Chapter 1

ONE

His enemies had found him.

All this time and they'd come so far. They'd nearly finished it.

Now it would all be for nothing.

The plane dropped about a hundred feet somewhere over the Kootenai National Forest. Okay, maybe it was fifty. Twenty. Booth Wilder didn't know. Turbulence mixed with dread and exhilaration of what he was about to do left him nauseated.

The six-man crew of smokejumpers was packed in tight. Shoulder to shoulder. All crowded around the windows according to their jump order.

Booth sat with Nova Burns, a thrill-seeking legacy smokejumper with a propensity toward bossiness. Behind them were Finn and Vince, the two sawyers who'd be out front clearing the brush for the crew. Last in line was Logan, the team lead, and JoJo, another seasoned smokejumper.

He glanced at the stoic faces. These jumpers, they had families, homes, lives outside the smoke. Booth wasn't even sure who he was anymore. Just a WITSEC nobody. No past, no future, just this endless free fall until Homeland gave him back his life.

"You good?" Nova shouted into the side of his helmet.

"Better if Aria didn't plow through every air pocket like she was flyin' an F-22," he yelled over the roar of the engines. "I miss Tirzah!"

"Whatever. Aria is every bit a daredevil pilot. We were lucky to get her from Alaska!" She shouted into her headphone mic, "Hey, Aria! Ever think of becoming a fighter pilot?"

"Why you think I carry a .357 Magnum?" Her voice crackled over the intercom. "I just stick my arm out the window and pew pew pew."

Laughter filled the fuselage but cut off when the plane hit another patch of turbulence. They slammed down on the cargo. The mirth turned to grumbling.

Vince rubbed his elbow. "For real. If Aria doesn't take it easy, I'll have to jump outta this plane."

"Please tell me someone packed Huggies in the cargo box for Vince." Their spotter for the day, Eric Dale, laughed over the intercom.

Booth peered out the window. The charred remains of the mountain landscape rushed past at a hundred miles an hour. Thousands of lush green acres lay blackened, ravaged by the wildfire. To the west, black veins of ash pulsed through a crimson expanse.

Somewhere out there in the endless wilderness was the real Crazy Henry from the stories Booth told by the fire.

And Crispin.

Three years since the nuke had gone missing.

Three years since his life had fallen apart.

They'd said his former partner was dead. So why was Crispin here, in Ember of all places?

Was his appearance connected to Earl's death? Was this where the nuke trail led? If Crispin was playing some deep game, Booth needed to see the board. Maybe finding him would lead him to the nuke, and maybe it would lead him back to himself.

He had to find Crispin. That was the goal. But how? This town was a haystack, and he was searching for the needle blindfolded.

The plane bounced and fell again. Queasiness sloshed around his stomach. His breathing was tight, restricted by the straps on his jump harness. He'd never been so eager to jump from a plane before.

"Still good?" Nova nudged his knee.

"Fine. Just…thinking."

The plane winged down into a hard turn. They turned their attention back to the windows as the plane circled the fire, giving them a closer look. Two hundred acres of fierce flames shot out from the trees, sending billows of dense black smoke spiraling into the sky. Booth's chest constricted. The fire raged in every direction.

Eric left his seat from the cockpit and picked his way through the tangle of jumpers. At the door, he attached the restraining line to his harness so that if he fell out, they could pull him back in. Booth had seen it happen once, so he'd never forget the restraining line.

"Guard your reserves!" Eric yelled.

Booth and every other jumper covered their reserve chute with a forearm to protect it from accidental deployment when the door opened. Booth had seen that happen too.

Eric grabbed the handles and twisted. The door hinged back toward the tail of the plane. Cold air and the scent of woodsmoke rushed in.

Nova stood at the jump doors, face hidden behind the wire-mesh guard on her helmet. "Fire's about twenty-five miles northeast of Snowhaven. Wind conditions aren't much better than yesterday, and the head is pushing southwest toward an area with a few homesteads."

"They've called for evacuations," Logan said. "But we know not everyone takes it seriously."

