July Thunder by Rachel Lee Read Free Book Online Page B

on our side. I’ll take every break I can get.”
    Another dumper flew overhead with a loud drone. The first one was already on its way back for another load.
    George spoke again. “We can’t send the jumpers in until morning. Not enough time before darkfall.”
    Sam nodded. His mind strayed a moment, wondering what Mary was going to think when he didn’t show up to take her to dinner. Maybe he should have dispatch call her. Nah. Right now they were toobusy fielding calls about the fire. It wasn’t a date, anyway. She would understand.
    Just then the breeze kicked up. Not much, just enough to make him feel a chill through his light jacket. George looked at him. The sun was hanging heavy over the western peaks, a baleful red orb blurred by the smoke in the air.
    George spoke. “I hope our luck isn’t running out.”
    The trucks full of volunteers pulled out, heading down the narrow, winding road. Their job was to build a firebreak to protect the pass. The guys leaned out, hooting and hollering as they passed. Too high on excitement to realize what they were facing. Too macho to admit it.
    The breeze suddenly gusted, carrying away the thickest smoke, leaving the fire visible. It had spread. An angry orange beast devouring the valley’s north end.
    â€œShit,” George swore under his breath.
    Sam didn’t say anything. Even at this safe distance, he was suddenly a kid again, looking into the maw of hell. And even as he watched, hunching against the chilly bite of the wind, he saw another tree go up in a burst of hungry flames. Only it was a tree some distance from the fire. The gust had carried a spark hundreds of yards, starting yet another fire.
    â€œDamn,” George said. “Damn.”
    The beast had leaped its own perimeter, runningfree. George picked up his radio and began to bark rapid orders. They couldn’t wait for dawn. Not now.
    Â 
    Mary dressed for dinner with rather more care than was her custom in a town where casual dress reigned. She chose a green polished cotton dress and a pair of two-inch heels. Her hair, usually allowed to fall in waves below her shoulders, she decided to put up in a loose knot with a few long curls hanging free.
    It was more effort than she wanted to think about, considering that Sam and she had agreed that this wasn’t a date. She even went so far as to dab on a little perfume.
    At six she peeked out to see if Sam had arrived. Instead she saw her neighbors gathered in their front yards, looking to the west. Curious, she went out to discover what was going on.
    â€œIt’s a fire,” Elvira Jones, who lived in the house on the left, told her. “In the next valley.”
    Mary turned to see the thick cloud of smoke hovering over the mountains, catching the red of the lowering sun. “How bad is it?”
    â€œNot a threat to us yet,” Elvira answered. “But my Bob says they’re worried about it coming through Edgerton Pass. He went to volunteer.”
    Mary immediately turned to her. “You must be worried.”
    â€œNah.” Elvira smiled, her crow’s-feet deepening. She loved to ski so much that she had a permanentlysun- and wind-burned face. “He’ll just be helping with a firebreak at the pass. He won’t get near the flames.”
    But Mary remembered fires from the past, remembered how a little wind could create desperate situations. At least there wasn’t a breeze right now. Of course, in the next valley that might be different.
    â€œThere aren’t many people living out that way, are there?”
    Elvira shook her head. “Just a few loners. It’s too hard to get out of there in the winter.”
    Mary nodded, trying to remember if any of her students lived out that way. She didn’t think so. Elvira was right. There couldn’t be more than a half dozen folks out there. As long as they could contain the fire, there wouldn’t be much damage to