Wildfire Griffin (Fire & Rescue Shifters: Wildfire Crew #1)(63)

“Sorry chief.” With superhuman effort, Rory managed to turn his back on Edith. “I’m listening.”

Buck grunted, looking like he might be considering hurling another pinecone at his head anyway. “As I was saying, Control’s tried to drop smokejumpers in, but the fly-boys couldn’t cope with the winds up there. They’re scrambling more ground teams as fast as they can, but for the moment, we’re the cavalry.”

“Lucky this one is practically in our backyard.” Tanner cast a worried glance at the distant town. “Know some nice folks down there in Blackbeck. Has an evac order gone out?”

“Yeah, local sheriffs are getting people to pack up and skedaddle. Let’s try and make sure they’ve all got homes to come back to.” Buck hunkered down, spreading a map out on the ground. “We’ve got two choices. Play it safe and let the fire have its way with the trees while we cut line lower down, or race the blaze and try to save as much of the forest as possible.”

“We should cut it off high up,” Rory said without hesitation. He traced a line across the map. “Here.”

Tanner sucked his teeth. “That’s awfully close to the head, Rory. No room for mistakes.”

“We can do it.” He caught Buck’s eye meaningfully. “Send my squad in, on our own. We’ll strike hard and fast. B and C can cut line lower down, just in case it gets away from us.”

“No,” Seth said, predictably. No matter how sensible and obvious a plan was, if it came from Rory, the C-squad boss always disagreed.

What Seth said next, though, surprised Rory. “My squad should go with Rory’s.”

“I don’t need any help,” Rory said, annoyed. “We work better on our own.”

Buck glanced up at them both, eyes narrowing. “I do not have time for pissing contests today, boys. Rory, you’ll go faster with C-squad following along to make good. Seth, if you go in, it’ll be to support Rory’s squad. He’ll be in charge. You going to be able to follow his orders without any lip?”

Seth pushed his mirrored aviators a bit higher. What little of his face Rory could see looked pale and gaunt. He didn’t know how the C-squad boss had gotten back from Antler the previous night, and didn’t much care. An all-night hike wasn’t nearly enough punishment for what he’d done to Edith.

“Yes,” Seth said, to Rory’s astonishment. He gestured at the burning mountain. “That’s what’s important. We have to save the forest.”

Tanner’s eyebrows ascended. “Since when do you care about trees?”

“It’s old,” Seth sounded oddly intense. His whole body was wound tight. It was difficult to tell, but Rory thought his hidden gaze was fixed on the distant fire. “Untouched. Mustn’t burn.”

“We’d have a hell of an easier time if someone had let it burn,” Buck said grumpily. “Buttload of dead crap in that undergrowth. We should have been doing controlled burns on this place years ago, but it’s a nature reserve or something. Never could get approval. Now it’s just a giant all-you-can-eat buffet for that damn fire.”

“So do we abandon it?” Tanner asked.

“No.” Rory found himself saying the word simultaneously with Seth. It was pretty much the first time the two of them had ever agreed on anything.

He’d thought that humiliating Seth by using his alpha voice would have made the C-squad boss even more pissed off with him, but the opposite seemed to be true. Seth was staying as far away from him as possible, shoulders hunched and cap drawn down as though trying to hide under the brim.

Huh. Maybe Blaise was right, Rory thought, bemused. Should have kicked his ass a long time ago.

Buck heaved a sigh. “Okay, we’ll try it Rory and Seth’s way. A-squad goes first with rough cuts, with C-squad following behind to shore up. Tanner, you start a backup line at the foot. I’m going to stay here where I can see everything, and coordinate on the radio. If I yell, you boys pull out fast, got it? Brief your squads. Make sure everyone’s bringing their best game, because there’s no margin for error on this one.”

Rory hung back as Tanner and Seth headed to their respective teams. “Chief. Do we know how the fire started yet?”

“No. It was only just spotted at ass o’clock this morning, so the sheriffs haven’t had time to sniff around for any guilty kids or careless campers.” Buck shot him a keen look. “Why? You got a hunch?”

“Yeah. My animal’s restless.” The back of his neck prickled. He resisted the urge to glance over his shoulder at Edith again.

He studied the map instead, following the route from Thunder Mountain to their current location. It was practically in their backyard, only a few hours’ drive from base. Much closer than the lightning-creature had dared to come before, but still…

“It was heading this way.” He traced a straight line from Antler to Blackbeck. “The lightning-creature, I mean. When I chased it away from our home turf, this is the direction it fled. I think it’s responsible for this fire.”

Buck folded his map decisively. “Then we’ve definitely got to cut this sucker off early.”

“Why?”

Buck’s smile gleamed like a knife. “Because in every case where its fires were caught and contained straight away…it came back to restart them.”