A Special Kind of Love (16 page)

“Nice
to meet you too, Jack.”

He
nodded and stepped back from the car. Motioning them forward, he called to
another officer. “It’s
Jaz
and Tanner’s girlfriend, Dennis, let
them through.”

Sharon
rolled up the window and drove through the opening as the officer moved the
barricade off to the side. She could see what must be the command center set up
off to the left about a mile up the road. Driving slowly and carefully through
the thick smoke, she navigated up to the group of vehicles.

The
command center was organized chaos.
Men running everywhere,
voices crackling over radios, equipment being moved and distributed.
They found Tanner at the center of the chaos. He stood next to a table covered
with a map of the area, surrounded by men and giving orders.

Sharon
stood back, not wanting to interrupt, but Jasmine waded right into the center
of the group. Clapping men on the shoulders as she passed, nodding in
greeting,
or just bumping shoulders. Jasmine reached her
brother and ducked under his outstretched arm. “Hey, big bro, what’s
cookin
’?”

Sharon
repressed a shudder. That didn’t seem like the best choice of words to her this
close to a fire. The men all chuckled and the tension eased for a moment.

Tanner
kissed his sister. “What are you doing here, squirt?”

“We
brought you some lunch.”

Tanner’s
gaze swept the crowd and their eyes met. The men parted as he strode straight
to her side. He hugged her tight and kissed her lips. “Damn, you’re a sight for
sore eyes.”

“You
look tired already. How’s it going?” she asked softly.

With
an arm around her shoulder, he led her away from the group. “Not too well, I’m
afraid. This area hasn’t caught fire in years, and the brush is thick beneath
the trees. Everything is so dry it’s spreading almost faster than we can get to
it. It looks like over a hundred acres are involved already. We’re trying to
get fire breaks cut. But the area is so big and we just don’t have the
manpower. We have volunteers coming from the next two counties. They should be
here within the hour.”

“What
about your house? Is the fire headed that way?”

“Thankfully,
so far the wind is in our favor. The fire is spreading, but mostly to the west,
southwest, away from any homes, including mine. But you never know when the
wind will shift.”

Sharon
held him close, resting her head on his shoulder.

“I
really need to get back, baby. You and Jasmine can set the food out on that
table over there.” He pointed out another table set off to the side. Sharon
nodded. “We’ll take care of it. You get back to work and get that fire put
out.”

“Yes,
ma’am!”
He saluted and marched back into the fray.

Sharon
and Jasmine spent the next two hours handing out sandwiches and drinks to the
firefighters and volunteers. Smelling of smoke, they came in from the field
covered in soot. Weariness lay on the firefighters like a heavy cloak. Solemn expressions
and the lack of their usual joking and clowning around highlighted the gravity
of the situation. The men and women rotated out in one hour shifts. The smoke
was so bad that they couldn’t breathe without aid of oxygen tanks. They could
only stay out as long as the air in the tanks held.

Tanner
had gone out with the last group, and his hour was almost up. Sharon kept
scanning the horizon for signs of his return. She spotted him heading her way
and a smile broke across her face in joy and relief. That’s when all hell broke
loose.

“Sharon!”
Kamani’s
scream had her turning fast to see the woman
running toward her, Josh and
Annebelle
in tow.

“Oh
my God, Sharon, I’m so sorry, so sorry.”
Kamani
had
tears running down her cheeks and Sharon felt her stomach clench. Where was
Aaron?

“I
was playing video games with Josh in the den and Aaron was doing a puzzle with
Annebelle
in the kitchen. I never dreamed
—
why would he…”
Kamini’s
sobbing increased to the point that she couldn’t speak.

Tanner
had run to the women when he heard his mother scream. He grabbed her by the
shoulders and gave her a shake. “Mom, pull it together. You have to tell us
what happened. Where is Aaron?”

“He’s
gone!” she wailed. “
Annebelle
said he told her he
needed to come and help you fight the fire.”

Everything
stopped. In that moment, Sharon’s world became only those words. Aaron was
gone. Her baby was somewhere out there, alone. And the fire raged.

* * * *

Tanner
caught her just as her knees collapsed. He pulled her in close and hugged her
tight. “We’ll find him I promise,” he said, giving her a shake. “You have to
keep it together.”

He
looked down into her tear filled eyes and watched her visibly pull on her inner
strength. Her shoulders squared and her chin came up.

“That’s
my girl,” he said and went into commander mode. He turned to his second in
command, Tucker Wells. “Get John over here, Tuck. We need to get everyone out
and looking right away.”

Tucker
took off in the direction of the check point.
“Jasmine, find
a chair for Mom.”
He continued to give orders, taking charge of the
situation. He had to keep moving. Keep doing something or he would lose it too.

Tuck
returned with John hot on his heels. “What’s going on, Tanner? Tuck said
something about a missing child.”

“It’s
Aaron, Sharon’s son. He’s ten years old and has autism. He’s enamored with the
idea of being a firefighter and got the cockeyed idea in his head that he
needed to come and help me fight this fire. He snuck out of Mom’s house and we
assume he is heading this way. We need to get some men out and searching ASAP.
Can you call it in?”

“Yeah,
I’ll get right on it. I need a description, a picture if you have one and what
was he wearing?”

