Expectant Father. Melinda Curtis

of the ground had flared into flame. It was a rookie mistake, unexpected in a second-year Hot Shot. Spider didn’t know where her mind was, but it wasn’t on her safety or that of the crew’s. Golden liked to nurture and protect his firefighters, but Spider had no patience for underachievers.

      Then there was the fact that his father was working on this fire on another crew. Even though his dad had more than twenty years experience, the guy had no legs. You could see the pain on his face with each deliberate step he took. If things got ugly and his crew had to race to safety as Spider’s had, his dad wouldn’t make it. He didn’t know who had let the old man pass his physical last spring, but someone should make him retire.

      “This situation isn’t hopeless, just pretty damn depressing,” Golden said with a shake of his head. “Let’s move.”

      Hopeless? It didn’t matter that Spider couldn’t find a happy thought at the moment. Nothing was supposed to be that bad.

      Spider forced a grin on his face. “Wait. I’ve got an idea.”

      “COME ON, BABY,” Becca spoke under her breath. “Move your butt so I can feel my leg.” The baby had shifted and was resting on something that cut off the circulation in her right leg, which now felt as if it were sandbagged as she forced her way uphill.

      Sometimes being pregnant was sucky, but it would all be worth it in the end.

      Becca didn’t usually let anything slow her down or get in the way of her goals. A planner by nature, she was working toward a fire behavior management position at NIFC’s headquarters in Boise. She’d do just about anything NIFC wanted her to do to be given the job, because there was no way she could chase fires from one forest to another all summer long and raise this baby.

      The Boise position meant giving up being in the trenches, crafting attack strategies to make firefighters’ lives safer, but it was a trade-off Becca was willing to make in order to have a child of her own. She’d focused too long on her career, letting the chance for romance, marriage and babies pass her by. To get the job, she had to appear tough and in control for just a few more weeks, in spite of her pregnancy, which slowed her down in ways she hadn’t expected.

      The baby sure hadn’t shown any signs of wanting to slow down. It considered her bladder a trampoline and her rib cage a punching bag. Her baby was go-go-go, just like Aiden Rodas.

      Becca groaned.

      She did not want to think about Aiden—not his smile, not his enthusiasm, not his unique observations on life. He’d actually told her that nothing in life should be harder than checkers. He didn’t realize life required complicated planning.

      “Do you want some dried fruit?” Julia asked, dangling a plastic bag filled with the snack toward her.

      Becca took an apricot.

      “Shouldn’t we have seen them by now?” Julia asked with a crinkle of plastic. She hadn’t wanted to leave base camp and hike out to meet the Silver Bend crew. Julia was a sweet thing until she left her comfort zone.

      Ironically, the great out-of-doors seemed beyond Julia’s comfort zone. It was an aspect of Julia’s character that frustrated Becca, yet she felt her assistant would overcome it. After all, there was no way Julia could have assumed a Fire Behavior Analyst would work in a nice air-conditioned office, was there?

      “Why don’t we rest here and take a reading?” Becca suggested, ignoring Julia’s question. She slung her lightweight backpack to the ground and dug around until she found her handheld weather meter, grateful to be distracted from thoughts of Aiden.

      Ninety-two degrees. Sixty-five percent humidity. Wind speed five. That and the extra pregnancy pounds she carried explained the sheen of sweat covering Becca’s body. She recorded the results in her small notebook, balancing the sheets of paper on her belly, then tucked everything back in her pack.

      She bent awkwardly to pick up a handful of spruce needles. “Look at how easily these snap.” She held the needles out to Julia, wanting her to experience the forest fuels firsthand, but Julia looked at the crushed needles as if Becca held a rattlesnake.

      Trying not to frown, Becca continued to teach. “Too little rain this past year has left the forest dry and the floor covered in combustible fuels, making it a prime target for a lightning strike. What do you suppose it’s like farther up the mountain?”

      “I’m not going to have to find out, am I?” Julia wiped at her eyes.

      “Walking the woods brings the topography to life. The more you know of the terrain, the better your predictions.” Disappointed in Julia’s lack of interest, Becca shouldered her pack and continued up the trail. She was determined to find a way to wean Julia’s dependence on computers for fire prediction.

      “What makes you think this fire is a sleeper?”

      Atta girl. Curiosity led to growth in a job like theirs.

      With a small smile, Becca glanced up at what little smoky skyline was visible through the trees. “First, the slopes on these ridges aren’t gradual or smooth. As wind speed picks up, it can really blow in some places and not at all in others.” She paused to catch her breath.

      “And second?”

      “For the most part, the westerly winds are working for us.” Filling her lungs with air, Becca continued up the slope. “But, I was talking to some of the local kitchen crew yesterday and they say that when the heat breaks at the end of summer it’s because the wind shifts to come from the north. There are a couple of valleys back here that open up onto the highway to the south. With the right northerly wind, there’d be no natural barriers in a fire’s way.”

      “Locals?” Julia couldn’t disguise her disbelief. “You asked a local fry cook? You can’t be serious.”

      Becca kept the impatience out of her voice because she remembered when she’d been young, immortal and perfect, too. “Locals are a great source of information. And these locals are Native Americans who’ve passed weather knowledge down through the generations.”

      Julia tilted her head as she pondered that bit of knowledge, before falling back on what she knew. “Carl will let us know if the wind is about to shift, won’t he?”

      “I hope so.” Carl had yet to prove himself worthy of Becca’s trust. Despite the heat, she shivered. Becca didn’t want to think about firefighters in the fire’s path if they didn’t have advance warning.

      Julia was silent for a bit, lagging behind, and then she fell into step with Becca, rubbing at her nose. “What if Silver Bend took a shortcut? What if they’ve hitched a ride back to camp?”

      Becca heaved a sigh of defeat. Maybe this aversion Julia had to the outdoors wasn’t going to be as easy to beat as she’d thought.

      She was sure she’d run into the Silver Bend team on the trail, but just in case, she should have a backup plan. “Why don’t you go back? You can wait for them in Medical in case I’m wrong.”

      Julia perked right up, and then had the grace to look embarrassed. “If you’re sure,” she added hesitantly, running a finger underneath one eye and glancing downhill. “I mean, you’ll be alone up here.”

      “I’m used to it. You go on.”

      “I’ll check the satellite feed and print out a fire update so you can review it when you get back,” Julia said with a wave.

      Alone, Becca looked up at the trees towering against a sky blanketed with a thick layer of brownish-gray wood smoke, stroked her belly and took in the grandeur of the forest. Julia didn’t understand what she was missing.

      A quarter of a mile later, Becca was puffing, limping and wishing she’d gone back with Julia. She stopped to take a reading.

      Eighty-nine degrees. Seventy percent humidity. Wind speed ten. The fire wasn’t affecting the temperature and humidity as much this far from the front. The higher she went, the cooler and more humid the air.