Page 13 of Burning Hearts (Chasing Fire: Alaska #1)

THIRTEEN

She grasped his arms, nothing but fear on her face. He didn’t like moving away from her when she was freaking out. Then again, Logan and everyone else on this plane was as well. Just because they were used to this plane and the idea of jumping didn’t mean this was anything normal.

“I’m not leaving you.” Logan didn’t wait around for a response.

He backed out of the cramped space between seat rows and stood. Alarms sounded from the cockpit—until Saxon reached up and flipped a switch.

Orion called out from the back of the plane. “Are we okay?”

Neil yelled back, “No! He just shut the alarms off.”

Logan glanced around. The smokejumpers were on the floor, wedged into small spaces. “Everyone good?”

Hammer nodded, his lips pressed tight together and nearly invisible in his beard. Tristan lay on the floor by him, his eyes closed. Hammer said, “He’s breathing.”

“Jade! Skye!”

They popped up between seats. Jade said, “We’re good. Tori?”

She groaned. “Fine. Orion and Cadee are good too.”

Vince was toward the front, a hard expression on his face. “That was a trap.”

Logan didn’t want to think about it. “We need to land before the plane falls out of the sky. After we survive that, we can discuss what just happened.”

Vince said nothing.

Logan went to the cockpit. “How long do we have?”

Saxon had binoculars trained on the window beside him.

Neil grasped the controls, the muscles in his arms straining to hold the plane steady, his face pink-tinted. “We’re leaking fuel. They must’ve hit the tank, because we’re leaving a trail behind us. The needle’s going down and so are we.”

“How long?”

“A minute or two, tops. But we need enough height so you guys can jump.”

Jade came up behind him. “We don’t have enough chutes for everyone.”

Logan said, “Can we double up?”

Saxon spoke to the window, the binoculars still up to his eyes. “We’re gonna have to. Otherwise you go down with us and the plane.”

Logan didn’t like the sound of that.

Neil said, “There’s a valley to the west. It was burning a few days ago, but the depression will give you enough height to jump.”

Jade squeezed his shoulder. “Do what you can for us, but don’t forget about yourself. You’re not going down with the ship, Neil.”

Saxon turned to them. “We’ve got another problem.”

Logan didn’t like the sound of that.

“Those guys on the ATVs? They’ve been following us.”

Logan ducked out of the cockpit and found the nearest window. He tried to see out, but there wasn’t much visibility. The engines were streaming smoke. “We’re so close to the ground.”

But he didn’t see gunmen in hot pursuit.

Jamie’s head rose between seats. “What are we gonna do?”

Those huge eyes she thought were too big for her face were rimmed with unshed tears. “We’re gonna survive.”

At least, he hoped they were.

Jade came to the door and faced the rows of seats in the back of the plane. “All right, listen up. Neil and Saxon are going to find somewhere for us to jump. We can’t all be on the plane when it lands. Our best chance is going to be in the air, doing what we do.”

Her voice hitched.

Logan heard what she didn’t say—that Neil and Saxon would be risking their lives more than the rest by staying on the plane. But they had no chutes, so they had no choice. “Chutes.” He glanced around. “We don’t have enough chutes for extra people.”

Jade nodded.

Tori stood. “I dropped mine in the snow.” Tears rolled down her face. “I’m sorry. It came unclipped when I was running.”

Cadee put an arm around her shoulder. “I’ve got her. We can jump together.”

“You need someone heavier to carry a lighter person, or you both need to be experienced. You guys are too close in size.” Jade frowned. “Skye and I will go together. Hammer?”

He said, “I’ve got Tristan. Don’t worry.”

Logan said, “Jamie will have to come with me.”

“Crawford!”

He looked over at Saxon, in the cockpit wrestling with the controls. “Yeah?”

Saxon patted the back of his seat for a split second. Hammer strode down the aisle, grabbed the pilot’s emergency parachute—which Saxon apparently didn’t think he needed—and handed it to Logan on his way back to where Tristan sat with his back to the wall of the plane.

“All right then.” Jade nodded. “Tori gets my chute. Everyone else has one. We go in pairs, just like normal. Like this is any other jump.”

But they all knew it wasn’t anything like what they normally did.

Hammer said, “Who has a gun on them? If there are guys down there, you need a way to defend yourselves.”

Vince put a knee in the seat and leaned over the back of the chair. “I have my gun.”

Orion said, “Me too.”

Logan didn’t carry one. He also didn’t carry a fire blanket, since he didn’t like feeling like a potato wrapped in foil in the oven. He’d never planned to get caught in a fire, and that would stand as long as he did this job. “I have a knife. And my—” His radio. “I left my unit at the compound. That must be how they knew where to find us. They have my radio, so they were listening in.”

