Fighting for Elena Read online

  Fighting for Elena (Police and Fire: Operation Alpha)

  Badge of Honor: Tarpley VFD #1

  Silver James

  Contents

  Foreword

  Letter From The Authors

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  About the Author

  Also by Silver James

  More Special Forces: Operation Alpha World Books

  Books by Susan Stoker

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  © 2020 ACES PRESS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this work may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy.

  Cover design: Buoni Amici Press

  Edited by Gregory Alan

  Dear Readers,

  Welcome to the Police and Fire: Operation Alpha Fan-Fiction world!

  If you are new to this amazing world, in a nutshell the author wrote a story using one or more of my characters in it. Sometimes that character has a major role in the story, and other times they are only mentioned briefly. This is perfectly legal and allowable because they are going through Aces Press to publish the story.

  This book is entirely the work of the author who wrote it. While I might have assisted with brainstorming and other ideas about which of my characters to use, I didn’t have any part in the process or writing or editing the story.

  I’m proud and excited that so many authors loved my characters enough that they wanted to write them into their own story. Thank you for supporting them, and me!

  READ ON!

  Xoxo

  Susan Stoker

  Letter From The Authors

  To our amazing readers:

  The Tarpley Volunteer Fire Department books have been a lot of fun for us to write, and we hope you enjoy them. Six talented authors came together to bring you these stories that take place in one small Texas town. With that in mind, please know that, although we tried very hard to consult with each other on details, there will be some minor differences in basic timelines, character portrayals, and storylines from book to book. While we take pride in our craft, it’s almost impossible to have all the details match in six different works by six different authors, and we hope that you’ll enjoy the uniqueness of each story rather than comparing them to each other. We ultimately wanted to bring you stories that you can enjoy, that will take you out of your world for a little while and drop you into another, and we know you'll appreciate them for the entertainment that they're intended to offer. Thanks for your support of us and happy reading!

  ~Silver, Deanndra, Haven, MJ, TL, and Nicole

  To firefighters and first responders everywhere.

  They lay it all on the line to keep the rest of us safe,

  and they each deserve a Badge of Honor.

  Acknowledgments

  I want to thank Susan Stoker for originally taking a chance on Kindle Worlds and then, at the concept’s demise, deciding to keep her worlds open to other authors and offering us the chance to continue playing in her sandbox. It’s a lot of fun! When one of her fans inquired about the five members of the Tarpley VFD who appeared in Susan’s book, JUSTICE FOR ERIN, Susan tossed out the idea of a miniseries set in the Badge of Honor world. I’m thrilled to be part of the project because I get work with Deanndra Hall, Haven Rose, MJ Nightingale, TL Reeves, and Nicole Flockton, who are awesome people and writers, and a joy to create with! Additional thanks to Susan’s righthand, Amy, who keeps us all straight and does all the heavy lifting for getting our books into readers’ hands. Also, a nod to Drue Hoffman of Buoni Amici Press for her wonderful cover designs. I also want to acknowledge Kimber for understanding that coffee makes the words go round, and B.E. for brainstorming assistance and for helping maintain my sanity. And last but definitely not least, to all the readers who enjoy my books, and those who found me through Susan’s worlds: THANK YOU! Y’all are the reason I sit at the computer every day and dream up this stuff.

  About the book

  Volunteer firefighter, fierce protector, foster dad...

  Fire Chief David “Pops” West doesn’t mind being all those things, but when an attractive, young social worker blows into his life like the backdraft from a raging inferno, he’ll acquire another distinction he’s not totally comfortable with—silver fox. Duty, loyalty, responsibility? Check, check, and check. Attraction and dating? Oh, hell, no. It’s been ten years and he’s so out of practice they probably changed the rules on him. The Tarpley, Texas Volunteer Fire Department, his ranch, and the young folks in town are his life. And they’re all he needs. Except when he wants more.

  Dedicated advocate, tenacious social worker, wrangler of runaways...

  Elena Rodriguez knows certain people think she cares too much. But helping kids, especially the forgotten ones trying to survive on the streets of San Antonio, is her life. To the exclusion of all else. Sure, she has no social life, but that’s never been a problem. Until a sizzling hot fire chief comes to her rescue. Who cares if he’s older? She’s ready to socialize. Too bad fate has other plans.

  Fighting for Elena…

  When a young teen stumbles out of the path of outlaw bikers and into their lives, the silver fox and the woman who cares too much will team up to protect her—as their attraction for each other explodes. Whether battling wild fires, wicked weather, or outlaw bikers, Pops will do whatever it it takes to keep Elena.

