Page 9 of Burning Hearts (Chasing Fire: Alaska #1)

NINE

“Wheels are rolling out in five!” Mitch backed out the front door of the men’s cabin and let it snap shut.

Logan downed the rest of the coffee from the mug he’d been staring into for at least the last ten minutes. Kind of like the way he’d stared at the ceiling last night rather than sleeping. Going around and around over the fact he actually had been about to kiss Jamie when Grizz came out and interrupted them. Unceremoniously calling the dog in to dinner, knowing exactly what he was doing.

His ex-girlfriend was a billionaire.

Did she think he’d renewed his interest in her because of the money? Maybe it was better that they hadn’t kissed.

Maybe he should stick to his guns and let her go back to her life. After all, having her here reminded him of everything he had loved about her.

Okay, fine. Still did love about her.

Back when they were dating, he’d wanted to protect her. The same instinct that drove him to do his job. He’d found a woman who needed him to rescue her from the things about her life that he didn’t like. The ways she could wind up hurt or in danger because of her family.

Jamie was exactly the kind of woman who would confront a drug dealer and try to pay back what her mom or brother owed them. Not that he thought Tristan had ever been mixed up in drugs.

Now he knew he’d never bothered going below the surface with her. He’d only seen in her what he wanted to see: the kind of woman he’d been looking for.

One who needed him to save her.

Logan set the mug upside down in the sink and grabbed his pack, sliding his feet into his boots. Everyone filed out, and he followed the crowd toward the runway, where the plane sat with the engine running. Neil was under the wing with a clipboard in his jumpsuit, already doing preflight checks.

Jade and Cadee came down the steps of their cabin. Sanchez followed them, probably to go with the rest of the hotshots into the bus. Tucker and Mitch would brief them, while Jade preferred to do hers while they grabbed their chutes and got suited up to go.

The rest of the smokejumpers didn’t much care what area they were going to parachute into. They hit the ground, they fought the fire. Didn’t really matter where.

Logan looked at the women’s cabin front door.

Jade said, “She’s been working at the dining table for a couple of hours already. She was on a conference call when we left. Said to tell you to be safe and let her know if you see Tristan.”

Logan nodded. “Thanks.”

“Good thing we’re headed back out to check the compound.”

Skye headed toward them from the parking lot, coming from her car and carrying a paper coffee cup and brown paper takeout bag.

Vince called over to her. “Oh, looks like the walk of shame.”

Skye crumpled the paper takeout bag into a ball and tossed it at Vince’s face. “Want to tell my husband you’re calling it that?” She rolled her eyes.

JoJo smacked Vince up the backside of his head and said something to him Logan didn’t hear.

Skye caught up to Logan, walking alongside him.

Logan said, “How is Rio?”

Skye had a soft smile on her face when she said, “Fine, thank you.”

She’d been gone since before dinner, heading home so she got to see her husband during the week and not just between fires—reprieves that didn’t last long or come often during an intense wildfire season.

Skye said, “How about you? Jade said you were pretty cozy with Jamie by the fire.”

“I’m just realizing some things about our relationship before.”

Skye tipped her head to the side. “Like what?”

Logan shrugged. “Like how maybe I saw what I wanted to see. I never actually got to know her. Who she is. The kind of things she wants out of life and why she does what she does. I just passed judgment on the things I didn’t like.”

Skye winced. “You know Rio was undercover when I met him?”

Logan had heard the story but mostly just highlights.

“He was with a prison detail assigned to fight the fire with us. A couple of the inmates used it as an escape, and Rio got caught up in it. I thought he was a convicted criminal. Turned out he was on an operation.”

“But you figured out eventually who he was.”

“He protected me even though it put his job at risk,” she said. “I might not have appreciated it at the time, but looking back, the fact that he pushed me into that river probably saved my life.”

“I don’t think Jamie is going to see it the same way.” And hopefully he wouldn’t have to shove her into a rushing Alaskan river the way Rio had done with Skye.

“Sometimes, being together is a little bit about being there to save each other, and it’s a lot about trusting God with what you can’t do. The parts that are beyond our strength to achieve a victory.” She paused. “You know that verse ‘for such a time as this’?”

“I don’t think I’m a girl who is supposed to save a nation.”

Skye snorted. “True. However, God has His perfect timing. There’s a reason both of you are here now. God always has a plan, but it’s up to us to choose whether or not to submit to it.” She slapped him on the shoulder and set off toward the plane at a jog.

Logan double-timed it and caught up just as Jade was saying “…drop retardant on the compound.”

JoJo said, “Do we know what caused the buildings to catch on fire?”

Logan gaped. “The compound is on fire?”

