Page 43 of Fireline

“No,” she coughed. “What happened to the person we saw in the cabin?”

Booth flicked a glance at Eric, who flattened his lips. “We never saw anyone else.”

The trauma team extracted Rico. They placed him on a stretcher and ran to load him on the helicopter.

Booth and Eric packed up what little gear they could find. Moving slowly, Nova dug Rico’s PG bag out of the rubble. A few minutes later, sweaty and out of breath, they climbed in beneath the turning helicopter rotors.

Once aboard, Booth sat next to Nova and buckled his seatbelt. “How you feeling?”

She lifted her oxygen mask. “Woozy but fine. Are they taking us back to the fire?”

He laughed. “You’re joking, right? Rico is going to the hospital and so are you.”

She squinted at him. “The town of Snowhaven is at risk, Booth.” Nova’s words were stuttered with coughing. “Who knows how big the fire is now? Three thousand acres? We need to be in there.”

Stubborn woman. They could’ve been killed, and she was ready for more.

All he could do was placate her for now. “I know. So put your mask on and let’s get you cleared to go back to work.”

“Fine.” She pulled the oxygen mask over her nose and mouth, crossed her arms and looked away.

The sun sank low in the hazy sky, setting the whole landscape alight in a fiery orange glow. In a cloud of dust and flying debris, the helicopter lifted clear of the ground.

Booth stared out the window. Below, the fire rolled like a wave over the historical mining claim they’d been sent to save.

The fire that might have cost Nova her life if Booth hadn’t been there.

Nova inhaled a long, slow breath and promptly started coughing. She closed her eyes, but all she saw was Booth beside her, determined to be her hero.

“Looks like all the burns are first-degree. I’ve prescribed some topical antibiotic ointment, but I imagine you have loads of it at home already.” The doctor, who’d introduced herself as Dr. Zamudio, flipped her stethoscope over her head and let it drop around her shoulders. “We’re going to need a chest X-ray to check your lungs for smoke damage. You were pretty lethargic when you came in.”

“How long is that going to take?” Nova scissor-kicked her legs on the edge of the table. The white sanitary paper crinkled.

“We’re backed up. Could be an hour.”

“An hour!” Nova knew that meant two or three. She’d already had the few burns treated.

“You wildland firefighters crack me up.” Dr. Zamudio simpered—a closemouthed, high-pitched laugh that gave her a girlish quality. “Girl, you ever heard of ‘rescuer safety first’? You’re no good to nobody if you collapse out there in the woods. Your buddies don’t need to be worrying about you while they face a fire themselves neither.”

Dr. Zamudio was right, more than she probably knew. But Nova couldn’t tell her just how bad things were out there. They were calling in teams from Alaska and Canada to come and help. News like that would cause a panic. Better to let an evacuation order come down from forestry service.

“You all come in here smellin’ like a backyard barbecue and expect doctors to slap a Band-aid on your burns and send you back out there. Uh-hum.” The black bun on top of her head wobbled when she shook her head. “Not good enough.”

“Okay, I get it. Can I at least go check on Rico, see how he’s doing?” The rookie smokejumper was her responsibility.

“Because my staff want to chase you down all over the hospital when it’s time for your test?” The doctor’s brow furrowed. “You don’t need to go on a wild-hog chase. He’s headed to surgery, hon.”

It was worse than Nova realized. She’d seen the open fracture where the bone stuck out of Rico’s shin. Thinking of it sent chills up her spine. “That bad?”

The doc held up an index finger, then used the same finger to slide her clear-framed glasses up her nose. “Now, you know I can’t go telling you his medical information until he signs a release. Unless you’re his next of kin, of course.”

Nova shook her head. “There’s a release in his file. We all have them so you can give status updates on our condition in emergencies.”

Dr. Zamudio nodded and walked to the rolling computer cart.

Her fingers clacked the keyboard. She paused and pushed her glasses up her nose again. “Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay.”

Nova swung her leg, hitting the back of her boot on the table.

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