Fanning Flames Read online

  “We were just there the other day. They were so nice, and proud of their place.”

  “Exactly why they wouldn’t leave, but I’d love to bonk them on the head when we go get them.”

  “Do you have crew?” Lindsey asked, her worry level off the charts, too.

  Alex paced in the hallway, his strides long as he rubbed the back of his neck.

  “All I’ve got is one man, with Dani out. Everybody else is on the big fireline, or fighting the spot fires. All I have for a pilot is Travis. No medical at all.”

  Lindsey didn’t even wait a nanosecond before volunteering. “I’ll go.”

  “No, you can’t.”

  “Why not? I’m a nurse. Disaster certified. I’m not sure I could help much with a fire, but if there are injuries, you’ll need me.”

  Alex looked at his watch and frowned. “I’d rather leave you somewhere safe, but I don’t think we have a choice. They did say there are injuries. I do need you.”

  “Good thing we packed all the supplies back at command.”

  “We have some time but not a lot. The fire isn’t quite on them yet, but close enough that we need to hurry. We’re going to have to take Travis,” Alex said as he grabbed Lindsey’s hand and opened the hospital room door.”

  He explained as quickly as he could, and he wasn’t even finished before Dani tried to get out of bed.

  “I’m going.”

  Lindsey rushed to her side and pulled her gently back down.

  “No, you really can’t, Dani,” she said, feeling Travis’s gaze. She imagined that she looked as familiar to him as he did to her, but this wasn’t the right time to talk about it.

  He tore his gaze away and sat down at his wife’s bedside.

  “Dani, you can’t go. I have to pilot, Alex will have to rescue along with Gary and we have medical.”

  He turned to Lindsey and smiled, shaking her hand.

  “Thanks for coming along. We need medical.”

  “No, no, I’m coming,” Dani said. “You need me, too.”

  Travis pushed her gently back down and said, “Dani, you can’t come. I forbid it.”

  Lindsey felt like all the air was sucked out of the room, and she was pretty positive that everyone was holding their breath to see what Dani would do.

  She looked from Travis to the picture of their baby that she now held in her hand and back to Travis.

  “Okay, just this one time,” she said as they all breathed a sigh of relief. “And don’t get used to it. As soon as I get out of here, I’m back on the job.”

  Travis laughed and kissed her on the forehead. “Thanks for not arguing. Wasn’t sure if that would work or not.”

  “Like I said, don’t try that again,” Dani said. “Get out of here, you guys. Hurry, and good luck. And keep me in the loop,” she said as the three of them rushed out the door.

  Chapter 17

  There was too much radio chatter to talk in the truck as they sped toward River’s End Ranch. Lindsey was in the back seat of the truck, and Alex drove while Travis plotted coordinates on a paper map that he was given over the radio.

  By the time they reached the command center, they knew exactly what hazards were in between them and Nellie’s Cafe.

  She winced as she heard the radio operator say that there was a woman down, but not unconscious.

  “How many people are there?” Travis asked at one point.

  “Two,” was the response, and Travis sighed audibly.

  “Good. We can do that with our weight limit. All we’ve got is the smaller chopper. Big one’s at the other fire,” he responded.

  They all three hopped out of the truck in a plume of dust as Alex skidded to a stop.

  She was quickly introduced to Gary, and they shook hands in a split second before he and Alex got into their turnouts. Lindsey watched for a second as they each reached for their tool belts, hatchets, flashlights and other things she couldn’t identify included.

  “Grab your bag and make sure it’s complete,” Alex said to her, breaking her out of her daze.

  She’d been to lots of ongoing disasters before, but never a fire. She was a little nervous.

  Travis—her brother—handed her what looked like a fire-retardant jump suit.

  “Put this on. We don’t wear full turn-outs like the other guys. Too much weight on the chopper. But these won’t burn.

  She wriggled into it over her clothes, and he handed her a helmet and gloves. She pulled her cowboy boots back on and lifted the bag over her shoulder, making sure that there were bottles of oxygen in addition the things for a regular rescue that she’d read on the list.

