Feel the Fire (Hotshots 3)

“I hear they’re shipping you back home at the end of the week.” The investigator paused near the end of the hallway, near the break room and restrooms.

“Looks like it.” The last thing Luis wanted was to think more about leaving. He was so fucking torn. Rosalind had sounded scattered—they were all spread too thin, everyone out in the field, long hours, not enough manpower, and the fires not yet fully under control. He needed to be back there. But leaving meant no more Tucker, no more time to fix this.

“Take care if we don’t see you before then. Drive safe.” The investigator gave him a little wave before ducking into the restroom, leaving him to walk the rest of the way out of the building. He was almost to the double glass doors when he heard his name.

“Hey, Rivera!” Lincoln Reid came striding up, in street clothes. He had a bag over one shoulder, like he too was heading out for the day. The meeting had gone long, and Luis supposed he was heading back to his hotel, but fuck, he was already dreading the hours alone.

“Reid.” After the party at Garrick’s, he felt like he knew the guy a little better than he had as kids, and he was happy to exchange small talk if it meant delaying the long evening ahead of him. “How’s it going?”

“Eh. Did two flights today as spotter. Then a lot of meetings. How I let anyone talk me into supervision is beyond me. Damn bum knee. It’ll have me in management soon enough, and I’m already dreading the paperwork.”

“I know, right? For me, it’s my back, and I miss frontline work still. I’d even take the weird hours, just to be back out there again.” It had been his stock answer for years, but lately he wasn’t as sure. He did like his work, meetings aside. Besides, if he was still on a hotshot crew, he probably never would have met back up with Tucker, wouldn’t be tangled up with all these feelings right now. He shook his head, trying to stay focused on Lincoln. “Paperwork. It comes for us all, I guess.”

“Yup. How are things with you?” Lincoln didn’t seem any more inclined to head out than Luis.

“Not bad. We’re close on the arson case.”

“That’s great.” He slapped Luis on the upper shoulder. “I heard your theory about it being someone connected to the fire community. Gotta say I agree. Reminds me of this disgruntled rookie who flunked out of spring training back when I did some time in Idaho. He was later caught setting fire to his ex’s trailer.”

“Exactly.” Blessedly, Luis’s brain left the Tucker quandary for a few moments. That was what he’d been thinking for a few weeks now. Someone had a grudge, a motive beyond being a firebug. “I had a few cases like that in California too. Any chance you could help me get a list of the last few rookie classes here, focusing on people who didn’t make it through?”

“Yeah. I was one of the trainers this year. I’ll see what red tape we can cut through to get that information to you.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“No problem.” Lincoln turned like he was going to go back into the offices, but Luis held up a hand.

“Tomorrow is probably soon enough. I don’t want to keep you today, especially if you were already heading out.”

“Nah. It’s okay.” Dropping his bag by his feet, Lincoln exhaled hard. “Jacob’s on loan to a fire up near Hood River. House is way too quiet, even with the dogs.”

“You miss him.” Luis had to smile at this big, badass guy who would be as at home on a battlefield as a motorcycle gang, yet who also had such a soft spot for his man and wasn’t afraid to admit he had feelings.

Lincoln sighed and rubbed at his closely cropped hair. “That’s one way to put it.”

“He’ll be back soon, I’m sure. Has it been hard this year, being on different crews?” New regulations meant that the smoke-jumping management was reluctant to put people in a long-term relationship together on the same small crew.

“Yeah, it has. Not gonna lie.” Rolling his neck, Lincoln stretched and looked away. “We still work together some, but it’s not the same. Weird too because I’m so fucking proud of him advancing. Like I didn’t even know it was possible to be that proud of someone else, you know?”

“I get it. I’ve been there.” And he had. Both with Mike, being worried and proud every time he advanced or got called out, and now with Tucker, being in awe as he managed things at the fire camp. And weird was the right way to put it. Pride in someone else was a great, positive emotion, but it also brought with it a certain vulnerability that could be less than comfortable, especially when risk was involved.