"Yeah, there's always one who thinks they can ride it out," Finn said.

"Buddy check," Nova said, pulling on her fire gloves. "Booth's with me first stick. Logan and Vince, second stick. JoJo and Finn, third."

Booth went to the door and performed his four-point check.

Nova stuck her head out of the plane beside Eric. Booth watched over Nova's shoulder as Eric dropped the first set of drift streamers. They watched them fall. The long pieces of weighted crepe paper fell toward the ground, catching on currents.

Booth did some quick mental calculations and determined wind drift and descent time. "Looks good?"

Eric nodded his agreement. "Aria, take us to three thousand!"

Aria's voice crackled over the intercom. "We're at three thousand."

"All right. Looks like about a hundred fifty yards of drift. The wind is strongest down low. Stay wide of the fire." Eric's head swung out the opening, then he turned back. "Get in the door!"

Booth backed up to give Nova room. She sat on the floor and braced herself. Her feet dangled out into the slipstream, ready to jump into the vast canvas of the sky. He dropped into position and moved in tight behind her. The hum of the plane vibrated under his legs. Nova leaned back. Pressed herself into his chest.

The familiar tingle of raw energy electrified his muscles. Nerves firing. Blood pumping. Countless jumps and he couldn't shake the mix of fear and exhilaration seconds before the free fall. He took a deep breath. The crisp air filled his lungs. This was it. The moment before the plunge.

Eric's slap came down on Nova's shoulder, and she propelled herself forward out into the wind.

Booth rocked forward as hard as he could to miss the edge of the door but bumped it on the way out. He tumbled under the tail of the plane in a slow spin and turned his belly to the ground.

The rush of wind, the weightlessness, and the deafening roar of the air enveloped him. In that moment, all fear and doubt were left behind. His past mistakes were replaced by the freedom of flight. He had nothing but the sky and the guilt of surviving when others hadn't.

He counted in his head and kept his eyes on the horizon. "Jump thousand…look thousand…reach thousand…wait thousand…"

Once stable, he pulled the rip cord. "Pull thousand!"

A hard jerk pulled at his chest straps. The parachute riffled open high above the burning landscape. For a moment there was nothing but Booth, the wind in his ears, and the land below. Nothing but him and the God who had spoken all this into being. The wildfire ravaged the divine canvas, but underneath it all, there was a promise of renewal and rebirth.

This was the part he loved. He'd come to Ember looking for a place to lay low, but jumping had gotten into his blood. But did he love it enough if the time came for him to choose between this life and the dead one?

He grabbed the steering toggles and turned to face the hundreds of miles of wilderness. Smoke rose high overhead, gathering in storm clouds. Violent flames whipped back and forth between the trees.

Nova was right. This thing had the potential to go big. The other crews needed all the help they could get. They needed him.

Booth descended through open sky. The only audible sounds were the distant hum of the jump ship and the gentle flutter of his parachute as he glided twenty-five hundred feet above the earth.

"Oooooh-weeeee!" Nova yelled.

Booth grinned and let out his own whooping shout.

Between his feet, wind whipped Nova's chute to the west. She swept over a dense stand of towering Douglas firs. He caught the same wind gust and steered hard, but the wind pulled him toward the same trees.

Facing into the wind, he tried to locate the jump spot through the thick smoke.

The chute rocked back and forth. Booth's gut tightened.

He pulled down on the left toggle and moved closer to the wind line. The strong smell of smoke filled the air and stung his nostrils.

Two hundred feet to go and he could barely see the ground through the dense ash cloud. "I can't see the spot!"

"It's gonna be a hanger!" Nova hollered something else he couldn't hear.

Another headwind blew him backward and into the woods. This was turning out to be more dangerous than catching bad guys. Forget making the spot. He just needed to land somewhere without hanging up.

At a hundred feet, things got worse. The wind died and he moved forward, but it was too late to clear the trees. He entered the opening at treetop level just in time to see Nova crash into a thick stand of birch and disappear.

