Chapter 14
Evan had fought across the sands of Afghanistan.
He’d jumped two-hundred-and-twenty-three fires over the last five years.
He’d been in his fair share of bar brawls.
This was about the ugliest and most impressive battle he’d ever seen.
They had joined up with Akbar’s crew at two a.m. A fire normally called for two to six smokejumpers. A bad one was jumped by a dozen. The Bell Creek Fire threatening Concrete and the Skagit Valley had the entire MHA contingent of twenty-four smokies and a half-dozen Zulies who’d been returning from Alaska and gotten rerouted.
The fire reached Goat Mountain at sunset. The sky was a fantastic blood red painted in grand swirls by the ash and smoke.
Aircraft had been circling above them all day. Mount Hood Aviation had all six of their helicopte
