Page 27 of Burnin' For You
“So we were being targeted,” Reuben said. “Why?”
Jed reached for a muffin. “I don’t know. Who would want to hurt smokejumpers—especially after the casualties last fall?”
“The entire community felt that loss. It’s hard to believe it would be someone connected to the Jude County Wildland Firefighters,” Kate said, her voice solemn, probably thinking of her father, Jock, their former jump boss.
Last time Reuben had seen him, Jock had told him to keep running and had turned back to the fire himself to save the other half of his crew.
Reuben met eyes with Pete, probably reliving the moment a second later when Reuben dropped his saw and turned to run after Jock.
To stop him.
The hesitation still woke Reuben with a start, a slick sweat in the middle of the night.
“I don’t think our arsonist is a hotshot,” Jed said, referring to the arson case a few years ago where a firefighter had set fires in order to find more work. “The hotshots weren’t called out to three of these fires.”
“What about someone who doesn’t want us to fight fires—wants to let them run?” Kate asked
“The suspected arson fires were in dense forests deep in the north, not near Ember. The kind the team jumps into. Looking at the map, this feels personal.” Jed took a sip of coffee. Paused, then, “What about someone who lost someone? Maybe a family member who blamed Jock or—” He looked at Pete, Reuben, then Conner. “Or the survivors.”
And there it was. The fact that they all could have died on that mountain. But three had survived—Pete, Conner, Reuben.
“You should have let me go after Jock,” Reuben said quietly to Pete. It just slipped out.
“We’re not doing this again,” Pete said, clearly tracking with him. “If you’d gone, you would have died, too.”
Instead, Reuben had just stood there, feeling the yank in his gut to run after Jock. And doing nothing—nothingabout it.
Now Reuben turned to the opposite window.Sheesh,this trailer was small.“If someone is after our team, I’m going to find him,” he said.
That turned everyone quiet.
A squawk came over the scanner on Conner’s workbench in the corner, where an entertainment unit might have stood.
Conner walked over and turned up the volume. “Dispatch, receiving a call about smoke sighted.” He leaned in, listening. “It’s from a pilot—he’s calling in coordinates.”
Conner walked over to the map, studied it as dispatch confirmed, then pointed to the spot. “It’s north of Yaak about forty clicks. I don’t see a fire road, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.”
Jed grabbed his handheld radio, stepped outside to call in.
Conner had served for years as a Green Beret, knew maps and terrain like the own grain of his hand. Probably knew radio communications, too, given the array of electronics amassed on his workbench. Reuben recognized a ham radio and walked over to it.
“My dad had one of these. Used it to talk to his brothers on it. They lived all over—Maine, Minnesota, California, Alaska, Colorado—even one in Hawaii. They had their own frequency. He even made me learn all the ham codes. The one thing I could get right that didn’t involve letters jumping off the page.”
Silence behind him, and he looked over at his team staring at him. “Aw, c’mon guys. It should come as no surprise to you that I’m not a great reader. Remember, I saw down trees and ride bulls. Not a rocket scientist.”
“Rube, just because you’re not a great reader doesn’t mean—” Kate started, but he held up his hand.
“It’s okay—listen, do we need to head over to HQ?”
Jed was just stepping inside to Reuben’s words. “Looks like we’re going to get deployed—at least a handful of us.” He dropped the walkie into his belt.
Kate had gotten up, drained her coffee cup in the sink.
Conner reached for his keys, but Reuben stopped him. “I’m taking your shift, remember?”
“Right.”
Reuben followed Pete out, and they climbed in Reuben’s truck. They followed Kate and Jed out of the RV park, toward Ember HQ.