augie had already hung up. I hope this isn't too big a group Cinder thought to herself. I should get cleaned up anyway she continued as she went to her bedroom to get ready.
The best way to describe Cinder's bedroom was spartan. There was her bed, which was simple, soft and big enough for three pups in case Marshall and Everest ever came to visit, a dresser with mostly empty drawers, a lamp and her jewelry box, and that was it. No plants, pictures or other adornments. Occasionally, Cinder would light a scented candle but there was not one setup in her room today.
Cinder tossed her collar on her bathroom counter and shook out her fur before jumping in the shower. Quickly clean, Cinder shook the water from her fur and dried herself with a towel before running a brush through her fur to smooth it out. Cinder snapped her collar back around her neck along with a simple silver necklace which did not have any pendant and went well with her simple, clean look. Cinder put everything away, turned off the lights and headed to the park. She did not notice that she had been stalked the whole time by a shadow, which detached itself from the building to follow her.
Cinder quickly made her way to the Waterfront Park. When she arrived, Cinder walked along the boardwalk until she came to the picnic area. She saw Darrell engrossed in one of the charcoal grill stations and headed his way.
"Hey Cinder" Claire said with a wave as she walked up.
"Hi" Cinder softly replied, "who all is coming to this?"
"Just us, Augie and his sisters, and Kong and his girlfriend" Claire replied, "this isn't some crazy police department party if that is what you were worried about."
"I was a little bit" Cinder softly admitted.
"Never fear" Claire said with a smile, "none of us are fans of huge crowds so if we are inviting you to something, most likely it is just family."
"Good to know" Cinder softly replied as she sat down on the picnic table bench next to Claire. "Is he ok?" Cinder softly asked with a nod to Darrell who seemed to be swearing under his breath at the charcoal.
"Once he gets it lit he'll be fine" Claire replied with a soft laugh, "this is the part he always struggles with, getting the charcoal lit. Once he gets it going, he is a grill master."
"And don't you forget it" Darrell chimed in with a smile as he finally got the charcoal lit.
"Finally" Claire said in a teasing voice, "I was about to ask Cinder to light it for you."
"No need to embarrass me that badly" Darrell chuckled as the continued to build the fire. "Augie and Kong should be here soon with the meat. Apparently the girls are running a little late."
"No worries, we have nothing but time" Claire said.
"You may have plenty of time, but my tummy is rumbling" a deep voice said from behind them. Cinder turned to see a extra large, black and brown King Shepherd standing on the bench and table looking down at her.
"Well, we have the meat and it looks like Darrell finally managed to get the grill going" Augie said as he walked around the table smiling. "Hi Cinder, glad you could make it. This is Kong, ignore him"
"Aww, why do you gotta say that bro" Kong jokingly whined.
"Well, it is either that or tell her what a big softie you are" Augie joked as he passed the burgers and bratwurst to Darrell to start cooking.
"You are right, I'd prefer to be ignored and feared" Kong replied with a laugh.
"It's a bit late for that" a female voice echoed from the other side. Cinder turned to look and saw Laura, the Cocker Spaniel she had saved, walking up flanked by two female Belgian Shepherds. "Everyone here except Cinder knew how soft you really are before today and now Cinder knows too" she finished with a smile that was equally sweet and snarky.
"I am skewered" Kong replied dramatically, lifting a paw to cover his eyes, "everything is all over for me." And with that he flopoed over onto the ground.
"What a drama queen" one of the Belgian Shepherds said with a laugh.
"Maybe he'll win an award for his acting one day" the other Belgian Shepherd replied with a laugh.
"Maybe" Laura replied as she jumped up on Kong's chest, "but for now, he is mine." And with that she smooched him.
"Eww" Augie and the two female Belgian Shepherds laughed in unison as they walked up to each other and shared a collective headbutt.
"Cinder" Augie said as they broke their headbutt, "these are my sisters, January, or Jan as she likes to be called."
"Pleased to meet you Cinder," the larger of the two female Belgian Shepherds introduced herself. Looking at Jan beside Augie, Cinder reflected that the comparison was like comparing her and Marshall except that they were not twins. There were subtle differences, like how Jan's eyes were bright hazel to Augie's dark brown and how Augie carried more muscle in his slightly larger frame.
