“There’s a woman stranded not far from Woody Creek. I need to get her out.”
“Firefighters aren’t going to want a bunch of yahoos going in there. They don’t have the manpower to pull together a rescue if some hero gets into trouble.”
Buzz glared at him. “I don’t have any yahoos working for me, and I don’t necessarily give a rat’s ass what the firefighters want or don’t want. I’m going in. You got that?”
The ranger’s eyes skittered down to the map. “Ranger station not far from there has an ATV.”
Buzz’s interest piqued at the mention of an ATV. “Can you drive me over there?”
“Sure. They’re about to evacuate, so I’ll call ahead. They can fuel her up and have her waiting.”
Buzz started toward the door.
Chapter 16
K elly couldn’t believe the rescue chopper had nearly crashed right before her eyes. She couldn’t get the image of the monstrous craft hovering, then shuddering and spinning wildly out of control from her mind. In those unbearably long moments, her heart had simply stopped because she felt certain her little boy and the only man she’d ever loved were going to die right in front of her.
Unable to tear her eyes away, she’d dropped to her knees, screaming words she couldn’t even recall, and watched the horrific scene unfold, certain God was going to take them away from her the same way He’d taken her father and brother.
She’d been giddy with relief when the chopper stabilized and gained altitude, laughing like a mad woman until tears streamed down her face. Even as the chopper had disappeared from view it didn’t cross her mind that she was being left behind. All she could do was thank God they hadn’t crashed, that no one had been hurt. That no one had died. She hadn’t had time to worry about her own predicament.
Until now.
She’d been waiting at the pick-up point for more than an hour. She knew Buzz would return for her. She had enough common sense to know her chances of being found were much higher if she stayed put. But as the minutes ticked by, and the smoke around her thickened, she knew staying wasn’t going to be an option much longer.
Kelly didn’t want to believe she’d run out of time. She could tell by the amount of ash falling from the leaden sky that the fire was close. Forest fires could travel at an amazing speed during the dry season. Dry wood and grass and brush went up like tinder, when the humidity was low and the winds were fanning the flames. She remembered her father telling stories about the fires outrunning deer and cougar.
She couldn’t believe that just a few short hours ago, the sky had been clear and she’d been within minutes of rescue. Looking at the same sky now, it seemed as if a storm had sprung straight from hell and was barreling down from the north to crush her with its black, oppressive weight.
She was going to have to make a decision. Leave the pick-up point where she knew Buzz could find her. Or head south, away from the leading edge of the fire. If she stayed and the fire was moving as quickly as she suspected, Kelly risked being overcome by flames and smoke. If she headed south, however, she risked Buzz not being able to find her.
Studying the roiling black cloud of smoke to the north, Kelly figured her options were quickly dwindling. Deep down inside she knew what she had to do. The thought of moving on terrified her. But the thought of staying—and risking being burned to death—frightened her even more.
“Okay, so we move,” she said, trying not to notice the high, tight pitch of her voice as she started an easy pace down the very same trail she and Buzz and Eddie had hiked the day before. Her throat burned, but she wasn’t sure if it was from screaming or the smoke. She moved swiftly down the path, setting a rhythm, her hiking boots striking the earth solidly. Fear spurred her on, and she used it to energize her tired body. She felt the press of panic, but refused to let it take hold. The most important thing was that her son was safe, she thought. She knew Buzz and the rest of the RMSAR team would be out looking for her. That was enough, she realized, knowing the best of the best were out there, knowing they would find her.
The irony of the situation didn’t elude her. Buzz’s need for adrenaline and danger had always been a point of contention between them. She’d had to rely on those very same skills to save her son, and now her own life.
The realization sent a pang of regret through her gut, like a knife slicing clean through her. She told herself it didn’t hurt, that she’d come to terms with spending the rest of her life without him. That she hadn’t been wrong. That she didn’t love him.