  They strapped into the helicopter and she reached for Alex’s hand as Travis lifted it straight up—and fast. Her stomach dropped to her boots and she squeezed her eyes shut.

  She opened them to see Alex smiling at her, his worry dropped for a moment.

  He squeezed her hand and turned back to the window, talking to Travis through his headset and making sure he knew what areas to avoid as they approached the cafe.

  Travis approached the site slowly, circling once to find the best possible place to land. Lindsey was surprised how close the flames were to the cafe, and as they descended, she gasped as she saw Jeff on the roof with a garden hose, spraying the flames that were coming closer to the cafe with every second.

  “Good God,” Alex said as he spotted Jeff on the roof and Nellie lying on the porch, the flames practically lapping at the cafe. The outbuilding was already aflame, and you couldn’t even see the road that they’d come up only days before.

  Travis landed, and she heard him in her headset say, “I can only give you a few minutes. Max fifteen,” he said as he surveyed the fire surrounding them.

  “Better step it up, then,” Alex said as Gary opened the door and hopped out. Alex helped Lindsey out and ran, following Gary to where Jeff was. They climbed on the roof and as Lindsey ran toward Nellie, all she could see was flailing arms.

  “Nellie, what’s happening?” Lindsey asked as she knelt by the older woman.

  “I can’t breathe,” she said. “And my legs are like jelly.”

  Lindsey quickly put an oxygen mask on her and took her vitals. Her pulse was very low, and her blood pressure was, too. She clipped an oxygen monitor on her finger and tried not to react at the very low reading and turned up the oxygen.

  She tried to concentrate over the voices in her ear, a very loud argument between Alex and Jeff.

  “You have to go, and you have to go now.”

  “No, I won’t. I called you for Nellie. Take her to the hospital, but I’m not leaving the cafe. It’s all we’ve got.”

  As she tended to Nellie, she saw Gary take the hose from Jeff and heard Alex continue to try to talk some sense into him.

  “How’s Nellie?” she heard through her head set.

  “Okay, but she needs to get to the hospital. And we should get out of here.”

  “No kidding,” she heard in reply, and the next thing she knew Alex was standing next to her with Jeff, who had suddenly gone silent.

  He walked him to the chopper and came back with a field gurney. He and Gary lifted Nellie onto it. Lindsey tucked the oxygen bottle by her side and turned to pack up her bag. They carried her as quickly as they could to the chopper, Jeff following close behind.

  The roof was in flames now, and she gave thanks that Alex had been able to talk Jeff down.

  Just as she put the last monitor in her bag, the roof gave way and Lindsey jumped off the porch as fast as she could. Pain shot through her like lightning as she tumbled to the ground, hitting her head on the porch post. She held her foot, watching as flames engulfed the cafe as if it had been a box of matches.

  “Alex, my bag,” she said into her headset as the flames melted the bag with her equipment.”

  “Heck with the bag,” he said as she saw him running toward her.

  He scooped her up in his arms and ran back to the chopper, fastening her seat belt and turni
ng to close the door.

  Just as he did, the kitchen of the cafe exploded and she looked away. The last thing she heard was Alex say, “Go, go, go,” in her headset.

  Chapter 18

  Alex took off his gloves and wiped the sweat from Lindsey’s forehead as they headed to Riston Hospital. Gary looked after Nellie. Jeff held his wife’s hand, saying over and over, “I’m sorry.”

  He felt the same way about Lindsey. He should never have let her come. This was a particularly dangerous rescue—they didn’t always deal with fire—and he should have known better. He kicked himself over and over, all the way back to the hospital.

  He’d wiped the soot and dirt from her face as she laid there, and his worry meter was off the charts. He’d seen her hold her foot, but not sure if she’d hit her head or what. As he brushed the hair from her eyes, she slowly started moving her head from side to side, and his heart fluttered at the same times that her eyes did.