“I
have a picture in my wallet…” Sharon looked around “Where is my purse?” She
frantically looked about. Jasmine put a hand on her shoulder. “Take a breath,
honey. Your purse is back in the SUV, we left our stuff in there, remember? Go
sit with Mom and I’ll run back to the car and get it, okay?”

“No,
I can’t just sit. I should be out looking. I have to do something. Your mom’s
house is a couple of miles
away,
he couldn’t have
gotten this far yet. We need to find him before he gets close to the fire. I’m
going to go drive the road and see if I see him.”

“Ma’am,
I really need you to answer some questions. Then I promise you we will have the
entire police department looking for him, and they have a much better chance of
finding him than you will alone,” John said.

Tanner
walked up and put his arm around Sharon, leading her toward where his mother
sat. “Come on, baby. Come sit down and let’s get all the information put out
over the wires and then we’ll find him.”

Sharon
dropped dejectedly into a chair next to
Kamani
.
Annebelle
crawled onto her lap and laid her head on
Sharon’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Miss Sharon,” she sniffled. “I shouldn’t have
let him go. I should’ve told Nana.”

Sharon
rubbed her back and took a shuddering breath. “It’s not your fault,
Annebelle
. I’m not mad at you. I’m just really scared for
Aaron.” She kissed the little girl’s cheek and Tanner marveled at her ability
to still be kind to his niece, in spite of the circumstances.

“Okay,
Sharon, what did Aaron have on?” John asked.

“He
was wearing jeans and…”
Annebelle
shook her head
vigorously. “What is it Belle?”

“He
changed his clothes. He put on fireman’s clothes,” she replied in a small
voice.

“Fireman’s
clothes?”
John queried.

“I
got him a set of turnouts,” Tanner said. “I ordered them special. At least
that’s something. If he does manage to get near the blaze at least he’ll have
some protection.”

John
wrote the information in his notepad. “Height, weight, eye and hair color?”

“Four
foot three inches, seventy pounds, blond hair and blue eyes,” Sharon said.

“I’m
gonna
go put this out over the radio. Bring me the
photo as soon as Jasmine gets back.” John turned and walked away from all the
activity, speaking into the radio clipped to his shoulder.

Jasmine
returned and handed Sharon her purse. As Sharon rifled through her wallet,
presumably looking for the photograph, Tanner’s mind raced.
Where would Aaron be right now? If I were
Aaron, where would I be?
The ranch
.
I bet he
headed for my house. Maybe I can beat him there and head him off at the pass.

“I
gotta
go. I think I know where he may be heading. I’m
going to the ranch and see if I can beat him there. If not, I’ll get Phantom
and look for him on
horseback,
I can cover more ground
that way.”

“I’m
coming with you,” Sharon said, jumping up and setting
Annebelle
on
Kamani’s
lap.

“No,
baby, you can’t. It’s not safe.”

“I
have to! I can’t just sit here.”

“If
I have to watch out for you it will take me away from the search for Aaron. I
need to know that you’re safe. And you need to be here in case someone else
finds Aaron. What if I’m not the one that finds him and you’re not here to take
care of him?”

Sharon
began pacing back and forth. Tanner grabbed her shoulders and pulled her to a
stop. He slid his hands up to cup her face. Looking deep into her eyes he said,
“We’ll find him. I promise.”

A
single tear escaped her control and rolled down her cheek. Tanner kissed the
salty drop away. “Please, baby. Stay here and wait. That way you will be the
first to know when Aaron is found. Okay? Jasmine will stay here with you and
John will be here with the radio. He’ll be in constant contact with the search
teams. Please, I really need to go. Let me
go knowing
you’re safe.”

Sharon
nodded jerkily. “Find my baby, Tanner…you have to find him…he’s all I have.”

Tanner
felt his heart clench at her statement. Aaron wasn’t all she had. She had him. Now
wasn’t the time to bring that up, he knew she was hurting, not thinking straight.
Hell, he wasn’t either.

Tanner
turned to his mother and sister, “
Jaz
, will you stay
here with Sharon?”

“You
know I will,” she answered.

“Mom,
are you okay to drive? The kids really shouldn’t be here. Can you take them
back to the house or do you want me to have an officer drive you?”

Kamani’s
tears had dried up long ago. He watched
her spine straighten. It was as if he could see her pull her inner strength
around her like a blanket. “I will be fine, son.” She walked over and kissed
his cheek. “You find my grandson, do you hear me?” she said.
Her
gaze steady and serious.

“I
will, Mom. I will.”

Kamani
took Josh and
Annebelle
each by the hand and glided through the command center to where her car was
parked. She was the epitome of grace and strength, a proud Native American
warrior, ready for whatever battles lay ahead.

“Tuck,
I need you to take over the command center. We need to get this fire under
control.
Now, more than ever.
Don’t take any men off
the line for the search. We have the police department, and I’m sure I can get
Bud Lewis to rally up some civilians to aid in the search if we need them. I
have the sat-phone and my cell. I’m heading to my place. I’m going to take
Scott and Kyle with me. I have three horses at the house and we can ride out in
different directions and cover the whole east side of the blaze.”

“You
got it boss. I’m on it, don’t you worry. You just find that boy.”

Tanner
took off running, calling for Scott and Kyle to follow.
Damn it, if one more person tells me to ‘just find that boy’ I’m going
to explode. What the fuck do they think I’m trying to do, for Christ’s sake?