Barely missing some of the taller trees, he reefed down on his left toggle and flew between two towering trunks. His canopy brushed trees, tearing and snagging on smaller branches as he passed. Instead of slowing down, he began to speed up in a free fall.

The ground was steep, and he teetered on the edge of slamming into it. All this time doing the right thing, biding his time, holding himself apart from the world, for it to end like this.

And there was nothing he could do about it.

Nova's parachute billowed above her, snagging branches on the way down. The world became a blur of green and brown, branches whipping past. Her boot clipped a tree branch. The choked scream died in her throat.

This was it. Her legacy. Another smiling portrait on the memorial wall back at jump base.

The thick fabric caught and sent a jolt running through her body as she jerked to a stop. She swung back and forth, suspended six feet above the unforgiving earth.

Six feet. Six feet from being another memory for someone. Six feet from another empty space at the dinner table.

Nova closed her eyes and blew out a tight breath. That was ridiculous. "You're a smokejumper, Nova. This is what you do. You survive."

But what if they didn't?

Nerves had her hands shaking as she put the drogue release in her pocket. "Booth, am I safe to let down?" She looked around but didn't see him.

"Booth?"

Overhead, tree limbs rustled. Booth plummeted down between two big birch trees, grunting and growling all the way down. Branches ripped at his jump gear and tore his chute.

"Booth!"

Calling his name was dumb. All she could do was hang there and watch him fall end over end through the trees and pray his gear did its job.

His arms and legs snagged branches, broke loose, and he got hung up again. The chute caught a limb and jerked him over. He landed head down between two branches, suspended inches off the ground.

He swung there for a second, then laughed. "At least I didn't hit the?—"

A branch cracked. The chute pulled loose. Booth came crashing down into the underbrush and hit the ground. A second later he rolled to his back and groaned.

Nova winced. "Ouch. Are you okay?"

Booth's thumb shot up.

"Hang on, I'm coming down." Nova found her letdown tape in a leg pocket and threaded it between the V formed by her riser. "Inside, outside. Outside, inside."

The chant helped her remember to route the tape over the top of the main letdown line and secure herself to the riser. She tied off using three half hitches and ran the rest of the tape. She did the five-point check and released the risers.

She eased down, letting the tape slide through her gloved hands in a smooth descent. Her boots hit the forest floor, and she pulled her helmet off.

Nova ran to Booth and leaned over him. "Seriously, are you hurt? That looked painful."

"Wow. I didn't know you cared." Booth got to his feet and pulled his helmet off to reveal a toothy smile. He tossed his disheveled hair. "Good jump, huh?"

"Good jump? We could've broken our necks."

"Hey, anything I walk away from is a good jump in my book." The shadow of something unspoken passed over his eyes. "I'm just glad we're both safe."

"Yeah, me too."

Nova called the plane and let them know their status. "Visibility is shot with all this smoke. And the wind gusts are a bit worse than we thought. Remind the crew of letdown procedures, because they'll probably get treed up."

"Ten-four," Eric said. "The rest of the crew is coming down in a new jump spot with better visibility." He gave her the coordinates and she confirmed.

Nova checked the navigation. Two paths looked promising.

She grabbed her helmet and secured it to her pack. "Ridge. It's quicker."

"Hold on, Wildfire Girl." Booth dusted himself off. "That's a steep, rocky climb and closer to the fire. We could get cut off. Let's take the forest."

"It's too dense. We'll spend hours cutting through the underbrush."

"It's safer than us being trapped like sitting ducks," Booth said, packing his chute with a bit more force than needed.

Why was he always so stubborn? "Look, the fire won't wait. Your route will take twice as long, and that's precious time we don't have. We're taking the ridge. Grab your gear and let's go."

"Fine." Booth nodded, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes. He hoisted his pack and set off.

As she followed Booth on the rocky trail, Nova couldn't shake the feeling that her voice, her decision, was lost in the smoke. It'd be nice if maybe, just once, Booth would listen to her instead of looking at her like she was a loose cannon waiting to explode.

It wasn't like this was her first rodeo. Following in her uncle Jock's footsteps, she'd joined the hotshot crew in high school and dug an uphill line for three years, followed by three more on the helitack crew before she'd made smokejumper. Booth had only…wait, she wasn't even sure of his history.

