Chapter 23 #2
“Given the shooter situation, and night falling, I think we should shelter here rather than risk driving down the mountain with active shooters. They have the advantage,” he pointed out.
“But I told Westlake...” she trailed off. “What will he think?”
“Who gives a shit?” Colton snapped his fingers. “Hand me your radio.”
“I’d rather eat dirt than give you my radio!”
When she didn’t hand it over, he snatched it from her. Scowling, he radioed the ICC to say they were staying the night and would return early in the morning. When Westlake acknowledged, Deanna swore she heard a grin in his voice. Gossip would go freaking viral after this.
Residual anger percolated through her, so she walked a short distance away to calm herself down. She’d not seen Colton angry before, and it disturbed her. He was hell-bent on spending the night up here. She might as well make the best of things and remember why she was up here in the first place.
Deanna sauntered back to Colton, knowing a subject change was in order. He leaned on the pickup, not saying a word as she approached. She showed Colton the tissue with the cigarette butts.
“Clove cigarette with black paper. Found them about twenty yards down the road, next to fresh tire tracks.”
Colton lifted the tissue to his nose. “Djarum Blacks. Indonesian. Whoever smokes these has a specific taste and orders them online or from a specialty shop.” He tucked the tissue into his shirt pocket.
“I’ll ask Harvey. Mechanics notice what people smoke on the flight line.
It’s a fire hazard, so they pay attention. ”
“All right,” she begrudged him. A distinctive cigarette near fresh tire tracks on a road leading to remote cabins. Not proof, but something worth following. “Toss me my keys and I’ll drive.”
He moved to her truck. “I’ll drive so you can navigate.”
“Sorry, no. It’s my truck.” She dug in for another argument.
“It’s the Forest Service’s truck, but who’s splittin’ hairs?” He placed his hands on his hips. “Deanna, can we not argue for five minutes?”
She sighed, exhaustion gnawing at every muscle in her body. With Ace gone, she had no choice but to climb into the Forest Service rig with Colton.
Neither spoke when they got going. The engine and the ping of rocks off the undercarriage did all the talking. Deanna trained her gaze out the passenger window. The sting of his insults left her feeling jagged.
A cabin appeared through the trees as the last light drained off the western peaks. A basic Forest Service shelter, one room with a wood stove and two single bunks.
Colton turned right and drove along a dirt road for a short distance. He slowed and parked behind a cluster of Douglas fir hidden from the main road.
Wordlessly, they both climbed out. Colton found an old tarp in what used to be a woodshed, brown and torn but better than nothing, and Deanna helped him drape it over the vehicle.
Inside, dust riddled the musty cabin. A stack of old firewood waited by the portable woodstove, and the bunks had thin mattresses. She didn’t want to think about what offending tiny creatures might live inside them.
“I’ll see what’s in the truck toolbox,” she said, grateful to go outside and away from the tension stretching between them like a taut chute line.
She unlocked the toolbox with the truck keys and rummaged around for a flashlight. Finding one, she flicked it on. The beam found a rolled-up sleeping bag tucked in one corner, along with a headlamp.
“Yes!” She hurried to the cabin in the deepening dark, careful not to run smack into a tree.
She burst through the door. “Look what I found!”
For a nanosecond, she’d forgotten they were supposed to be mad at each other.
“Good find.” Colton stood staring at the portable woodstove. “Can’t make a fire, though. Smoke would give us away.”
The anger from earlier simmered between them, unresolved. She couldn’t take the tension any longer. “This is stupid.”
“What, holing up in this cabin?”
“No,” she mumbled. “Us fighting like this.”
“You started it by running off alone.”
She swallowed hard. “You treat me like I’m incompetent.”
He pointed at her. “I never said you were incompetent.”
“You implied it,” she fired back.
“I didn’t imply you were incompetent. I thought you were reckless with your decision making.”
“Same thing!” She met his accusing eyes without flinching.
“No, it isn’t! Can we please dispense with this bullshit?” His fingers raked his hair, and his jaw tightened. Hard.
“Dammit, Davis.” She shook her head in resignation, too weary to argue. “All right, truce. Bullshit officially stopped. But I didn’t make a wrong decision.”
“We’ll agree to disagree on that last part.” He heaved out a sigh. “We’re both stressed, so let’s have a calm, civilized conversation. Can you do that for me?”
“I’ll think about it.” Her mouth twisted into a half-smile. “This is our first fight.”