  Chapter 1

  David West was not a fanciful man, but he could almost imagine angry dragons conjuring up the smoke choking the eastern horizon with black clouds tinged an angry red at the base. The fire had a big ol’ head start, and that didn’t bode well for the first responders or any living thing in the area. He keyed up the radio mic. “Tarpley VFD one hundred to Bandera County Dispatch.”

  “Go ahead, Tarpley one hundred.”

  “I’m en route from the Tarpley station to the Hill Country wildfire in Brush Pumper One. I have one additional firefighter en route in Tanker One, plus three more headed directly to the command post in their POVs. My ETA is fifteen minutes.”

  “Ten-four, Chief West. I’ll notify fire command.”

  The radio crackled with static for a minute and then the dispatcher spoke again. “Pops, this is a bad one. Y’all be careful out there.”

  “That’s a roger, hon.”

  Might not be proper radio protocol but this was Bandera County. The inhabitants were scattered far and wide and everyone knew everyone else. They all looked out for one another. That’s just the way folks were. The smoke grew to monstrous proportions the closer he got. Winding his way through the Hill Country State Natural Area to the command post, he worried that the whole world might burn before firefighters could get a handle on the flames. He pulled t
he brusher into line with other fire apparatus and motioned for Buff, who was driving Tanker 1 to park beside him. In quick succession, three private vehicles pulled up behind them.

  Checking on his guys, Pops shrugged into his wildlands turnout gear. Smoke smothered the blue Texas sky above the rugged landscape. He’d seen the smoke from the Tarpley fire station and sent out the call to every person on the department. Only four were in a position to respond. He’d been lucky that Buff was nearby at the post office so they could bring both the tanker and the brush pumper. He glanced at the other rigs parked nearby in the staging area—Bandera, Medina, Hondo, and from as far away as San Antonio. With a practiced eye, he noted his guys were ready—gear on, tools for fighting a wildfire up close and personal in hand. He knew the area, knew they’d be hiking in and fighting without water.

  The five of them clomped over to the command post to get an assignment. The fire continued to grow, and with the wind blowing, if firefighters didn’t get in front of it, it could burn through not only the 5,000 acres of the natural area, but half the county. Or more. There were guest ranches, riding stables, and working homesteads in the way and the south wind was blowing something fierce. Mother Nature never played nice during fire season.

  “Yo, Pops!”

  He glanced over at the call. Colonel Grayson Jones, head of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Law Enforcement Division waved to him. He joined the Colonel and two fire chiefs—one from Bandera FD, the other from San Antonio.

  “Here’s the deal,” the colonel said. “We have a missing woman out in the middle of this. We believe she was kidnapped by a serial killer.” He glanced over his shoulder toward a man in a game warden uniform talking to two San Antonio firefighters. “That’s Conor Paxton. She’s his girlfriend. He’s hellbent on looking for her.”

  That was bad news, all around. The last thing they needed was a love-sick pup getting in the way. Pops cut his eyes to the fire chiefs. The Bandera chief was new to the position and Pops didn’t know him well, but it was the SAFD chief who spoke up. “I’m sending you and your guys in with two of mine and Paxton. Hit the hot spots as you can but this is mostly a search and rescue situation.”

  “Is he armed?”

  “Conor?” the colonel asked.

  “He’s a game warden,” Pops said with a touch of sarcasm. Of course Conor Paxton was armed. “What about the serial killer?”

  “If he’s who we think, yeah, he’ll be armed. Likely a rifle.”

  Pops muttered a few choice cuss words under his breath. He’d always tried hard to control his temper and his mouth considering the number of kids who’d traipsed in and out his house through the years. “Does Paxton have gear?”

  “We’ll—”

  He cut off the SAFD chief. “I have extra wildlands bunker in the brusher. We’ll cover him. Where are we headed?”

  “My people have the coordinates,” the big-city chief said, implying they’d be in charge.

  Yeah, this wasn’t going to work out so well. Sometimes the “big boys” forgot that the volunteers did the same work with a minimal budget but with first-hand knowledge of the area. He knew this terrain. Knew how the fire could erupt, how it would travel. “That them talking to the game warden?”

  “Yes.”

  “We’ll get started then.” Pops turned his back on the men in charge and trudged back to the brusher to grab the extra gear and his guys.

  He explained the lay of the land in terse language as they headed toward the knot of people. When they approached, a woman came over and grabbed the wildland gear and walked it over to the game warden. She spoke urgently to him while Pops and his guys joined the two SAFD firefighters. After the game warden shrugged into the yellow pants and jacket, the woman placed her hand on Paxton’s forearm, holding him in place while she explained that he should allow the firefighters to do what firefighters did. She mentioned the missing woman’s name—Erin. The guy would not be persuaded and got a little angry at the thought of being left behind.