That man was nothing but a mystery sometimes.

They hiked the ridgeline for about six miles, keeping a hard eye on the fire. The entire time, Nova ran fire entrapment training videos through her mind. If the fire started to overrun them, she had two or three escape routes planned.

They found the clearing about an hour later. Nova dropped her spent chute and her gear. She took an assessing glance at her team. All but one cargo drop had been unloaded, but by the looks of it, Vince, JoJo, and Finn would have it done in no time.

Logan carried a box of water on his shoulder, looking like the perfect hero some people seemed to think he was. He set the box down and grinned. "Glad you could join us."

"Gnarly landing, and a bit of a hike here, but we're in one piece." Nova flicked a glance at Booth, but he didn't chime in. "How 'bout you guys?"

"Came down with far less flair." Logan waved a hand at the boxes. "We've got the gear inventoried, and we're about to pack what we need for this trip."

"We got a firsthand look at the fire coming down," Nova said. "We've got a steep slope, so we can start in with a direct saw line at the tail and work up. Redirect the fire north." She clapped her hands. "Let's pack up and head out, ASAP."

In under an hour, they had all their gear to the tail of the fire. It was midafternoon, and if Nova was sweating, the rest of them were probably drenched. "Grab some water before we put together a strategy."

Nova drank from her canteen and studied the fire that burned some fifty feet away, beyond a meadow where the smokejumpers had already cut a wide line. From here she was safe, but the heat was intense, even with the distance.

"Okay, team, looks like the fire is a little over two acres. Totally doable if the wind doesn't push us." She slid the map from her pocket and laid it on the ground. "Right in this area, there are two homesteads in the path of the fire. First priority is to save any locals who didn't evac."

"There's another house way out here." Logan tapped the map northeast. "The fire's pretty far and pushing south, so shouldn't be a problem."

Nova nodded. "Good. Once we get the line cut here, Logan, take JoJo and go up the right flank. Booth, Vince, and Finn, you guys hit the left. I'll scout the head of the fire and check the homesteads."

"I think it's better if I go with you," Booth said. "It's safer if we stay in pairs, and I can help once we get to the head."

Had Booth ever taken a single order without second-guessing her? "I can handle myself?—"

"He's got a point," Logan said. "It's nothin' but a big spot fire. We can handle it, can't we?"

JoJo, Vince, and Finn voiced their agreement in unison.

She clenched her teeth and bit back the snarky comment threatening to fly out. Logan took Booth's side and encouraged the rest of the team to do the same. He might be aiming to beat her out as new crew chief, but she was team lead for this fire.

She looked at Booth. "I guess if the team can manage without you, then you're with me."

Logan clapped his gloved hands together. "Okay, let's secure this tail!"

Flames leaped up from the trees lining the southern perimeter. Billowing columns of dense black smoke rolled through the air, dimming the sun to a dull red. Crackles and hisses emanated from the dead trees and fallen logs.

Nova keyed the radio to contact Commander Miles Dafoe to check on the air attack. They could use a water drop.

Vince sized up a birch tree for about twenty seconds. He cranked up his chainsaw and dogged in. The man was a magician with a saw. And with a father as a captain in Cal Fire, fire had probably been his whole life like it had been for Nova.

Finn, the youngest on the team, went to work cutting out the brush and downed logs. The rest of the crew started in with their Pulaskis, scraping away the forest litter down to mineral soil to make a barrier that would be hard for the fire to cross.

An hour later, Nova and Booth weren't far from the first homestead when she heard a plane rumbling in the sky.

Her radio crackled. "Burns, we're coming up on your area. Clear for drop?"

She checked with Logan, and he confirmed they were all outside the drop zone. "Ten-four, tanker. We're clear for drop."

"Copy."

The plane rumbled in low. Overhead, there was a brilliant flash, and the air filled with rain. The water came down over the forest behind them.

