Hotshots (Wildfires Book 1) (18 page)

As they approached the table, there was a burst of activity as Jeb and Gibs both moved quickly to the computer and the radios. Something was going on. Jez and everyone paused and waited to hear.

“Base,” they heard a male voice come over the intercom. He was out of breath and they could hear the actual fire in the background.

“Yeah, Remi,” Jeb said into the mic. There was a long pause and they all held their breaths.

“Fuck, boss, we got a situation. Just found a fuckin’ propane tank up here with a cabin someone built that wasn’t on the map. We would leave it, but the problem is it looks like someone is here, there is an SUV parked out front. We are going to…”

The line went dead and they heard a huge explosion to the north of The Shack.

“FUCK!” Jeb roared and ran for the yard.

Nix closed his eyes and sent up some fast words to the heavens. The only way for the ground crew to escape certain death would be for Jez to take to the air and lay a water trail so his guys could build a firebreak. There was no other choice, but he was worried she might attempt to drop down and go in hot to try to rescue the crew. With the way the trees were exploding and the heat causing the helio to loft in the spots where the fire was burning hotter, she could still lose control without the heroics. Unless she followed instructions and laid the water, turned around and got back, she wouldn’t make it, and that would be his breaking point.

Gray was looking over the water chute and Trys was staring at the fire and smoke covering the mountainside. They were all worried, and attempting to deal with the fear as best they knew how.

Jez walked toward the chopper and the three men met her at the door that she was just about to climb into. They all looked sad and determined, which might have been funny at another time. There was nothing funny about what she had to do. It was what she’d spent hours and hours of practicing for, and she knew she was as ready as she could be. She plastered a bright smile on her face and decided to tell them what was in her heart. If something went wrong, well at least they would know.

She went into Gray’s arms first for a firm hug and panty-dampening kiss. She held his beautiful face between her hands and told him what was in her heart. “You be safe, I expect to see you in one piece later on.” She leaned into their embrace and said into his ear, “I love you, so take care of you for me, all right?”

He turned his head and kissed her again before saying, “Now you tell me? I finally hear the word Love coming from your beautiful mouth, and I can’t show you how much the words and emotions mean to me. I can only tell you to be safe yourself and come back to us, because I love you too. And I don’t know what to do with this lump in my chest knowing you are going to be flying into that inferno by yourself and no safety net. I just have to trust that everything works out as planned, because if you don’t make it, none of us will ever get over it.” He kissed her again and gave her a swat on the ass before he turned and hurried away from the chopper. She saw a hint of watery eyes just before he turned, and she wanted to go to him, but Trystan was standing there, and she needed to tell him how special he was to her.

His embrace was fierce, and he wasted no time taking her lips with his in the most carnal kiss they had ever shared to date. He spoke first. “I love you, and I believe you will give us a safe passage so we can rescue Keely and Gaige and the crew. I know you can do this, and that you don’t need me to lecture you but, baby, come back to us when you are done. You’ve become the glue to hold us together, and whenever I see you smile, I know that we’ll be fine. Now give me another kiss and say goodbye, I’ve got things to do.”

She gave him the kiss that he wanted and she craved. “I love you too, you know. I also expect you to stay safe for me, so no running into the fire with a bag of marshmallows.”

He grinned, wiggled his brows, and nodded his head to where Nix stood nearby. “Did you know the man has loved you for over a year now? When he carried you out of that fire, a few of us heard him tell you to stay alive because he had plans that involved you. He said a lot of other things that I won’t repeat, I just think you should know that he’s been at this loving the lady pilot even longer than Gray and me.”

He touched her cheek and walked away, following the same path Gray had taken. It sucked to see him walk away, but she had a job to do, and lives actually depended on her to do that job. She turned to see Nix staring at her and it was as natural as breathing for her to walk into his embrace.

“I swear I’ll kick your ass if you start lecturing me about following orders. I don’t plan to do any rescuing or drama filled moments. I will lay the water down, and you can build that firebreak, but for the love of all that’s holy, don’t lecture me right now. Just stand here while I tell you that I love you, and I plan on meeting back here with you and the other two as soon as I get back and you get that fire lane open for traffic.”

She leaned in for his kiss and was picked up into his arms and lying against the pilot’s door of the bird. His hands held the cheeks of her ass, and his lips and tongue began a journey that was destined to be interrupted by the circumstances they were faced with. By the time he allowed her legs to lower and her feet to touch the ground, his head was resting on her shoulder, and he was breathing heavier than she was.

“I have all the faith in the world in you, Jez, I know you will do the job, and never think I don’t trust you to follow instructions. I watched your father’s helio go down, and it haunted me for months afterwards. I was given a gift that day, even though two of my team died, you were still alive. You have no idea how deeply I love you, but I do, and I’ll always love you.” He drew back to look into her eyes. “If I wasn’t needed on the ground for the team, I’d gladly do the run for you. I have the licensing to pilot the bird, but I can’t leave my team and I can’t allow you to think I don’t believe in you and your abilities as a pilot. All I can say is be safe, and remember I love you; all three of us love you. I also think I speak for the other two when I say that at the end of the season we’ll be planning something on a permanent basis.

