Chapter 7

Pain ripped through Charlie’s right side. He groaned and had to roll over—off Jayne—so he didn’t collapse on her. The gunshots cut off abruptly.

He stared at the ceiling and tried to breathe through the pain. He’d seen the man’s face and a ponytail of hair that’d told him exactly who it was.

Someone yelled. Another shot cracked outside, but it didn’t hit the cabin like the others all had. Someone is trying to kill you. But who, and why? And had the target been him, Jayne, or both of them? This could be about getting rid of the camp director specifically for all he knew…or something entirely different.

He glanced over. You okay? The words wouldn’t take hold, but he mouthed them.

She leaned over him. Touched his face. “Charlie?”

He could only gasp a breath.

“Did you get shot?”

Certainly felt like it. “No.” He breathed. Come on. The last thing he needed was for her—or anyone else?—to realize he wasn’t as fine as he claimed. But getting up would be just about impossible for the next few seconds.

She felt around his torso and under his sides. “I don’t see blood.”

“I didn’t get shot.” He’d just jarred everything in his back, and his failing kidneys showed no mercy. Charlie squeezed his abs and planted his elbows. Managed to get up that far.

She lifted an envelope with her name on it. “What is this?”

Charlie snatched it so fast he nearly landed on his back again. He ignored how much it hurt and stuffed the letter into his pocket. Now that he’d met Jayne again, he should rewrite it. Explain better so she wasn’t as confused at the end of summer.

The fact was, he’d nearly been shot just now.

Charlie could have stepped into the path of one of those bullets and taken the hit. Ended it all. No more pain and suffering…for him.

And yet instinct had him diving on Jayne. Keeping her from being shot had saved both of their lives.

A wasted opportunity, depending on how he looked at it. But ideally, no one would witness his death—then he could keep the truth a secret.

“Talk.” Jayne eyed him. “Why do you have an envelope with my name on it in your pocket?”

Charlie needed to get up, not be dragged into this.

“You were going to leave me a note?” Jayne backed up and stood.

They needed to make sure they were safe. Not get into a discussion.

Too bad he didn’t have it in him to stand yet. He had to sit here, close enough he could shift over and lean his back against a bookshelf of battered paperback thrillers. The lamp above teetered a little, then settled. There was a bullet hole in the lampshade. More bullet holes in the wall on the far side. The gas camp stove was on the floor, and the coffee pot lay askew nearby.

“I think you should tell me what that was.” She stood by the front door, effectively taking cover. Apparently not so worried about what had gone on outside—and had since moved away from them, given what he’d heard.

“It’s just a letter.” He blew out a breath. “It’s not for now, and you don’t need to worry about it.”

“What’s going on with you, Charlie?”

He’d never been able to turn down that look in her eyes. He pulled the tin from his pants pocket. “Can you get me a glass of water?”

She pushed off the wall and came back with a cup.

He swallowed two pills.

“What do you have?”

He tucked the tin back in his pocket. “It’s my kidneys.”

“And no one knows?” She folded her arms.

He shook his head. “I don’t want Alexis to find out.” Before she could object, he said, “You didn’t see her with her mother. It was a messed up situation before Helena was diagnosed with cancer. It got worse. Alexis watched her mother deteriorate, and Helena made everyone’s lives miserable every minute of it. Manipulating Alexis. Trying to do it with me. Twisting the doctors and nurses into it, weaving a web.”

He wanted to believe his daughter was smart enough to see through the fa?ade, but that would only make it so much worse for Alexis. She would realize just how much her mom had delighted in manipulating everyone around her—often for no reason other than that she could.

“I’m not going to let her watch me die as well.”

“Good.” Jayne nodded. “But is fighting wildland fires really what you should be doing? Seems like you might be better off on medical leave. Do you…need the money?”

“It’s not about that.” He couldn’t even tell her out loud what he planned to do. She agreed with his choice to not cause Alexis more pain. Most likely, she thought he intended to fight to live.

The truth was quite different.

She would never agree it was the right thing. And apparently his instincts felt the same, driving him to dive out of the way of bullets.

Which made him wonder…would he be able to go through with it?

But the alternative would be to drag Alexis into watching another drawn-out medical battle. She couldn’t handle that. Her mother’s death had broken her in a way he would never be able to fix. His daughter needed to be free to live her life, not dragged into his problems. He would never let her give up a kidney for him. Not when she would suffer for years with the repercussions.

It could ruin her life.

A tiny niggle in the back of his mind wanted to point out that he had Jayne here with him. That he had Orion, a guy Charlie desperately wanted to get to know?—but never would. That he’d never get the chance to see Alexis fall in love or walk her down the aisle to the man she chose to spend the rest of her life with.

