just after midnight.
Tom Sully, the fire chief at Station Two, was on the scene, giving orders. “Ewing, Williams. Get that ladder to the roof so we attack the fire from there. Roman, DeNiro—get a hose to the back of the building. Duff, Riley—you two attack it from the front. The restaurant closed at ten, thank God, so there’s no one inside. Let’s kill this thing—fast!”
A small crowd had gathered on the sidewalk. People stared from the high-rise across the street, looking down undoubtedly with horror at the chaos. But had anyone seen the arsonist?
“When are you going to catch the jerk?” someone yelled.
“How long do we have to live in fear?”
Omar and his fellow firefighters set about fighting the fire. Even if they had time to answer the questions being asked, they would be unable to do so because they didn’t have the answers.
Omar was as determined to see this arsonist caught as anyone else. The fires needed to stop—and the sooner, the better.
As Omar climbed the ladder to go onto the top of the building, fire exploded through a window. Instinctively, he lurched backward. People below him screamed.
His heart pounding, Omar regained his footing and continued up the ladder. This would be yet another building lost. By the time they had arrived, the entire structure was on fire. Whoever was behind this knew just how to operate under the cover of darkness so that the response of any fire station would be too late to stop the most damage.
Omar glanced over his shoulder as he neared the top of the building. Despite the late hour, the crowd had grown.
Was the arsonist among them, watching them at this very minute?
* * *
It took a good hour to put out the fire. In that time, the crowd had continued to grow instead of wane. Omar could hear the angry rants among the spectators. People were tired of their city being under attack. People wanted the arsonist apprehended immediately.
Omar went over to Tyler McKenzie, the engineer on the pump truck. He was spraying water from the nozzle of a hose, allowing firefighters to drink and cool down. Naturally, fires were hot. But add to that, the protective gear they had to wear, and they all were sweating profusely underneath.
“Omar, drink,” Tyler said.
Omar put his face beneath the spray of water, sighing as the cold water splashed his hot face. Then he angled his head to drink several gulps.
As he stepped away from the hose, his eyes were on the crowd. Suddenly, he spotted a face that gave him pause. It was a woman wearing a baseball cap pulled low over the top of her head.
A black baseball cap.
He had seen her before...at the last fire. He was sure of it.
He watched her. Unlike the other spectators, she wasn’t checking out the scene before her. She seemed fidgety, her head turned to the right. Had she seen Omar looking at her, and was now avoiding making eye contact?
Suddenly, she started to move. She weaved her way through the crowd, walking briskly.
Omar started after her.
“Ewing,” Chief Sully called.
“Chief, I think I saw something.”
“What?” the chief asked.
But Omar didn’t have time to answer. He only had time to give chase. He made his way along the street in front of the crowd of onlookers, vaguely aware that they were observing him with curiosity.
Someone gasped as he pushed his way into the crowd. “Excuse me,” he said. “Sorry.” And kept going.
He saw the woman—dressed in dark colors—round the corner into an alley. Omar started to jog. As he got to the opening of the alley, he saw her running.
She was clearly trying to get away.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Omar muttered. A woman? A woman was the one setting the fires in Ocean City?
That was the only thing that explained why she would be running after he had picked her out of the crowd.
He started to run faster. With his long legs, he caught up to her in no time. “Stop right there!” he yelled.
The woman didn’t stop, just glanced over her shoulder at him before turning sharply to the right.
Omar picked up speed, darting around the corner she had just taken. He saw her heading toward Clark Street. Within seconds, he was upon her again. He reached out and grabbed her by the arm, and whipped her around. As he pulled her toward him, she landed against his body.
She looked up at him, her eyes flaming.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“What are you doing?” he countered.
“I was chasing the arsonist!”
“Funny,” Omar said wryly. “That’s exactly what I was going to say.”
She looked at him, aghast. “What?”
“I saw you. And you saw that I saw you in the crowd. Then you took off.”
Her eyes widened with indignation as she forced her body away from his. “Didn’t you see that guy?”
“Right, lady. The only person I saw was you. Looking suspicious in the crowd, then taking off.” Omar tightened his hand on her upper arm. He wasn’t about to let her go. “The whole city’s been waiting for this day. I’ve got to admit, I didn’t expect the person terrorizing Ocean City to be a woman.”
“You must be out of your mind.”
“I’m the one out of my mind?” Omar retorted.
“I’m not the arsonist!”
“You can tell your story to the police.” Omar started walking with her toward Clark Street, but she dug her heels into the ground and tried to yank her arm free.
“Let me go!” she demanded.
“I don’t think so.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
“Sure I am.”
When Omar continued to drag her toward Clark Street, she groaned, and then said, “Why am I not surprised? No one in this town is doing their job to catch the arsonist.”
“Nice try.”
With her free hand, she whipped off her baseball cap. Her dark shoulder-length hair spilled free. Omar’s immediate thought was how beautiful she was. He could see her face fully now beneath the streetlights. What would drive a woman like her to commit such heinous crimes?
“You don’t recognize me?”
Omar
