Page 36 of Smokin’ Situation (Masked Men of Sage Springs #3)
Tristan
Early February
My eyes scanned the screen, assessing the footage that was being relayed to base from the helicopter flyover.
The wind speeds were continuing to fluctuate, but there was a clear increase in sustained gusts that were going to blow the embers directly at the hikers who’d abandoned their camp.
There was clear visibility from the aerial shots that continued coming through.
“This isn’t good,” Pace grunted from my right, shaking his head. “Why in the fuck would those people go down a trail clearly marked closed?”
“Because they don’t have any common sense.
” That was what half our job was, fixing peoples’ lapses in judgment that most often resulted in catastrophe.
Yes, wildfires were naturally occurring and could put even the most suspecting person in danger unintentionally, but a majority of our careers were spent rescuing people from their own shitty ass decisions.
“The Deputy Chief just sent us updated stats on the weather conditions. I don’t like the shift in these wind gusts. Are we going to be able to keep this away from them?” he huffed. “And why in the hell did the burn boss okay the burn plan with these wind conditions?”
“Again,” I responded, shaking my head. “People don’t have common sense. But we don’t have time to analyze the dumbasses, we have a job to do if we don’t want fatalities on this one.”
“You’re right,” he sighed, pressing the button to the side of the control panel that would alert the pilots on the flight deck that they needed to prepare for takeoff immediately .
After the horn blared through the building, the inside of the base station locker room was a frantic flurry of activity as our group of ten smoke jumpers on duty suited up and checked the gear before hustling to our awaiting aircraft.
After sixteen years on the job, everything was second nature, but I checked every pocket and every strap of my harness, just in case.
Even veterans made mistakes, and every piece of gear we carried was essential, meaning mistakes could cost a life.
“We ready to do this?” Pace asked from my side as we exited the side of the hangar, the light breeze at base command a tease against my face compared to what I knew we’d be jumping into.
“Don’t think we have a fucking choice,” I grunted, my focus on running through the list of things I checked before each mission.
Every single one of us had a ritual we followed, and not fucking talking was mine.
I needed to be in the right headspace to jump, and right now I was irrationally pissed that someone in our organization caused this fire unnecessarily.
Anyone running a controlled burn knew to watch wind speeds and weather advisories before they lit the first line, which meant the burn boss had epically fucked this one up.
Not to mention whoever closed the trails that were closest to the burn area didn’t do a good enough fucking job apparently, since we had a half a dozen hikers now trapped by a fire they couldn’t control without our help.
“We fucking got this,” he said, holding his glove covered fist out for a bump.
I tapped it and hauled myself up the stairs into the aircraft, sliding across the seat to my designated spot.
The adrenaline rush on the way to a jump was unlike anything I’d ever experienced, every cell in my body buzzing as the last member of my crew boarded.
We were all quiet as the plane took flight, the radio chatter of the spotters indistinguishable over the roar of the engines from where I was sitting.
Once we reached the drop site, our team was like a well-oiled machine, each jumper waiting for their cue until they leaped from the door one by one until I was the last man left.
Double checking the strap on my helmet, I waddled my way to the open door, the sound of the wind rushing through the airplane almost deafening.
Grabbing the stationary pole by the door, I waited for the spotter to give me the go ahead .
When his fist connected with my shoulder, I was gone, free falling with the wind at my face, scanning the horizon line for the little blue dots of my colleague’s parachutes.
We were to set the fire line between the burn and the stranded hikers, keeping it away from them until the wind conditions improved for an aerial rescue. Having done hundreds of jumps, my brain was on autopilot, running through the checklist of things I needed to do as soon as I hit the ground.
Deploying my parachute, my heart rate slowed as my body bounced, and I grabbed the handles, steering into the wind to get near the drop zone. Studying the ground, I could see where the front line of the fire was, a pillar of smoke in the air marking it in the distance.
Scanning the spotty tree line, my eyes widened when I noticed a flash of color that shouldn’t have been there. As the ground came closer and closer, I tried to focus, but my eyes were drawn back to the bright purple dot in the forest, way too close to the smoke.
A gust of wind caught my parachute, and I steered against it, ready to battle the winds to reach my final destination and steer away from the fire, but as I crossed over where the purple dot had been, I saw flashes of arms waving through the branches.
“Fuck.” There was someone out there.
We were too far out for anyone to know that one hiker wasn’t with the group they’d steered away from the fire, and since I was the last man on the ground, and my crew was far enough away they didn’t know we still had a civilian in danger.
I wasn’t a search and rescue firefighter. It wasn’t my job to rescue people from burning buildings or wildfires, but fuck if I was gonna let someone remain in danger on my watch.
My adrenaline was pumping as I steered toward the trees, knowing I was about to get the fuck beat out of me. When I plunged through the canopy, I was thankful for my gear, the heavily padded suit and helmet protecting me from the tree branches as I fell.
It still knocked the wind out of me when my chute hooked overhead and my body bounced in the air, suspended about six feet off the ground. Reaching for my front pack, I grabbed my knife, cutting the lines of my parachute and bending my knees for the impact with the forest floor.
The sound of a feminine shout carrying through the haze had me jumping up, jogging toward the sound of her voice. Blood rushed in my ears as I hustled as fast as my heavy packs would allow through the smoke, no time to throw off my extra gear.
