Ian poked the fire again and tried to change the subject in his head. He glanced around at his men, trying to pick up something in the conversation that interested him enough to get his mind off of Charlotte. But they were talking about video games now, and Ian hated the stupid, noisy things. His men loved them, though. Luke sloshed some of his coke out of the can as he emphatically gushed about some level he had finally achieved on some stupid game. Everyone drank soda tonight. Ian strictly forbade any beer the night before they knew they were heading out on a mission, despite protests from his crew that just one wouldn’t hurt. Ian had no interest in dealing with a bunch of hungover smokejumpers tomorrow morning.
Several yards away, Hunter flipped burgers on a gas grill. The smell made Ian’s mouth water, and he stood to walk over and check on Hunter’s progress. All Ian wanted to do right now was stuff his face and then collapse into bed. He was hungry, tired, and exceptionally grumpy after a day of dealing with bureaucratic shenanigans.
“Looking good, Hunter,” Ian said as he surveyed the rows of sizzling burgers.
Hunter grinned. “Thanks, boss. Gotta enjoy some good food while we can. Tomorrow we’re gonna be stuck with the good old meal replacements and Spam. Yum, yum.”
Ian grimaced. “I don’t know how you eat Spam. That stuff is disgusting.”
“Better than that sawdust powder you eat and call a meal replacement bar. How those things even pass off for food is beyond me,” Hunter said, giving his boss a playful shove in the arm.
Ian laughed, but then his face froze as he felt the hair on the back of his neck standing at attention. He felt a warm rush of desire pass through his body, and he knew without even turning around that Charlotte was there. The men fell silent as she walked up to their group, grabbed a paper plate, and headed for the grill. She grabbed the metal spatula from Hunter and used it to pile three burgers onto her plate before handing it back to him.
“I was hungry,” she said in explanation as she turned to head back to the bunkhouse. She obviously had no intentions of hanging out around the bonfire, which suited Ian just fine. He was already trying to contain the heat running through his body at the sight of her. He felt the warmth centering between his legs as his dick started to stiffen, and he willed himself to think of anything other than her. As soon as she had disappeared into the bunkhouse, Luke and Trevor burst out laughing.
“Oh, boss,” Luke said. “You’re in trouble. Your eyes are churning something awful. Looks like someone’s bear is excited about the latest addition to the crew.”
“Shut up,” Ian growled. He grabbed a plate and piled four burgers of his own onto it, then stormed off toward the hangar, inhaling one of the burgers completely before he even made it to the building. This mission was going to be a shitshow.
* * *
Charlotte leaned against the side of the Twin Otter and stared out the window as the wilderness passed by below. There were no seats in the airplane—just a cargo-like interior where the crew of six sat with their jumpsuits and parachutes on, ready to jump. In thirty more minutes, they would be arriving at the drop site. Charlotte would be plummeting to the earth along with her five new coworkers who still seemed unable to accept the fact that she was working this mission with them.
Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. She had never been around such an unprofessional boys club before. Sure, the majority of wildfire firefighters were men. And the ratio got even worse among the elite smokejumping crews. But the most she’d ever had to endure before was good natured ribbing, or guys forgetting she was around and lapsing into crude humor about bodily functions and sex. She’d never dealt with a crew acting like junior high boys who had never laid eyes on a girl before.
Charlotte opened her eyes again and continued to watch the landscape passing by below her. This job would likely be a quick one. They all had enough supplies packed for three days, and they were expecting to have the fire under control within forty-eight hours. Then they would hike back out to a spot where they could be airlifted out. Missions like this were common. The small fire had been started by a lightning strike, and, if snuffed out quickly, wouldn’t do much damage. But the location of the fire was too remote to reach by car, and by the time hikers could get there, it would likely have grown out of control. A smokejumping crew could drop in, kill the flames, and be on their way before the fire even knew what hit it.
Charlotte looked over for a moment and accidentally caught Ian staring at her. She looked away quickly. His churning eyes unnerved her. The color in his irises almost seemed to be swirling around in a sea of green and blue. Charlotte stared back out the window, determined to focus on the landscape for the remainder of the flight.
When she first stepped off the plane at the Burning Claws’ base yesterday, she’d been excited. The two men waiting to greet her had been two of the most handsome smokejumpers she’d ever seen. Ian, especially, caught her eye. She was a sucker for the dark hair and blue eyes combination, and Ian’s chiseled cheeks with just a hint of stubble had only added to his good looks. Her heart had skipped a beat as she walked toward him, ready to introduce herself to the eye candy that would be her new chief. Hey, if you’re gonna do a dirty, dangerous job, you may as well have some fun along the way, right?
But then, things had gotten weird. And now she was stuck for the summer with a group of guys who made no effort to hide the fact that they definitely did not want her around.
Charlotte felt a small knot forming in the pit of her stomach as they drew closer to the drop site. This year marked her third as a smokejumper, but she still got nervous before every jump. On the outside, she always looked calm and collected. But on the inside, her stomach did flip flops every time she stood in the open door of the aircraft. She knew her parachuting equipment was top notch. The odds of dying in a jump accident were much lower than the odds of dying down on the ground while fighting the fire. But, still, the act of willingly hurling yourself out of an airplane seemed so unnatural. Charlotte still hadn’t been able to completely trick her mind into believing it was no big deal.