Jade shot him a scathing look—because he didn’t already know the answer to that question. “As I said before you joined us, Neil and Mark went out early this morning. They reported that the compound is fully engulfed and seems to have been for some time. Probably all night. Our job is to make sure the fire doesn’t spread beyond the fence.”

I started that fire.

He didn’t want to say it out loud, but at some point, someone was going to connect the dots between his report and this fire. Probably when he explained in his report at the end of today that he was the one who’d started the fire.

Logan squeezed his eyes shut and prayed no one had lost their life.

He left off the part about this being his fault, because he wasn’t ready to admit that it probably was. He needed to get a look at the compound for himself.

Vince glanced over. “Did you see anything like hoses when you were there? Might be good to fight this residential style.”

Logan shook his head.

“How big is the fire?” Orion asked. “Does it encompass the entire compound? How do we know it wasn’t the wildfire that moved in?”

Logan said, “I thought you guys cut a line so the wildfire burned out yesterday.”

A couple of the smokejumpers glanced at him, scathing looks. Because he hadn’t been there with them.

“I’m just asking.” Besides, he’d been busy running from gunmen and saving Jamie.

Was Skye correct? Had God put him precisely in the right place at the right time so he could do the Lord’s will and be there for Jamie?

Jade said, “Neil reported the entire compound was ablaze. He requested the retardant straight away.”

In lieu of a fire truck—which, even if there were one nearby, probably couldn’t get to the compound for hours—a retardant dump from their plane was a good idea. Logan had done enough residential firefighting to fully appreciate assistance like that.

A plane that dumped foam on flames.

Or a helicopter that could drop water on a blaze.

JoJo said, “Sounds like someone purposely wanted to destroy the whole place.”

Logan figured going over every inch of the charred remains of the compound meant he could thoroughly look for Tristan. If Jamie’s brother was still there, Logan would find him before the end of the day.

He would be able to give her an answer.

Hopefully not the charred remains of her brother.

As much as he didn’t want to be the one to tell her that her brother hadn’t survived, with closure, she would at least be able to move on. Start the grieving process.

Jade lifted her wrist and looked at her watch. “Time to go.”

Logan glanced back at the cabin once but didn’t see Jamie.

Then he climbed onto the plane.

* * *

Jamie heard the rumble of the airplane engine pick up speed. She slid the chair back and strode from the dining room to the front door, sweeping open the cabin entrance so she could stand on the porch and watch the plane take off.

Logan’s crew.

The dog, Jubal, was stretched out on the porch. He lifted his head and looked at her for a second, then decided nothing interesting was happening and put his head back down.

After the plane had flown too far away and was too small to see, she swept her gaze across the base. She’d told Logan about her wealth. The fact he hadn’t immediately told her about all the things here that needed repair or replacement was a serious point in his favor.

Maybe she was cynical.

Jamie preferred to think of it as being smart. Jaded, but smart.

Over by the office, the hotshots filed out toward the parking lot where the school bus was parked—their ride to the front lines of firefighting. A couple of them waved to her, and she waved back.

She couldn’t imagine being split across two crews with her friends, one team sent to a remote area not easily accessible, the other miles away, fighting in places they could drive and then hike to. The crews probably helped each other out if they needed it, but they’d have to know it might take hours to reach the other team if something happened. Friends who considered each other as good as family.

Jamie sighed.

Maybe she just didn’t trust her brother.

Then again, she wasn’t sure she trusted anyone. The nasty reality she might not trust God either didn’t sit right in her heart. She knew she should. But in truth? Her actions proved otherwise.

Jamie sank into a chair on the porch.

First, she had realized her faith had grown stale. Now all she could think was how long it had been since she’d really trusted God.

She bowed her head. I guess I need help. Big surprise. I’ve messed it all up again. She sighed. Can You help me? I need to get back what I lost. I need You.

Someone cleared their throat. A man.

She looked up to see two of them at the bottom of the steps. Tucker Newman, the commander, and a uniformed sheriff—or deputy. Jamie’s cheeks heated. “Hi.”

Today, Tucker seemed like any other guy you’d see at a truck-stop diner. Hair cut tight to the sides of his head, curly on top. An overgrowth of stubble he hadn’t bothered to shave. Not the commander she’d met the day before in his office. This guy would offer you a coffee in a chipped mug and chat with you about his “rig” or his “gal at home.” Yesterday he’d had on a long-sleeve shirt, but today she could see under one sleeve of his tee that he had a Celtic tattoo around his upper arm.

“Sorry to disturb you.” Tucker winked, like he knew what she’d been doing and heartily approved of impromptu prayer time. “This is Deputy Mills. He’s from Copper Mountain.”