"And our baby sister, June" Augie introduced his other sister.
"Hi Cinder, and I'm not a baby anymore Augie!" June replied defensively. She was noticably smaller than Augie and Jan, but otherwise looked very much like her older sister.
"And now that introductions are out of the way," Jan said, jumping up next to Cinder and looping her jet black forepaw around Cinder's white and black spotted forepaw, "we are going to go do girl stuff."
"Yeah, like talk about the dopey boys in our lives" June giggled as she dragged Laura off Kong and grabbed Claire's hand with her paw too.
"Ok, have fun" Augie said with a wave, "wait, do you mean us?"
"Absolutely!" Jan and June said with a laugh as the girls disappeared over the nearest hill.
"There go all of our secrets" Kong groaned.
"Don't worry about it" Darrell said with a laugh as he cracked open a drink, "gives us more time to chill."
"Good point" Kong said as he and Augie joined him at the grill.
Over the hill, the girls had different plans. "Ok, now that we are out of sight, let's down to the real business" Jan said with a smile as she released Cinder's forepaw.
"What's that?" Cinder asked.
"Frisbee!" June yipped excitedly as she magically produced one and tossed it to Claire.
"I should have known something was up" Claire laughed as she caught it before tossing it towards Jan, "you two never just want the tea."
"Tea is always better with biscuits" Jan replied before catching the frisbee in her jaws. "Or frisbee in this case" she laughed before tossing it to Cinder.
Cinder laughed as she jumped up to catch the frisbee and in turn tossed it towards Laura. It was going to be a fun afternoon. The girls chatted about all sorts of this as they tossed the frisbee around without a care in the world.
Lurking in a nearby tree was the shadow, straining to hang onto the conversations. The guys were easy, clustered around the grill, but the gals were all over the place both in terms of the conversation topics and proximity to his perch. What he could glean was that all of them valued their family, their professional competency and helping others above all. They are definitely a threat to my plans and will need to be dealt with sooner or later the shadow thought to himself, only time will tell if will be sooner or later. Either way, now seems to be the perfect time for today's main event. The shadow pulled a remote from his pocket and entered a memorized combination. Elsewhere in the city, a device armed itself.
"Alright, food should be ready" Claire summoned them. "Let's go see if Darrell managed to deliver this time."
"I'm sure he did fine" Jan laughed.
"Hopefully better than the time he turned everything to charcoal" Laura added with a laugh of her own.
As Cinder walked back with them, she felt all warm and fuzzy inside at the fun she was having making new friends. Real friends, not just work friends.
"You better have my bratwurst Darrell!" Claire called out as the girls came back over the hill.
"Have I ever let you down?" Darrell replied with a smile as he produced the perfectly grilled meats.
They all settled down to eat, everyone grabbing a little bit of everything, when they heard a siren. Cinder looked up to see Engine 25 speeding past with Medic 25 and Skipper's command SUV hot on its tail. No sooner had they passed then they turned down another street and were immediately lost from sight.
"They'll be fine" Jan said, gently tapping Cinder on the paw.
"I don't know what you are are talking about" Cinder softly replied and she turned her attention back to everyone else.
"Cinder," Jan said with a smile, "I may not have known you for long at all, but you are a terrible liar."
"Is it that obvious?" Cinder softly sighed in defeat.
"On a obviousness scale of 1 to 10, you are at least a 12" June giggled.
"You have the same look in your eyes that Augie did when he first became an officer" Jan continued. "June wasn't old enough to remember, but I do."
"Do we have to tell this story now?" Augie whined plaintively.
"Hush, it's not that bad" Jan silenced him with a wave of her paw. "Anyway, Augie quickly developed a sixth sense for detecting sirens in a 5 or so block radius. I don't know if his hearing was better then or what, but anytime anything happened, he knew about it. The problem was, he kept wanting to run out the door to help when he was off duty. It was so bad because sirens go through our neighborhood all the time. And each time Augie's head would pop up and he would try and figure out what was going on. There were nights it was so bad he didn't sleep a wink."
