“How do you know that?” Jason asked.
“I found some of their old files. It’s basically ready to go.”
“You know how to oversee these burns?”
“I’ve done it before.”
“We won’t burn the entire forest down? You’re absolutely sure of that?”
Craig cleared his throat. “Jason, it looks safe to me. According to their records, there’s actually not that much fuel out there. Coincidentally, the part of the forest where this thing’s been repeatedly returning to has fantastic natural fire barriers.”
Phil pointed to a map. “Look. Ocean to the west, a double-lane paved road to the south, and the creek to the north and east. Basically, it’s a prescribed burn’s dream.”
“You really think it’s safe, Craig?” Jason asked tenuously.
A confident nod.
“And this makes sense to you, Darryl?”
“Perfect sense. We gotta get that thing outta the woods, and this seems like a great way to do that.”
Jason reluctantly turned to Phil. “When would we do it?”
“First thing in the morning’s best, when there’s lots of cold air to help contain the fire.”
Jason’s eyes shifted, mindful of whom he was talking to. “What are the other risks?”
“We’ll get some high, superficial flames from the rhododendrons, but nothing lasting, nothing really dangerous. We should be fine.”
“We won’t need to put it out somehow?”
“The beauty of these types of fires is that they pretty much burn themselves out. They just run out of fuel. We’ll need to check for burning embers and things….” Embers could burn for days if not properly extinguished. “But that’s about it. Other than that, there shouldn’t be any problems.”
Jason turned to Darryl. “Say we do this. And say it actually works. If we drive that thing out of the trees, it could go anywhere, right?”
“We’d have to shepherd it.”
“How would we do that?”
“With the helicopters. Craig and I already went over it. With all of the noise and electrical activity they generate they should scare the hell out of that thing. If it does pop out of the treetops, we’ll have it.”
“Where would we shepherd it to exactly?”
“Where it won’t have anywhere to hide. Over the ocean.”
Jason hesitated. “What if it decides to go for a swim?”
“Then it drowns. Its gills have long since dried out.”
“That’s right, they have. Hmm.” Jason went over all of it in his head. At least on paper, it worked. He turned to Phil, despising him, distrusting him, and yet… “When do you want to do this?”
“Like I said, the air will be nice and cool first thing in the morning.”
Jason nodded. “First thing in the morning, then.”
CHAPTER 83
“IT’S EXACTLY where we thought it would be.” Craig nodded confidently to Jason as a blinking dot shot across the radar sweep.
“Good.” Jason stood. “I’ll go see where Darryl is.” Jason marched outside and reached the parking lot just as Darryl hopped out of the Vertol. “You set it up?”
Darryl nodded. “It’s ready to go.” He’d just removed the Expedition’s seldom-used deck-mounted harpoon gun, then anchored it to the floor of the mammoth Vertol. Jason peered in at the weapon. Though technically a harpoon gun, it looked like something off a battleship: a six-foot-tall piece of curved steel the size of a harp that fired harpoons with speeds just shy of guided missiles. Darryl would use it when the moment was right.
Jason pointed. “Looks like they’re ready too.”
Craig, Lisa, and Phil walked toward them, each carrying two “drip torches,” devices with big black handles and long spouts that look like enormous metal coffee thermoses. They don’t carry coffee. They are heavy-duty, fifteen-gauge aluminum canisters that transport a diesel/gasoline mixture that tiny igniters light to literally “drip” a fire. They are standard issue for fire rangers.
As the three walked closer, Phil eyed the man who refused to even look at him. “Jason, you’ll come with me?” The plan was to drive to different locations, then set multiple fires simultaneously and surround the creature with flames.
“No. I’ll go with Darryl and Lisa. Craig will go with you.”
“Oh, OK.” Phil couldn’t fight the quiet rage in Jason’s eyes. He checked his watch. “We’ll light up in exactly… fifteen minutes.”
Then they entered the SUVs and drove off.
“JASON AND Lisa are sure getting along, huh, Craig?”
Walking rapidly in the forest, Craig didn’t answer Phil Martino. As much as Phil seemed to be trying legitimately to help out now, his betrayal was repugnant and unforgivable. “Where do we set the first fire, Phil?”
“You go to that dried-up fern patch over there.” The area was the size of a typical front lawn, waist height. “I’ll start with these dead rhododendrons.” It was a massive growth, all brown.
Drip torches in hand, they walked in separate directions, then began spilling fiery little drops of fuel. Small flames ignited and grew shockingly fast, from a few inches, to one foot, to ten feet. Craig worried they were in the process of starting a wildfire, but Phil Martino remained calm. He’d done it all a million times before—or a dozen times anyway—and this was perfect. They moved quickly, lighting up everything.
They didn’t notice what was in the trees.
SEVERAL HUNDRED feet high, the creature watched them. On top of a branch as big around as a boardroom table, its wings draping over the sides, the Demonray suddenly smelled scents it never had before. It felt something too, just the slightest tinge of it: heat.
The predator focused on Craig, trying to understand what he was doing.
HEAD DOWN, Craig Summers continued to drop little fireballs everywhere. In minutes, he ignited 1,200 feet of terrain. The fire was already ferociously hot, many flames taller than three stories. Suddenly Craig spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. Something big and white near the treetops. A cloud of smoke? He didn’t have time to dawdle. They had to start the next fire. They sealed up the torches and hustled back to the SUV.
Nothing followed them. The creature was already somewhere else.
GLIDING BELOW the treetops in another part of the forest, the Demonray felt better. There was no hot air here, nor strange smells. Just redwoods, green foliage, and soil.
But then, as it continued, the predator detected the heat again. Only now, it was coming from another direction. In fact, the heat seemed to be coming from all sides.
MONITORING ANOTHER blaze from Redwood Inlet’s embankment, Jason, Lisa, and Darryl watched the flames burn higher, already several stories up and hot as all hell.
Suddenly they noticed movement on the ground. Three dozen squirrels skittered out of the forest and down the embankment.
Jason’s eyes narrowed, watching the rodents go. “This might actually work.”
Lisa nodded. “It really might.”
Darryl said nothing. But as Jason glanced at him, he saw he was watching the squirrels too. And he was smiling.
CHAPTER 84
“YOU GUYS see anything over there, Craig?” At the controls of the huge Vertol, Darryl waited a moment when his headset crackled a response.
“Nothing at all here.”
Darryl turned to Jason, next to him in the passenger seat. “They got nothing too.”
Jason eyed the yellow Sikorsky, about a quarter of a mile away. “Should we spread out to cover more area?”