Playing With Fire: inspirational romantic suspense (Montana Fire Book 2) (28 page)

The wind lifted around them as the chopper approached, kicking up dust and the odor of death.

Conner shook his head, his gaze holding hers. “No. Because
I’m
going to need a promise. Because you aren’t going to die on me, Liza.”

She offered a slight smile, and he hiccupped back a sob as he pressed his lips to hers. A grimy, bloody, soft, forever kiss. He didn’t move, just held himself there, unable to let her go.

Then, from overhead, “I’m coming down with a litter!”

Jess, the PEAK Rescue EMT hung out the open door, a blow horn to her lips, her blonde hair tucked up in a helmet.

The roar of the chopper drowned out the rest of her words. Pete and CJ bent their bodies over Liza to protect her from the debris. Conner covered her head with his, one eye on the chopper.

Jess hooked herself, then the litter to the hoist, and swung out over them. The pilot lowered her down onto the rock. She unhooked the litter, then herself.

Her expression was grim as she came over to assess Liza. The chopper moved away, circling to keep the blades from churning up the earth below.

Jess then dragged over her medical pack.

“I think we need a backboard,” Pete said.

Jess pressed her fingers to Liza’s carotid pulse. “Okay, Pete, help me with the backboard.”

They retrieved the board from inside the litter, set it beneath Liza, and rolled her onto it. She sucked in a breath as if trying not to cry out. But her hand tightened around Conner’s.

Jess secured Liza’s head with the foam mounts, strapping her tight, head to foot, then took her blood pressure.

“Let me take a look at our other victim,” Jess said, scrambling over to Esther, who still lay cradled in Skye’s arms.

“Glad to meet you, Esther,” Jess said to her. “Your boyfriend couldn’t stop talking about you.”

Conner glanced up and saw a smile lifting one side of Esther’s grimy face. “My boyfriend?”

Jess snapped on fresh gloves and took Esther’s pulse. “Well, he called you his girlfriend, so I was just assuming.”

Girlfriend. Conner looked down at Liza strapped on the backboard. “Wanna be my girlfriend?”

She smiled up at him. “I can’t really run away, can I?”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. Shook his head.

At a cry, Conner looked over and saw that Jess had moved to Esther’s destroyed ankle.

“I’m just going to immobilize this so we can get you and your friend to the hospital as soon as possible.”

Esther smiled, glanced over at Liza. “She saved my life. She was so brave—”

Skye smoothed Esther’s hair back. “I know. We all want to be like Liza when we grow up.”

Conner glanced down at Liza, but tears filled her eyes. He kissed her forehead, a sad, crazy smile creeping up his face. “It’s true, baby.”

Jess retrieved her pack and pulled out a board splint. “This part might hurt.”

Esther drew in a breath. Nodded, then sucked in her breath as Jess moved it under her foot.

Jess secured the ankle and Esther whimpered.

“Pete, CJ, I need help getting Esther into the litter. I’ll bring her up first, then come back for Liza.”

“No,” Conner said. “I worked SAR for a while. You just send the litter back down. I’ll load Liza onto it and back up to you.”

“There’s only room for three in the chopper,” Jess said.

He looked at Liza, met her eyes. “Then I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

I promise.

He mouthed the words and got a return smile.

He watched as Jess and Esther were hoisted into the chopper, as Jess pulled Esther in, and then sent the litter back to for Liza.

Conner worked quickly, his face grim as he loaded her for transport, glad for somewhere else to focus his attention than on the fear free-ranging through his chest.

Then, just before he indicated for Jess to lift her, he knelt beside Liza. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“I know,” she said. “Don’t forget to bring the drone.”

He offered a grim shake of his head. “It’s gone, honey. It crashed. But it doesn’t matter. I have you, and that’s what counts.”

#

Liza’s entire body ached, her arm hot with pain, her leg burning, her side raw.

But she was alive.

And Conner was on his way.
I’ll meet you at the hospital
.

“Just sit back and enjoy the ride.” Words spoken by Jess, the EMT who sat beside Liza on a bench in the back of the helicopter. Esther sat in the copilot seat, her whimpering eased with a shot of painkiller, an IV attached to her arm.

Tall and blonde, in her blue one-piece uniform and helmet, Jess looked every inch a rescuer. She checked Liza’s blood pressure as the chopper banked and turned up the river, lifting out of the canyon.

Then she started an IV in Liza’s arm and tucked her in tight with a blanket.

“Someone should alert Esther’s mom that we found her,” Liza said, her voice drowning under the roar of the chopper.

Just when she thought she might have to repeat herself, Jess leaned over and spoke into her ear. “Her mom already knows! Our chopper pilot, Chet, thought you might need us again, so he parked at camp last night.” Then Jess slipped an oxygen mask over Liza’s nose and mouth. Cool sweet air rushed into her lungs.

Oh, good. Liza sank into the quiet shadow of painkiller and adrenaline drop.

Jess found her hand, gripped it. Then she leaned over again. “Don’t worry—everything will be okay. There were some federal agents waiting for you all to come back. I’m sure they’ll get Esther’s mom to the hospital.”

Jess sat back up, spoke into her headset to the pilot.

Liza closed her eyes.

I’ll meet you at the hospital

Wait— She squeezed Jess’s hand.

Jess looked down at her.