"What did you end up doing?" Cinder softly asked.
"One night, I slipped sleeping pills into his dinner" Jan said with a laugh, "which did keep him from waking up to every siren and trying to run out the door. On the flip side, he started talking in his sleep. Let me tell you, I heard so many things I never wanted to hear my brother say, and he said them all night long" Jan giggled almost uncontrollably. Cinder turned to smile at Augie who was busy trying to hide his face behind his jet black ears. Cinder thought she saw tiny snippets of a red blush poking through as well. "Anyway, he was still out of it in the morning when it was time for his shift so I had his partner come pick him up."
"Yeah, let's just say that was a fun day on patrol" Darrell laughed.
"That night, I told Augie what I did" Jan said, "and after that, it never bothered him unless something big was going down."
"I realized that I wasn't so important that I was indispensable" Augie added, "now that I'm a bit more senior, I know that I should never make myself indispensable. My teams should always be able to give it their best shot without me. They won't get it right all the time, but hopefully I've trained them well enough that they can handle themselves."
Cinder nodded thoughtfully. She was Captain of the best fire station in the city, if anyone could handle themselves without their Captain, it was her firefighters. "You know, I never thought of it that way. You're right, I know my team can handle themselves without me. Though part of me is slightly sad for missing out on the action."
"That I understand" Augie said with a smile and everyone agreed. They continued to eat and chat and enjoy each other's company. They were just finishing up when something unexpected happened.
*KA-BOOM*
The explosion was fairly loud and shook their whole table. "What was that?" June wondered aloud.
"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough" Jan replied, sending a glare around to everyone else who seemed itching to go investigate. Laura was just like Cinder in that she wanted to go find out what happened and lend a paw. Kong, Augie, Darrell and Claire seemed interested more from an investigative point of view. "But until then, let's just enjoy the time we have together, shall we?"
At that moment, both Claire's and Darrell's phones went off.
"Or not" Jan said with a sigh as they both answered professionally.
"Guess that means we are done for the day" June said sadly as the tone of both conversations made it clear that they were needed.
"Nonsense," Cinder softly said, "you, Jan, Kong, Laura and I can keep hanging out."
"I'm afraid you'll have to take a rain check on that," Claire said as she hung up, "we need you too Cinder."
"Initially, it looks similar to our other cases" Darrell added as he hung up. "We need to get our gear and get there quickly."
"Well, this was fun" Cinder said softly, "let's get together again?"
"Absolutely" Jan and June said together. Laura and Kong nodded in agreement as well.
With that, Cinder followed Augie, Darrell, and Claire to the later's vehicle. They went straight to the police station where both of their SUVs were parked. Heading inside, Darrell and Augie got their gear on while Cinder helped Claire to collect a few things. Fully ready, they headed to the scene with lights and sirens blaring. All the while, a shadow continued to stalk them.
Claire and Cinder were in front with Augie and Darrell following them. This gave Cinder a front row seat as they drove up to an inferno.
The fire in question was at a gas station. As they drove up, Cinder could see multiple fire trucks, including Engine 25, spread around the perimeter with their crews spraying many streams of water. Medic 25 was the only ambulance onsite and had a decent number of ambulatory patients clustered around it. There were also several command SUVs clustered off to the side. Cinder saw Skipper standing next to another Fire Chief directing the attack. The entire pump area and the mini-mart were still burning strong despite all the water dousing the flames. But what struck Cinder the most was a divir in the asphalt where something used to obviously be. The crater was obviously the physical remains of the explosion that they had heard. The explosion had pretty clearly damaged both the nearest pump stations and the mini-mart which made Cinder wonder which caught fire first.
"Initial thoughts?" Claire asked as they parked.
"Pure speculation," Cinder replied as she surveyed the scene as she hopped out, "but I wonder if there was a propane tank next to the mini-mart."
"It would stand to reason, wouldn't it?" Claire replied as Augie and Darrell parked beside them and hopped out. "Let's see what the Chiefs have for us" Claire continued as they walked over towards Skipper and the other Fire Chief.