“I don’t, damn you,” she panted as she put one foot in front of the other and ran for her life.
I love you.
Buzz’s words rang inside her head, echoing in her heart like a lonely cry in the night. The image of the way he’d looked at her when he said them flashed through her mind. He wasn’t a sensitive man; he was hard and uncompromising and rarely revealed his feelings. She told herself he’d said those words in the heat of the moment, a moment when they’d been at their most vulnerable. A moment when their emotions had been running high, their bodies running hot. It had been a long time for both of them. They’d made a mistake. That was all.
But Kelly also knew Buzz Malone never said anything he didn’t mean. That reality frightened her more than any fire.
She couldn’t let this change anything. She had the job of her dreams waiting for her in Tahoe. The kind of life she always wanted. She and Eddie would buy a little house there. In another year he would start school. She would make a home for them in Tahoe. A home where Eddie would be secure and she wouldn’t lie awake nights wondering if the phone was going to ring and she would be told the man she loved was gone forever.
Closing her eyes against the slash of pain she couldn’t allow herself to feel, Kelly continued down the path at a fast clip. She was breathing hard from the exertion of her pace. Sweat cooled her back. She could see the ash floating down all around her like snow. Certain she’d made some headway, she slowed her pace, then stopped to catch her breath. Her muscles already felt jittery, but she felt sure she probably had a very long way to go. Better not to exhaust herself right off the bat.
She walked over to a gnarled juniper and sat down, then looked up. Her entire body jolted when she saw that the sky had gone as black as night. The smoke had thickened in the last minutes and rolled down the mountain like a black avalanche.
She sat there, frozen, her pulse pounding, a jumble of emotions roiling inside her head. She stared at the sky, awed and terrified and oddly calm. Hope jumped through her when in the distance, she thought she heard the rumble of a chopper. Getting quickly to her feet, she cocked her head and listened. Sure enough, a low rumble sounded.
She glanced up at the treetops and desperately wished for a flare. The trees were so thick that even if a chopper flew directly overhead, the spotter might miss her. Realizing she might not have much time before the chopper made a pass, she quickly worked off her jacket. Looking wildly around, she spotted a long, narrow branch. She snatched it up off the ground and tied her jacket around the end so that it formed a makeshift flag.
Feeling diminutively better now that she had somewhat of a plan in place, she stood still and listened for the chopper. Around her the pulse of the forest had changed. No birds sang. She could see the treetops moving, but the rhythm was frantic, like nervous, harried fingers. Even the ground beneath her seemed to tremble.
The chopper must be getting closer, she thought, but the hairs at the back of her neck prickled. Raising the stick above her head, she crashed down the path toward a small clearing where the chopper spotter would have a better chance of seeing her. She clambered up a rocky ravine so steep she had to use her hands to pull herself up, but she dared not let go of her flag.
Kelly’s breath rushed between clenched teeth when she reached the summit of the ravine. Using a sapling aspen, she pulled herself up, then jumped to her feet. She raised her flag—and froze. Less than ten yards away, yellow flames plowed through a thicket
of juniper, the sap popping and sizzling like hot oil in a pan. Shock made her gasp. Terror burned a path through her body. Her flight instinct kicked in, but she held her ground. Panic threatened, but she held it off by sheer force of will.
She stared at the flames, and wondered if she could make it back to the stream before it overcame her and burned her alive.
The ATV bounced wildly over tree roots and rocks the size of bowling balls. Buzz knew better than to push the vehicle over the rough terrain at such a dangerous speed, but it was fear driving him now. Fear that he wouldn’t be able to find her. Fear that he wouldn’t reach her in time. Fear that she would meet the same terrible end as her father and brother.
He prayed that she’d realized just how perilously close she was to the leading edge of the fire and taken flight. While he knew she couldn’t outrun the fire, distance would buy her time. Kelly was smart; she knew this land almost as well as he did. But without a compass or communication gear—or even the sky to guide her—it would be easy for her to get disoriented. Buzz had seen it happen even to veteran firefighters.