  “It’s her. I know it,” the game warden insisted.

  “It could be a coincidence.”

  Pops did not like the feeling growing in the pit of his stomach when the game warden added that he thought the missing woman had deliberately started the fire—maybe to escape, most likely to call attention to her location.

  The woman dragged Paxton over to their group. “Moose. Penelope.” She obviously knew the two from SAFD. Her gaze took them all in, her expression resigned. “Make sure he doesn’t get killed, okay?”

  Pops stretched out his right hand to the game warden. “I’m Pops, the commander of our little group.” Conor accepted the handshake while Pops continued the introductions. “The others are Dirty-D, Tank, Buff, and Short Shit.” He looked at Moose and Penelope, then back to Conor. “Stick with us, do what we do, and everything will be fine.”

  Everyone nodded their agreement. Pops and his guys checked their packs one more time. Once they left the command post, there’d be no coming back for extra supplies.

  The female firefighter, Penelope, touched the game warden and asked, “You doing all right?”

  “No,” Conor said, his answer short, voice terse.

  “Everyone geared up?” Pops asked. At their acknowledgements, he spread out a map on the hood of the nearest vehicle. All of them checked it one more time as he sketched out a plan taking into account the information they had. He was ready to fold up the map but Conor continued staring at their assigned section of the grid. Pops learned Erin had been kidnapped from a campground and they were headed to an area about fifteen miles away. They had a hellava hike ahead of them.

  “Move ’em out,” Pops ordered. Everyone fell into line, Conor following along at the end. Pops kept his eye on the man, noting he was almost obsessively checking his pockets and his backpack.

  Their secondary mission was to build a firebreak ahead of the fire in hopes of cutting their section off so it didn’t spread. They had a crazy man—probably armed with a rifle, a kidnapped woman, and a loose cannon in addition to the fire. He glanced back over his shoulder. Conor had settled down and kept up with the rest of them. He now looked focused and sure of himself. Pops reassessed the man. Maybe he was less a liability and more a man determined to save the woman he loved. Pops remembered what that felt like. And remembered the heart-wrenching pain when no matter what he did, it wasn’t enough to save the woman he’d loved.

  And love me you did, handsome.

  He ignored the voice in his head.

  Fighting a wildfire in the back of beyond was brutal, sweaty work. Shovels, chainsaws, and muscles were the tools they had to work with. The seven trained firefighters attacked the fire line. Conor watched their backs, eyes alert. Their radios crackled with commands and updates, the sounds often muted by the voracious roar of the flames. Some of the crews had a handle on their sections of the fire. Others seemed to be facing impossible odds. Pops knew that feeling. He flashed some hand signals at Tank, who was on the far end of their line. Penelope was holding her own, as was her SAFD partner, Moose.

  He kept an eye on Buff. A former Army surgeon, Buff suffered from an extreme case of PTSD. Oddly enough, the man seemed to find solace in the back-breaking work. These guys were extraordinary men and the fact they’d voluntarily fight fires, their only compensation the gratitude of their friends and neighbors? Pops was lucky they’d signed on with TVFD.

  He jammed the point of his shovel into the dirt, pushed down with his booted foot and dug out another shovel full of earth, turning it over. He was so dry he could probably drink a case of water followed by a keg of beer and still be thirsty. He was about to call a water break when something made a noise in the brush. Before he could react, Conor had drawn his pistol.

  “What the fuck?” That came from Moose and Pops had to admit it was a good question considering what wandered out of the tree line. It was a miniature donkey, his hide smoking from the heat.

  Penelope yelled, “Oh, my God! It’s
on fire.”

  The donkey galloped toward them, head up, eyes focused on them. It stopped right in front of Penelope. “Shit, give me a water bottle.” She held her hand out toward Moose, who unclipped a bottle from his pack and dropped it in her hand.

  His guys also handed over extra water bottles so she could douse the little guy. She worked on him while Moose made comments. The donkey was in pretty sad shape. It was obvious to Pops that the critter had been forced to run through the flames at one point but would likely live if treated properly by a vet. After fussing over him for a time, Penelope attempted to shoo him away. The donkey was having none of it. He nosed in and seemed insistent on sticking close to the pretty firefighter.

  At the moment, though, they needed to concentrate on their job. In the few minutes they’d been dealing with the donkey, the fire had found new fuel. “We need to move,” Pops said. “We’re right in the line of that fire and it’s looking uglier than it was five minutes ago.”

  All of them grabbed their tools and got back to work. They crabbed sideways, digging the fire break and clearing dead wood. The donkey continued to stick with them, despite Conor’s attempts to shoo him away. Little bugger’s smart, Pops thought. When this was all over, he’d take the little guy home to his ranch.