He grabbed his gear from his bunk room and nodded his goodbyes to his team. He headed to the vehicle bay where he’d stashed one of his prize possessions—a red four-wheeled Raptor two-person ATV. Not that he ever shared his ride, but he loved the way the vehicle ate up the trails with its twenty-one-inch wheels. He cranked the motor and exited the garage only to be greeted with cold rain pelting his face.
Great. Skye was probably right to send him out here, even if it was miserable weather. That city girl and her boyfriend had no business being out in this rain, and it probably was his fault they were out alone.
Even with diminished visibility and slick, muddy ground, Grizz pressed on. He knew this mountain better than anyone. This was practically his backyard. His cabin was ten miles to the west, but for now, he’d head east and up the mountain trail. He hadn’t expected the detour, but he had a full tank of gas, so he’d have plenty to make it to the cabin.
What had that reporter been thinking? As a hotshot, it was his job to protect the people who lived on the mountain, and their homes, from wildfires. If there was some rogue secret camp up here, Grizz and his team would have already spotted it.
Over the last few weeks, their smokejumpers had tangled with plenty of militia guys. Logan had rescued Jamie, a civilian, from a militia compound that had been burned by wildfire. The Feds had classified the information about the compound, so it was unlikely that a reporter from DC knew something Grizz’s team didn’t.
Cadee and Vince had found dead salmon out of season. Orion and Tori had been certain the militia had set up shop somewhere new.
If it was local to the Midnight Sun base, surely they’d know.
Despite the inclement weather, the temperatures were Alaska-perfect at sixty degrees. He wore his hotshot T-shirt and wondered if he should have changed into shorts before leaving.
Rain pelted him in the face as he drove the ATV along the winding paved trail, but he’d take the rain over the dry season that had sparked so many fires.
He laughed at the thought of Dani Barlowe in her puffy network blazer with fourteen layers underneath. Her station’s story about the hotshots brought back all kinds of unpleasant memories. His team had failed to stop a wildfire from taking out a group of homes after it had blazed too close to civilization. No one had cared that the fire had been started by someone carelessly tossing a lit cigarette into the brush. All that’d mattered was that a celebrity’s summer home had gone up in smoke along with other overpriced residences in a fancy new subdivision at the base of Copper Mountain. Suddenly the hotshots had been the villains, inept at their jobs.
It was bad enough that his team had failed, but had it needed to become an international scandal? The good guys never could win.
And that horrible nickname the station had imposed on them…lukewarm shots.
Even if she hadn’t written the piece herself, she was guilty by association as far as he was concerned.
After fifteen minutes, Grizz pulled into the state park entrance. The area provided access to several hiking trails that circled Copper Mountain. One lone car sat in the empty parking lot. The same white Subaru Outback that Dani and the cameraman had driven to base camp.
The asphalt trail ended, and the main trail switched to a dirt path. What were these two up to? Had they made it this far? Grizz parked his vehicle up the hill from the parking lot and obscured it in some bushes to protect it from the rain. He pulled out his phone to call Skye with an update. No bars. It wouldn’t be the first time a storm had knocked out communications on the mountain.
Grizz made his way to the trailhead. Had Dani made it up these steep hills covered with rocks and mud? He’d definitely underestimated the woman’s tenacity if she had.
After thirty minutes, his calf muscles strained with each step. He paused to catch his breath when the dirt trail ended at a scenic photo stop.
Where was Dani?
Despite the rain, Grizz spotted a freshly trampled patch of brush that hadn’t been washed away. It wasn’t a marked trail, but Grizz had a feeling Dani and the cameraman had continued on, so he set out on foot, up the path beyond where most tourists and locals stopped hiking.
Grizz navigated through the trees and shrubs, climbing the steep slope of the mountain. How far had Dani and her friend hiked? What was so important to her that she’d make this treacherous climb?
He pushed another branch out of his way and froze. A strong, earthy smell hit his nose. The sound of water flowing rumbled close by.
It had the markings of a mudslide. The past few rainy days had taken a toll on the mountain. A few minutes later, Grizz reached the spot where the water, mud, rocks, and debris flowed down the mountainside. It drifted by him and headed toward the road he’d taken in, which meant getting back to base would be treacherous. His ATV wouldn’t handle mud in its engine.
He walked parallel to the flow of muck, looking for any signs of Dani and the cameraman.
A boulder interrupted the flow of the mudslide, which sent the river of dirt and debris around it. But Grizz saw the flash of yellow.
The INN logo.
A lifeless figure lay scrunched up against the rock, covered in mud.
He raced to the boulder and stepped through the muck to clear away some of the sludge. “Oh no no no.”
Dani lay sprawled in the guck. He checked for breath and found a pulse. Her blonde hair stuck up at odd angles all around her pale face, but she was alive.
“Dani, can you hear me?”
A groan sent his heart soaring, but she didn’t rouse. Her pulse was strong, and he didn’t see any blood or injuries apart from the knot on her head that swelled beneath his fingers. Her dark-blonde eyelashes lay flat on high cheeks.
