Chapter 15

Virgil gazed out the picture window at the roaring river below. The view was breathtaking bringing him back to a place long ago when he and his wife sat in a restaurant overlooking a river somewhere. He felt a pang deep in his chest. But the daydream dissipated into mist as Lydia's voice penetrated the reverie.

" ... white floor. Then amethyst leather furniture and window treatments will be a gorgeous contrast. What do you think? Virgie? Virgie? Earth to Virgil. You know, ever since your accident, you've been different. Get over it already. It's been more than a week."

Seeing that she caught his attention she continued her diatribe, "Why don't you call the Salvation Army to come take away all the old furniture so that our new stuff can be delivered?"

Irritated, he realized his brother was right when he said that she was preparing to move in and take over, "So when do you plan on doing all this redecorating? We both work full time."

"Well, you aren't going back to work for at least another week. So I thought we'd start this weekend. I'll instruct you on what I want and then you can do it while you're home and I'm at work."

"Uh listen, Lydia, about..." The arrival of the food broke the conversation.

He gritted his teeth in resignation. 'She'd probably make a scene here anyway, ' and dug into his meal.

Sweat beaded on Walt's forehead when he heard John call out Jorge's name. Opening the small side drawer, he grabbed a bottle of Pepto Bismol and took a swig, grimacing at the taste. The stress during the past several rescues worrying about a madman was taking its toll. He reached for the phone to call in the State Trooper stationed at the base, then paused, 'No, that's over-reacting. Give John a chance to find him first.' He fingered the pink bottle and waited.

With butterflies trying to gnaw their way out of his stomach, John called for Jorge as loud as he could. Over the roar of the fire he doubted that he could be heard even ten feet away but he still tried. John turned to Rob, the person closest to him, and asked when he had last seen the missing man.

"I was on chainsaws up front. I thought Jorge was with you in the back."

John thought for a minute. If Jorge was the person directly in front of him digging the fireline then he would have been right behind Dave on the retreat.

Looking around he spotted the new recruit and went up to him, "Was Jorge next to you coming down the mountain?"

"Uh, uh. Janet was. But the group was already headed down before I took lead. We could've lost Jorge anywhere."

John's first thought was not of a fire accident but of a killer. He was fully aware that the fire was deliberately set. John took in his surroundings, trying to pick out all the places a gunman could hide. They could all be sitting ducks right now, ready to be picked off one by one.

Walt had waited long enough, "John, you got five more minutes to find Jorge, then I'm calling in Nancy, Terry and Sonny to start air searches. I don't want to panic any of the other firefighters. So five minutes. That's all."

Sonny heard the conversation his boss just had and broke in, "Walt, my Bambi bucket's off 'cause I needed to refuel. I can start now. Nancy and Terry can handle the canopy fire and no one'll be the wiser."

Walt didn't hesitate, "Go ahead."

In minutes the GRNI crew spotted Sonny's helicopter, bucketless, overhead.

Agitated he didn't get two words in with Lydia earlier at lunch, Virgil sat alone in his home. Phone in hand he called his brother for a heart to heart talk.

"Karen, hi. Virgil here. Sonny around?"

"Oh hi Virg, no, he's still at that California fire."

"He is? Last I heard it was going to be a fairly easy knock-down."

"He called me with a quick update while refueling and said the weather changed. But he didn't have time for details."

"Oh, okay, thanks, Karen." Virgil hung up debating whether to call Walt for an update.

Walt looked at one of his phone lines lighting up but ignored it. He knew his secretary would pick up anything he didn't answer.

He cringed when Jennifer rapped on the door frame, "Virgil's on the line."

Walk shook his head, talking to himself, "Your timing sucks, Virg."

He looked at his secretary. "Jenn, tell him I'm in a meeting. Ask what he wants and if it's an update on the fire, just say it's going smoothly."

John watched Sonny start the all too familiar search pattern to hunt for a missing person. Down below the whole crew stared up and watched. Several times he would repeat an area giving them the impression he found something but then he would resume the search. Even though more difficult to pick out a warm body using the thermal scan with fires all around, it was not impossible.

Time trickled like water through a clogged drain until John finally heard the words he had been waiting for, "I got something."

Sonny gave the coordinates relative to their location. As he hovered overhead he noticed the image was still. He relayed to John, "If that's Jorge, he's not moving."

John jogged faster to the location.

Through the thick haze, he thought he saw a form on the ground and quickened his pace even more. The rest of the crew shadowed behind him. When he was close enough to see through the smoke, the body on the ground was indeed Jorge. Without breaking stride he called out his name not expecting any reaction. But Jorge lifted his head up, waved, then dropped it back down in a sign of relief.

"Jorge! You okay? Why the hell didn't you answer when I called?! And why didn't you tell me that you were leaving the team?" John's patience showed signs of strain.