Page 8 of Burning Escape

“Jade is from here originally. She said she was moving back and asked if I wanted to come. Sounded like fun, so I decided to join her.”

Great.

Logan gave her a fist bump. “Good to see you.”

Jade faced the group. “I’m not much of one for talking this early, so I hope you came ready to work. At the end of our training, two of you will be given a spot on my crew. Most of you have done this before, but for you newbies, this is no walk in the park. It’s brutal because you are going into one of the most dangerous situations a person can face. I will push you to your limits because wildland fires don’t care. Now, drop your stuff, grab one of the packs along this wall, and get ready to run.”

“Good luck, newbie.” Logan smirked as he grabbed one of the packs.

Orion didn’t need luck though. He was born for this, so the joke was on Logan. As they lined up, Jade checked people off on the clipboard. When she got to the end of the line, she looked around. “Anyone seen Mitchell?”

After a chorus ofnos and heads shaking, Jade blew out a short breath and made a mark on the clipboard.

Tough break, Mitchell—whoever that was. But it was one less person vying for a place on the team. Orion smiled.

Just as they were about to start, a dusty Honda Civic with a broken windshield screeched as it swung into the parking lot.

“Wait!” a woman cried as she jumped out of the car.

Jade went out to meet her. What little Orion could see of the newcomer was weirdly familiar. But a baseball cap covered her hair, and the sunglasses she wore and Jade’s shadow obscured her features.

“Must be Mitchell,” Logan said. “Not a great way to make a first impression. Jade hates when people are late.”

All the better for Orion.

Jade turned back to the line. “Let’s go!” she yelled over her shoulder. “Mitchell, you have some catching up to do.”

As Jade stepped away, slanted sunlight hit the woman, brightening her features. Blonde hair streamed behind “Mitchell’s” ball cap.

Orion’s smile dimmed. A force like a fist dropped into his gut.

What in the world was Victoria doing here?

“Dude, come on!” Logan nudged Orion’s shoulder. The rest of the line was already running. Orion gave himself a shake and followed Logan. He glanced back and saw Victoria rushing to heft one of the heavy packs onto her back. By the time they reached the road, she had caught up to them, though she was huffing pretty hard.

“Important work, huh?” Orion tried to take the bite out of his words, but she’d blown him off last night. Made it sound like she was leaving town or something. And now they had to compete for one of the few smokejumper spots?

Her eyes widened. “Orion?” Victoria’s face was already flushed, and his name sounded more like a wheezy breath as they jogged up the inclined road with their packs. After a pause, she spoke again. “Well,” she said as she huffed, “itisan important job. I didn’t lie.”

“You said you were leaving town.”

“Yeah. We’re gone most of the season.” Each word was punctuated with another breath. “Kinda hard to do relationships that way. This is for the best. For both of us.”

Or it was a lousy excuse. If she really felt that way, why had she kissed him?

But whatever. At least he knew where he stood.

They weren’t dating. They weren’t even friends.

They were rivals competing for the same job. One he was determined to win.

Game on.

TWO

Present Day

This was notwhat 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.

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