Page 1 of Birchwood Burn (Black Timber Peak Hotshots #2)

ONE

JACE

The fire is building and getting closer to my crew.

We’re all working hard and fast to get the safe burns done on any detritus on the forest floor, chopping down trees, building trenches, all to lessen the spread of the wildfire on Black Timber Peak.

We’re still pretty far off from any of the towns, but one shift of the wind, or one mighty catch of a blaze, and this can all go to hell in a handbasket quickly.

Smoke overrides the air, and the sound of choppers dumping water into the flames confuses the senses.

The heat from the inferno has us boiling in our gear, but we’re trained for this.

As squad leader, I put my men through the paces in the off-season, so we’re never unprepared.

We’re, after all, the Black Timber Peak Hot Shot Firefighters, and wildfires are our bread and butter.

We’ve been at it for hours, and my arms burn from use, but we take turns on the jobs, and everybody gets a break after doing three thirty-minute rotations of each job. It helps us to maintain the momentum.

“Oh, my God. Help. We need your help.” Three women come from the east of us, and the crew stops for a second, as we try to figure out what the women are doing out here.

It’s suicide to be out in the mountains in this.

There’s been a no hiking or camping alert for the past four days.

And by the looks of their gear and clothing, they were on a daily hike.

I drop the axe and head over to the women. Jerry stops what he’s doing and grabs his first aid kit. As the squad EMT, he rushes to check the girls over.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I ask.

The women are covered in soot, and they’re haggard, even though most of their hiking gear is top of the line.

“Thank God we found you. Our friend. She’s lost. We’ve been trying to find her. It’s been over twenty-four hours. Then we got lost and couldn’t find our way out of here.” One woman with black hair cries as she tries to catch her breath.

Jerry hands each of them a bottle of water, and all three chug them down. “Slow it down, you’ll make yourself sick,” Jerry says.

“We hit a wall about a quarter mile from here, and then followed it as best we could, hoping to stay out of the path of the fire. But you need to find our friend. Please,” the blonde says.

A brunette leans heavily on the woman with the black hair, favoring one leg, never letting it touch the ground. Jerry bends down in front of her and looks over his shoulder at me. “It’s broken.”

Shit. That means I have to let one of the ATVs go so they can drive the women back. But it needs to be done, even though I hate leaving my guys without enough transport to get out of here if things get dicey.

The woman clenches her teeth but says, “I fell when we got too close to the fire, and I hit it against a root from a tree as we were running away from the fire. But if you tell us what direction to go in, I’ll hobble out of here.

Just find our friend. Please. She’s all alone and didn’t even want to do this trip. ”

The blonde cries. “This is all my fault. Please save her. She’s the sweetest person ever. She’s about my height, around five-five, with bright red hair and green eyes. Her name is Larissa. Larissa Green.”

Of course, I’m going to search for her, but I’m pissed that these tourists are not savvy enough to know to look at the weather forecast. It shows all of the restrictions on hiking and camping.

“Jerry, see the ladies back to town. I’m going to search for the girl.”

“Jace, want me to go with you?” Bastian asks.

“No, keep on the line. There’s too much land to cover, and we’re still waiting on other fire departments to lend us a hand.

I’ll radio in and keep in touch with zones I’ve checked over.

” I turn to the women and pull my map out of my jacket, laying it out for them.

“Now show me where you lost track of your friend.”

The black-haired woman studies the map and points toward where the fire has recently been called in as a hot zone. Shit.

I keep a neutral expression on my face. No need to worry the women, but if she’s inexperienced, then the woman might not have gotten out of there. If she doesn’t know directions, then she could’ve run straight into the fire and gotten trapped.

“Does she have a compass, a map, or anything of use?”

The women shake their heads. I sigh. “It was only supposed to be a morning hike.”

I lift my brow, trying not to bite their heads off, but like hell I’m going to bite my tongue. “You mean to tell me the mountain going up in flames looked like a smart thing to hike in?”

The brunette cries. “I thought it was far enough away and didn’t want to spoil our plans. Larissa needed this.”

She needs this like she needs a hole in the head. Not wanting to say anything else to them because I have a feeling whatever comes out of my mouth won’t be very kind.

“Jerry, get them out of here, and while you’re down there, stock up on some provisions and come back.”

“Got it.” Jerry rushes the women to the ATV. I turn around and shout out for the guys.

“I’m going to search for the woman. I’m going to zone three.”

The guys nod, but their jaws clench. It isn’t safe to go off alone, but as squad leader, I’m making the best decision I can. We need to get this walled off so the fire won’t spread any further.

I grab a couple extra water bottles, some protein bars, and head off in the direction the woman showed me. Praying I find this woman alive. The possibility is grim, but I have to try.