Page 58 of Turbulent Fires

Audrey’s head whips my way. “Wolf?” Her voice is clearly stressed.

I take a breath, then look at her. There’s no recovering this now. “We’re going to make an emergency landing near the lake just north of that canyon ridge ahead of us,” I say, keeping my tone calm. “I’ve made emergency landings before. I need you to stay calm and hold on.”

Her eyes widen, but she doesn’t scream, doesn’t ask a million questions, doesn’t freak out on me. She nods, tears in her eyes. “I trust you, Wolf.”

Her words fill me with pride, but terrify me at the same time. I don’t want to lose this trust. I have to concentrate now, so I don’t kill both of us. I face forward as I pick up the radio and call in a mayday, fast and clear. I give our coordinates, altitude, and terrain, then hold on and try to control the engineless machine. It’s not easy in the high winds of Southern California.

We’re going down faster than expected. I’m trying to minimize the use of the control surfaces to reduce drag. Keeping the airplane at best glide speed will improve the chances of reaching the spot I’ve identified for an emergency landing. My mind goes through the engine-out procedure, which calls for identifying a landing spot, then pointing in that direction. After establishing the best glide speed, I can try to restart the engines, provided I have enough altitude. The ground is coming up fast, though. Audrey’s handling it like a pro. I want to assure her, but it’s taking all I have to control this plane.

We reach the ground and hit hard, throwing both of us forward as the plane crashes through dry brush, the left wing clipping a rock and spinning us sideways. The metal screams as sparks fly, taking my breath away. It’s too dry for this. After what feels like forever, but is most likely under a minute, we smell it... smoke.

“No,” I breathe, real panic filling me now. I love this land, and I’m terrified I’m going to be the one to destroy it. I need to get Audrey out of this plane right now.

Flames begin to lick up from beneath the engine housing. The heat hits us fast, and the wind isn’t doing us any favors. One gust, and the fire that’s simply taken a breath before now, roars to life.

“We need to go now,” I tell her as I kick open the door. I click her seatbelt, freeing her as she stares at me in horror. I grab the emergency bag and radio behind me, then stand and hand her down to the ground before I jump after her.

We rush from the plane before turning to see it being engulfed by flames. The air is so damn hot, and the brush is dry as paper. There’s one crackle, then another, and the flames begin crawling across the grass like a living thing.

We turn and run with the fire chasing us. Ash is raining from the sky, turning the world orange and black and blinding us as we rush forward. I pray we’re heading in the right direction and not into a trap with no escape. My lungs are burning as I grip Audrey’s hand, not taking a chance on losing her. I see a cliff ahead. We stop at the edge, seeing the lake below, the drop looking ominous.

“We don’t have a choice. We need to jump,” I tell her apologetically.

“Let’s do it,” she says, showing more strength than I imagined possible. Damn, I love this woman.

“Hold your breath and swim hard. We need to pop back up and get to the other side of the lake fast. I don’t know what’s going to come crashing down behind us,” I tell her. She nods. We jump together.

The shock of the freezing water is brutal in contrast to the inferno behind us. We both pop up, then swim as if our lives depend on it . . . which they do. It’s a good thing for adrenaline, because it’s the only thing keeping us going. Somehow, we make it to the other side and pull ourselves from the water, which luckily doesn’t have a wall like the one we just jumped from. Both of us collapse on the grass as we regain control of our breathing.

We sit up and gaze across the lake at the disaster I’ve created. The fire’s devouring the hillside, breaking my heart. So much destruction. Dammit!

Audrey coughs beside me as her body starts shaking from the cold and trauma of the situation. I pull her into my arms and cradle her. We sit for a long moment as I work out what to do next. It doesn’t take long before I see choppers flying near as they assess the situation. Our call was heard, and they’re on it. I pray they’ll be in time to contain this disaster.

“We need to move,” I tell her as I brush wet hair from her cheek. “There’s a hunting shelter about a mile from here.”

She nods against my chest before pulling back. “Let’s do it.”

“Are you going to be okay to walk?” I don’t love how much she’s shaking. The sun’s almost down, and I need to get her inside as soon as possible.

“I’m good, Wolf. Let’s move.”

We rise and start moving through the forest. I pray we don’t run into a predator. That’s all we need at this point. The only good thing about the fire is that they’ll smell the smoke and run away like we are, so it shouldn’t happen. It seems to take forever, but we finally make our way across the uneven terrain to the small wood cabin that’s dusty and unused but still intact, tucked into a rock overhang like a secret waiting to be found.

We move inside and I quickly inspect the stone fireplace, thankful it’s sound. I use the kit in my thankfully waterproof survival pack and start a fire, desperately needing to warm Audrey. We went from way too hot to freezing cold rapidly. Our bodies are in shock. I don’t care about myself at the moment, but I do care about her.

She moves to the fire and leans in, pushing out her hands and sighing with pleasure as the heat begins to thaw her frozen body. I step up beside her and start pulling at her clothes. She gives me a half-hearted smile.

“Now? Really?”

I can’t even laugh, but I give her a smile. “We need to get your clothes off so they can dry and you can thaw.”

“You need to worry about you as well,” she tells me. She steps back, and with shaking fingers, starts tugging at her own clothes. I pull mine away too. For the first time ever, sex isn’t the first thing on my mind when I see her beautiful body. I need her to be healthy right now.

As soon as we’re down to our underwear, I pull her against me, using our bodies to help the heat from the fire warm us. It starts working, and finally, much to my relief, she stops shaking as she snuggles in closer.

“We’re going to be okay, right?” she asks, showing me a rare moment of vulnerability.

“I got the mayday out, and we saw the choppers assessing the situation. They’ll get this fire under control, and I’m sure they’ll find us too. I’ve been to the cabin before so I included the coordinates, telling them I was going to try to get us here.”

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