"Glad you could all make it so quickly," the Fire Chief said, offering his hand to each of them, "faster than expected actually. As you can see, the fire isn't quite out yet."
"Not a problem, Chief Jasper" Claire replied, taking the lead. "So, what brings us out here today?"
"Some seriously suspicious circumstances" Chief Jasper replied. "The initial call was for a fire at the gas pumps but that turned out to be incorrect. It seems they were filling the propane tank on site when something in the transfer gear caught fire. They isolated the tank from the delivery truck but the fire kept burning. Before the first engine arrived on site, the tank exploded, taking the delivery truck with it and spreading the fire over everything. The wierd thing is that the fire didn't start right away, but when they were almost done filling the tank. No serious injuries to anyone reported yet."
"That is great news" Claire said with a nod, "we'll stay out of your way until the fire is out."
"Especially you, Cinder," Skipper interjected with a smile, "I better not see you sneaking into firefighting gear."
"Yes Skipper" Cinder replied sheepishly. She had been thinking of doing exactly that. She may have even taken a surreptitious step in the direction of Engine 25.
Claire, Darrell, Augie and Cinder moved out of Skipper and Chief Jasper's way. "Why don't you two start talking to people" Claire said with a nod towards all the involved civilians who were clustered around Medic 25. "Cinder and I will take a look around the perimeter and see if any cameras have an angle on the gas station."
"Sounds good" Darrell replied. He and Augie then headed over to carry out their task while everyone's memory was fresh.
Claire and Cinder began a slow loop around the scene. They stopped and talked to all the shop owners and building managers, anyone who happened to be there. Almost everyone they talked to had cameras, but very few of them had a viewing angle on the gas station. Most were aimed either at the entry of the store in question or at the internals of the store. But there were a few cameras that did show the gas station, though often times not well. Claire and Cinder took notes of which stores would be helpful and how long until the recordings would be overwritten. While they were walking around, they were also paying attention to the teams' progress on fighting the fire.
Very quickly, the remaining parts of the fire were brought under control and extinguished. The fire crews further dismantled what remained in looking for hidden fires and hotspots that could ignite a fire. Cinder and Claire waited patiently for their turn. Finally, Chief Jasper walked over to them. "Scene is safe now, I'm going to start sending the crews home but I will keep at least one on scene until you are done."
"Thanks Chief" Claire said with a smile. Then she waved to Darrell and Augie to let them know that they were good to start. The two cops continued their interviews while Cinder and Claire headed for the center or the crater. Unbeknownst to any of them, their shadow still lurked, watching their progress.
The was not much in the crater in terms of debris for Claire and Cinder to examine. But they still took pictures and measurements for reconstruction and testing later. The size of the crater would give them a good idea on how large the explosion actually was which would help eliminate certain causes and chain reactions.
Working outward, Cinder would mark every piece of debris with a numbered marker while Claire would photograph and sketch. Claire had already called for more assistance but something inside told Cinder that they needed to be thurough now. Most of the debris was immediately recognizable as part of the propane tank or as part of the delivery truck.
"Hey Claire, come take a look at this" Cinder softly called out. She cocked her head to the side as she looked at a piece of debris.
"What is it?" Claire asked as she came over to take a look. Cinder dropped a marker and Claire took a photograph.
"I'm not sure, but it doesn't look like part of the tank or the delivery truck" Cinder softly replied, "but most of the debris in this area looks like part of the transfer gear."
"Could it be part of the gear?" Claire asked while she looked at the digital picture on her camera.
"Possible" Cinder softly conceded, "but it doesn't look quite look like it fits." Cinder looked up and around at the nearby pieces of debris. A soft hiss escaped her muzzle. "I think I know what it is."
Claire looked up and Cinder pointed to another piece of debris as she dropped a marker. Snapping the picture, Claire frowned. "Now I'm even more confused, what do you think it is?"
"I think we just found the remote igniter" Cinder softly whispered, "look at how that piece looks almost like the end of a welding torch and how the other piece looks like it could be off of a lighter. Now if we can just find the control circuit…" Cinder looked around at the other pieces of nearby debris. "Look, there!"
