Page 272 of Her Reluctant Hero
“I certainly underestimated the difficulty of your job out here,” Hutchinson said. “Oh, good Lord!” He leaned against the window and watched flames leap above the treetops. “How do you begin to fight a fire like that?”
Gabe shifted away from the window and started explaining the basics of firefighting to the president. It helped keep his mind off of Peyton. God knew where she was.
“Why don’t you put slurry on it?” the president asked after Gabe explained the firefighting tactic of dropping chemicals from modified bombers.
“Because the slurry only knocks it down for a little while. Once the plane drops it, you have to have a crew on site to take advantage of the lower temperature and higher humidity and stop it altogether. And each run of slurry costs thousands of dollars. Plus the pilots can’t always fly, if the wind gets too bad, or the smoke does. So there really isn’t just one way to fight a fire. It’s a massive collaborative effort with different agencies, and right now it’s all running through Jen here. She’s doing an awesome job on her first command. I wouldn’t do anything different.” It wasn’t a lie. If he considered going into management, Jen would be a good model to follow.
The president turned his attention to her, which had been Gabe’s goal. “How did you end up with the command? I mean, it’s an unusual job for a woman, isn’t it?”
Oh hell, Hutchinson blew it there.
Jen bristled, her opinion of the man not improving. “I’m more than qualified. I’ve been on the fire line fifteen years.”
“I’m sure you are,” Hutchinson placated. “I didn’t mean to offend. It just seems out of the ordinary. Don’t get me wrong. I like out of the ordinary.”
“You’re in the right place.” Jen sat back in her seat. “There’s nothing ordinary on a fire line.”
“What are they doing?” the president asked, pointing to two yellow-shirted people in a clearing that had been burned in a fan shape, uphill from where the two women stood. “They aren’t close to a fire.”
“That’s not good,” Gabe muttered, turning all his energy inward to settle his stomach.
Jen leaned over to look, sparing him another round of nausea. “It’s the point of origin.” Her tone alerted him. “A reporter went out with one of Gabe’s Hot Shots to see what they could find out about who started this fire.”
His eyes snapped open and he leaned toward the window despite his twitchy stomach.
From this altitude, Peyton was nearly impossible to identify. Only her golden hair and her posture were recognizable. Would she remember to keep her wits about her? No one was there to pull her ass out of trouble this time.
*****
“Kim, Jesus, what the hell are you doing?” Peyton hated the shrill in her voice as she backed away from a pissed-off redhead whose Pulaski rested casually on her shoulder.
“Taking care of two birds with one stone, as it were.” The smile on Kim’s face was unholy. “Gabe’s lover and the woman who might expose me.”
She pulled out a drip torch, and Peyton noted the stiffness with which she operated it, like she couldn’t move her hand very well. Like the skin was stiff. Perhaps from a burn.
She searched her memory, remembered meeting Kim and the others when Jen assigned her to the crew. Remembered Kim’s bandaged hand.
“Like you did before,” Peyton said softly.
Kim’s eyes softened in a kind of admiration. “At least you aren’t a dummy, like some of the others.”
“Why did you set it? To be with Gabe?” Peyton asked, easing back, moving into the black. Above them, she could hear the distant buzz of a plane engine, fading in and out as the wind picked up. Could they see? And if they could, what could they do? There was no place to land around here.
Kim lifted a shoulder, showing no evidence of hearing the plane. “That was just a side benefit. I mean, we would end up on a fire somewhere. But I wanted it to be here, I wanted him to see Doug and Jen suffer, the way they made him suffer when they betrayed him.”
“You love him.” She’d hit that one on the head right away. Why hadn’t she carried it one step further? Seen the lengths Kim would go to for him?
“He doesn’t see me,” Kim said, her voice distant before sharpening again. “He will, when you’re gone.”
Peyton spun to scramble up the mountain, but a blow to her head brought her to her knees. She inhaled a mouthful of ash before everything went black.
*****
“Jesus, she’s going to kill her!” Gabe’s stomach plummeted as the Pulaski descended, as Peyton fell.
He damn near forgot he was on a plane, forgot he was escorting the president. Staying in his seat taxed his patience, but the plane didn’t give him much room to maneuver. He had to get out of here, had to get to Peyton. He loomed over Tony’s shoulder in the cockpit, ignoring the tension in the Secret Service agent in the other front seat.
“Can we land?”