The ATV lurched. Cursing, he cut the wheel hard to the right and kicked down on the gas. The small vehicle cornered on two wheels, bucked over a fallen log, then grabbed the trail and tore up a steep path as if it were a living creature and on the run from the fire itself. Branches tore at his helmet and jacket. The larger branches bruised, but he barely felt the pain. He should reach the pick-up point soon. Just over the next rise.
Buzz spotted the fire a hundred yards before reaching the site. Flames had engulfed the pick-up point and now shot twenty feet into the air. He could feel the heat coming at him, the hot, stinking breath of the devil himself.
“Kelly!”
Ramming the ATV into Park, he jumped out and ran toward the flames. There was no sign of their camp. The tent had burned. The pit he’d dug for the fire was obscured by flames and smoke.
“Kelly! Answer me, damn it!”
Buzz didn’t scare easily, and he never panicked. Fourteen years with the Denver PD had taught him the importance of keeping a cool head. His work as the team leader of RMSAR reinforced that belief. It was a rule he lived by. One he never broke. But as he stumbled back to the vehicle, he felt both emotions stabbing into him, cutting him as surely as any knife.
Back on the ATV, he gripped the steering wheel and stared at the fire, felt another emotion unfurl deep in his chest. He refused to believe the fire had taken her. Refused to believe that her life force could simply cease to exist. He could still feel the pulse of her. Like the warm flow of blood through his veins. She was alive; he knew it. He felt her as strongly as he felt the heat of the fire on his face.
Desperation hammered at him as he turned the vehicle around and started back down the path. Cursing with one breath, praying with the next, he pushed the ATV as hard as he dared. A thousand thoughts rushed through his mind. He talked to God, bargained with Him, made promises and confessions and meant every word of both.
Buzz told himself he could live without Kelly in his life. What he couldn’t live with was not having her in this world. Kelly made the world a better place. She would give his son a wholesome, secure home filled with love and all the things he couldn’t give.
He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t see the jut of rock until the ATV was upon it. The left front wheel hit it hard. The momentum sent the front end of the vehicle straight up, then over onto its side. Buzz hit the ground hard on his left shoulder. He heard bone crack. Pain zinged through his brain like a shock of electricity as he rolled.
An instant later, he lay face down on a bed of pine needles, dazed. A few feet away, the ATV lay on its side, the front wheels spinning. Above him, the treetops swayed restlessly against a black sky. He lifted his head to get his bearings, realized he was about ten feet off the path. Quickly, he took stock of his injuries. The pain in his back took his breath. He lay there for a few moments, gasping, struggling to stay calm. He remembered the months of physical therapy he’d had after the shooting. He remembered the physical therapist telling him the best way to ease the pain was to stay relaxed. For a moment, Buzz did just that, trying to relax, trying to catch his breath.
Cautiously, he sat up, grimacing when the muscles in his back seized. The pain was bad, but he could function. Judging from the pain zinging down his arm, he’d also managed to injure his shoulder, maybe even dislocated the joint. But the physical pain was nothing compared to the fear clenching his heart. Kelly was out there, alone and in imminent danger.
Shoving back a rise of panic, Buzz got to his knees then to his feet. Groaning when pain shot through his spine, he straightened and turned toward the ATV. It was going to be a miracle if the thing started, but he had to try.
Buzz grabbed the steering wheel. Using his hip, he pushed until the vehicle rolled and landed steadily on all four wheels. The strain sent his back into another spasm and he went down on one knee. Closing his eyes, he waited for the spasm to pass. Cursing the bastard who’d put the bullet in him, he struggled to his feet.
“Kelly…”
He’d intended to shout, but her name rushed between clenched teeth. Remembering the whistle, Buzz put it to his lips, gripped it between his teeth and blew three times. He climbed onto the ATV and forced his hands to close around the steering wheel. Growling low in his throat, he reached for the key, turned it. The engine coughed once then purred to life.
