Page 67 of The Fire We Crave

Through the hiss and the steam, I drop the hose, the water spraying over the bottom of my boots and jeans.

“Ah, fuck,” I gasp, backing up to the wall and bending over.

My hands shake.

My knees shake.

I haven’t faced a real fire since that day on the mountain.

I see their faces.

I see it in the water running down the damaged panes of glass. I smell it in the burning oil and smoke. I hear it in my own unsteady breathing.

Geoff appears. “You catch it?”

I nod. “Double check though, yeah?”

Geoff does as I ask, thoroughly inspecting the area. “Nice work.”

“It’s out?” I ask.

“Yeah.” He looks at me carefully before turning the tap off on the wall to stop the hose that is snaking over the concrete. Then, he messages his team to stand down. “How are you? Heard about that call out you did, conflagration, man. Those fires are the fucking hardest.”

Whileout of controlsounds bad, it’s the easiest in a wildfire. It simply means it’s expected to grow, and the fire isn’t contained.Blowupmeans it has suddenly got worse. Spreading fast, increasing in intensity.Extended attack incidentmeans an initial attempt to gain control of it has failed and it’s gonna take a lot more effort to contain it.

But a conflagration?

It’s the most intense. The most destructive. It requires extremely dry weather conditions and causes widespread devastation. It’s unpredictable, unconquerable.

“Jumping out of a plane into that,” Geoff continues. “Fucking heroic. Sorry for the loss of your team.”

I nod, because I’m expected to. Because, right now, I can’t find a way off that goddamn fucking mountain. I’m still standing with the dead rather than conversing with the living. “Thanks for coming.”

“No worries. But how did you know to call us before it happened?”

I point up to the camera on the outside of the building and quickly pull my hand back down when I realize it’s still shaking something fierce. “Quinn has cameras. Four men. Looking suspicious. Tried to get money from her. Extortion.”

Geoff rubs a hand over his chin. “You know I have to call this in, though, right? So, I can’t let you ride off with those men.”

I stand fully, and for the first time, I remember about the men who were here, the one Grudge pulled a gun on out front.

“C’mon, Geoff. Just call it done, and ride away.”

He shakes his head. “No can do. As soon as you said there was a fire, I called in the police. No doubt they’ll be here soon. Maybe here already.”

“Fuck,” I curse.

Geoff slaps me on the shoulder. “You always did a way better job of straddling the law than I did.”

He leaves me alone with my thoughts.

Butcher suddenly appears. “Where the fuck were you?”

“Putting the fire out,” I answer, irked by his tone.

“Fucking police got them all. But watch, if there’s any chance one of them gets free, makes a run for it, whatever, they become fair game to us.”

When I walk out onto Main Street, there’s a chaotic mess of bikers, firefighters, Sheriff Radcliffe, and several other police officers.

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