“Two minutes,” the pilot called back to the crew, letting them know that they were approaching the drop site.
Ian grabbed the colorful crepe streamers that helped the crew determine wind direction and speed, and he and Zach stuck their head in the doorway as the pilot made his first pass over the drop site. The streamers fluttered to the earth as the two men watched carefully to see where they floated.
“Alright, we’ve got our spot,” Zach said. “Let’s roll.”
The crew started moving into the doorway in their predetermined jump order. Zach would jump first, followed by Luke, Trevor, Hunter, and then Charlotte. Ian would be the last out of the plane. The wind rushing by the open door provided a calming white noise for Charlotte, and she tried to relax as she did her final pre-jump check of her parachute rig. Chest strap, secure. Both leg straps, secure. Main parachute pull handle clear and accessible. Reserve parachute handle clear and accessible. Helmet, secure.
Charlotte shuffled closer to the door as the crew started disappearing into the open air below them. One of the most startling moments of any skydive was watching the person in front of you jump. As soon as they left that door, they flew away from the plane at a speed of ninety miles an hour. The visual effect made it look like a huge vacuum had suddenly sucked them away. In an instant, they went from a life-sized human being standing right next to you, to a tiny speck rocketing toward the earth. Zach, Luke, and Trevor jumped, and then Ian stopped Hunter before he could jump.
“We’re too far out,” he said. Then he yelled over at the pilot, “Let’s do a second pass.”
“Roger that,” the pilot called back, then turned the plane around to loop back. Below them, Charlotte saw the parachutes of the crew members who had already jumped billowing open.
“Good chute, good chute, good chute,” she whispered under her breath, counting out three open, fully inflated parachutes. The men all had uneventfu
l openings, but the hardest task of their jump still lay ahead of them—landing in the middle of the thick trees took some serious skill. When they came back around to their spot, Hunter scooted into the door. He launched himself forward and into the smoky air below him, and then it was Charlotte’s turn.
Ian quickly double checked her gear for her as he had for the other crew members, making sure the chest and leg straps were secure. Any sense of awkwardness disappeared for the moment as he became all business. After he gave her an affirmative nod, Charlotte stepped into the door. She took a deep breath, and then hurled herself out into the open air. The roar of the wind became the only sound she could hear as the sound of the plane’s engine quickly faded away.
From there, muscle memory took over, and she performed her task the same way she had hundreds of times before. She arched her back and spread her arms and legs to stabilize her body against the wall of air rushing at her. As soon as she stabilized on her stomach, she reached back for her pull handle. A flash of white and blue material appeared above her head, and jerked her freefall to a sudden halt. The noise of the rushing wind stopped abruptly. All she could hear were the faint shouts from the crew members who had already landed, and the crackling sound coming from the wildfire in the distance. She grabbed her steering toggles and did a quick check to make sure her parachute was steering correctly, then she glanced around to locate Hunter and Ian. She saw Hunter in front of her and Ian just behind, both with their parachutes open and fully inflated.
She let out a small, relieved sigh that everyone’s parachutes had opened okay, and then began navigating to the drop site. She saw Trevor and Zach on the ground already, yelling up at Luke who was caught in the top of a large tree.
“Newbie,” Charlotte said, rolling her eyes. She was actually surprised that only one of them had landed in the trees so far, since this was their first official mission as smokejumpers. The fact that Ian was chief of this crew as a new jumper himself was odd. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more this whole situation seemed weird.
But she didn’t have time to think about it at the moment. She needed to concentrate on landing. She found a spot with a short, narrow path between two trees, and she aimed for it. Ahead of her to the right, she saw Hunter land safely next to Luke and Zach. She brought her chute down and flared the toggles at just the right moment to slow her descent and allow her to land softly on the forest floor. She loosened her chest and leg straps and stepped out of her rig, feeling immediately lighter as the weight of it slipped off of her. Just as she started to gather up the fabric of her parachute, she heard a loud voice yell out “Shit!”, followed by snapping tree branches. A few moments later, the sound of loud cheers and laughter came from the ground. She looked up to see Ian stuck in the top of a tall pine tree.
“Nice one, boss,” Zach called out.
Ian let out a string of curses as he started untangling himself and his gear from the branches.
Charlotte smirked as she picked up her gear and walked by the tree. “Hey, if you need some lessons on how to land, I’ll be happy to help you once you’re down.”
Ian let out another string of curses in response, and Charlotte laughed as she trudged off to where the rest of the crew was setting up a makeshift camp.
“Nice landing,” Hunter said, shyly making eye contact with her for the first time since she had joined the crew.
“Thanks,” Charlotte answered brightly. “Same to you. For someone in his first season, you’re landing exceptionally well.”
Hunter’s face lit up at Charlotte’s praise. “Thanks,” he said. “My daddy was airborne in the army, so it means a lot to me to be part of this program now. I’m trying really hard to do well at it.”
Charlotte shook out her sleeping bag and started slipping out of her jumpsuit, which weighed close to a hundred pounds due to all the gear stored in the huge cargo pants on the legs.
