Page 4 of Burning Escape (Chasing Fire: Alaska #3)

TWO

Present Day

This was not what Orion had signed up for. They were going to die. Not from fighting a wildland fire though. Not that it would be any consolation to his mother. He was going to die for getting roped into Logan’s rescue mission.

The wind caught Orion’s parachute, jerking him to the left.

Using his toggles, he followed Tori—because no one actually called her Victoria—but she was struggling.

He couldn’t see smokejumpers Vince and Cadee, who had jumped before them.

A draft had swept them in the opposite direction.

Orion needed a clearing to land in, yet they were surrounded by a thick patch of burnt spruce and cedars.

With the airplane losing fuel and going down fast, they hadn’t had time to scope anything out.

There. A small patch of black ashy ground—probably rocky, but better than snagging on a sharp trunk. Especially since they didn’t have their typical Kevlar suits on for this last-minute rescue.

“Tori!” he yelled, trying to point to the landing spot.

But her main canopy still wasn’t deploying. His heart stopped until her RSL activated, pulling her reserve chute. Tori’s descent slowed, and Orion could breathe again. But there was no sign of the others in his crew.

The whine of ATVs in the distance grew louder.

Right. Because it wasn’t enough that their whole crew had flown into the middle of the wilderness to help Logan rescue Jamie and her brother, who was caught up in some shady stuff.

Their plane had been gunned down by militia.

Armed men who knew this backcountry and were still after them.

These first few weeks weren’t turning out to be the greatest start to his smokejumping career.

And Tori was drifting. He pulled the toggle, caught the same draft. It spun him to see the airplane he’d just jumped from falling way too fast. The other smokejumpers were miles away by now. Hopefully they all made it.

Gunshots sounded. Orion wanted to pull his own weapon out of its holster, but he needed both hands to steer and follow Tori.

As soon as they hit the ground, he’d need it in hand to protect her.

As it was, she headed straight for a craggy stand of dead trees, burnt from the wildfire that had just run through the area a few days ago.

He could only watch as she dropped suddenly, her chute catching on a thick limb. Her scream stopped his heart.

Somehow, he managed to drop in without tangling up on a snag. He freed himself from the chute and sprinted to Tori, gun drawn and ready in case any of the militia found them.

“You okay?” He scanned the area for threats.

“Do I look okay?”

Her usual snark was a good sign. He’d found out quickly the first day of training that neither of them would hold back as they duked it out for a smokejumper spot.

The two of them had fought hard, but they’d been the newest. If it hadn’t been for one of the other trainees breaking his leg during training, one of them wouldn’t be here.

Jade had just never said which one. And they were both on probationary status for the first month of jumping. It wouldn’t take much to lose the coveted spot, so neither one of them was backing down.

Victoria had been fun and easy to talk to, enjoyed life to the fullest.

Tori was all business.

At least with him. She joked around with the others, but during training, she hadn’t let up at all.

She’d met every challenge head-on. Even now that they were on the team, the temperature between them hadn’t thawed.

She kept to her friends, often working with Vince or Cadee. He stuck with Logan and JoJo.

But something had changed on that plane. He wasn’t sad that Jade had paired them up in the few minutes they’d had to formulate a plan on the airplane that was losing fuel and going down.

Watching Logan fight to find and save Jamie, he’d seen what was most important. All of them being shot at as they’d rushed to the plane, barely taking off as the militia had tried to mow them down with rifles, had him thinking about that last night before they’d become rivals.

That night was embedded in his brain. The dance they’d shared. The kiss.

So yes, in the dark quiet of nights, the moment replayed in his mind. But this was Tori. Apparently she’d meant it when she’d said she’d given herself the one night to let loose. He’d just been a means to an end. But he didn’t want to see her hurt or killed by those guys on ATVs.

“I really wish I had my letdown tape.”

“I’ve got one.” Orion set down his light pack and grabbed the strap out of it. He scrambled up the thick trunk, testing its strength as he did. It was still strong enough to hold them, thankfully. “Good thing you’re not too far off the ground.”

“Easy for you to say.” She glared at him through the blackened spruce branches. “Just hand me the tape. With as many times as we practiced the letdown procedures, I can do it in my sleep.”

He shimmied out on the limb she was caught on. “Yeah, but we don’t have our suits?—”

“It’s fine, Orion.”