Cinder scampered a few steps over to a black plastic box lying on the ground with a couple wires protruding. "I bet if the tech teams take that apart, they will find a remote control circuit. We may even have all the pieces to put the whole thing back together."
"That would really give us something concrete to go off of" Claire agreed. The two began carefully combing the surrounding debris for more pieces.
The shadow watched and seethed in frustration. His design was supposed to destroy itself in the blast. Impossibly, it appeared that most of the pieces had survived. Worse, the pieces had been identified. He had to get those pieces away from those pesky arson investigators. Detaching himself from the building, the shadow made his way to get into position to swipe the pieces the moment an opportunity presented itself.
Cinder and Claire continued to catalog their evidence, unaware that it might not be theirs for much longer. Darrell and Augie were still talking to people and didn't know of their windfall. The shadow kept moving closer.
Cinder looked around, "I think we have the whole thing" she said softly.
"Maybe" Claire said skeptically, "I'm not counting my quackers just yet. Let's finish cataloging everything else."
Cinder nodded and the two turned to walk away. The shadow was poised on the back corner of the nearest fire truck, just waiting for them to get far enough away that he could act. Each step that Cinder and Claire took moved them farther away. The shadow cautiously started to move out from the concealment of the fire engine…
Cinder felt a tingle run down her spine. She wasn't sure what caused it but she knew better than to ignore it. The Dalmatian Fire Captain paused and strained her ears to listen.
The shadow froze. He was exposed and he knew it. Quick as a flash he dove back behind the fire engine.
Cinder looked around slowly, looking for anything out of the ordinary, trying to find the source of the tingle.
"You ok Cinder?" Claire turned around and asked.
"Something feels odd" Cinder said softly as she continued to look around.
The shadow held his breath, trying to mentally will the Investigators to walk away. Instead another sound entered his hearing.
"Phew, that was a pretty big fire" Splash said she walked back towards Engine 25.
"Yeah, it has been awhile since we had a major response" Rain replied as she walked alongside her fellow fire pup and friend.
The shadow realized he was boxed in. He couldn't get to the fragments to retrieve them and if he stayed where he was, the other fire pups would find him. The only option was to hide. The shadow dove under the fire engine.
Cinder heard Rain and Splash talking as they walked back to Engine 25. But she also heard a soft crunch of something scraping on the pavement, something she couldn't identify. "Claire, can we collect these pieces before we finish cataloging?" Cinder softly asked.
"Any reason why?" Claire asked.
"Just a feeling that we should" Cinder softly replied with a shrug.
Claire paused for a moment as she thought about Cinder's request. The shadow held his breath again, hoping that they wouldn't do that exact thing. Claire thought back to before she joined the Arson unit. Everyone got those feelings once in awhile. Sometimes they meant something and sometimes they didn't. The real question was would collecting the pieces now do anything to hamper their investigation. "Ok, we can collect them. We will just leave the numbers where they are so we have them for later shots when we are done cataloging."
"Thanks Claire" Cinder softly replied.
The shadow cursed his luck, and the Dalmatian's sensitive senses. He had been mere moments from stealing back those pieces. Now it looked like the investigators would get everything.
"Ok team, let's get out of here" LT Joe said to his team. The shadow cursed again as he realized that his cover was about to leave him. As pups and people climbed into the fire engine, the shadow realized that his only way out without being seen was the ride the truck a short distance and then drop off before they got out into traffic. The shadow latched himself to the underbody of the truck and waited.
"See you later" Cinder softly called out as she waved goodbye to the Engine 25 crew. They waved back and with a rumble, the fire engine started. As Kelly carefully negotiated Engine 25 off the scene, no one noticed a shadow drop off the truck and roll into the bushes.
"That damn Dalmatian is too good" the shadow hissed to himself from the cover of a bush. "I need to get her off my case sooner rather than later, but how?" The shadow mulled that over as he slunk away to plan his next moves.