“Where are you?” I yelled, hoping I was heading in the right direction, but I could barely see, the smoke burning my eyes as I scanned through the trees, the distinct red glow of the fire much closer than I wanted to see it.
“Here!” the voice echoed back, and I turned, picking my way through the underbrush toward a steep hill. I slogged my way down it, trying not to let my heavy gear throw off my center of balance.
“Just keep yelling!” I shouted, knowing I needed to find this person and get them the fuck out of here before that fire got any closer.
Her voice carried over the rush of the wind and the roaring crackle of the fire. I followed it as I scanned for the purple dot I’d seen overhead.
Breaking through a cluster of trees about halfway down the hill, I saw her on the ground, clutching her leg while she sat yards away from a battered purple tent that had been stretched out over the ground but was clearly not set up on the steep hillside.
I had to admire the quick thinking on her part.
It was a bright marker that could clearly grab attention from the air, but holy fuck.
“What the fuck are you doing out here by yourself?” I yelled, assessing the situation. While we were all required to complete mandatory emergency medical training each year during the off season, I didn’t have the equipment to properly set a bone or splint a leg.
“I fell down this embankment and I think I broke my leg. They were going to send someone back for me, but it’s been hours, and I tried to walk, but I kept falling, and—”
I held up my hand, cutting her off. “So, it’s broken?”
She nodded; tear tracks visible on her dirt-smeared cheeks. “Alright, here’s what we’re going to do. I’ve got a fire shelter in my gear and I’m gonna help you climb into it. That fire line is way too close to us, and I can’t carry you out of here safely.”
“You’re going to leave me?” she whimpered, her breathing picking up .
“Not unless I need to,” I replied, shaking my head, but as the wind blew, and embers danced in front of my face, catching on the canopy overhead and sparking the branches, I knew I might have to if she had my only fire shelter.
Activating the beacon on my gear that would broadcast my location, I made sure the little blinking light engaged, the chirp it emitted almost drowned out by the sound of the fire as it flashed up the hill toward us.
I dropped my packs to the ground beside me, but kept my outer suit on, reaching down to yank out what I needed.
“But we need to move, now,” I urged, my voice loud over the roar of the approaching fire.
Pulling out the pouch my shelter was housed in and ripping off the Velcro, I shook out the material.
“I’m gonna have you roll over and pull this over your legs.
Keep your feet hooked in the bottom pouch and use your forearms to hold down the top, cover your face with your hands and keep your mouth low to the ground. ”
“Oh my God, oh my God,” she whimpered, rocking in place, but we didn’t have time to waste as the heat from the fire blew in our direction with the next gust of wind.
“This is probably gonna hurt,” I yelled, turning her and pulling the end of the shelter over her feet and legs. “Hold on!”
She grabbed the top of the shelter and pulled it over her head, her body disappearing beneath the reflective foil.
Glancing behind me, my eyes widened as I watched the wind carry the fire higher, heading directly for us. I grabbed the pouch with my fire-resistant blanket and my neck shield and turned back to where I came from.
Without time to waste, I moved up the hill, my legs burning with the extra weight of my suit.
The deafening sound of the fire followed me, but I knew there was no looking back. When I reached the peak of the hill, I sprinted across the open space, my eyes zeroed in on the break in the trees ahead. If I could get to an open field, I might stay far enough away from the fast approaching blaze.
But I didn’t make it, the sound of a deafening crack sounding overhead, the ground shaking beneath me. Suddenly, I was falling, the breath knocked out of my lungs as I hit the ground, stars dancing in my field of vision.
Blinking against the haze, I tried to roll, but I was pinned down, something heavy against my back.
“Fuck,” I grunted, trying to move, but it was impossible with the weight of whatever part of the tree had fallen on me.
As the seconds ticked by, the roar of the fire grew louder, sparks dancing on the breeze in my limited field of vision.
Not knowing how close it was to me, I flexed my hands, testing my range of motion to see if I’d broken anything in my arms when I fell.
With shaky fingers, I pulled off my helmet, and my eyes widened when I saw the dark red marks on the inside padding.
My adrenaline was pumping too hard for the pain to register, but my glove came back with streaks of blood when I ran it across my forehead. But I couldn’t focus on where I was injured, because the heat coming from behind me was a more pressing issue than some cuts or broken bones.
Reaching down to grab where I’d dropped my back up fire blanket and neck protector, I cautiously yanked the protector over my head, securing it as well as I could before I awkwardly pulled the blanket over my shoulders without letting the wind drag it out of my hands.
I pulled it in tight, tucking my face to the ground and trying to take shallow breaths as the noise got louder, the heat of the fire licking up my covered legs.
Flashes of my life started running through my mind as the roaring blaze crossed over me.
My family. The somber look on my mother’s face when I told her I was leaving Sage Springs all those years ago to jump out of planes for a living.
My brothers and memories of growing up trying so hard to be the role model I always felt compelled to be for them.
Spotty flashes of all the women I’d been with over the years were a blur, and I realized I hadn’t been in love with any of them.
And I yearned to find someone who would finally see who I was and what I was passionate about.
That despite my rough edges and scars, I just wanted someone to love and return it without conditions or hesitation.
As the pain registered across my back, the intense heat licking up my spine and making me scream into the fabric beneath my mouth, I clenched my eyes tight and let the darkness take me, hoping that this wasn’t the last moment I’d spend alive, because I had so much more I wanted to experience.