“Well, your daddy must be very proud,” she said. “If you want, once we get back to base camp I can give you some lessons on steering and handling your parachute even better.”
Hunter beamed. “Really? That would be awesome.”
“Yes, really. I’ve learned a few things over the years I’ve been doing this. I’d be happy to share them with you.”
“Thanks,” Hunter said.
Just then, a loud crash sounded out as Ian finally freed his gear from the tree and sent it tumbling down to the earth. He followed closely behind, shimmying down to the forest floor and cursing the whole way.
“Looks like the boss could use a few flying lessons, too,” Charlotte said.
Hunter grinned at Charlotte sheepishly. “Hey, sorry we’ve all acted so strangely. We’re just…really different from most people, and it’s hard to have another stranger around. Ian’s a really great guy, if you give him a chance. He may not be great at steering a parachute, but he’s a really great firefighter with a lot of experience.”
Charlotte was tempted to make a snarky comment about how being a woman didn’t automatically make her that different from them, but she decided to bite her tongue and take the olive branch that Hunter was offering. “Thanks, buddy,” she said, flashing him a bright smile. “I’m sure we’ll all get along just fine given a little time.”
Once Ian and Luke made it down from the tree and everyone got their gear sorted out, Ian started barking orders. The Burning Claws Crew buckled down to work.
One of the things that initially surprised Charlotte about fighting fires in the wilderness was that you didn’t fight fires with water out here. You fought fire with fire. These fires were too large to kill completely with water, but if you took away their fuel source, they wouldn’t be able to continue burning. The crew set to work clearing a large line of trees and brush. They would keep clearing everything out until they achieved a short “no fuel strip” where there was nothing for a fire to burn. Then they would purposely set a fire on the other side of that strip, which would burn in the direction of the bigger fire, since that would be the only direction it had to go. If everything went according to plan, the two fires would meet and merge into a giant fire that suddenly had no fuel in either direction, and had nowhere to burn but out.
The Oregon sun beat down on the crew as they chopped and sawed their way through the thick trees and underbrush, following Ian’s directions closely. Their fire resistant clothes offered good protection against burns, but wearing them in this heat felt like being inside an oven made of clothes. For several hours, the crew worked, and Charlotte tried her best to do just as much, if not more, than all of the men. She wanted to prove to Ian that his awful attitude toward her had been a mistake. By the time the sun went down, the fuel free zone had been cleared. Ian inspected it and then nodded his approval to Zach.
“Alright, Zach, let her burn,” he said.
Zach let out a whoop and took a flame torch to the far edge of the fuel strip. In the gathering dusk, he let loose a stream of fire onto the dry brush in his path. It didn’t take long for a new, large blaze to take hold. Just as expected, it started burning in the direction of the original fire. Zach rejoined the crew and watched with them for several minutes.
“Not bad for a day’s work,” Ian said. “Looks like we took care of this even quicker than Boise thought we would. Let’s grab some gourmet dinner and watch the show.” The crew groaned at the reminder that they would be eating Spam and protein bars for dinner.
The group wouldn’t start a campfire up here, for obvious reasons. But they sat around a few battery powered lanterns as darkness fell over the mountain. Illuminated by the light of the lanterns and the distant glow of flames, the crew opened up their various foods they had brought along as meal replacements. Charlotte made a face as she saw Luke pouring Gatorade into a can of Spam.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he stabbed the soaking meat with a fork and downed a huge mouthful.
“Gatorade and Spam. They taste awesome together.
“That’s disgusting,”
Charlotte said.
Trevor reached over and stuck his fork in Luke’s Spam, swiping a good sized bite. “It’s really good. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” Trevor said.
Charlotte made a face, and Luke shoved Trevor aside. “Hey, man, get your own Gatorade Spam. This one’s mine.”
Charlotte shook her head at them, and tore into a protein bar. “I’m just going to stick with my protein bar and take your word for it,” she said.
“So tell us about you,” Luke said around mouthfuls of Spam. “How’d a pretty little thing like you end up fighting fires?”
Ian let out what sounded like a growl, startling Charlotte. “No one needs to be nosey, Luke. The less questions the better. Let her be,” he said.
Luke shrugged. “Sorry. I was just trying to make conversation,” he said.
“Well, don’t,” Ian replied, his voice angry.
“No, no, it’s okay. I don’t mind the questions,” Charlotte said. She actually welcomed them. It was nice to have some of her crew members talking with her, instead of staring at her like she was from Mars. She had no idea what Ian’s problem was. The guy was good looking, but he had some serious antisocial tendencies. As Charlotte opened her mouth to continue speaking, Ian got up and walked sulkily away from the group.
“What’s his problem?” Charlotte asked. “I mean, I think I more than pulled my weight today. The worst thing I’ve done is give him shit about his parachute landing, which, admittedly was awful. But as far as I can tell I’m not some horrible person causing you guys a bunch of trouble or something.”
Hunter leaned over and whispered in Charlotte’s ear. “I don’t think the problem is that he likes you. I think the problem is that he likes you too much.”
Fire Bear Shifters: The Complete Series Page 2