Moose wiped his hands on a grease rag as he stood back from the 4440 in front of him. A quick re-priming of the fuel system and it should be good to go back out to the Nash place—

Three long beeps came out of the radio clipped to his belt, causing Moose to jump a little in surprise. Then, the voice of Mr. Behrend came out, the city’s very old and very grumpy dispatcher.

“Attention, all Sawyer City firefighters, there is a wildfire out east of town, up in the hills. The county fire department has asked for assistance in fighting this fire. I repeat, all Sawyer City firefighters…”

Moose tuned out his emergency radio for a moment as he looked around the shop, frantically trying to find the shop manager, Sam. He spotted him in the corner, sifting through their parts pile. “Sam, fire! I gotta go!” he hollered, even as he began sprinting for the door. His boss called something back, but it was lost beneath the radio chatter breaking out.

“Base, this is Levi Scranton. I am in the Horseshoe Bend area, but I am on my way back now. I’m at least an hour out. Over.”

A crackle and then, “Base, this is Chief Anderson. I am heading to the station now. Over.”

Moose slid into his truck, jamming his keys into the ignition. He’d wait for the chatter to die down and then call himself in. He’d beat Levi to the station, but not by much. The dealership was on the opposite side of the valley from Horseshoe Bend, and was also quite a bit out of town. By the time he got to the fire station and suited up, he’d be on the second fire truck to leave, for sure.

“Who spotted the fire? Over,” someone asked. It sounded like Dylan, Luke Nash’s employee. He hadn’t been with the volunteer fire department for very long, and even over the radio, Moose could hear the excitement in his voice. Moose laughed a little to himself, the adrenaline pumping. There was always a thrill that came with being called out, that was for sure – a thrill even he couldn’t deny. Fighting fires would never grow old.

The radio crackled and then, “Wildlife biologists were in a helicopter, doing a count of deer and elk, when they spotted the smoke column. Hold.” The radio fell silent. Moose was on a tear towards town, cursing how far out the dealership was from the fire department, the city, and life in general, when the radio came to life again. “They are reporting that there is a person and a dog on scene, up at Eagle’s Nest. I repeat, there is someone up there, at Eagle’s Nest, and it appears that there is a dog with them.”

Oh shit, shit, shit!

Moose took a hard left up a country road, not taking the time to slow down, his tires squealing on the pavement as he headed out towards Eagle’s Nest. Sure enough, as he leaned forward and peered through the windshield, he could detect a faint column of smoke rising up in the sky ahead of him, from the foothills.

Forget his gear. He didn’t have time for that shit. Moose was closer to Eagle’s Nest than anyone else on the fire crew because it was on the dealership side of the valley. By the time he got to the firehouse, threw on his suit, and rode back out with the rest of the crew, this guy and his dog would be long dead. Moose couldn’t follow protocol, knowing that he had the chance to save someone if he didn’t.

Dammit, why was some dude out hiking in the foothills today? It was nice enough weather for spring, sure, but didn’t he have a job to be at or something? It was too early for it to be a tourist – they almost never showed up until after Memorial Day.

Whatever. He needed to call Jaxson before he lost all signal. Leaving the chattering radio beside him on the passenger seat, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. Jaxson answered, sounding out of breath. “You on your way?” he asked, not even bothering with a greeting.

Moose didn’t either. This was no time for pleasantries.

“I’m on my way to the fire,” he said bluntly. “I’m not coming to the station beforehand.”

“What?!” Jaxson roared. “You can’t go fight a fire single-handedly! And without equipment!”

“I know,” Moose broke in, before Jaxson could get a full head of steam on him, “but I’m not going to. I know Eagle’s Nest – I can get up to it from the backside. No fire truck is going to be able to reach this area, which means we’re going to be fighting this with Pulaskis and chainsaws. By the time you guys get the fire under control, this tourist is gonna be dead. I’ll go up the backside of the foothills and over the top, down to Eagle’s Nest, and get the guy and his dog out.”

Jaxson started to protest again, but this time, Moose just bluntly cut him off. “Jaxson, I’m gonna pull local boy card here. I know this place like the back of my hand. I’m already a lot closer to it than y’all are, because I was at the dealership when the call came in. I can make a difference. You gotta trust me.”

And then the phone was beeping in his hand and Moose pulled it away from his ear to see “No Signal” flashing on the screen. “Dammit!” he growled, putting the phone into airplane mode before dropping the worthless hunk of electronics into an empty cup holder. He didn’t know how much of that Jaxson had caught.

His radio had gone silent also, which Moose did not take as a good sign, but he snagged it from the passenger seat and tried to radio in anyway.

“Moose Garrett to base,” he said.

Nothing.

He let out a curse that’d set his grandmother’s hair on fire if she’d heard him, and tossed the worthless radio into the backseat. After 9/11, the federal government had made a concerted effort to get radios into the hands of all first responders that should work anytime, any place, anywhere, and most fire departments had taken advantage of that grant money to get a top-notch radio system for their crew.