  “Oh, thank goodness,” he said, and Travis turned around, smiling when he saw Lindsey’s eyes open.

  “I second that,” he said before turning his eyes back to Riston Hospital, which was now coming into view.

  “What happened?” Lindsey asked, and Alex let out a huge sigh of relief.

  “I’m not sure, darlin’. I think you might have hit your head. I’d have checked with the medic, but—”

  She tapped him on the shoulder and smiled with what little strength she had. She winced when she tried to sit up in her seat, glancing at her foot.

  “Man, that hurts.”

  “Hopefully you didn’t break it, but we can check you out at the hospital, too.

  “And Nellie?” Lindsey asked, glancing over at Jeff.

  “You're the expert, but she seems okay. Her oxygen is up and that’s all I know. Good thing we have you on board,” he said, clasping her hand.

  “Yeah, right, good thing. All I did was cause another rescue.”

  “No worries about that,” Travis chimed in on the headset.

  He held Lindsey’s hand the rest of the trip, and Travis landed on the rooftop helipad of Riston Hospital.

  “You okay for a second?” Alex asked, his eyes full of worry again.

  “Sure,” she said. “Get Nellie on the gurney first.”

  He nodded, and helped Gary get Nellie onto the waiting gurney, and the nurses and doctor whisked her toward the elevator.

  “We’ll be right back for the second injury,” a nurse called over the shoulder. “We were only expecting one.”

  “That’s all right. I’ve got it,” Alex said.

  He took off his helmet, gloves and headset and gently removed hers. He unzipped his jacked and threw it on one of the helicopter seats, revealing just a t-shirt, suspenders and his turnout pants. He came around to her side of the chopper and lifted her out—once again, as if she was light as a feather, and carried her to the elevator.

  “Can you press the “ER” button?” he asked. “My hands are full, and I wouldn’t want to drop you.”

  She pinched his arm and laughed when he said, “Ouch.”

  A gurney was waiting for them when the elevator doors opened, and he laid her on it gently, smoothing her hair out of her eyes once again. He kissed her on the forehead and nodded to the nurse who came to take her into a room.

  “Take good care of her, will you?” he asked as they pushed her down the hallway. She waved at him and mouthed, “Thank you,” and he waited until she was around the corner to rest his arms on the ER counter, his head resting on his wrists. He took several deep breaths as he always did when he got someone safely to the hospital, and then took a couple more because this was Lindsey, and he’d been more worried than he’d ever been before.

  “You all right, man?” Travis asked, his hand on Alex’s shoulder.

  He stood and nodded.

  “Thanks, Travis. Great job you did there. Thanks for helping me get them all back safe.”

  “Same to you, Alex. Nicely done. And I can’t wait to meet your new girlfriend. Officially, I mean.”

  “Oh, yeah, about that. Um...”

  Travis held up his palms. “There’s clearly a story there, and she looks exceedingly familiar,” he said with a chuckle. “But between the baby and the rescue—we can get to that later.”

  He winked at Alex and clapped him on the back.

  “Go take care of her. I’m going to take the chopper back fast as I can and I’ll be back to see my wife. I believe there are more pictures of my baby.”

  “Oh, yeah, congratulations,” Alex said as Travis stepped onto the elevator.

  “Thanks. And thanks also for calling me. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss a second of any of this,” he said with a laugh as the elevator doors closed.

  Alex shook his head. He wasn’t at all sure that he felt the same way. He could have happily missed most, if not all, of it—except for the baby—and he walked down the ER hallway looking for Jeff and Nellie.

  Chapter 19

  “How you doing, brother?” a familiar voice said from behind Alex as he kept his nose pressed to the glass of Lindsey and Dani’s room.

  He turned around and gratefully accepted a huge hug from his sister Pamela, and if he had been younger, he might have cried.

  “Not so good. Lindsey’s pretty banged up. We thought she’d broken a bone in her foot or her ankle, but she didn’t. Just a sprain. She’s sleeping, so I can’t talk to her.”

