Page 77 of Heat Advisory

“I’m sorry,” she said, seemingly truthful but serious, nonetheless. “I didn’t want to have to shoot you, but this is for the greater good.”

“What are you doing?” Darren shouted. “You said you brought that to help start the fire if we needed it.”

“Yes, but it also serves another purpose,” Jade replied. “If we get caught, our mission to help the forests will be lost.”

She was seemingly calm throughout this, despite the fire raging behind them and the weapon in her hand.

“We’ve already killed innocent people with these fires. I’m not adding others,” Darren sparred. “It’ll just bring more attention to this and more authorities that we don’t need.”

“If they leave, they’ll tell the authorities, which is why I have my gun!” Her voice became more high-pitched and frantic.

I was trying to think of how to get out, but there wasn’t exactly anything I could hide behind within jumping distance. Plus, I wasn’t leaving Jay at risk of being shot either.

“Darling, listen to me,” Darren said, trying to calm her, but I stuck on one word in particular.

“Darling?” I asked incredulously, shaking my head in shock.

“You weren’t good enough for him, but I was,” Jade spat back. “Once you let him go, I swooped in.”

How long had they been together? Jesus, maybe he really was cheating on me!

The wind whipped behind us as the fire grew.

“Guys, we all have to leave now,” I told them. “Yes, the rain will put out the fire, but it will also flood this whole area, turning this burn scar into a mudslide. You know that, Jade.”

I pleaded with her to understand, but it was Darren who sold her.

“The fire is spreading too fast for the rain to catch up. We have to go grab the equipment and get back to the truck now, or neither of us will be able to help future forests,” he told her, grabbing her arm and yanking her in the direction of the smoke.

She growled, but he was stronger than her so he was able to pull her away from us.

Not wasting any time, Jay pulled me in the opposite direction and started sprinting to my car.

He yanked open the passenger door, and I slid in just as a large wind gust slammed into us, the wind howling like a warning.

Behind us, I could hear Darren screaming something.

Jay rounded the car and hopped in, quickly locking the doors. “I need to call this fire in really quick.”

I turned to Jay and grabbed his arm, my voice trembling but sharp. “Wait until we get down the hill. Jay, when that rain hits, it’s going to wash out the only road out of here. The whole burn scar area is going to turn into a riverbed. We need to go—now!”

He didn’t argue. He didn’t ask for proof. Just nodded once, sharp and decisively. He slammed the gearshift into drive and hit the gas.

Out the side window, I could see the fire growing. It wasn’t just a few small flames and smoke—it was a living thing, fed by wind and dry fuel from the remaining trees and plants not scorched by the previous fire.

A few raindrops started to hit the windshield, but there weren’t nearly enough to put out the fire—yet.

We came to the fork in the road, and I knew Jay would try to head for the main road.

“Turn left,” I told him, leaving no room for argument.

“But…” he tried to say, but I cut him off.

“Left!” I shouted. “Water takes the path of least resistance, and once that rain gets heavier it will create a debris flow along the burn scar, and all of it will slide onto the main road since that’s where gravity will take it first. The back road on the left is longer but safer because it’s a more gradual descent.”

Big, fat drops started to cover the windshield as he drove as fast as we safely could down the road.

My phone buzzed three long vibrations—the sign for an emergency alert. The screen lit up with the words Flash Flood Emergency. I swiped the phone to open the alert and read the full text.