He gave her a dour look. “Hell of a first fight.”
“You started it,” she taunted, struggling to keep a straight face.
A perplexed look crossed his face. “What are you, five?”
“Okay, okay. Let’s call a ceasefire.” She’d be the one to make peace in the valley. “I’m sorry for coming up here alone and upsetting you.”
“And I’m sorry for telling you what to do.” He stepped closer with a lopsided grin. “I should know better than to boss a smokejumper. But honestly, when you didn’t answer your phone, I thought the worst.”
“When you told me someone shot at you . . .” She shook her head. “I didn’t know what to think. My God, Colton, someone wanted to bring down your plane. Again!”
“Three inches,” he said, showing it with his hands. “Three inches lower and I’d have been a fireball.”
The image roiled her stomach. “Don’t say that. I can’t lose you.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it.”
“Look what you do for a living!” she burst out.
“What you do for a living is far more dangerous. I’d rather fly a perfectly good airplane than jump out of one, thank you very much.” He reached for her, but she ducked away.
“Sorry, but what you do is way more dangerous,” she countered.
He put a forefinger to her lips. “I’m too ornery and stubborn to die.”
She pretended to bite his finger. “Yes, you are. Hate to break it to you, but that’s not how death works.”
“Sure, it is. Death would take one look at my stubborn, cocky ass and skedaddle the other way. It knows a losin’ fight when it sees one.”
“Skedaddle?” She giggled, shaking her head. “You’re a lost cause.”
He drew her close. “See, I got you to laugh. You need to do it more often.”
“I hate arguing with you.” She reached up to brush the dust from his brow.
“Then don’t run off alone again, and there won’t be an argument.”
She gave him a stern look. “Then don’t treat me like a delicate flower.”
“Then stop arguing because you won’t win. You’re far from delicate, but you’re valuable to me. Never forget it.”
While his words loosened the knots in her heart, one remained. She needed to untie it before she lost the nerve. “What about the elephant standing here between us?”
He pointed to the dusty wooden floor. “Oh, you mean this elephant?”
“Yeah.” She crossed her arms. “Here’s why I drove up here alone.
If Kylie’s kidnapping is my fault, I can fix it.
If it’s not my fault, there’s nothing I can do, and that terrifies me because then I’m helpless.
I drove up here because guilt gives me a focused mission.
Helplessness gives me nothing. I’d rather be reckless than useless. ”
His jaw worked, and she braced for whatever came next. He wore his stubborn composure like a flight suit. “You want to know why I tore ass up this mountain? Not because you couldn’t handle yourself.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Mack died because I followed procedure instead of my gut. I spent four years overcompensating. When you didn’t answer your phone, I went straight to the worst-case scenario because that’s where my brain has lived ever since.
” He paused. “Yes, you’re right. My fears turned me into a control freak. ”
“My recklessness and your obsession with control.” A grin spread across her face. “We’re a damaged pair.”
“Hopelessly sick and twisted.” A crooked grin tugged his lips. “At least we’re honest, so that’s a plus in our favor.”
They’d each shared their ugly truths, and that alone earned him her forgiveness. She lunged at him, sliding her arms around his neck.
His response was immediate. He backed her into the cabin wall, his hands in her hair, and while his manner was rough, she loved his take-charge action.
It won’t kill me to let someone else be in charge for a change.
She broke the kiss, breathless. “One minor detail I should warn you about.”
“You don’t have your birth control?”
Her eyes narrowed. “All right, wise guy. Give me a flipping break. There’s only one sleeping bag.”
“Yeah, that’s a shame.” His sad face was all for show. He moved to a bunk, unrolled the bag, shook it, and let it float down onto the skimpy, worn mattress.
The headlamp propped on the windowsill cast shadows across the cabin walls, and a flicker in his darkened eyes ticked up her pulse.
“You scared the hell out of me today,” he said in a low voice. “Come here.”
She stepped over to him, her throat too tight for words. He lifted his hand to her cheek, his thumb tracing the line of her jaw.
Colton reached for the buttons on her Nomex shirt, working them open one at a time, his eyes never leaving her face. The shirt slid off her shoulders, and he let it fall to the floor.
He gave her a questioning look, and she answered with a subtle nod. Never breaking eye contact, he reached for her belt, taking his sweet time.
She let him loosen the buckle, ease her jeans to the floor, then slip behind her to unfasten her bra.