Plenty of reasons to fight.

But he couldn’t take the risk he would mess their lives up all over again. The way he had so many times before.

He’d been so certain. Instead, now it seemed like God wanted to offer him a choice.

Charlie managed to stand. “Let’s get back to camp. We need to make sure whoever was outside didn’t go that way.”

Jayne frowned but came outside with him. “From the direction of the crashing through the brush, it sounded like they ran off toward the ravine, away from camp.”

They had only walked a few steps before she said, “You good?”

“I will be after I call Dakota and get him to send me the photo he has of the guy the sheriff is trying to find.” Had it really been the same guy?

“You saw the shooter.”

He nodded.

“That’s not good.”

He touched her shoulder. “We’ll be okay. Someone protected us, and we’re going to be smart about safety now.”

As long as no one else got hurt.

At least he knew they hadn’t brought danger up here with them. Instead, it seemed like they’d come just in time to make sure the kids stayed safe. “Did the guy who rented the cabin have a ponytail?”

“No, he had short, dark hair. I have a copy of his driver’s license in my records. I’ll show you.”

They emerged on the far side of camp to a bunch of commotion and cheering. Charlie nearly reacted but caught himself when he realized it was the kids and a bunch of hotshots.

Two lanes and a cheering section. Orion had a hose and periodically sprayed the contestants in the face while they were dragging dummies across the gravel down the lanes, then raised it to rain down on them.

Jayne chuckled. “That’s not exactly what the training schedule says.”

Charlie only had eyes for Alexis. She hauled her dummy to the end of the line, just a fraction slower than the hotshot—the youngest of the bunch, Mack. The other Trouble Boys hollered from beside the kids.

Mack and Alexis high-fived, then lowered their hands. Still clasped. The touch lingered a little longer than it needed to before they separated, and two camp kids jumped up to take a turn.

Alexis spotted him and grinned.

That was a smile he’d never thought he’d see again.

And pretty soon he wouldn’t get the chance. Ever. Unless he changed the whole plan.

* * *

One of the hotshots strode over to meet them. Given how Charlie seemed to struggle to walk, she pointed at the porch chairs. “Let’s sit down.” She sighed long as she settled into it.

The hotshot said, “You good?”

“It’s been a day already.”

Charlie settled in the chair beside her. The hotshot leaned against the rail. Built in a way that looked like he’d been carved out of stone, he had a square jaw and the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. If it wasn’t for his eyes, he would look lethal with that tight haircut and the tattoos on his forearms. His sleeves were pushed up past his elbows, and she spotted TROUBLE inked onto the blade of his forearm.

Wasn’t that the truth.

He reached over and shook her hand. “Hammer.”

“Jayne Price.”

“Camp director.” A dark-featured man with his hair pulled back in a bun ascended the stairs but kept his distance. “And Orion’s mom.”

“That’s me.” She nodded.

The dark-featured man glanced at Charlie, then at her, a tiny smile on his face. Over in the gravel, the kids started to chant. “Ti-ger, Ti-ger, Ti-ger…”

Two more boys raced, pulling weighted dummies along the strip they’d marked out.

Alexis sat with the others, but the youngest hotshot Jayne had ever seen stared at the teen like he wanted the courage to go talk to her.

Charlie showed her a picture on his phone. “Is this the guy you rented to?”

Ponytail. Still, she shook her head. “No. That’s not him.” It could be their shooter, though. “Is it who you saw?”

He nodded. “That’s the guy.” He stowed his phone. “Dakota said everyone else is headed here as well.”

Hammer said, “That’s right. Commander Dafoe doesn’t like the weather conditions. We scouted the fire this morning, and it could move this way if the wind picks up this afternoon.”

Once night fell again, the fire would reduce to a slumber with the cool temperatures. But it was the high afternoon temps that would be the most dangerous, especially with unpredictable winds.

Jayne scanned the camp. She would stand behind the preparations they’d made, but a fire could still tear through the area. The cabins she rented would be destroyed. Lives could be lost. People. Animals. The dangers were numerous.

Charlie said, “The fire is ten miles from here. How’d you get over here so fast?”

Quiet guy by the porch steps said, “We jogged.”

Charlie chuckled. “Of course you did.”

Hammer said, “Once we all meet up, we’ll head back out there and start working up a defensive line.”

He didn’t speak like a hotshot. More like a guy with military background, which matched his bearing?—and that of his friends. Except the youngest one, now staring longingly at Alexis when no one was watching. Meanwhile, Orion seemed to be soaking everyone at this point, whether they were competing in the training exercise or not.

