The Wildfire Season

The Wildfire Season
Andrew Pyper

Haunted. Scarred. Alone.And the nightmare’s just beginning…The Wildfire Season is a remarkable tour de force – an edgy psychological thriller, a supernatural chiller, a terrifying tale of untamed nature and a poignant love story.The vast tracts of wilderness of the Canadian north are beautiful but dangerous – a place to lose yourself, or hide your secrets. For fire-fighter Miles McEwan, scarred and haunted by a terrible death, it is both.But the uneasy peace of his new life in the backwoods town of Ross River can't last. Violence is simmering in the vast forests around him and the past he thought he had escaped is about to catch up with him.Now Miles must fight the fires that rage around him as well the ones he had hoped to leave behind. All the time knowing that one of his friends must be a killer…

The Wildfire Season

ANDREW PYPER

For Heidi

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#u1717abf5-a286-5798-94ff-df2485838d14)

Title Page (#u5dc57034-3b65-55ff-bde5-af9c3d7d0783)

Dedication (#ue253f7c3-39a0-5e50-820f-0952e03bef13)

Chapter 1 (#ub6da58d2-225b-5e1c-8f26-8d3ed9adabca)

Chapter 2 (#u0698743b-b890-53e9-a398-fc295d682810)

Chapter 3 (#uc3379c17-fe2b-5754-a074-475b83e71466)

Chapter 4 (#uaed4e8e9-3fd4-5f7d-bb2c-339d1ad5cf4b)

Chapter 5 (#u03a2dabd-896d-53a1-ad5a-3a0e6c766f45)

Chapter 6 (#u050bd0de-42fd-5a7f-9779-25b371cc2b97)

Chapter 7 (#uc52a0009-0f71-59dd-94ca-ec4fe98a821f)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 25 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 26 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 27 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 28 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 29 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 30 (#litres_trial_promo)

Author’s Note (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

By the same author (#litres_trial_promo)

Praise (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 1 (#ulink_f5e65bcc-9673-5087-b67d-9e4ba8227b2c)

He must go far, but not too far. Someplace lightning would choose. A tree that is a foot or two taller than its neighbours, one with a drop sheet of needles around its base. Too much regrowth will only lead to a telltale explosion. On the other hand, there will have to be enough fuel to nurture the smoke, keep it alive while teaching it to go slow. The firestarter had assumed the perfect location would make itself plain once he was out here. Instead, nowhere looks right.

There are moments when he thinks he might be lost. His squinting attention to particular corners of the forest makes his head swim when he lifts it to get his bearings. He has never been afraid in the bush before. Then again, he isn’t himself, is he? Maybe he would never become lost so close to where he started, but the firestarter might.

Doing this thing, he refuses to think of himself as himself. A split personality, if only for today. It’s not shame that forces him to hide—he has his reasons for being here, or a set of compulsions anyway, even if he has trouble recalling them now, so occupied is he by the act alone. He is the firestarter and not himself mostly because it makes it easier. A man temporarily free of history, attachments, implications. For now, he’s a soldier on a mission, acting on faith in the wisdom of his orders.