Page 270 of Her Reluctant Hero
“I think your insight will be very helpful to President Hutchinson,” Jen said with a touch of smugness.
Why did she hate him? Okay, so he hadn’t been thrilled about her pregnancy but that was no reason to send him up in an airplane, was it?
“Jen is much more qualified,” he hedged, taking a step back. “She’s incident commander, after all.”
“Don’t be modest.” The president broke through the Secret Service line to slap Gabe on the back, good ol’ boy to good ol’ boy. “Of course I want to hear what she has to say, but I’d also like the thoughts of a man who was in the thick of this monster so recently.”
Gabe could tell him just as easily on the ground, but instead of saying it, he offered a sickly grin. He didn’t want to be the first man to say no to the president.
“Be glad to.”
Jen fell in beside him as they started walking toward the jeeps waiting to take them to the airfield. Gabe hung back as the president’s entourage, including four Secret Service and two staff members, surrounded the man. Hell, they’d need Air Force One for all these people.
It would beat the hell out of Tony’s six-passenger Beechcraft.
“I hope I don’t throw up in his lap,” he told Jen.
“Wouldn’t bother me,” she replied, a smile curving her lips.
He slanted a look at her. “Geez, Jen. I know you don’t like the guy, but you wouldn’t bring me along to sabotage this?”
“I brought you along so I don’t sabotage it. Have you ever known me to keep my mouth shut? Especially when his environmental policies helped cause this mess?”
“His and every president before him. Give him a break, Jen. A president’s decisions are only as good as his information. Let’s just make sure he gets the best information we’re able to give him. Have you seen Peyton?”
“She’s up on the mountain with Kim.”
Every nerve in his body tightened, on alert. “What the hell?”
“Kim wanted to show her the point of origin. Peyton wanted to see if she could find something to help Doug.”
He blinked. “And you let her go.” He pivoted, so tense he worried his muscles would snap.
“Of course you let her go. Anything to help Doug.”
Irritation vibrated from her every pore. “What is with you?” He stopped and held out his hand, palm out. “Do you have the list of firefighters who were in Montana when the fire started?”
“Yes, sure, in the command tent, but—”
He spun on his heel and headed for the tent, fighting rising fear that he wasn’t out there to watch over Peyton. “How many names were on it?”
She glanced toward the president’s retreating entourage before she turned and fell into step behind Gabe. “I don’t know. Ten? Fifteen?”
“Any of them pop for you?”
“Pop? What do you mean?”
“Stand out? Raise suspicion? For Doug?”
“No. Why?”
“I have a bad feeling.” He shoved his way into the tent, scanned the map-strewn table for an out-of-place piece of paper, found it, snatched it up. “Hell and damn,” he said, when he saw two familiar names. Two injured firefighters, one of whom had no business in Montana the week in question. He looked up at Jen then. “We have to get Peyton off the mountain.”
*****
Raising Peyton on the radio didn’t work, so they tried to reach Kim. Gabe fought every nerve to keep his voice calm. He couldn’t let her see his suspicions, not when she was alone on the mountain with the woman he loved.
But no one answered.
