Page 9 of Burning Escape

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.

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

Toriwas 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.”

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