Rescuing the Rancher

by Claire McEwen

  Jade ran around the corner. “The propane tank is venting,” she gasped when she stumbled to a stop beside him. “That’s a good thing. It should keep it from exploding.”

  She was sweet to come check on him, and to make sure he wasn’t too scared, but her concern humiliated Aidan enough to make him tamp down his emotions. “One thing to be grateful for, I guess. Do you think the barn is wet enough?”

  “It better be.” She pointed up into the sky, and Aidan looked. It would have been beautiful if it weren’t so dangerous. Embers were swirling toward them on a chaotic wind wrought by the oncoming fire. Just then, grass at the edge of the gravel area around the barn caught fire.

  “Go,” Jade commanded, and Aidan ran with his hose, spraying the flames into oblivion. When he looked up, Jade was shouldering a backpack pump. She staggered a little as she shifted the weight on her shoulders.

  He rushed toward her. “That’s heavy. Are you okay?”

  If looks could be lethal, hers would kill in seconds. “I’m fine. I fight fires a lot, remember?”

  Amazing how he managed to wedge his foot into his mouth even as his ranch was incinerating. “Sorry.” She seemed so tiny to him. If that pump was awkward for his six-foot-three frame, it seemed impossible that she could manage it at five-foot-something.

  But clearly she could, because with one last stern look she said, “We need to be ready for anything. I’m going to try to defend the side of the barn closest to the hillside and the well, and back by the carport. You’re in charge of the front here and the west side. But yell if you need me, okay?”

  “Likewise.” She turned to go but he wasn’t ready. He didn’t want to part with her so angry and him such a fool. “Jade, hang on.” She turned to look at him, eyebrows raised in a question. “Just now, I was dumb. You’re the toughest firefighter I’ve ever met.”

  She smiled. He could see it in her eyes. “Don’t tell me how many you’ve actually met. Let me just enjoy the compliment.” Then she turned away, walked to the barn and pulled open the big door.

  Aidan watched her go inside and come back out with the ax she called her Pulaski. “You look ready for anything,” he called.

  “You better believe it,” she yelled back. “Get yourself some tools, just in case.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “That’s boss to you,” she tossed back, and jogged around the corner of the barn, out of sight.

  His world was burning, but Aidan smiled as he watched her go. Then he took her advice, found a pickax and shovel, and heaved a backpack pump on. He tightened his bandanna around his nose and mouth and tried not to think about the state of his lungs. He’d been breathing in ash and smoke for hours now. As the fire got closer the air felt warmer. Aidan knew warm might turn to hot before the night was through, but he pushed that thought aside. They’d survive. They had to.

  Another ember lit the grass, but he put it out easily with his hose. As the fire raced toward him alongside the driveway, it sent more and more firebrands flying his way. Flames started up to his right, then to his left and now there was fire right behind him.

  “Jade!” He wasn’t holding ground here. He bellowed her name one more time and she came running, hose in hand, stopping to put out a fire over by where he usually parked his truck. This was all so surreal. His house was a tower of roaring flames, and now his other landmarks were catching fire. The hitching post by the water trough looked like a torch until Jade sluiced it with her hose. The spot alongside the driveway where the deer sometimes slept, leaving the grass flat in the mornings, went up. It was beyond the reach of his hose, so Aidan used his pickax and covered it with dirt, then added a little water from his backpack pump for good measure.

  Just then, another sound penetrated his ears, somewhere between the oncoming jet-engine roar of the fire, the venting propane tank and his own blood pounding in his veins. Barking. Oh no. Chip.

  Aidan turned in time to see his dog run out of the barn and stop, searching the smoky air for his master. Chip must have been spooked by the fire and climbed right over the stall door. Aidan had only closed the lower half. Panic washed over Aidan’s skin like an icy wave. He’d lost too much today. He couldn’t lose Chip, too.

  “Chip, sit!” His command only succeeded in giving the dog a destination to run to. Chip came barreling for him, stubby tail wagging, then let out a yelp. He must have stepped on an ember in the gravel. The dog veered off into the darkness, terrified.