Cinder and Claire finished bagging and tagging the key evidence and locked it in the safe in the back of Claire's SUV. As they finished, more members of the arrson squad began trickling onto the scene. Darrell and Augie came over when they finished talking to the witnesses.
"Why are there some numbers here without anything next to them?" Darrell asked.
"Cinder had a feeling" Claire replied.
"What kind of feeling?" Augie asked, cocking his head to the side.
"A feeling that something was off" Cinder softly replied, "kind of like a mix of being watched but at the same time that the evidence would disappear if we didn't grab it when we did."
"Evidence doesn't just disappear" Darrell replied with a hint of teasing laugh.
"Or does it?" Augie asked, "what if the arsonist was watching and knew we had found key pieces. What if he was planning on trying to swipe them when our backs were turned?"
"Preposterous" Darrell replied with a snort.
"Is it though?" Cinder softly prodded, "you said yourself that the arsonist was good at hiding himself."
"That is assuming that this is the same arsonist as the other cases we are investigating" Claire reminded them.
"It could be" Augie replied, "we have to keep an open mind if we want to solve all of these cases. Maybe they are linked and we have a new serial arsonist. Or they aren't linked at all, just similar enough to cause suspicion. Or they are being planned by one mastermind and executed by others."
Cinder nodded. Augie was right, they needed to keep an open mind and go where the evidence led them. Preconceptions about anything could lead them astray. But it was nice to hear him stand up for her to his partner and their team lead. All of them were susceptible to accidentally blinding themselves with their own ideas.
It took awhile but they were able to catalog and photograph everything. Darrell and Augie collected all the security video tapes from the shops that Claire and Cinder has identified. Then the team loaded everything into the trucks to take back to the station. While the rest of the team secured the evidence away by and passed the key bits to Ted in Technical, Claire, Darrell, Augie and Cinder went into the conference room to discuss what they had found.
The first thing they did was pull up the captured video on several large screens side by side. "Everything looks normal" Augie noted as they watched the propane delivery truck pull into the gas station and park next to the propane storage tank. The driver got out and went inside. Moments later, a gas station attendant came back out with the delivery driver and the two of them began hooking up the gear to transfer the propane.
"What is this bag?" Cinder asked, pointing to a black bag hanging from the transfer hoses near the connection.
"The bag for the end caps" Claire replied, "but it seems bulkier than normal.
"It could just be the design, or they could have spare caps" Darrell noted. Everything seemed perfectly normal as the transfer of liquid propane began between the delivery truck and the tank.
Everyone was becoming confused, something should have happened by this point. They watched as the attendant and the delivery driver got ready to disconnect the truck. Then, just as the delivery driver walked over to shut the valves, a jet of fire shot out of the black bag Cinder had noticed earlier. In the span of about 3 seconds, the jet of fire had sheared the connection between the tank and the delivery truck.
The investigators watched in spell-bound silence as the two workers took their immediate actions and isolated everything. But it was too late as the delivery truck ruptured, shooting a massive jet of propane fueled flames directly at the storage tank. The tank then ruptured. No longer under pressure, the liquid propane flashed to gas and detonated.
Cinder was awe struck. In the span of less than ten seconds, the fire had started and led to an explosion. She watched as Light Force 25 were the first units on scene and began fighting the fires that had been caused by the explosion. Looking at the logs, Cinder noticed that her team had been responding to a different incident when the explosion happened and been diverted, which explained why they had passed them before the explosion.
"That was a statement" Augie said quietly as they continued to watch.
"But toward what purpose?" Darrell asked.
"I don't know" Augie replied, "but we need to find out. Connected or not, this arsonist is dangerous."
At that moment, Ted burst in, "you guys hit the jackpot!" he said excitedly.
"Oh?" Claire asked, "find something interesting in the bits and bobs we brought back?"
"More than that, I was able to piece together the whole ignition device!" Tes exclaimed. "The circuits are too damaged to trace but not enough to obscure what they do. And I may still be able to figure out the frequency range of the antenna."
"That's great news!" Claire said excitedly.
"Good thing we didn't lose it" Cinder said softly.
"What do you mean?" Claire asked.
"Look" Cinder softly said, pointing to one of the screens.
