Page 159 of After the Burn

The second was better. A pair of heavy work gloves and two rolls of duct tape.

Wren moved toward the desk. “You can find all kinds of things in desk drawers.”

She opened the top drawer. Pencils. Old receipts. A tape measure.

Wren handed it to me. “Just in case you want to see who measures up.” She waggled her eyebrows. “If you know what I mean.”

Colson smirked. “You don’t need that.”

“I doubt it’s long enough.” Wren opened the next drawer and sneezed when a cloud of dust billowed out.

“Bless you,” Colson said immediately.

“He already did, baby. He already did.” Wren looked pointedly at his crotch.

I was sure the big man would blush, but this time his eyes grew heated, and he formed a heart with his index fingers and thumbs at Wren.

She blew him a kiss, then looked down into the drawer. “Ooh!”

What the hell? Was it cute or spooky to see a man that size making heart shapes with his fingers? Some questions, I suppose, simply cannot be answered.

“What is it?” Beck leaned closer to look at what she’d found.

Wren ignored him and pulled out a small fixed-blade hunting knife.

Colson took it from her, and she stared at him.

He inspected the edge with his thumb, wiped dust from the handle, then handed it back.

A smile wide enough to rival the Grinch’s, covered her face. “You trust me with sharp things!”

“Yes.” He took her cap off, kissed her forehead, then put it back on securely.

Finley found a small first-aid box mounted on the wall. Most of it had already been picked clean, but a few sealed gauze pads, medical tape, alcohol wipes, and a pair of disposable gloves remained.

He took all of it.

Adrian pulled an old county road map from beneath a stack of invoices on the desk.

Wren immediately leaned over his shoulder. “There.”

He looked to where she was pointing. “What?”

“That road.” She tapped the map.

“What about it?” Adrian asked her intently.

“That’s the one the scavenging teams used before Gideon told everyone to stop going that far east.” Wren met his gaze.

“Toward the fuel traders?” Lucas leaned closer to the map to get a better look.

“Probably,” Wren shrugged.

“Only probably?” Adrian raised his brow.

Wren pointed at the map again. “There’s the creek. The bad bridge, and this road goes toward the old petroleum place.”

Finley started pacing. “I once asked Gideon if all the fuel came from there. It was the only place that made sense.”