  “Chip, come!” Aidan dropped the hose and fumbled for his headlamp, shining it in the direction Chip had run. The smoke was too thick, the particles beamed the light right back at him. “Chip, come on!”

  Jade appeared at his side. She grabbed the hose. “Don’t let this melt, we need it.”

  Aidan turned to her, frantic. “I’ve lost Chip.”

  “I heard. Try to calm down, okay? Panic is not our friend right now. Take slow shallow breaths.”

  Aidan tried to slow his breathing. Chip was smart. He wouldn’t run right into fire.

  “How about you walk a little ways in the direction he went, but don’t go too far away from the barn.” Jade’s words were slow and measured, like she was talking to a child. “We don’t want to get so far apart that we won’t be able to help each other if anything goes wrong. Chip got startled, but he might double back to you if he hears your voice. Try to sound normal.”

  They both looked at each other then, and burst out laughing. Except their laughter had an edge of hysteria to it.

  “Normal?” Jade giggled and waved her hand at the sparks falling around them. “Sure, this is totally normal. Come on, Aidan, act normal.” Then her gaze shifted to a spot behind him. “Fire.” And she was gone, running toward flames that were igniting near the trough and spraying them down with water.

  Aidan returned his pickax to the barn, then stepped into the dark smoke that was oozing over his ranch. He shuffled forward blindly, his headlamp almost useless. Chip had run in the direction of the sheep pasture, which was good because they had sprinklers there, but bad because the guard dogs wouldn’t welcome him. “Chip,” he called softly into the smoke and darkness. “Chip, come on, buddy.”

  He wandered around for what seemed like forever, but was probably only five or ten minutes. He put out a few spot fires with his backpack pump, kept calling for Chip and tried to keep up hope when despair crept in. Finally, he turned around and circled the barn. It broke his heart to give up on Chip, but he had to get back and help Jade. And there, in the carport, was Chip, perched in the driver’s seat of the ATV.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He walked slowly to his dog, not wanting to scare him off again. On any other day, he’d be laughing right now. Chip was sitting upright, looking like he was ready to start up the vehicle and drive away. Except they were in a fire, and Chip was holding one paw up, looking terrified and miserable.

  “Hey, buddy,” Aidan said softly, holding out his knuckles for Chip to sniff. “You had me pretty worried there.”

  Chip nuzzled his hand, and Aidan pet his soft head, then carefully scooped the dog up. “We’re in a bit of an emergency here, buddy. I’m going to hose off your paws, and then I have to put you back in that stall. I can keep you safe as long as you stay there. I promise.” He carried Chip to the hose and ran water over the dog’s paws for a couple minutes. Chip whimpered but stayed still. When Aidan turned off the water and aimed his headlamp directly at Chip’s paws, he could see that the front paw pads were pink and raw. “Ouch.”

  He should keep the water on for longer, but there was no time. Aidan scooped up his dog again, and carried him around the side of the barn. Jade was there trying to put out two different spot fires at once. Flames were streaking down from the house now, far more purposeful than they had been, running in an orange river along both sides of the driveway.

  Aidan ran into the barn with Chip. He carefully set the injur
ed dog down in the straw on the floor of the stall. This time he closed the upper half of the double door, as well. “I’ll be back for you. I promise,” Aidan told Chip through the door. “Trust me.”

  Then he ran out of the barn to help Jade keep the fire at bay.

  CHAPTER NINE

  THERE WAS A lot more fire when Aidan emerged from the barn, He grabbed his pickax and immediately ran to put out a few embers flaring up on the west side of the building. Just a few dry weeds that had caught a spark.

  Jade was a black silhouette in the smoke, hosing the flames along the driveway. Aidan jogged to meet her. “How are you doing?”

  She squinted at him over her bandanna. “Just dandy. Did you find Chip?”

  “He was sitting on the ATV, looking like he wanted to drive on out of here.”