"I don't see anything" Darrell said. Indeed, it looked as if Cinder was pointing at the shadow of a street light post.
"Watch" Cinder softly said. Perfectly on cue, what appeared to be a shadow detached itself from the building and moved into the shadow of a bush. Everyone watched in surprise as the shadow moved from shadow to shadow closer to the scene. Reaching the edge of the asphalt, the shadow detached itself from the plant cover in favor of Engine 25.
They watched as the shadow crept to the back corner of the fire engine. No one could see the shadow from any ground vantage point, and most certainly not any of the firefighters or investigators. Cinder watched as she and Claire turned to walk away from the critical evidence and the shadow moved towards it.
On screen, Cinder paused and the shadow froze. They watched as Cinder turned and the shadow dove back behind the cover of Engine 25. A moment later, two fire pups started walking around Engine 25 from the front end and the shadow vanished underneath the fire engine.
"You were right" Claire breathed softly. Engine 25 departed as they picked up the evidence.
"He didn't stay behind, but I didn't see him leave the truck either.
"I think he let go right as it passed this bush" Augie pointed, "but I don't know for sure. There is no way he would have stayed on the fire engine."
"He better not be" Cinder darkly and softly said as she got up
"Let's go verify then" Augie said as he too got up. The two pups walked out, leaving the three humans.
"I didn't even get to tell them the best part" Ted half whined.
"It's ok Ted, you can tell us" Claire replied consolingly.
"This device that you found" Ted said happier, "could have been used for your other two cases. I can't prove that it was used there of course, but it is small enough and fits all the parameters."
Darrell and Claire looked at each other. "Same modus operandi" Darrell began.
"Usually means a linkage of some kind" Claire finished. "Cinder may have been right again, we may have a serial arsonist on our hands."
Darrell nodded as he pulled out his phone to call the pups.
Augie and Cinder were jogging to Station 25, due to a complete lack of pup drivable vehicles in Heartland, when Augie's tag went off. "Talk to me Goose" the police pup panted.
"I'm pretty sure that you are Goose and I'm Maverick" Darrell replied, "you two left so fast you didn't hear the last part. The device we recovered could have been used on all of our cases."
"Serial arsonist?" Augie replied.
"Looks that way" Claire chimed in.
"Cinder was right again" Augie said with a snicker and wink at the Dalmatian.
"Then we best hurry up and make sure my station is safe" Cinder softly panted. They picked up the pace as they ran to Fire Station 25.
Everything looked fine on the outside as the two pups approached. The dashed in through the door, startling everyone else.
"What was that?" Rain yipped as the two blurs disappeared into the vehicle bay.
"It looked like Cinder and that Police pup" Splash replied, "but it looked like their tails were on fire."
"We should go check it out" Rain giggled. The two fire pups headed towards the vehicle bay as well.
They were greeted by the sight of two pups wedged under Engine 25 with their tails up in the air. "What have we here?" Splash teased.
"No serial arsonist under here" Cinder softly noted, ignoring their teasing.
"That's good" Augie said, "but I think this is where he or she held on in to the truck. Let me get the others over here with the fingerprint kit."
"Do you think we'll find any?" Cinder softly asked as they extricated themselves from under the truck.
"I doubt it" Augie replied, giving himself a shake. "I would guess they were wearing gloves. But you never know, maybe he or she got sloppy or had a hole in the glove."
"Did you say serial arsonist?" Rain asked, teasing forgotten.
"Possibly" Cinder softly replied, looking back at the truck.
Suddenly, the Dalmatian collapsed on the vehicle bay with a whimper.
"Cinder!" Augie yipped as he jumped over next to her.
"Go get Ashley" Rain said to Splash as she too knelt down next to the Dalmatian and gave her a nudge.
Moments later, Ashley slid down next to Rain and checked Cinder's pulse.
"I'm fine Ashley" Cinder softly said as she was poked and prodded at.
"Pups who are fine don't randomly collapse on the floor" Ashley countered. "Especially not ones as healthy as you."
"It's not me" Cinder softly whined, "something just happened to Marshall…"