Right. She didn’t like anyone trying to help her. Maybe it reminded her too much of her sisters smothering her. Either way, he knew better. He dropped the line.

She looped the strap with the carabiner and rings on the harness she wore. “Do you have a knife too? You’ll have to cut the lines since I need the chute harness.”

“Just say when.”

Once she rigged the strap to let herself down, she called up to him, “Go ahead.”

“You checked all?—”

“Orion! Cut me loose. Those guys on the ATVs are coming.”

Fine. He cut the lines. She yelped as she dropped free of the chute. But the strap held her as it was meant to. She smoothly belayed herself to the ground.

Orion glanced out. He could hear the four-wheelers, but with the slight ridge blocking his view, he couldn’t see anything. They needed to move quickly. He climbed down and stowed his knife in his cargo pants. Tori was bundling the strap when suddenly she was on the ground.

“What happened?”

She grunted. “Nothing. The dumb strap was caught around my foot, and I tripped.” She stood, a grim look on her face. She took a step and almost fell over again.

Orion caught her by the arm. “Are you okay?”

Her eyes closed a second, lips shut tight. “I twisted my ankle.”

“Let me take a?—”

“It’s fine.” She took another step but needed the tree trunk to support herself.

“Stop fighting me and let me help,” Orion said.

“I don’t?—”

One of the ATVs crested the ridge.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake.” Orion scooped her up and ran.

“What are you doing?” she shouted, wriggling as if she was trying to get away from him.

“Just hold on!”

She actually did what he asked and tightened her arms around his neck. Which was good since he could hardly focus on putting one foot in front of the other while navigating the slight incline, avoiding trees, and holding her.

The ATV engines grew louder, though Orion still couldn’t see them yet.

“They’re getting closer. We’re sitting ducks out here.”

She was right. With the whole landscape in black and white, their bright yellow shirts stood out.

“We need to blend in.” Orion set her gently on the ground and rubbed soot and ash on his shirt. She followed his example. Her shirt was soon a charcoal gray. Once they were reasonably covered, he stood over her, ready to pick her up again.

“Seriously, Orion, I can take care of myself.” She spoke through gritted teeth and tried to get up.

Too bad. He helped her stand and then swept her up into his arms.

The movies made it look a lot easier.

She pushed against him. “I’ll be okay. You can put me do?—”

“No time. You’re hurt. We need to get away.” It was all the breath he had to explain. He ran, dodging black trunks, skirting around rocks and fallen trees. If he could reach the next ridge up ahead where the land dropped away, maybe they could find a place to hide.

“Hey! Here’s one of their parachutes!” a deep male voice yelled, his voice echoing through the burnt forest.

They were close.

“Tracks go this way,” another called out.

Footprints in the ash would lead the men right to them. Orion picked up the pace.

“There!” Tori pointed to a thin stream cutting across the field a few yards away. “That should hide our tracks. Put me down, and I can?—”

“Forget it.” He made a beeline for the water.

“Orion, the ankle is fine. Let me down!”

His arms and lungs burned. Hopefully they had enough of a lead. He dropped her legs but kept an arm around her waist. “Can you stand okay?”

Instead of answering, she jogged away. A slight limp, but she was handling it. The cold mountain water soaked their feet and ankles as they ran downhill in the stream until it tumbled over a craggy edge. They stood there, sucking in oxygen and looking for an escape route.

The stream became a tiny waterfall, dropping fast down a cliff.

They climbed out of the water and around the boulders that lined the cliff edge.

The landscape fell away in a steep hill on one side of the water.

Maybe they should try climbing the rocky ledge on the other side of the stream. But that would be hard on Tori’s ankle.

The forest was once again green and alive here.

They wouldn’t have to worry about being tracked through the ash.

But the gunmen on their ATVs were still heading their way.

Orion glanced behind him, but the ridge above hid the blackened landscape from his view.

He walked away from the cliff and onto green vegetation. Maybe it was?—

His foot slipped in wet moss. He hit the ground, rolled down the sharp incline. Branches and brush whipped his face as he slid.

“Ry!”

He threw an arm over his face, at the mercy of gravity as he flew downward, unable to find purchase. Oomph. His shoulder caught a thick trunk, and his body bounced off, sliding down until finally stopping at the bottom of a ravine.