  Her eyes crinkled in a tired smile. “I don’t blame him. Is he hurt?”

  “I think his paw pads are burnt. I hosed them off and shut him in the stall. He can’t escape now.”

  “Poor guy. You’ll need to get him to the vet as soon as you can.”

  “I can’t stand that he’s in pain, but he’ll have to hang in there until tomorrow.” A horrible thought struck him. “This will be done by tomorrow, right?”

  “At the rate it’s burning? I think we just have to make it through the next few hours and it’ll be past us.”

  A few hours. Hours that would determine if they lived or died. “You have any advice for me?”

  “Well, your house is gone and your dog is hurt, but try to keep it in perspective. Your barn is okay, right? And your livestock are as safe as they can be, all surrounded by sprinklers. It’s the best scenario we can hope for at this point.”

  He liked her practical way of looking at things. How she could point out the positive without sugarcoating the negative. Aidan pointed to the flames spreading out on either side of the driveway. “Are you worried about that?”

  “Sure.” Jade nodded. “But I’m also hungry. And thirsty. What do you have to eat?”

  Aidan gaped at her. “Are you joking?”

  “Absolutely not. We need to keep our energy up and get hydrated, because this fire is going to try to suck the life right out of us. If we’ve eaten and had some water, we have a much better chance of survival if we end up in a bad situation.”

  “You don’t call this situation that we’re in bad?”

  She quirked her lips in her go-to sarcastic smile. “It’s not great, but we’re not dead yet, either. Go grab us a couple of those granola bars and a water bottle, okay?”

  It went against all his instincts, but Aidan ran back to the barn and rummaged in the items he’d brought from the house until he found the food bag. He stuffed granola bars in his pocket, tucked water bottles under his arm and ran back to Jade. “Here you go.”

  “Awesome.” With a relieved sigh, she took the water bottle he offered, pulled her bandanna down and drank. Aidan started on the other bottle and realized she was right. He was thirsty. Beyond thirsty. He drank until the bottle was nearly empty.

  When he finished, Jade gave him the thumbs-up. “Adrenaline is tricky. It makes you forget hunger and thirst because it’s a chemical designed for immediate survival. But we’ll be in this mess for a while, so we’ve got to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves.” She ripped the wrapper off a granola bar and took a huge bite. “Delish,” she cooed, patting her stomach like she was indulging in the finest meal.

  “Very funny,” Aidan told her, but he opened his own bar and finished it off in a couple of bites.

  “Humor helps,” Jade said. “But now that we’ve feasted, I’m going back over to the other side of the barn. There’s so much dry grass over there, it’s just a matter of minutes before it ignites.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Stay here and keep soaking these flames around the driveway. Try to keep them back, away from the barn. When the fire on the hillside gets a little closer, come help me out.”

  How she sounded so matter-of-fact when they were in the middle of an inferno, he’d never know. The heat was getting to him, sweat sliding down his back. He pulled his bandanna back up to try to block the thick smoke.

  “Shallow breaths,” Jade reminded him. “If you get dizzy, get back to the barn before you fall over.”

  “That’s reassuring,” he muttered, but she’d already jogged off, a blurry figure in the smoke. Aidan watched her go, idly spraying the ground in front of him. Then something caught his eye.

  The barn. He’d left the door wide open and there was a faint orange light flickering. He was running before he’d told his feet to run, pointing the hose ahead of him. He lunged through the door to see confirmation of what he already knew. He was an idiot. An ember had sailed through the open door and landed on the bale of straw near the entrance. Flames were rising from the bale, crackling and reaching for something else to burn.

  “No!” He turned his hose on the straw, spraying water not just at the bale but at anything close to it, spraying until he was sure that the last spark was out. If he’d had adrenaline before, it had tripled now, coursing through his body like an overdose of electricity, leaving his hands shaking, his ears ringing. He staggered back out of the barn and shut the doors behind him. That was a close call.