  “Hm,” Pamela said. “But the doctors said she’s going to be all right?”

  “Yeah, yeah, she should be fine. And she has a concussion for sure. If that’s all, she’ll be lucky.”

  Pamela nodded and put her hand in her brother’s. He squeezed it, grateful for the comfort.

  “How about we go to the cafeteria real quick and get some coffee?”

  Alex checked his watch.

  “I’d really like to be here when she wakes up,” he said.

  “Okay. I’ll be right back,” Pamela said, and before he knew it, she came back with two cups of coffee. “Can’t guarantee quality from the vending machine down the hall, but it’s probably better than nothing.”

  She handed him one and he took a big sip. It tasted good to him—comforting—although on any other day he’d have likely spit it out.

  His sister sat down on the bench next to him and gestured for him to join her.

  “I’ve been worried about you. We heard all about it, and decided not to descend on you as a group. Everybody sends their love. We’re glad everybody’s safe.”

  Alex closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Thanks. Tell them thanks, too.”

  He leaned forward and looked back into Lindsey’s room.

  “It was pretty awful.”

  Pamela leaned back against the bench.

  “Yeah. That would be horrible to almost lose anybody—especially somebody that you really care about.”

  Alex looked at his sister, searching her eyes. There was something she wasn’t saying—he knew her very well.

  “Yes,” he finally said. “I do care about her. She’s been a good friend, even though I haven’t known her very long.”

  “I know,” Pamela said softly. “I just wanted to make sure YOU know.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked, not sure where she was going.

  “I just wanted to point something out. Because you’re my brother. And you can be dense.”

  Alex laughed. “Thanks. I think.”

  “You know what I mean,” she said as she reached into her purse and pulled out a crumpled paper.

  “Remember when you and I were going to go on that online dating thing and we helped each other make a list of what we wanted in a person?”

  Alex groaned. “Yeah, how could I forget. It didn’t work out well.”

  Pamela laughed. “No, because it wasn’t supposed to. Take a look at this.”

  She handed him the paper and he unfolded it. His heart beat faster as he read each thing he’d written years ago, and forgott
en all about.

  “Bet you a million dollars that Lindsey has or is every one of those.”

  He couldn’t agree more. She was smart, funny, real, loved to travel, loved to cook—he’d even written down crossword puzzles. He didn’t remember that one at all.

  “Wow. You’re right. Thanks for keeping it,” he said and threw his arm over her shoulders, kissing her forehead.

  “Okay, so now what are you going to do?”

  He drank the last of his coffee.

  “Do?”

  Pamela sighed and shook her head.

  “Alex. You said she’s only here for a little while. You can’t let that happen. You guys are meant to be together. And besides, you love her.”

  Alex looked in the window at Lindsey as she slept and his heart clenched with worry yet another time. In fact, he wasn’t sure it had ever stopped clenching since he was afraid he might not be able to get her out of the fire.

  “You’re right,” he finally said slowly. “I love her. And I need to tell her.”

  “Yep, you do. But do me a favor,” Pamela said.

  “What?”

  She laughed and said, “Don’t chicken out and tell her when she’s sleeping. Wait until she wakes up.”

  Alex laughed and ruffled her hair, just like he used to when they were kids.

  “I promise.”

  Pamela picked up her purse and squeezed his hand. “We’ll all be rooting for you. Let me know if there’s any change,” she said. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, giving him a quick hug before she headed down the hall.

  He turned back to watch Lindsey sleep, and slipped the note into his pocket. He’d wait for the perfect time, the perfect moment—and tell her that he loved her. He hoped with all his heart that she’d feel the same.

  Chapter 20

  “Ugh, my head,” Lindsey said as she woke up slowly and looked around. “Oh, man, and my foot.”

  “I’ve been waiting for hours for you to wake up,” she heard Dani say from behind a curtain. She pulled it back and smiled from the other bed in the room, and Lindsey realized that she was in the bed that had been empty in Dani’s room for the past couple of days.