Sam let go and dropped. The fall was faster than he’d expected, but he managed to land on the peeling roofing tiles with both feet and hands like a spider.
The helicopter pulled up and away, leaving an eerie stillness all around the remote mountain cabin. Sam understood why people liked living deep in the woods. Who wouldn’t want to listen to the wind through the trees and the rushing river, rather than traffic and neighbors? A cabin like this was the perfect place to get away from it all.
The only downside was that when danger struck, it usually meant there was no one around to help.
Suddenly, the silence was replaced by the sound of a child crying. Moving quickly across the roof, Sam found a rock cropping at the rear of the house. Using the rocks as natural steps to the ground, he headed in the direction of the cries toward an outbuilding.
A little girl with tear-streaked cheeks barreled into his legs. She was crying too hard for him to understand what she was saying, so he knelt down and gently brushed the hair out of her eyes. She was a skinny little thing and he wasn’t exactly sure how old she was, but he guessed she wasn’t quite in the double digits yet.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” he told her in a gentle voice. When her wild gaze finally locked onto his and her sobs receded, he asked, “Are your parents here?”
This time he was able to make out the words, “My dad’s away at work. My mom is sick.”
“Anyone else here with you?”
The girl shook her head.
“A dog or cat or iguana?”
Her lips almost curved up at his reptilian reference and he knew she was going to be just fine. Children were the first ones to forget their fear. He’d been just like that as a kid. So had his brother.
“I’m Sam. What’s your name?”
“Piper.”
“Can you show me where your mom is, Piper?”
The girl started running and Sam jogged behind her into the house. A woman was lying on the couch in a fetal position. Her hands were on her rounded stomach. She wasn’t crying, but her eyes were wide and he could see that she was frightened.
She was tall and blond and slim, and her features were close enough to those of a woman Sam used to know that something splintered apart in his chest before he could shut it down.
Dianna.
Forcefully pushing thoughts of his ex aside, he knelt beside the woman. “I’m a firefighter and I’ve come to help you. What’s your name?”
Her lips trembled slightly and her cheeks were wet from tears. “Tammy.”
“Your daughter tells me you’re not feeling well.”
“I’m cramping,” she whispered. “It’s too soon for the baby to come. And I’ve miscarried before.”
Every word was a knife in his gut. He knew, firsthand, how painful miscarriage was. His chest squeezed and his throat grew tight before he managed to take his emotions out of the picture.
After ten years as a hotshot, he knew better than to let anything get in the way of the job he had to do.
From the window above the couch, he could see the treetops bending in the mounting breeze. Within minutes, flames would roll over this house.
Joe was going to have a hell of a time getting down here to pick them up, and Sam found himself wondering if the three of them were going to make it out alive.
“Our phones went out and my husband has our car,” Tammy said in a frantic voice. “I didn’t think anyone was going to find us.” She started crying again. “I don’t want to lose my baby or let anything happen to my little girl.”
Damn it, he didn’t have time for doubt, for second-guessing himself. He had to get them out.
“Can you walk?”
She tried to stand up, then sank back into the cushions.
“It hurts too much,” she said, her cramps obviously far too intense for her to stay upright.
With the fire raging, there was no way Joe could drop low enough to the cabin in the helicopter to get near them. Besides, in her condition, Tammy couldn’t climb a ladder, which meant Sam needed to get them to an open patch where Joe could land.
Pulling out his radio, he said, “Joe, I’m heading northwest with a pregnant woman and her daughter. First open spot you can land, we’ll need pickup for transport to the nearest hospital. Radio me when you choose your spot. And keep it close.”
Reaching under Tammy’s knees and shoulders, he hoisted her into his arms. “Wrap your arms around my neck and hold on tight.” Turning to Piper he said, “You look like you’re pretty fast.”
“I am.”
He smiled at the pretty little girl. “Good. Let’s get out of here. We’re going to hitch a ride on a helicopter.”
Moving as fast as he could without jarring Tammy, they eventually made it past the cabin to the stream that ran adjacent to the property. The acrid smell of fresh smoke hung in the air, and he instructed them to cover their mouths with their shirts.
Joe radioed with news that he’d found a meadow a half mile up from the cabin. It was a steady slope to get from the valley to the meadow, but even pregnant, Tammy didn’t weigh much.
As they began their ascent, he checked in with the brave little girl. “How are you doing, Piper?”
“Good. I’m going fast, aren’t I?”
“You sure are, Piper. Tammy? Am I moving too fast? Am I hurting you?”
She had stopped crying and he sensed that she had turned her entire focus to making it to the clearing, to getting up in the helicopter and flying to the hospital.
“Please, just hurry,” was her reply.
He hadn’t seen blood on her clothes or the couch when he’d picked her up, and he was praying that her cramping hadn’t yet turned into a full-blown miscarriage.
He’d been too late with his own child. He had to save this one.
“Everything’s going to be all right,” he promised, hoping like hell that he was telling the truth.
He couldn’t hear the helicopter yet, though, only the sound of hot flames already feasting on outbuildings. Could he get the three of them off the hill before they were next?
And then, thank God, he heard the whir of the helicopter’s blades above them.
“Joe’s coming to get us now,” he said, and a couple of minutes later, when they crested the hill, the helicopter was already on the ground, waiting for them. Together, the two men lifted Tammy into the aircraft.