Page 14 of Burning Secrets

JoJo couldn’t look at Skye as they left and she realized she’d been stood up.

Fine. Whatever.

She moved her hands over her equipment. The ram-air chute main toggle, the reserve toggle, her harness, snapped and secured, the altimeter strapped to her wrist—nearly at thirty-five-hundred feet. Radio and GPS secure in her leg pocket, fire shelter in the other leg pocket, and in her pouch pack, a first aid kit, flashlight, and overnight gear—just in case the fire was bigger than the reports.

Just a small fire started by lightning—still under an acre, but it threatened power lines and a cluster of cabins near the Denali High Adventure Scout Base. Just a quick putdown. They’d cut a line and conduct a burnout ahead of the fire, cut another contingency line to the south, but the rest of the fire raged in a limited management area.

Nature would take care of it as it headed north into the park.

As Jade had explained their action plan, JoJo had studied the map and realized the fire wasn’t terribly far from Brutus and Cleo’s old den.

And now, shoot—there he was, Crew, hopping into her brain, driving up on a four-wheeler, the lumberjack version of Batman.

Stop.

Their pilot, Neil, motioned to their spotter, a man named Mark, and Jade moved forward. The two opened the door and pointed out their drop area.

They dropped the ribbon, and JoJo watched it spiral out, saw the wind grab it, churn it away from the puff of smoke spiraling up from the dense clutter of trees. No flames peeking through the gray, so maybe the fire hadn’t started to crown yet.

The crew helped them with the gear box as Neil circled, and Mark and Jade sent that out to the drop zone.

Then Jade turned to her crew.

“Nobody dies today!” Her talisman shout-out.

They responded with a thumbs-up, and then Logan got up and started their prejump chant. “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you!”

JoJo took her place beside Logan, and the others lined up behind them as they finished the chant. She glanced at Logan as he shouted, “Do not be discouraged!” Then he nodded to her, his jaw tight.

Jade unclipped their safety lines, and in a second, JoJo started the count.

Jump thousand.

The air caught her, and every single time, it felt like leaping off into freedom. A crazy, ethereal exhilaration caught her breath, and despite the wind in her ears, cutting out sound, she reveled in it.

Look thousand.

The world, at this moment, belonged to her. Hers to control, to live or die. From here, the world seemed less cluttered, more expansive, and she spotted caribou running along distant tundra, the rising furry peaks of the foothills, and the dark granite of the massive Alaska Range jutting, sharp and rugged, from the earth.

And for a second, Crew and his cold exit dropped away from her brain.

To the northeast, the forest balded, turning into rock as if God had already precut the line. To the southwest, Whisper Creek. The fire to the east, the camp to the west—if they cut a line between the bald spot and the creek, burned it out, they could drive it back to the Copper River.

Reach thousand.

She glanced at Logan, who also flew, twenty feet away. Reached for her primary toggle. Found it, buffeted by the wind. Grabbed it. Her gaze fell on the river to the west. Too far to see the cliff. But the sun glinted off something in the distance, maybe a half click from the river, north, where a splinter river flowed into the Copper.

Maybe five miles from the village they’d helped evacuate about a week ago.

Wait thousand.

She focused on the fire, spotted it now, flaring up between trees, growing, the smoke churning into the sky. Smelled it—acrid and crisp, the air turning heated. Now the adrenaline pooled in her gut, the dragon roaring, a low hum of warning.

Pull thousand.

The jerk shot her up as the chute deployed, and she caught her toggles, sitting in her harness, driving.

She loved this part.

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