"Let's move," Nova said to Booth. "The wind is pushing the fire fast. I'd like to get to those homesteads before it does." Their best hope was to get to the houses and make sure the owners had evacuated.

She trailed behind Booth, stepping over rocks and branches and using her Pulaski as a walking stick. They kept roughly a hundred yards from the fire. Enough so they could keep an eye on it, but still close enough to feel the heat on the side of her face.

They walked maybe a mile through dense forest. The fire had slowed with the water drop. The air was not quite as smoky when they arrived at the narrow dirt driveway.

"There it is." She jogged past Booth to a small cabin with a lean-to porch and knocked on the door. "Anyone home?"

Booth cupped his hands and pressed his face to the window. "It's empty."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Looks like a one-room hunting cabin." He pointed to an upright wooden rectangle over to the right of the cabin with a moon carved into the door. "Outhouse."

"Huh. Must be a hotshot, or someone who knows about wildland firefighting." Nova nodded to the twelve-inch-wide trench encircling the property.

"That's some fire line," Booth said. "How far to the next?"

"Half mile. Hydrate and let's go."

Booth struck out ahead, his long legs making the hustle easier for him. "You really think anyone's there?"

"You'd be surprised." She tried not to huff and puff with the heat and the exertion. "People are crazy about protecting their property."

He stepped over a fallen tree blocking the path. "That sounds like personal experience talking."

Nova's heart stuttered a beat. It was personal experience talking, wasn't it?

Her parents had refused to abandon their livelihood to a wildfire and died trying to save it. Even though it'd meant leaving her behind. They'd chosen the homestead over her. "Everyone finds their worth in something. Homes, jobs, kids, relationships. Sometimes it's to their own detriment."

He shot a glance over his shoulder.

She squinted. "What's that look for?"

"Nothing. I mean, you're right." He skirted a boulder and used a tree limb to steady himself. "No one would stay up in these mountains without a really good reason."

"People go into the wilderness to find solitude and serenity." As if anyone ever could. Not completely.

"I heard you grew up on a homestead in the mountains. Did you find tranquility here?"

"No."

Booth stopped and turned to face her. "Boy, you sure don't open up easily."

Nova took a long pull on her water and recapped the canteen. "Neither do you."

Their eyes locked. It seemed they both held unspoken truths they dared not utter.

Stalemate.

She marched past Booth. "We're almost there. Let's keep moving."

Ten minutes later they broke through the forest to the homestead, both now breathing hard.

"Oh no." Nova pushed to a run. God, don't let there be anyone inside.

The fire had beaten them here.

Twenty yards ahead, the flames roared through the underbrush, sizzling, cracking, and popping. Orange flames shot up forty to fifty feet on either side of a quaint structure and whipped through the treetops over the metal roof.

Showers of embers rained down. Sparks blew upward and lodged in the branches of a thick black spruce beside the cabin.

She grabbed her radio and called the command desk as she ran up the porch steps. "The head is fanning out at the second homestead. We need a tanker."

"Copy that. Anybody home up there?"

"Checking. We'll save any civilians. Just get that mud up here so we can slow this fire down." She banged on the door. "Hey! Anyone in there? Jude County Smokejumpers! Open up!"

Voices. Footsteps pounded the floor. The doorknob rattled. A bearded man opened the door. He had a muscled arm wrapped around a woman. Probably his wife.

For a second, Nova stared at the couple, so similar to her own parents fifteen years ago. Parents who'd lived in a remote cabin in the mountains. Who'd poured their blood, sweat, and tears into a self-sustaining homestead.

The dirt and ash turned to mud in her mouth, and she swallowed it down. "Get out of the house."

"It's not a house. It's our home." The man lifted his chin. "Tell us what to do so we can save it."

Nova pushed away images from the past. "The fire is moving through here faster than we can keep up. We're doing what we can to contain it, but it's not safe for you to stay. You have to leave. That tree—didn't you get the evacuation notice?"

Stubborn people put their lives at risk thinking they could withstand a fire. And now their obstinacy might get her and Booth killed right along with them. This was her past repeating itself all over the place.

