Page 75 of Stone
“It will take me thirty seconds to get the hose in position,” he said, putting the tender in Park and reaching for the comms systems. “Slide over here and take over. When I need you to move, I’ll let you know.” He handed her the over-ear system, then before he hopped out, he pulled her in for a kiss. They weren’t going into battle per se, but fires were unpredictable, and in some ways, it felt like it.
Sliding from his seat, he strode to the back of the tender where the hose attached to the tank. With a glance over his shoulder, he confirmed Juliana had moved to the driver’s seat. Her movements were tense but sure as she adjusted it for her shorter height. This woman who’d come crashing into his life in a flurry of books and research was damn cool under pressure. Hysterics weren’t really her thing.
Given the situation, he shouldn’t be grinning, but as he unrolled the hose and started the system to pressurize the water,he couldn’t help it. Juliana was a woman of many colors, and he loved every one of them.
The hose grew taut in his hands, and he directed the nozzle toward the fire line thirty feet away, bracing himself for the force of the stream. Rather than aim for the flames, he pointed his precious ammo a few feet in front of the line, dousing the foliage and grasses. The fire department could focus on putting the fire out; he’d keep it from spreading.
A branch in one of the trees cracked and tumbled down. But between the dark sky and bright flames, he couldn’t tell where. Not wasting his attention by focusing on it, he began walking parallel to the fire line, soaking as much of the area as he could.
“Juliana, can you maneuver the back of the truck about twenty feet west?”
“On it,” she replied.
A few minutes later, he was in a new position, one that let him protect a wider area, although not the entire line. Thankfully, he heard the sirens in the distance. They were still a couple of minutes out, but he’d be lying if he said it didn’t make him feel better.
A breeze kicked up, sending a hot wind over his face and bare arms. He made a mental note to buy fire gear. Hopefully, he’d never have to use it, but better to have it than not.
The fire continued crawling along the forest floor, although it seemed to burn hotter and hotter with each passing minute. Heat licked his skin as the fire crackled and flared through the undergrowth, the acrid smell burning his nostrils. He needed to move back. “Move forward twenty feet,” he directed Juliana.
He backed up as Juliana maneuvered the truck. Another branch cracked and fell; this time he saw the burst of sparks as it landed. Another wave of heat passed over him, and he noticed that the crackles and pops of the fire, which had mostly beendrowned out by the rumble of his tender’s engine and the spray of the water, had grown louder.
Thankfully, so had the sirens.
“Can you give the fire trucks our location?” he called to Juliana before telling her how to turn the radio on and which channel to switch to.
The conversation distracted him, and he jumped when a not-so-small ember landed on his arm. He hissed at the burning sting and quickly swiped it off, snuffing it out completely with his booted toe when it hit the ground. Aside from the pain, the ember wasn’t a good sign. It meant the wind was carrying sparks. Sparks that could start fires anywhere they landed.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
“You okay?” Juliana asked over the comms.
“Fine,” he replied, hoping it stayed that way. He wasn’t overly concerned about his life—if worse came to worst, he’d jump in the tender and zip away. But if the breeze turned into a wind, it would fuel the fire. And this time of year, it only took a minute for a small blaze to grow into a catastrophic one.
An unusual light to his right caught his attention—white rather than the hot, threatening, glowing orange. Another joined it. A team of firefighters was cutting a small firebreak. Stone breathed a sigh of relief that quickly turned into a cough.
“We have two trucks on the north side working from the road,” one said, stopping in front of him while the others continued on. The firefighter didn’t seem surprised—or pleased—to find him. “They’ll push into the woods when they can. You’re lucky you caught it early,” he added.
Stone nodded and continued his sweep with the hose, swinging it in an arc. “I have a good security system,” he said, then coughed. He’d noticed the heat but not so much the smoke and couldn’t tell if the lack of awareness was from the adrenaline or something else.
“You catch how it started?” the firefighter asked, reaching for the hose.
Stone debated handing it over, then decided his hesitation was more ego than anything. The man was a professional; he’d be more efficient. “And who started it,” he said, shifting the hose into the man’s grip.
The firefighter paused. “Arson?” Stone nodded. “And you caught the guy?”
“I don’t have his name, but yeah, I have it all recorded.”
The man nodded, and Stone thought he caught a glimpse of a grin behind his mask. “Can you leave the tender and walk back? The fire is growing hotter, but we should have it under control in the next thirty minutes. Unless we get a sudden windstorm, which isn’t predicted,” he added.
Firefighters, like doctors, didn’t make comments like that if they weren’t confident that they were true. Stone didn’t know how he’d reached that conclusion, but he nodded. “I’ve been here about five minutes. It’s a three-thousand-gallon tender, and it’s running on full power.” That would give the man enough to calculate about how much water was left.
“Keep an eye on that cough,” the firefighter said, his radio crackling with an update. Stone didn’t understand all the jargon, but got the impression that the teams on the north side of the blaze were bringing it under control. “Smoke inhalation is tricky. So is heat. Take it easy for a couple of days, but if you’re still having trouble tomorrow, go see a doctor.”
Stone nodded and started walking away, wanting to make his escape before the man suggested he see an EMT who, no doubt, was stationed on the road.
Halfway to the tender, another loud crack, this time followed by a pop, shot through the forest. His instincts kicked in and he ducked to better protect his body. His heart rate leaped as shouts from several men echoed around him. He couldn’t make outwhat they were saying, but the unmistakable tension had him turning.
His attention snagged on the firefighter he’d been speaking with. The man was waving to him, dramatically motioning him to the side. Stone didn’t hesitate. Three lunging strides carried him from his original path. Then his foot caught on a root and he went down.