“Kelly!” His voice was stronger now. The pain was bad, but he could handle it. He could do this, he realized. They were going to get through this. He was going to find her and get her back to safety.
Hope spiked when he heard the crack of wood behind him. “Kelly!” Turning in the seat, he looked up the path from whence he’d just come and found himself staring into the face of hell.
Kelly’s feet pounded the path like pistons driving an engine. She’d heard Buzz’s whistle. She was certain of it. He’d come for her just as she’d known he would.
But it seemed as if she’d been running forever and still no sign of him. No sign of anyone.
The path curved sharply to the left, then dipped and ran along the ridge of a small ravine. Kelly ran as fast as she could, hurdling over rocks and fallen trees. Brush and low-growing juniper blurred past. Ahead, the trail ran straight into a face of rock and cut sharply again. She followed the rock wall around to the left and sprinted through the trees, ducking branches as she ran.
The sight of the fire rising up out of the forest floor stopped her cold. Adrenaline surged through her muscles. A few minutes ago the fire had been behind her. How had it gotten in front of her?
Realizing she could no longer stay on the path, she turned and started through the trees. She’d only taken a few steps when she heard the whistle again. Closer. Through the trees and around the jut of granite twenty yards away.
“Buzz! Where are you?”
She didn’t know if it was Buzz, but it was his name that burst from her lips. Arms outstretched, she ran toward the sound of the whistle, crashing through branches, stumbling over rocks. She ran as she had never run before, the image of him branded into her mind, the sound of his voice ringing in her ears. All the while, the fire consumed the forest around her.
She skirted the jut of granite, blinked back smoke-induced tears. The beams of the ATV’s headlights materialized through the black haze. Standing on the driver’s seat, holding his helmet at his side, Buzz looked like an apparition.
“Buzz! Oh, God! You came!”
She didn’t wait for him to respond. She ran toward him. It barely registered in her brain that he wasn’t smiling. That he was barely moving. All she wanted to do was feel his arms around her, hear her name on his lips, look into his eyes and tell him all the things she hadn’t been able to say before.
Chapter 17
T he sight of Kelly running toward him, her face pale with terror, struck Buzz with the mind-numbing shock of a physical blow. The emotions that followed rendered him as utterly
useless as any injury. All he could do was stand there, thank God she was alive and wish with all of his heart that things could have worked out differently between them.
Silly thought to have when the fire of century burned all around them.
Happiness and relief and a dozen other emotions he couldn’t begin to name zinged through him with such force that he couldn’t do anything but stand there silent and still and anticipate the moment when she would touch him, when he could smell her scent, feel her warm and soft against him, hold her just one more time.
There was no longer any doubt in his mind. He was in love with this woman. Crazy, head-over-heels in love no matter how hard he tried not to be. It was a truth he’d denied for too long. A truth that had been eating him alive since the day she’d walked out of his life. And at that moment, it didn’t matter to him that she could never love him back. She was alive. That would have to be enough.
She came against him with all the finesse of a Mack truck traveling at a hundred miles per hour. Buzz heard himself grunt. Her arms went around him. The pain in his back and shoulder made him stiffen. But even as the pain ran like a lit fuse up his spine, pleasure infused every nerve ending with a power that stunned him.
“Kelly,” he whispered. “Kelly…”
Her essence surrounded him. The softness of her body teased his senses, taunted his sensibilities, made him ache with a need every bit as acute as the pain in his back.
Putting his arms around her, he buried his face in her hair and held her tightly. He heard her name, realized belatedly he’d spoken it again. She smelled like smoke, but he could still discern the sweet essence of her beneath it. He drank it in as if it were clean, cool water, and he was crazed with thirst.
“You came for me,” she said breathlessly.
“You knew I would.”
“Eddie—”