"We were out riding ATVs all morning. Smelled the smoke and headed back."

"If you had an escape, you should've taken it." Nova's words sounded cold. She shifted her weight and tried again. "Look, we need you to evac while you still can. It's worse than you realize."

The man opened the door wider and gaped at the flames consuming the forest less than fifty yards away. "It's…everywhere."

His wife squeezed his arm. "What're we gonna do?"

"I'm Daniel, and this is my wife, Teresa. We don't want to lose our home." He wrung his dry, calloused hands together. "Please tell us what to do."

Daniel's eyes held the same look her father's had when they'd faced the fire. This man might not be a fireman, but he was a hard worker. Like her father had been.

She hadn't been able to save them, but she could help save these people. "You got a chainsaw?"

A few minutes later, Teresa had a hose connected to the well water spigot and was drenching the ground in a line around the home. Daniel used his chainsaw to clear the brush while Booth worked to fell the thick spruce trees threatening to fall on the house.

Nova shoveled mounds of fresh dirt over the spot fires popping up. They were making progress digging a protective line around the property. If things went sideways, they'd run for the small pond on the back side of Daniel's property.

Booth cut the engine on the saw and wiped his brow. His face was black with sweat and grime. "This little chain saw can't cut this thick one fast enough. I shoulda been through it by now."

Nova's radio crackled. "Nova, we're five minutes to drop. We've got retardant. Clear the area."

"Copy." She wiped two dirty fingers on her shirt and popped them in her mouth. The shrill whistle caught everyone's attention. "Move to the porch! We've got incoming!"

Mud rained down on the roof and filled the air with a salty smell that reminded her of the ocean. The fire-retardant chemicals coated the forest, the grass, and the brush. The humidity level skyrocketed and the air cooled.

Teresa gasped.

Nova glanced at the woman. "It's pretty amazing, right?"

Beyond the older couple, Booth had his eyes on her, not the retardant drop. The darkness from his expression was gone now.

"You're missing the show."

A smile shone in his eyes. "No, I'm not."

She looked at the mess of foam, burnt grass, singed trees, and smoke all around them. So, pretty much her life.

Nothing but disaster and destruction.

Enough of that.

The retardant drop had knocked the flames down and cooled the running fire, but there was still work to do.

She hopped off the porch. "Back to work. Booth and I have a job to do."

Daniel followed. "You need an extra pair of hands?"

The homesteader worked hard, but Nova waffled. "This is dangerous work. Besides the fire, we're constantly at risk of falling limbs. I think you'd better stay here and make that fire line wider. Now that the forest has burned, you won't have much fuel for another wildfire, but you should always be prepared."

"It'd be wise to take a few of the free classes the hotshot crew offers to learn how to protect your home," Booth said.

Teresa hugged Nova. "Thank you. We're so glad you got here when you did."

Nova stood rigid. It was just too weird to be hugged by someone who reminded her of her dead mother.

She let Teresa hold her a beat, then pulled away. "Just, uh, doing our jobs."

Booth and Nova worked all night to pinch off the head, and by early morning, Logan, Vince, Finn, and JoJo had connected the left and right flank lines. They'd contained the fire enough to stop its spread.

Thick gray clouds hovered in the early morning sky and blocked the sunrise. The team had their gear packed and stood in a line waiting.

"You did great work today." Nova scanned the soot- and dirt-covered faces of her crew. "You saved a family. I have new orders from Miles. We're going to split the team. Logan, JoJo, and Vince are gonna meet up with the rest of the Missoula crew working the main fire. My team has twenty-four-hour leave for rest and resupply."

"You heard her." Logan threw his arm forward. "Let's march."

Nova hefted her pack and followed Booth and Finn toward the clearing where they'd meet the chopper.

Today they'd saved a homestead from a fire not unlike the one that'd killed her parents. But Daniel and Teresa were safe, and Nova could live with that.

The danger wasn't over, though.

Not by far.

Beyond the charred remains of the contained fire, the air thrummed with the distant roar of the real beast. A two-thousand-acre inferno headed west, hungry for the town of Snowhaven.