Doubling Down – Chapter Nine – Emersli1

Reading Time:
8 Minutes

Evan took one moment to think of Christopher.

Then he swung into action.

“Up.  Up, towards the ridgeline!  Now, now, now!”  Buck’s teammates responded to the urgency in his voice, moving quickly up to higher ground on the backside of the burning area.  “Who’s got the two-way?”

“That’s me.  I’m calling in.  We’ve missed at least three check-ins at this point, and we could really use a ride out of here.”  Jake brought the hi-tech walkie-talkie up to his mouth.

Buck looked at the fire in front of them and the ridgeline behind them.  He’d be very surprised if a ride out was on the table.  But if they followed the ridgeline east …

“Hello?  This is B Team reporting in.  We’re all alive, but we’re hurt, and we’re surrounded by fire.  We need a helicopter ASAP.”  Jake waited a minute, listening hopefully.  “Repeat.  This is B Team reporting in.  We have dealt with the shooter.   We’re hurt but alive and we need an evac.”

After another minute, Jake looked at his teammates and shook his head.  “There’s some sort of interference.  They’re obviously only getting part of what I’m saying.  And they sound like they’re saying they can’t come get us.”

Buck nodded in understanding.  “Yeah, I was afraid of that.  Pilot’s not gonna be able to put her down with the winds the way they are along this ridge.  We’re gonna have to hike it.”

Mateo swallowed and looked around.  There was no denying he’d slow everyone down.  “I’ll stay here.  You guys can tell them where I am, and they can come get me when they’ve got the fire under control.”

Snorting, Buck shook his head.  “Not a chance.  It could be days before they get this beast under control.  And you have no idea where it’s going next.  Besides…”  

Evan thought about how much information to share.  Finally deciding to just put it all out there he continued.  “In fire, it’s not usually the flame that gets you.  It’s the smoke.  And you’re already coughing.  If we try to stay here odds are we’ll suffocate before we burn, but that’s a small mercy.  And I plan on going home to my son next week.  And I promised Abuela I’d help fix the garden shed on my next long break.  So…”

Mateo couldn’t deny that he’d been coughing.  Evan was right.  And he didn’t want to suffocate.  It was ridiculous.  His partner was in an actual warzone and wasn’t in this kind of danger.  “Well, if you promised your abuela …”

Marshall wasn’t doing much better, but even with the blood loss and pain, he knew how to operate in the woods.  At least when they weren’t on fire …

Jake knew he wasn’t the expert here.  But Evan was.  “OK Evan.  You’re the one with the fire training.  What do we do?” 

Buck looked around.  All three men were looking confidently at him to lead them out of this mess.  Well, ok then.

“Leave everything but the water.  At this point it’ll just slow us down.  We have to get out of the active zone.  We can’t just follow this fire down.  For one thing, it could turn on us at any time.  For another, we’d be walking right into the smoke.  And it’d probably melt the soles of our shoes.  So, we’re going to follow the ridgeline and hope we can find a place to cross over.”

Evan made sure he sounded confident.  “If we can get around to a cooler dead zone, where the northern fires have passed through … that’s our best shot.  We stay together.  And we go home, together.”

The other three men nodded with various levels of confidence.  Jake was pretty sure he could do what Evan had described.  Marsh knew he could do it, if he didn’t currently have a couple of holes in his body that weren’t factory installed.  Mateo didn’t know, but he knew the guys wouldn’t leave him … so that meant he was going to do it.  Period.

The group started out, heading northeast, following the ridge.  Hopefully towards safety.

They’d been walking for about an hour by Buck’s best determination.

They hadn’t made a great deal of progress, and the smoke was becoming more of a problem.  They all had their shirts wrapped around their faces at this point, and most of them were still coughing.  Jake had an arm under Marsh’s shoulder and Mateo was clinging determinedly to Buck’s belt as they made their way slowly through the dark.

Finally, off to the north, Buck saw it.  A small break that would let them get behind the active hot zone and headed for safety.  Doggedly he led his staggering crew all the way over the ridge onto the downwards north slope.  A tiny stream persistently pushed its way through, and it was their pathway through to the other side.

Buck would have liked to let Mateo and Marsh rest for a few minutes, but he didn’t dare.  He made for the stream, and the guys followed him, putting their trust in his ability to outguess the fire and bring them safely home.

