Firelights of Christmas by M. L. Buchman

Author:M. L. Buchman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Buchman Bookworks, Inc.
Published: 2015-08-26T16:00:00+00:00

10

It was their first real call up of the season and it was a hot one. Patsy’s pager went off just as she was leaving the bakery feeling particularly loose and pleased with herself—and with Sam Parker.

A quick jog to the fire station and she’d found the whole crew loading up into The Box. Patsy made sure that all the gear was stowed properly from yesterday’s trail-clearing work and climbed aboard with her team.

Three hours of jostling around in the back of the heavy truck later, they arrived at the base of Mt. Rainer National Park and looked up. The glacier-topped dome of the mountain was a shining beacon of light as the mid-morning sun glittered off the snow.

The fire wasn’t on the mountain, but rather on the neighboring Silver King Peak. The fire had at least six heads, probably from multiple lightning strikes, that had already joined into a burn of a thousand acres. They couldn’t just let it burn, because if it climbed up and over the mountain, it would take out the Crystal Mountain Ski Resort, the largest one in the state.

The primary approaches were already engulfed in the fire.

Patsy had been gearing up for the long hike in, seething with frustration at how long it would take them to get to the fire going over rough country on foot. There were no roads for The Box, not even bad ones.

Candace took one look at the situation and pulled out her radio.

“Incident Commander. This is Cascade Hotshots requesting helitack.”

Of course. That’s why she was the boss. Candace rocked.

Minutes later a pair of big, black-and-flame painted Firehawk helicopters from Mount Hood Aviation descended through the smoky sky and landed in the same clearing as The Box.

A man jumped down and moved past the rotors quickly, pausing just a moment to snap their photo. He looked like a goof with the two cameras—a handsome goof—but he walked like a hotshot. MHA was a top outfit, maybe he was both.

“Hi, name’s Cal. Ten of you with Jeannie and me, ten with Emily,” he waved at the other helicopter. “Rugged terrain up there, so you’re going in by rope.”

“Harness up,” she shouted to the team. As soon as she had hers on, she checked her team, pleased with how little she found to correct.

Now, they were soaring aloft, packed in the back of the Firehawks like firewood, and Candace asked her, “Who is he?”

“I—” Patsy closed her mouth, unsure what to say.

“Oh, yeah. I recognize that look,” Candace shouted over the helicopter’s roar.

Patsy studied her boss’ face, but couldn’t read what was there.

“Same thing happened with Luke. There I was, going along ever so happily, and then snap!” she made a twig breaking motion. “The whole world changed.”

Patsy didn’t know about the whole world, but certainly a portion of it had.

She surveyed the fire as they climbed skyward alongside the steep ridges, looked at how it was moving along the hills.

Patsy pointed and Candace nodded, their first point of attack was

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.