Every fire department, that was, except for the Sawyer Fire Department.

He cursed former Chief Horvath as he slammed his hand down on the steering wheel. The man had been in that position for far too long, and had just gotten damn lazy. Anything that smacked of paperwork, he’d done his best to duck. He’d bought that overpriced, brand-spanking-new fire truck a couple years back, and ever since then, he hadn’t even bothered trying to pretend that he was interested in doing more. He’d done his part, he’d stayed the course, and from there forward, he was just biding his time until he could retire.

Well, with any luck at all, Jaxson would’ve heard most of what Moose had said, and wouldn’t panic too much. He needed to focus on getting the rest of the guys out to fight the fire. Moose could take care of himself.

The road shrunk down to one lane, and then pavement disappeared completely and Moose was bouncing along on a rutted dirt road an elk would be horrified to walk down. He grunted in pain when he was bounced up high enough that his seatbelt locked, slamming him back down into the seat.

The good news was, his truck was as tough as shoe leather, and a 4x4 to boot, so it’d climb a greased pole if need be. He could get pretty far up the backside of the hill that dropped off into Eagle’s Nest before he’d be forced to get out and climb. Any mile he could drive, he would. It would shave precious minutes off his arrival time, and right now, every minute counted.

Finally, he reached the row of boulders that he couldn’t wind his way past. This was where the truck ride ended and the hiking began. He shifted into park, and jumped out to begin his search through the backseat for supplies. The first thing he reached for was his emergency backpack. Part of his first responder training had been to always carry a backpack with water, snacks, and extras like matches and a couple of space blankets, just in case he was ever trapped out in the wilderness unexpectedly. He wasn’t going to attest to the freshness of the food, but hey, beggars couldn’t be choosers.

He unzipped the front pocket and pulled out the headlamp he kept tucked in there, pulling it into place on his head. He didn’t need to turn it on yet, but having it ready to go could only be a good thing. The sun was starting to head for the western horizon, which meant that they were about to enter the seemingly endless twilight zone that came along with living in a deep valley. For hours after direct sunlight would’ve disappeared, the sky would still be lit with the fading rays of the sun. Hopefully Moose would be able to get the guy and his dog back up to the truck and to safety before the light completely disappeared, but that was nothing more than a hope at this point.

He slung his backpack over his shoulder and then began searching for the rope he’d thrown in the backseat last fall. He’d kept meaning to get it out and put it away, but somehow, he’d never gotten around to it. His laziness was about to pay off. He tossed some blankets and an old jacket out of the way when he finally spotted it, peeking out from under the seat, and pulled it out, sighing to himself as he did.

Dammit, it was as short as he remembered, which meant that it was too short to get all the way down to the base of Eagle’s Nest. He’d gone out rock climbing and rappelling with Levi dozens of times over the years, and this spot was a favorite of theirs, so he knew just how much rope he needed to get to the base. This wasn’t going to do it.

But on the other hand, if he didn’t rappel off the side of the cliff, he’d be stuck taking the trail on the north side that also wound its way through the forest to the base of the cliff. It was totally doable, of course, but a hell of a lot slower. He might as well have just come with the rest of the guys in that case.

No, down the front was the only way. He could get the dog, the guy, and they could hike back out together the long way around.

His heart was running at top speed, adrenaline dumping into his system on overload, as he climbed up the barrier of large boulders, his work boots slipping as he tried to heave himself upward. This climb was a hell of a lot easier when he was wearing the right shoes. No surprise there, of course.

He finally got to the top of the boulders and worked his way over to a relatively skinny boulder stuck firmly in the ground. It was the same one they’d used countless times in high school. The boulder wouldn’t move an inch, so he at least had that certainty he could count on, even if it was the only one.

He didn’t have rappelling gear or safety equipment of any kind, and he was risking life and limb here, but hell, he’d come this far. He could go a little farther, right?

He straightened up and took a moment to look out over the hillside and valley below. Smoke and flames were billowing up, but it appeared the majority of the fire had started working its way to the south. Thank God. It wasn’t terribly surprising – daytime winds tended to go upslope and then as soon as evening hit, they usually changed directions and went downslope. It looked like that was holding true for the winds whipping this fire up. As long as this tourist and his dog had stayed put at the base of Eagle’s Nest, they might just live through this after all.

As Moose was doing his best to figure out where this fire was going and what it was doing, his boot slipped a little on the pebbles underfoot and he instinctively looked straight down, his eyes skittering past his boots and down the cliff face. He’d made it a point to never look down – he hated admitting to it, but heights scared the bejesus out of him, something even Levi didn’t know. Looking over the valley was one thing; looking straight down a cliff was another.

And that’s when he spotted her.

“Georgia?” he said, in shock.