“We floated the idea of a prescribed burn, but the conditions are too temperamental. Miles doesn’t want to risk it getting out of control.”

Jayne liked Miles Dafoe, the Ember Fire Commander, a whole lot. “If it does jump your line, could you steer it toward the lake? Let the fire burn out when it hits the water.” Fire needed fuel. There was plenty of heat and oxygen out here in the Montana mountains. What they had to do was starve it of fuel.

Charlie said, “Good idea.”

One of the kids jumped up, Samuel Masterson. “Uncle Dakota!” He ran for the group of hotshots that came into view up the lane. His twin, Joshua, raced after him.

Tiger Christiansen headed over as well, and he did that bro-hug thing guys did with Conner Young, the hotshot crew chief.

“Small world.” Hammer seemed almost wistful about that.

Charlie chuckled. “I’ve noticed.”

She watched the hotshots greet the kids, who basically hero-worshipped the lot of them. Two female hotshots drew the girls to them. They’d be peppered with questions and asked for stories—at least, until the smokejumpers showed up. Then they all were swept up in awe of the men and women who jumped out of planes to fight fires in places they couldn’t reach with a vehicle.

Hammer said, “We’ll get the fire turned, ma’am.”

“Thank you.”

He walked off with his dark-featured friend. A brooding blond guy caught up to them, completing the trio. The young one, who resembled Hammer in a way that made her wonder if they were related, reluctantly moved away from the rest of the teens, and the four strode off by themselves.

Orion watched her and Charlie rather than the kids.

He needed to get moving with his crew, and so did Charlie. She couldn’t drag them into helping her any more than she already had. After all, it was the campers’ job to save their academy.

Save lives.

Protect property.

The land came last—important, but not more than life or homes.

Meanwhile, Jayne stuck to the calling God had written on her heart. Teaching kids to be as safe as they could be while they dreamed of walking in these hotshot footsteps. The more training any of them got, the better, and her camp was a great way for them to see if they wanted to continue with the job—like Rumor McCabe, a smokejumper she knew. Or Logan Crawford, currently a smokejumper in Ember. Both of them had been through this program.

Like Orion, determined to be a smokejumper himself.

As much as it scared her that he wanted to jump out of planes, wasn’t that what she’d taught him to do? Take the risk. Do what God had called him to do. Save lives. Fight fires.

She’d taught him to do the hard thing, even if it was scary. To put in the work because it was worth it. Like with Charlie and his kidney problems, not letting it keep him from doing what he loved to do.

The hotshot crew chief, Conner Young, slung his arm around Tiger’s neck. The kid busted out laughing. Dakota had both the twins’ rapt attention, telling his nephews some story.

She moved to the porch rail and watched for a while. Bridget came out of the cabin where the admin offices were and headed over.

Orion waved to her and hung the whistle around one of the kids’ necks.

Smoke on the horizon wouldn’t slow, even if she wanted to hit pause on all of it. The fire would come, just like danger seemed to have reached her camp. Someone else could be killed like the propane delivery driver had been.

She was going to have to face what was happening here. Connect with the sheriff about what was going on.

Let her son live the life he wanted to live, and trust God to keep him safe.

“I have to go.”

She turned and found Charlie in her space. “Please be careful.”

A sad smile crossed his face. “I promise everything is going to be okay.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek.

She wanted to pull him to her. Hold on while things seemed intent on changing.

I have to go .

She turned away and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Let’s make these hotshots some sandwiches they can take with them.”

Bridget passed her. “I’ll take sandwich duty.”

Jayne sniffed. She moved as fast as she could to her office without running. Door closed. Light on. She swiped at her face.

Stupid tears.

All because her life had shifted so dramatically in the last few days that she didn’t know what to do. The future she’d resigned herself to meant living one summer at a time. Finding peace in the task of preparing the next generation of wildland firefighters. Trying her hardest to be content when it got lonely.

Now it was like everything she didn’t have dangled in front of her.

She just had to have the courage to reach out and take it. Her life could be something beautiful rather than like a dry desert only watered by the occasional rain.

She sank into her chair and prayed Charlie had the strength to do his job and didn’t hurt too much. She prayed God would make it clear if she was supposed to take a step of faith here. That He would give her the courage to fight the fear of being denied and reach for what she wanted.

Then she rolled her chair to the cabinet and opened the rental folder for the cabin, looking for her photocopy of Roger Kirkpatrick’s driver’s license.

She leafed through all the pages twice just in case it had been misfiled.

But it was gone.