“We were set up?” Vince said. “So we switch to a new channel?”

Hammer shook his head. “No radios. Use your cell phones. Stick with your jump partner and get back to base on your own. Everyone is on their own.”

“We should meet up, like we always do.” Jade folded her arms.

“That would put everyone in danger unnecessarily,” Logan said. “Considering they’re out here looking for me.”

Everyone turned to him.

“They had Tristan. The only thing that makes sense is that they took Jamie and were waiting for us to show up so they’d have me too.” It had to be that.

They thought he had the files from their computer.

Or that he’d killed their leader, Brian Howards.

This had to be about revenge, and if they didn’t get Tristan, Jamie, and Logan, then they hadn’t eliminated the threat.

“We were supposed to be in the cabin when it blew,” Jamie said.

“Doesn’t matter. They aren’t going to find us.” Logan reached for her hand, and she held on. “But we can’t let anyone be in danger because of us.”

“I don’t like it,” Jade said.

Neil called out from the front of the plane. “Thirty seconds to jump!”

Logan pushed out all thought of plans, gunmen, and how to stay alive, how to draw them away from his friends. All he had to do for the next thirty seconds was check the chute. Prep, even though they’d jumped with these already today and only hastily repacked them.

Jade took over, doing one of the steps with steady hands. “Don’t be a hero.”

Logan looked at her. “Get everyone to safety.”

She pressed her lips together.

Vince called out, “Hey, Jade, I’ll just go down by myself, all right?”

“We’re both going down. We’re supposed to pair off. What is your problem?” Cadee said.

Jade went over and got in their faces. Whatever she said, Cadee and Vince were being paired up and neither was arguing anymore.

Saxon called back, “Now! Go now!”

Cadee was first out the door, followed by Vince.

Tori went, and Orion came right behind her.

Hammer had tied Tristan to him, using webbing around their waists like a climbing harness. Then he called out to the front of the plane, speaking a language Logan had never heard before.

Saxon replied in the same language.

Grief washed over Hammer’s face, but he got the chute on. Clipped in. Checked Tristan, still unconscious, his head against Hammer’s shoulder. He jumped out of the plane.

Logan nodded to Skye and Jade. “Go.”

They jumped together.

He turned and pulled Jamie into the aisle. “Listen to me.”

“I don’t know how to do this.”

“You don’t need to. The chute will do the work. All you do is hang on.” Plus a little steering. “Nothing to pull. Bend your knees when you hit the ground.”

Jamie gasped.

“Do you trust me?”

She nodded.

He kissed her, not nearly as long as he wanted to. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Logan!”

He turned to Saxon, who held out a gun. “Take this.”

Logan wasn’t a guy who appreciated guns, but after this, he might go take a class or something. Get more comfortable with being able to protect himself.

And the woman he loved.

“Thanks.” He slipped it into his pocket, then went over and walked Jamie to the door. The ground rushed by under them closer than he’d have liked, but they could do this. “‘The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid.’” She was here, with him. She loved him. “‘Do not be discouraged.’”

I’m not anymore. Thank You for that, even if this goes horribly wrong. You’re still God over all of it.

One final check, and Logan pushed her out of the plane.

Jamie screamed.

He gave it a couple of seconds, his stomach clenched. Her chute flapped open, caught in the wind, and she slowed.

Logan went out after her.

He grabbed the toggles and kept his focus on Jamie, watching the wind currents that swept her toward the ground. To his right, at the peak that dropped down into the valley, ATVs crested the ridge.

He clocked the others’ chutes, saying a prayer for each one.

A couple of the smokejumpers were already out of sight, on the ground or over the farthest ridge. Safe and out of the way.

To his left, the plane streamed smoke all the way down the valley.

It hit the ground and flipped, bursting into flames.

* * *

If they survived this, Jamie was going to kill him. She screamed all the way to the ground, barely pausing to catch her breath. After a while, the energy to keep up the loud screech dissipated, and she didn’t start up again after the sharp inhale.

Wind battered her, drying her eyes. Whipping her hair all over the place.

The flames from the plane were like a firepit at the end of the valley, but there was nothing inviting about it. Saxon and Neil were dead. That sweet older man. His wife was going to be devastated.

Who knew who else was no longer living?

She couldn’t even think to pray. All she could do was hang on, her mind stuck between blind terror and I have no idea what I’m doing .

The chute swept her to some trees, and she kicked one. It scratched at her.

Jamie dropped between two Alaska spruces, and the chute tangled, jerked her around like a bad boyfriend. She stopped, swaying in mid air. Tangled in the tree.

Hanging from the tree.

I’m gonna kill you, Logan Crawford.

She didn’t even know where he was! He’d just shoved her out of that plane like Rio had shoved Skye off the bridge. Sure, doing so saved her life in the end and got her away from the bad guys, but come on! This was not her world. Not her life.