“The federal guys—why were they there?” Liza said through the mask.

Jess leaned down again. “Stop talking.”

But Liza moved the mask aside, raised her voice. “Why were the feds there?”

Jess shook her head. “I don’t know. They were tracking Conner’s progress, listening to Pete call in updates. They said they’d meet us all the hospital.”

Liza closed her eyes, wincing.

“What hurts?” Jess asked, clearly concerned.

“The feds. They’re not here to help—”

Jess heard at least the essential parts, because she backed up, frowned at Liza, clearly confused.

Oh, Conner.
“The drone. He needs to bring his drone!”

But Jess replaced the oxygen mask over her face. “Stop talking. Everything is going to be fine.”

No. No it wouldn’t.

Because it occurred to Liza that if the feds camped outside her door, she’d be bait. Luring him. Trapping him. And if Conner went to the hospital, he’d walk right into the embrace of the Feds.

She tried to grab Jess’s arm.

Jess leaned down then, clearly realizing it was a losing battle. She moved the oxygen mask away.

“Please. Tell him that he shouldn’t come to the hospital. It’ll only get him in trouble.”

But Jess frowned, shook her head, and reached to replace the mask once again. But Liza shook her head. She’d keep it simple, precise, and unmistakable. “Tell Conner to stay away!”

When Jess nodded, Liza let her replace the mask. Then she closed her eyes and tried not to weep as the shadows settled over her.

Jess’s call came in as Conner, Pete, CJ and Skye hit the Pine Ridge trail, a half-click from Camp Blue Sky. Conner picked up his pace to a jog as he held the SAT phone to his ear.

They’d spent the day tramping through the forest, out to the meadow, then up the mountain, orienteering themselves back to the main trail, cutting their trip in half despite the brutal ascent.

Now a new strength flooded through Conner as Jess updated him on their trip to Kalispell, on Esther, and finally Liza. They’d rushed her into surgery to set her hand and repair her collarbone, which had been shattered by the jaws of the bear.

Jess’s final words to him over the SAT phone, however, stopped him cold, right there at the view of Snowshoe Peak.

“What?”

“She said she didn’t want you to come to the hospital.”

Pete caught up to him, winded, grimy, sweat trickling down his face. They’d washed off in the river, but Pete’s hands, his clothes, still bore traces of Liza’s blood. Conner imagined he didn’t look much better, his T-shirt bloodied, his hands scraped from where he’d scrabbled over rocks and ledges to get to her.

The image of the bear lifting Liza, shaking her, turned him cold.

“What do you mean she doesn’t want me to come to the hospital?” Conner asked, his breath heaving. He didn’t know whether to attribute that to the climb, or...well, the fact that she
didn’t want him to come to the hospital
?

“What she said was, ‘Tell Conner to stay away.’ It was the last thing she said to me before she slid into unconsciousness.”

If he’d had something to hang onto, Conner would have reached for it. As it were, he bent over, working hard to catch his breath—again, mostly from the climb, but yeah, from her words.

Stay away.

Never. Because this time Conner had spoken promises, had bared his heart. Had told her he loved her.

It didn’t make sense.

“If it helps, she got upset after I told her the feds were at the camp, listening to your communication. She seemed to think they’d be waiting for you.”

Conner stood up. “The feds are at the hospital?”

“They arrived about an hour ago with Esther’s mom. And yeah, they’re still here.”

Waiting for him to show up.

Aw, Liza. No wonder she’d warned him away.

“Roger that, Jess.” Conner wanted to tell her to go in, to convey to Liza that no way, no how would he not be at her bedside as soon as his legs could carry him. But yeah, he had to consider the feds.

And how to dodge them.

“What was that all about?” asked Pete as Conner clicked off.

Conner updated him as he picked up his speed down the path. He looked over his shoulder, spotted CJ and Skye running doggedly after them. Skye might make a decent smokejumper, with her teeth-bared determination to keep up and contribute.

Pete’s expression darkened with Conner’s story. “We’ll get you into that hospital room,” he said, not elaborating.

They reached the camp and, hallelujah, the truck was waiting for them. Pastor John handed over his keys.

Skye jumped into the backseat of the extended cab. “Someone needs to bring it back.”

Right.

Conner drove, trying not to kick up gravel as he took off out of camp, down the mountain, out of the Kootenai forest. But with dusk settling around them and a three-hour drive ahead of them—

He white-knuckled his way down the mountain, onto highway 53, then south to 200.

Pete, CJ, and Skye had collapsed into slumber, Pete’s head knocking on the side of the door. Skye had curled up on the seat, her head on CJs’ lap. CJ’s head flopped back onto the headrest, his hand on her shoulder.

Sweet.

The stars rose, glittering, watching as Conner drove through Ember. He nudged Pete awake, asked him if Conner should drop off him or CJ, but Pete pushed him ahead to Kalispell, still ninety miles south.

Now that Pete was awake, he fiddled with the radio, stopping the dial on a country tune. “I love this group—Montgomery King. The lead singer, Ben King, grew up with me and my brother, Sam.” He hummed along.

Are you dreaming of me, out on your own.

Are you thinking of us, and our own song

Are you wondering if I miss you too

Are you hoping that I’m just as blue

The country twang of the singer only stirred up the past, burned regret through Conner. He reached over, turned it off.