When the water splashed over his shoes, Evan leaned down and untied the shirt from his face, wetting it quickly and retying it.  The other men followed suit, and Buck took the opportunity to refill his canteen … then waited a few extra minutes while they did the same.  Then they were back on the move.

Mateo had done well on the climbing along the ridge, his amateur climbing practice coming to his aid, but slogging through a stream … in the dark … with uncertain footing every step of the way was a huge challenge for him.  Now Marshall was having an easier time of it.  He’d walked streams many times while hunting in his own woods.  California’s weren’t all that different.  But he was tired and hurt, so progress was still slow.

They came out of a small cut into a place where the air was cooler, and seemed less clogged with smoke.  The four tired men would have cheered if it wouldn’t have required oxygen they didn’t have to spare.

The sun was close to rising in front of them, and in the growing light they could see that they had entered an area of burn that was a day or two old.  Maybe a little more.  Nothing seemed to be regrowing yet, but the air was clearer.  The smoke from the fires was still present, but lighter … less hot.  More the remains of a fire well extinguished than a growing threat.

Buck would have expected his leg to be giving him grief.  Or his lungs.  Or even his arm with its deep groove.  But no.  

What was driving him crazy was his ear.

He’d known when Mateo lined up for his shot that the ear was going to take some damage.  And it obviously had.  Sounds on that side had been muffled since the shot, but now he had developed a strange ringing in the damaged ear.  If he focused on it, it sounded like …

It almost sounded like a baby crying.

Buck looked around at the dead landscape.  Obviously, there wasn’t a baby crying here, so apparently his ear and his mind had joined up in a campaign to mess with him.  Great.

Leading his little pack of scientists, Evan continued moving east and down.  Sooner or later they’d cross a road.  The heat had fried their electronics, so none of them could even get a working compass, but the sun rising in his face told him he wasn’t too far off course.

And based on the area maps he’d been studying over the past two months, they still had a ways to go.  

But they were headed in the right direction, and they were all still upright (mostly) and moving.

He was going to take that for a win.

Eddie looked in dismay at the satellite images on the walls.

There were active fire zones to the north and now a line was moving south.  County Fire was moving to get it contained, but that wouldn’t help the men trapped in the middle.  Sheriff Nottingham was talking on the two-way with his opposite number in the county fire department, and small volunteer departments were scrambling quickly to join.

Making a decision, Eddie headed over.  “Sheriff?  Can I interrupt you for just one second?”

The Sheriff looked at the man who’d been introduced as the fiancé of one of the missing men.  He felt bad for the guy, really he did.  But he had too many fires to put out (he cringed mentally at the poor choice of metaphor) and no time to reassure loved ones.

“Sir, I know you’re worried ….” the sheriff began, only to be interrupted again.

“I’m a firefighter in good standing with the Los Angeles Fire Department.  Could I be useful anywhere?”  Eddie hadn’t planned this, but he had a skillset that could be helpful, and people were in trouble.  The fact that one of those people was his … well, that was just a coincidence.  Really.

“Don’t suppose you’ve got any proof of that?”  The sheriff looked at him doubtfully.

Eddie pulled out his wallet and offered his Firefighter II/Paramedic ID and his old military ID showing his Combat Medic designation.  After studying his credentials, the sheriff gave him a long, intent look Athena Grant would have been proud of and spoke into his radio.

“Got another live body for you.  Eddie Diaz, Firefighter II/Paramedic.  In the area and wants to help out.”  The man waited for a response while considering the younger man in front of him.  Looked steady, for all his man was out in all of this.  He looked to Linley and DiNozzo.  Linley shrugged, but DiNozzo nodded firmly.

“Well, if he has his creds on him, verify with NFPA and send him to Fred Wright at Grenada FPD to pick up some turnouts.  Wright’ll take it from there.”  Captain Montez sounded tired to the bone, but his voice was steady as he gave directions.

Sheriff Nottingham took one more minute to study the guy.  Diaz met his gaze squarely and seemed steady.  Making his decision, he nodded abruptly.  “OK Diaz.  You heard the man.  I’ll get somebody to run you to Grenada.  From there, you’re on your own.”

“Thank you, sir.”  Eddie turned to follow the deputy coming over in response to his boss’s wave.  Nodding to Tony as they went out the door, he turned his mind to the fire at hand.

Just as he knew Evan was doing.