Page 33 of Burnin' For You

She felt movement and looked over to see Reuben land in the seat next to her.

He looked green.

She hid a smile. Poor guy. It had to be cosmically unfair to get airsick every time you went to work. He glanced at her, gave her a wan smile.

See, maybe they had a chance of being friends. Someday.

She heard Cliff in her headset. “We need another pass. It’s pretty dense down there.”

She banked the plane again, and the left wing fuel indicator light flashed on. Reuben noticed it, tapped it. She frowned. The fuel pump must have malfunctioned.

She flicked it off, transferring all the fuel to the right wing. Then she glanced at Reuben. “Don’t worry. The plane can fly on one engine.”

It seemed she’d had a similar conversation before—too recently.

Still, “We’re down an engine here, Cliff. We either dump these guys off ASAP, or we need to turn around and head back.” She’d done the fuel math before she left—she could get home on the remaining gas in the right tank.

But just barely.

“I’m not seeing a good jump spot, Gilly,” Cliff said.

Reuben was looking at her, shaking his head.

“What?” She pulled away one ear of her headset.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this!”

She shook her head, put the headset back on. “Anything, Cliff?”

“I see something down canyon, south of the fire. If you climb over the ridge, we can come around and approach from the south.”

She affirmed and banked, climbing toward the ridge.

Admittedly, the plane felt sluggish, the left prop spinning wildly, useless in the wind. But like she said, she could fly on one—

The right wing fuel indicator light flickered on.

She glanced at Reuben, who had straightened in his seat.

“I see it.”

Just a warning—and it had to be faulty. She’d checked the fuel compartment manually, dipped a stick in, and it’d come back full.

But if the indicator was correct, they’d soon be gliding. Over jagged mountains, spires of lodgepole pine, and on their way into the dense forests of the Kootenai range.

Gilly kept her voice steady. “Forget the drop, Cliff. We have another indicator light on. I’m headed back to Yaak or even that service road we saw west off Black Top. If we have to, we can put down—”

The right engine sputtered out.

The sudden rush of silence whooshed through the cabin, alerting everyone to the fact they were falling from the sky.

Gilly drew in a long breath, her heart banging in her chest.Don’t. Panic.She’d landed dead stick dozens of times. Well, in practice.

A twin-engine plane could glide for—at this altitude—at least ten miles.

Except, a glance at the altimeter said they were dropping fast.

They wouldn’t make Yaak.