Page 24 of Burning Hearts

The way they’d say that about the difference in his life.

“Change is good,” he said. “And growth. I’ve bumped into a few people I used to know before I found Christ, and they barely recognize how I act now compared to who I was.”

They fell into a comfortable silence, and he almost forgot the nagging, stinging pain in his side. Right up until he had to fight with the steering wheel to get from the asphalt road onto the dirt that led up to the Midnight Sun base camp.

Grass grew on either side of the road, cut short by one of the guys who worked in the office. Every time he felt cooped up, he jumped on his riding lawnmower and mowed down an acre or two. Logan didn’t blame the guy. He would much rather be outside than indoors, especially during wildfire season.

He crested the hill and Jamie gasped.

Probably because she could see the expanse of the base camp, nestled between the river and the bottom of the hills that flanked the far side of the runway and protected them from the wind.

Likely not because of the eight hotshots jogging up the road in front of them.

“This place is huge.”

Logan loved every square foot of it. “The runway has been here for years, and a few of the older buildings. You can see the Quonset huts between the aircraft hangars on the far side. Those are original, as is the one office building on the east side.”

“What about the rest of the structures and those log buildings on the south side?”

“Four of the guys, they usually go by ‘the Trouble Boys,’ and one of the women—she’s always hanging with them—came up from Montana before winter.”

“The Trouble Boys?”

“Don’t ask me why we started calling them that,” Logan said. “They’re great people.”

She leaned forward to peer out the window.

“Anyway,” Logan said, “they started building cabins on one side of the runway before the winter hit and got it all done quick enough that they spent the cold months doing all the interior work, totally tricking out all the kitchens and bathrooms. We have a huge residence cabin for the guys, another one for the girls, both of which have huge living areas and entertainment rooms. The one in the middle is a cabin for married couples. It has suites, so each couple has a living room and bedroom and their own bathroom.”

“Wow. It’s impressive.”

Logan slowed the car. He rolled down his window as he approached the two men at the back of the pack of joggers running down to base camp. Mitch Bronson was the hotshot crew chief, and beside him ran a huge guy with an overgrown beard—Grizz. No one knew what his first name was.

Logan lifted two fingers and Grizz nodded.

Neither Mitch nor Grizz was sweating, even though they were running a decent pace. They were just bringing up the rear. Keeping an eye on everyone else.

Logan told Jamie who they were. Mitch leaned forward and waved at her through the window. “Mitch came up from Cal Fire a few years ago. He’s great. The kind of guy with an even temperament, who everyone respects because he’s been doing this for years.”

He kept driving and approached the youngest hotshot, Mack. Hammer’s younger brother ran beside Sanchez—the girl who hung with the Trouble Boys. The two of them couldn’t have been more different, though they both had dark hair. Mack grinned at something Sanchez said.

“Hey, guys.” Logan eased off the gas pedal a little more. “Need a ride?”

“Not on your life.” Sanchez started running faster, almost racing the car. Mack sprinted and caught up with her, and the two of them passed Raine, who was an Alaskan native. A local. She shook her head at them as they sped by her and Hammer.

Logan slowed. “I won’t offer you guys a ride.” Instead, he said, “This is Jamie.”

Raine glanced over, her gait slowing as she peeked in the window to get a look at his passenger. “When we get back, I want to hear what happened.”

Logan kept on rolling down the dirt road.

Jamie said, “Is it just me, or does she know who I am?”

He didn’t exactly want to admit he’d mentioned her. “Two more hotshots and that’s the whole crew.”

Sanchez and Mack had caught up to the last two guys, one with Middle Eastern coloring and his hair pulled back in a bun. The other was Kane, who tended to be quiet and kept his attention more on Sanchez than on fire. Logan had known them for more than a year and had never seen Kane and Sanchez act like more than friends, but what did he know?

He introduced them to Jamie and then left them to finish their run while he drove slowly. He didn’t want to kick up dirt behind the car that the others would have to breathe in on the last mile down to base camp.

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