“Now, let’s get you in this bird and in the air so I can get the team ready to follow your path.” He opened the side door and she climbed into the seat. He buckled her safety harness for her while she placed the helmet on her head, and gave him a thumbs-up. He nodded his head and stepped back after closing the door. The motor started and he wanted to jerk the door open and drag her out of that seat, but tried to manage a reassuring smile for her as she looked out at him before the bird started to rise from the ground.

She threw the bottle against the wall. How did the flame keep missing them? It didn’t make sense, never had the flame actually failed. Since she was twelve it had solved her problems. Her parents, the first boy who took her without permission, the boss who yelled at her constantly, the ex-husband who cheated on her. All of them the flame took care of, all of them had paid dearly for wronging her.

Now, the people who wronged her most of all, the people who questioned her relationship with the flame were winning.

It was not okay.

It was not the way things were supposed to go.

She was supposed to be the hero.

She was supposed to be the one people clapped for.

At least she still had one other option. The flame was still winning the fight in the forest. The savior would know what to do, he always did. She just needed to wait, he would answer everything.

She went to the television and turned it on. The fire was on the screen and she grinned. It was perfect, the flames shooting up above the treetops. She turned up the volume to hear what they were saying.

“The Routt County Fire Chief will be holding a briefing in just a few minutes. Currently the fire has no containment and mandatory evacuations orders for several neighborhoods and ranches surrounding the town of Steamboat Springs, Co. Over three thousand acres have burned already, and although they have laid a fire line around the city, there is still a threat to the small sleepy town in the mountains. The main road in and out of town is blocked off, and their only support is from fire jumpers and slurry bombers. Right now the town is holding firm, but the fire is moving around the town. With miles of rough terrain, it will be difficult to fight this fire. We look forward to hearing from the chief and listening to what their plans are. In addition we will receive a briefing on what the inspectors have found in regards to the start of the fire.”

They don’t know, they can’t know, they are not that smart. She had covered their tracks, she always took care of that, and her savior always took care of the gruesome part. It was their thing, when she had been at The Shack he had stayed away; he had to because she was the one who they would pay attention to, not him. When he was around everyone just ignored him.

Her name was not ‘Barbie’ like everyone called her. They didn’t even bother to know her real name, but when they were done with this, they would know who she was and they would know she was the master of the flame; her and her savior were the only ones who could tame it.

Let the lessons begin.

A flash fire is a sudden, intense fire caused by the ignition of a mixture of air and a dispersed flammable substance such as a solid, flammable, or combustible liquid, or a flammable gas.

Keely had read all of the books, seen all of the videos, but had never experienced anything like this. She had been with her team; they were looking for the person who belonged to the SUV they found by a cabin none of them knew was out here. The fire was getting close and they needed to move.

“Keely,” Liam said to her left and she turned.

He was pointing to the large grouping of rocks and she could see a jacket lying on the ground.
Damn hikers
, she thought. Even when she worked in Cali they always were finding dumbass hikers who thought it would be cool to go and get pictures of a wildfire and then sell them.

They moved to where the jacket was and she turned to look around, there was no one in the immediate vicinity, which meant they had gotten hot, taken off their jacket, and kept moving. The only problem with that was the only direction that wasn’t in flames was behind them and the hiker wasn’t there. That was the way to the cabin.

Gaige came to her other side and he said, “Come on, Remi and the others found a full propane tank. We need to leave, if it blows we are gonna be caught.”

“Shit,” Liam said and looked back. “The fumes and the liquid will be like a fucking bomb.”

‘Come on,” Gaige said and they began to move quickly to the clearing where the cabin was situated.

Before they could make it the rest of the team and Remi were running toward them yelling. Remi had the radio in his hand and he was yelling. Liam pulled her to a stop and then just grabbed her and threw her back toward the way they came.

Keely stumbled but she knew she had to hold it together. The guys were all moving and she wasn’t going to get into the way. She ran back to the rocks, they could maybe get some cover there as the tank blew.

She could hear the roar of the fire; it had somehow shifted and moved closer. Damn it, it had hopped while they had been looking for the idiot hiker.

“Here,” one of the guys yelled and they moved toward the voice. There was a grouping of huge rocks, taller than a house, and one of the guys had found a small opening in between two of them. They ran, they had their tanks and masks, if the fire flashed over them they would be fine as long as they weren’t close to the actual flames.

They reached the crevice and Remi put the radio back up to his mouth and began to report in. Everyone pulled their flame retardant blanket out and began to squeeze in. There was a small opening in the middle of all the rocks, and they all moved to take a spot. Not everyone was in when they heard it.

Keely looked at the faces of who was in the small opening and then she turned and screamed, “REMI!”

Denver Pack Series

Alpha's Mate

Tey's White Wolf

Devon: The Beta's Double Trouble

Cloe: Two for the Bite of One