A single flicker whispered to life in the back of her mind.

It could be.

Jamie couldn’t imagine anything more terrifying. Alaska was beautiful, sure. Logan was here, and they loved each other. The rest of it was just scary.

A branch snapped.

Jamie gasped.

Material tore. She dropped to the ground. A cry escaped her lips, and she managed at the last second to remember to roll. Her legs crumpled under her, and she kept moving.

Her head swam as she rolled…

Downhill?

Jamie tried to fight against the material and rope wrapping around her. Before she could make any progress, she slammed into a tree. All the air in her lungs expelled at once, and she rolled back to stare up at the sky.

Jesus…

She had nothing else right now. But she knew deep in her heart that she would always have God with her, no matter what. No matter how far she went, or how bad things got, the Lord would always be by her side. Just like Logan had said before they’d jumped, The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you. “Do not be afraid.”

There was no sound to her voice. Only her lips moved and a whisper of breath left in her. But it was enough to pray.

Jamie lay there, unable to do anything but breathe in and out, fully aware of the presence of God with her. More than at any other time in her life.

Thank You . He was with her.

A branch over to her right cracked. Like someone had stepped on it. Logan. He had come to find her after he’d saved her life so that she didn’t go down in the plane and…She swallowed against the lump in her throat and tried not to think about Saxon and the grief on Hammer’s face before he’d taken her brother out the door. Or the older man, Neil, and his wife who would outlive him.

Tears rolled from the corners of her eyes.

She spotted him coming and turned her head.

A whimper left her lips. Not Logan. It wasn’t him, it was the guy from the compound. Snatch. She rolled far enough to get her hands under her, still tethered to the chute. If the wind blew hard enough, she could get dragged across the ground.

Jamie tried to push herself up, dirt between her fingers and pine needles poking the palm of her hand.

His boots appeared in front of her hands, stepping into view. He crouched.

A knife flashed in front of her face.

Jamie choked back a gasp.

“Got yourself into a mess. Should’ve stayed where you were in that cabin, but then you’d be dead right now.” He cut her free of the chute, dragging the harness off her.

Jamie scrambled back, crawling on hands and knees. Her arm glanced off a rock, cutting the tender underside of her forearm. She gasped and held it to her front.

He stood over her. She looked around for his friends, but he seemed to be alone. He must’ve been on one of those ATVs. Or jumped off one and came after her while the others kept going.

“What…” She gasped. “What do you want?”

Dark hair fell over his eye on one side. The bottom of his jeans were wet, a couple of inches soaked above his boots. Worn dark blue jacket, thick like it was insulated. Flushed cheeks. “You killed the boss. You and your friends.”

“He would’ve killed us.” It was all she could think to say. The first thing that came out of her mouth.

“You think self-defense counts for anything out here?” His lips curled up and he chuckled. “You’re gonna tell me what you did to our computers, and you’re gonna die. How those happen is up to you.” He tapped the knife against the side of his pants. “Fast or slow. Easy…or painful.”

Jamie shivered, and not because she was out here in the street clothes that she’d been wearing in town—just a thick zippered sweater over her shirt. Jeans and boots.

She needed Logan and that fire he’d built in the firepit.

Snatch strode toward her. A phone on his belt buzzed. He put it to his ear. “I got her.” Pause. “Okay, do that. Meet at the spot.”

He hung up looking pleased with himself.

No. Just like Logan had said, God hadn’t brought them this far to abandon them now.

I trust You.

No one else had the power to save them.

From the right, someone rushed at him. Logan. It was him—he was alive. He tackled Snatch, slamming him to the ground before they erupted into a frenzy of punches, grappling with each other. Logan’s elbow caught Snatch in the stomach, and he bent forward, gasping. Logan brought his knee up fast, and the other man’s head snapped back.

Snatch slumped to the ground.

Logan rushed over to Jamie. Just like on the plane, he got close and spoke sweet words. She just hung on, because this might be far from over. Logan tugged her up. She fought for balance, the world spinning around her.

Logan got his arm around her waist and started walking. “Slow and steady.”

“I’m okay.”

“I know.” He didn’t let go of her. “I’ve got you.”

“Yes, you do.”

And she meant it. Jamie was going to stick around—if he wanted, she would be here forever. No matter where he was, she planned to be right beside him.

For as long as he wanted.

No matter what.

No more rescuing people when it was God’s job to do that. Jamie planned to trust Him and to follow His lead. If that brought her to someone she cared about and they needed help, that was one thing. But going off on her own as if she had all the answers was something else entirely.

Someone slammed into them. Logan went down with a cry and a grunt, pulling her with him. She hit the ground beside him, and her head glanced off a rock. Hard.

Everything went black.