Stars Over Alaska (Wild River #4) - Jennifer Snow Page 0,11

but for Levi, inspecting the parachutes—having his crew’s safety in his hands—was where the real pressure came from.

Standing in the parachute loft, he took his time inspecting the gear. The chutes needing repairs would be brought into the station before being repacked for use. Luckily, most appeared to be in good shape. A few tears in the canopies and netting, but nothing major.

His cell phone rang, creating a loud echo throughout the loft. He glanced at the caller ID and, seeing the station number, shook his head as he answered. “What’s the matter? Couldn’t walk the ten feet to come get me?”

“There’s a fire reported in Mason County area...a log cabin,” Chad said.

Levi’s smirk disappeared and he was instantly on high alert. “That’s the Sanders family cabin,” he said, as he sprinted out of the loft. It was the only cabin in that area. The Sanders family had owned that land for generations. With a lake on one side and forest on the other, the family had cleared enough of a trail to get their vehicles in and out during the milder months of the year, but had preserved as much of the area wildlife as possible.

Great for the environment. Not great in this case, when a cabin fire could and would quickly spread to nearby trees. And getting to the cabin would require smoke jumper assistance.

“I’ve put the call out to the on-call team and I’m getting the plane ready,” Chad said.

They were operating on a skeleton crew with it being off-season. Only two supervisors were eligible for year-round employment. Luckily, their on-call crew were all nearby in Fairbanks. “I’m on the way.” He disconnected the call and then hit speed dial for the Wild River state trooper office and asked for Eddie Sanders.

A moment later, Eddie picked up. “Hey, Levi, what’s up?”

His cabin. Up in flames. “Hey, are any of your family members at the cabin this week?” That was the most important thing—establishing if anyone could be in danger.

“Not that I know of. Katherine only goes out there during the summer.”

“Your mom or grandma?”

“Nah. They wouldn’t try driving out there this time of year. Something wrong?”

“I hate to tell you this, buddy, but the cabin is on fire.”

“Shit. Let me call around to make sure no one’s there and I’ll call you back. Thanks for the heads-up,” Eddie said.

After going inside the cabin, Levi grabbed his gear from the wall in his room. He undressed in record time.

Eddie’s quick return call revealed none of the Sanders family were there that week, which was a relief, but it wasn’t unusual for homeless people to break into abandoned cabins and squat for the winter. Levi suspected the fire was an accident and not an act of arson and hoped no one was still inside.

Hurrying back out, he climbed into the C-212 with the others. No emergency was ideal, but this one was particularly unsettling.

He knew the Sanders family well. One member in particular—too well. His childhood...and adulthood (until a few years ago) best friend, Leslie. Luckily he knew there was no way she would have been at the cabin. She’d been living in LA for three years now and it took small miracles to get her back to Alaska.

Levi certainly didn’t qualify as important enough.

They flew through the snow toward the location of the cabin and his heart pounded a little, seeing the flames illuminating the darkness in the distance. He’d spent a lot of summers at that cabin with Leslie, her family and their close friends. As kids, they would all go hiking and swimming and play capture the flag in the woods. They’d have campfires by the lake, and then as older teens, they’d head to the cabin to host parties without parental supervision.

So many good memories were wrapped up in that cabin.

Now it was gone.

As they drew near, they prepared to jump. Chad located the best jump site and signaled them when it was time.

Levi exited the plane and parachuted to the ground, just yards from the burning cabin. The fire had spread to the surrounding trees and after stockpiling their equipment, the team spread out to create a fire line to prevent further spreading. Using crosscut saws, the team cut back the brush and Levi immediately started digging a trench below the deep snow to stop the flames in their tracks.

The aircraft circled above, dropping water onto the blaze and minutes later, the area was secured. Unfortunately, the cabin had completely burned to the ground,