  * * *

  JADE WATCHED THE flames work their way down the hillside from Nellie’s ranch and hoped she’d soaked the grass at the foot of the hill enough to slow it. There wasn’t much wind right now, and the fire seemed to be moving at a more leisurely pace. It was so dark, and the smoke was so thick, she wasn’t quite sure what was happening right now. It was hard to know if the main wildfire had even hit them yet, or if all this fire on the ranch was her backfire gone wild.

  Not that it mattered too much at this point. She just had to keep the base of the hill near the barn wet enough that the fire went right on by. Grass burned quickly, and fire was an opportunist. If all went according to plan, the flames would follow the dry grass and bypass the wet ground. Then the flames wouldn’t get close enough to the barn to cause any damage.

  Aidan was several yards away, hosing down another portion of the hill. From his spot he could still defend the front of the barn, as well, so occasionally he’d disappear around the corner, presumably to put out a spot fire.

  Jade turned her hose on the barn wall again. She’d been going back and forth between the barn and the hillside like an indecisive sprinkler. Every time she watered one, she worried that the other needed more water.

  The fire was loud, hissing, crackling and roaring, but another sound caught her attention. A squeaking noise coming from behind the barn. She listened intently, trying to determine what it was.

  “Aidan!” He didn’t hear her call so she made her way closer to him, spraying water as she went. “Aidan, I’m going around the back of the barn.”

  “Okay.” He was spraying down a few embers and he glanced over his shoulder. “Be safe.”

  Jade pulled the hose with her around the side of the barn. The fire on the hillside was closer now, but, as planned, the flames were staying several yards uphill from the barn. Phew. Then she heard it. There was that squeaking noise again. It sounded like it was coming from somewhere high up over her head.

  Jade pulled her flashlight off her belt and pointed the light at the carport roof. The smoke was too thick to see much, but she was sure she saw a flash of green eyes. “Who is up there?” The green eyes caught the light again. “Are you a kitten?” A second pair of eyes appeared in the harsh beam of the flashlight.

  “Two of you? Oh wow.” Jade set the hose down, letting the water run in the soil beyond the carport, and beamed her flashlight around the parked vehicles. An aluminum ladder hung from the barn wall and she ran to it, pulled it off and carried it to the edge of the carport. Carefully, she leaned it against the roof. After a few shakes to make sure it felt
steady, she climbed up the rungs.

  They were kittens. Jade could see them now, huddled together where the carport roof met the barn wall. What was it with her and cats? First Elliott, and now these two. They stared at her with twin sets of alarmed round eyes. “Here, kitty,” she called quietly. “Come on, kitty.” Nothing happened. “Oh come on, do not play hard to get, you guys.”

  Finally, after what seemed like ages but was probably a minute, one kitten, dark with a few white spots, made its way cautiously over to her, nuzzled her outstretched hand and began purring. She pet it a few times, then took it gently by the scruff of the neck and held it to her chest. “I’ll be back,” she told the other one, and descended the ladder.

  She found Aidan on the west side of the barn, hosing down the open grassy area between the barn and the pasture. “I’ve found someone who might belong to you.” She directed her flashlight so it highlighted the kitten under her arm. “He’s very sweet.”

  He squinted. “A kitten? Where did you find it?”

  “On your carport roof. With another one who’s still up there. Do you have another carrier?”

  “In the last stall in the barn, yeah.” He held out a hand and touched the kitten gently on the head with one sooty finger. “Maybe one of the barn cats had a litter? You didn’t see a full-grown cat anywhere near?”

  “Nope. Maybe the mama ran off because of the fire.” She couldn’t spend much more time on this. The propane tank near the house was venting again, such a chilling sound. It’s good news, she reminded herself. It won’t explode if it vents. “I’m going to get the crate and then try to catch the other one.”

  “You and your cats.” Aidan shook his head.

  “It’s the way of the firefighter.” She was relieved that he was keeping his head. Things were getting unsteady around them: the wind, that had seemed to calm before, was starting to gust again. The main wildfire must be here, or maybe the weather was changing. Something was stirring the air, and that wasn’t good in a fire like this.