Page 202 of Her Reluctant Hero
Chapter Three
Gabe held thirty-seven lives in his hands. The thought remained uppermost in his mind as his crew moved up the mountain, farther north than they’d been yesterday. The slope wasn’t as bad, the trees up to this altitude were saplings, but ahead of them was old growth, and the scout camp. The fire was below them, and now his crew and the campers faced the risk of being caught in the bottom of a horseshoe, with fire all around them. Fire moved fastest uphill.
He stopped just below the old-growth tree line. Smoke hung low, obscuring the sky, the tops of the eighty-foot-tall trees, and no birds, no insects around. No noise. Nature had perfected the concept of bugging out.
If the kids were still there in all that smoke, they’d be hysterical. Michaels claimed she could calm them. He was more worried he’d have to keep her calm. She stood apart from the others, hands on her hips, looking toward the forest, ponytail whipping against her neck beneath her hard hat. The fire yesterday had been a backyard barbecue compared to what they were walking into.
His crew gathered around, eager to get to work.
“We need to split up,” he announced to his unit, the place and plan clear in his mind, sight unseen. He pointed to his four most experienced crew members. “I’m taking Kim, Chris, Tony and Mike into camp with me. Howard and Laura, you start clearing trees from the camp, moving in this direction, parallel to the fire. It’ll get us out safely, and hopefully slow the fire down. Everyone else, you know what to do.”
“What about me?” Peyton asked, the only one to question her place. Big surprise.
Experience told him to put her on the line as far from the fire as she could get. Instinct told him to take her with him. He’d spent a lot of years honing those instincts. He crooked a finger at her to join his group.
“Maria, flag us in.” The young woman tied pieces of tape around several branches in a line. This was their escape route out of the camp if the smoke got too bad. Gabe turned to his crew.
“The minute you see the fire you retreat. In this smoke, once you see the fire it will be right on top of you. I don’t want any heroes here today.”
As they moved in, his crew strung out to cut line, his newer crew farthest from the fire, his most experienced closer, where they would have to work fast. He didn’t stop to consider they might fail.
This fire was different. Peyton could feel it already, the urgency of the Hot Shots, the intensity and speed of the flames. Yesterday’s blaze had lain low on the ground. This one was— aggressive.
The Hot Shots stumbled into the clearing of the camp, only visible to each other through the smoke by their yellow shirts and headlamps. Pulses of heat washed over them. They heard the fire crackling and popping on the mountain below them. If she stopped to think about what they faced, she’d run back to camp. So hot, and the waves of heat brought scents, blistering and terrifying, singeing her nostrils.
A phwump, like fireworks going off, shook her out of it.
“What’s that?” she shouted to Cooper.
“Trees exploding,” he said grimly without a glance in her direction.
She scanned the camp, the forlorn-looking picnic tables, the snug little cabins ringing it. Not a camper in sight. Had they gotten out? Where could they have gone? Across the clearing, a yellow bus sat in the smoke, so they hadn’t driven out. She pointed it out to Gabe, who nodded. Of course he saw it too.
With a gesture from Gabe, his crew dispersed to look in the cabins. He reached for Peyton to keep her with him but she shook him off and approached the sixth building.
The door was wedged shut, and she peered through a dusty window to see what could be blocking it. The light from her helmet fell on the terrified children and their counselors huddled inside. The campers screamed and scrambled back when they saw her headlamp shine through the window. What were they thinking, locking themselves in here? That the fire would blow over?
Her throat raw, her heart doing its damnedest to run down the mountain without her, Peyton gestured them toward the door and called for the Hot Shots.
One of the counselors inside came to her senses and lunged for the door. Smoke poured into the cabin through the open door and Peyton stood in the doorway and waved them out. Two women and several children ran to the center of the clearing, where the Hot Shots encircled them.
Peyton turned to join them.
“Michaels! We’re missing an adult and a kid—are they in there with you?” Gabe called.
She opened her mouth to deny it, then turned. Sure enough, in the corner, a counselor crouched near a cot. Peyton hesitated, surveying the cabin through the smoke that filled it. She couldn’t make herself step any farther in.
“Are you all right?” she shouted.
The older woman’s terror lit her eyes in the dark room. “Carrie is under here—she won’t come out!”
From her spot near the door, Peyton crouched to look. Her headlamp reflected the pale face of a small girl.
“Michaels!” Cooper barked from behind her. “What’s the hold up? We’ve got to move.”
She whirled on him. What was he thinking, scaring everyone with his impatience? “There’s a scared kid here and your shouting doesn’t help!”
Gabe swore and strode into the cabin. He grabbed the end of the bed, lifted it to expose the little girl, who screamed and scrambled into the corner.