Jamie stood. “Nice to meet you.” She shook hands with the deputy sheriff, then sat on the top step. Then she realized they might not have come here to shoot the breeze. “What can I help you with?”

Deputy Mills pulled out a little notepad and a stub that seemed to function as a pencil. He licked the tip, and she saw a flash of gray hiding in the strands of hair under the wide brim of his tanned hat. Slim hips and wide shoulders, he had to be pushing fifty at least but could probably still tackle someone the way he had on the football field in high school. Or wrestle a bear.

This was Alaska.

He looked at her with dark gray eyes. “Can you confirm your name for me, ma’am?”

“Jamie Winters.”

“Not from around here?”

“I live in Last Chance County. It’s in?—”

“I’ve heard of it.” His brows pinched together. “And what is your occupation?”

Why on earth was he asking that? Even Tucker looked confused, though he probably hid it better than her. She needed to find her board-meeting, financial-downturn, poor-quarterly-projections blank expression. Everything will be fine if we weather this storm.

Jamie said, “Do I need a lawyer, Deputy?”

“I’ll advise you your rights if that becomes necessary, Ms. Winters,” he said. “I’m aware you’ve been in Copper Mountain looking for your brother. Tristan Winters, correct?”

She nodded.

“Does he work with you?”

“Tristan is not currently employed by my company, no.”

“Your company?”

She’d already explained it to Logan, and that was far different than some deputy she’d never met before. “Why are you asking all this?”

“The sheriff asked me to come out and bring you back into Copper Mountain. We got a report of a body washed up on the riverbank north of town.” He said it like things like this happened every day. “A male, deceased. I’m afraid he matches the description of your brother, and I’m here to request you identify him.”

Her head swam. If she hadn’t been sitting down, Jamie would’ve found a chair fast.

Tucker moved from hanging back to stand on her other side, across from the sheriff. Like a counterbalance to keep her steady. It worked. A man who knew prayer when he saw it was someone she could rely on when she had nothing.

Nothing but God.

She didn’t know how to ask Him to help her with this but would figure it out when her thoughts weren’t in a tailspin like a plane going down.

Deputy Mills said, “Ma’am, will you accompany me to the coroner’s office and assist us in identifying the deceased—if you can? It might not be your brother.”

“But it’s possible.”

He gave her a short nod.

Jamie stood, using the porch rail to steady herself. “I’ll just grab a couple of things and lock up.”

She moved around the cabin in a daze, shoving random things into her backpack but remembering to grab her phone from the charger. She had another meeting soon, but she didn’t have the wherewithal to figure out how long she had before it started.

I need to…

I should…

“Hey.”

She spun to find Tucker filling the doorway.

“Need me to call anyone for you?”

She took a deep breath and tried to think. “It might not even be him.” She pushed out a breath. “If I don’t get back before the crews do, can you tell Logan where I went?”

He nodded. “Got your phone?”

She patted the side pocket of her pack. “Thanks.”

“Don’t worry about anything else. Just get it done, and then you’ll have an answer.”

As far as a pep talk went, that was pretty bad. But maybe it was what she needed to focus. Simple, logical instruction. “Okay.”

Jamie walked with the deputy to his patrol car, answering his questions. Small talk. But she couldn’t have recounted what she said. It was all a daze. They drove for a while, and then she was walking into a short building with a brick exterior and a glass door with gold-etched letters, empty planters beside the door.

The interior smelled like a mix of stale chemicals.

“This is the coroner, Doctor Kameroff.”

The older man with tanned skin and gray hair held her hand softly. “Thank you for coming.”

Jamie managed to nod.

“This way. Please take your time.” He hung back from the hospital gurney, where a body lay covered with a blue sheet.

Jamie didn’t look at the wide metal sink in the corner. The drain in the middle of the tile floor. The wall of metal doors that she wouldn’t ever look at the same when she saw them on crime shows on TV.

She moved to one side of the bed and shifted the sheet. Doctor Kameroff took it and completed the task of pulling the cover back to reveal the face of the deceased man.

Jamie let out the breath she’d been holding and stepped back. “It’s not Tristan.”

Deputy Mills pulled out his phone.

“But I know who it is.”

Mills’s head snapped up. “You know this man?” He pointed at the body.

“I mean, we’ve never talked, but I’ve seen him before. At the compound. He was their leader.”

Mills frowned. “Do you know his name?”

“Maybe Logan does? I think he spoke to the guy.”

And then this man had come in right when they’d been about to leave.

He’d pulled a gun, and Tristan had shot him. Her brother might not have lost his life, but wherever he was?

He was in big trouble.