“This is Reger. I was about to call you, Molly. I need a fresh weather forecast.”
“Stand by, Johnny. Prepare for instructions regarding personnel.”
Jack picked up his drip torch, but paused to listen.
“Go ahead,” Johnny said.
“Regarding that person you released,” Molly said, then ended the transmission.
Jack turned toward the two-track. Dust hung in the air. Could Foss pull strings that fast?
“He was a problem,” Johnny said. “Had to send him home.”
“Understood, but . . . stand by.”
Johnny dropped his hand. He kept an ear to the radio.
The radio popped and Molly came back on. “We’ve got a bigger problem. Luiz needs help. He needs you to keep him.”
“The guy’s worthless. Plus he’s gone. What’s up?”
“Rescue. We’re short-handed,” Molly said, a slight crack in her coolness. “We need all the help we can get.”
“He won’t be much good.”
“You’re not gonna like this, but we need him. And, we need some of you.”
“No way.”
“No negotiating. We need people. We’ve got a man stuck on a wall.”
Chapter 2
Johnny shook his head as he keyed the radio. “You want the guy we released, stop him at plateau junction. You’re welcome to him. His name’s Foss.”
“I’ll get someone there. Plus, we need two more. Maybe three. Raising system experience. People to lift the load.”
“Are you crazy? We can’t give you bodies. We only have so much time to keep this fire from visiting town. If we give you people, we risk losing everything, maybe today.”
“Sorry Johnny, we need people. Orders from the Superintendent. Chief Ranger says change plans or whatever you need to do, but we need two more people.”
“Stand by.” Johnny rubbed his eyes and turned to Jack. “Can you see if we have anyone with rock rescue experience?”
Jack clicked over to the crew channel and started calling squads. Within a minute he had answers. “None of those folks,” he said to Johnny. “How about you?”
“A little training, but I live by a strict set of rules. Never leave terra firma, unless it’s by helicopter.”
Jack keyed the radio. “Dispatch, this is Chastain.”
“Go ahead.”
“Johnny has training but no experience, and he needs to be here.”
“We’ll have to take him. Tell him find a replacement. Anyone else? We desperately need someone with experience in raising systems on big wall rescue.”
“One person. Dated experience. It’s been a few years.”
Johnny glanced over. “Thought you said no one?”
Molly came back. “I copy. Give us those two. We’ll catch Foss at the road.”
“The other person is me,” Jack said, an eye on Johnny. “We can’t give you both of us. We risk losing the fire. Take me, leave him.”
“We understand your concern but this takes priority. Luiz needs muscles. It’ll help if he gets people with know-how. Stand by for directions to the site.”
Jack caught a strange look from Johnny. “Don’t look confused. Makes you look stupid. So, what are you going to do?”
“You have big wall rescue experience?”
“Long time ago. The fire! What are you going to do?”
Johnny shook it off. “We’re short-handed. Can’t do much.”
Jack looked around. “Taking us leaves seven. I’d check Grey Beard.”
“We need to shift to suppression,” Johnny said, sounding defeated. “What an idiot. I thought this was such a good idea. Good fire. Don’t overreact, I said.”
“I’d ask Grey Beard if he’s comfortable leading initial attack. If he’s not, ask Christy. She can do it. You might ask her anyway. She knows the country.”
“Is it fair to them to . . . ?”
“Johnny, you can’t worry now. You have to keep it together, make a change in plans, give ’em responsibility and the flexibility to make it work. Have confidence it will.”
He nodded.
“Go.”
Johnny backed away, and waved Christy over. “Stop firing, everyone,” he said into the radio. “Change in plans. Holding crews, stay put. Firers, come to my location.”
“Chastain, this is Dispatch.”
Jack sighed and keyed his radio. “Go ahead, Molly.”
“The rescue is off the rim of the Little River Canyon. Luiz thinks you’ll get there faster hiking in from Falcon’s Bluff Trailhead. It’s a three mile drive from your location, then a two mile hike. Luiz will use orange flagging to show you where to leave the trail. He and the rest of the team are en route. They’ll pick up Foss en route. They should get there before you do.”
“I copy.”
Christy stood waiting for the others to assemble. Jack slipped behind her and whispered, “Keep an eye out for Kelly. She threatened to drop by with cookies. I told her not to, but she’s got a mind of her own.”
“Women!”
“Tell me about it. Let her know about the rescue, but tell her not to worry. It’s grunt work. They need muscles. Someone to pull rope and lift the load.”
“Load?”
“Body or person rescued, plus the rescuer.”
“Cheery.”
“Yeah.”
The crew assembled around Johnny. Jack pulled back to listen as they made their plans. They would line the burn and hit the fire with direct attack on the eastern flank. None were happy about it. “Not much choice. That’s all you can do,” Johnny said in conclusion. “Good luck.”
In the distance, plumes of smoke rose in the hot, now still air. The afternoon hours were ahead. The fire would get active.
—·—
They parked at Falcon’s Bluff Trailhead, jumped out, and took off at a fast pace.
Jack fell behind, fighting to keep up with Johnny. It felt good not to be breathing smoke.
Johnny picked up his pace.
“Anxious to see Foss?” Jack asked.
He slowed. “No, just want to get done and back to the fire. Foss . . . that’ll be fun.”
“No, it won’t.”
On the backside of the plateau, they stopped, caught their breath and studied the downhill stretch of trail. It hugged vertical faces of cross-bedded sandstone. Switchbacks chipped out of rock descended through a layer of strata and disappeared beyond a bend. The trail would level off with some distance still to go. On the horizon, the rim on the other side of el Cañon de Fuego peeked over erosional remnants, hinting at what they knew lay ahead.
“What did that poor bastard get himself into?” Johnny muttered aloud.
“What did he get us into?”
They