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“Copy.” She wiped two dirty fingers on her shirt and popped them in her mouth. The shrill whistle caught everyone’s attention. “Move to the porch! We’ve got incoming!”
Mud rained down on the roof and filled the air with a salty smell that reminded her of the ocean. The fire-retardant chemicals coated the forest, the grass, and the brush. The humidity level skyrocketed and the air cooled.
Teresa gasped.
Nova glanced at the woman. “It’s pretty amazing, right?”
Beyond the older couple, Booth had his eyes on her, not the retardant drop. The darkness from his expression was gone now.
“You’re missing the show.”
A smile shone in his eyes. “No, I’m not.”
She looked at the mess of foam, burnt grass, singed trees, and smoke all around them. So, pretty much her life.
Nothing but disaster and destruction.
Enough of that.
The retardant drop had knocked the flames down and cooled the running fire, but there was still work to do.
She hopped off the porch. “Back to work. Booth and I have a job to do.”
Daniel followed. “You need an extra pair of hands?”
The homesteader worked hard, but Nova waffled. “This is dangerous work. Besides the fire, we’re constantly at risk of falling limbs. I think you’d better stay here and make that fire line wider. Now that the forest has burned, you won’t have much fuel for another wildfire, but you should always be prepared.”
“It’d be wise to take a few of the free classes the hotshot crew offers to learn how to protect your home,” Booth said.
Teresa hugged Nova. “Thank you. We’re so glad you got here when you did.”
Nova stood rigid. It was just too weird to be hugged by someone who reminded her of her dead mother.
She let Teresa hold her a beat, then pulled away. “Just, uh, doing our jobs.”
Booth and Nova worked all night to pinch off the head, and by early morning, Logan, Vince, Finn, and JoJo had connected the left and right flank lines. They’d contained the fire enough to stop its spread.
Thick gray clouds hovered in the early morning sky and blocked the sunrise. The team had their gear packed and stood in a line waiting.
“You did great work today.” Nova scanned the soot- and dirt-covered faces of her crew. “You saved a family. I have new orders from Miles. We’re going to split the team. Logan, JoJo, and Vince are gonna meet up with the rest of the Missoula crew working the main fire. My team has twenty-four-hour leave for rest and resupply.”
“You heard her.” Logan threw his arm forward. “Let’s march.”
Nova hefted her pack and followed Booth and Finn toward the clearing where they’d meet the chopper.
Today they’d saved a homestead from a fire not unlike the one that’d killed her parents. But Daniel and Teresa were safe, and Nova could live with that.
The danger wasn’t over, though.
Not by far.
Beyond the charred remains of the contained fire, the air thrummed with the distant roar of the real beast. A two-thousand-acre inferno headed west, hungry for the town of Snowhaven.
TWO
Booth’s eyes snapped open, and he bolted upright, blankets pooling around his waist. His heart pounded a frantic rhythm against his ribs. Rubbing the grit from his eyes, he tried to get his bearings.
No roaring flames. No pop of gunfire. No screams.