His smile grew. “My brother’s stories. Remember the name Foss?”
“I know a Foss,” Jack said, not at all pleased.
“I’m sure you do. Mover and shaker. Superintendent of a park so close to Washington, he drops in on the Director just to say hello. I’m his brother, Carl.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Christy groaned. “Doesn’t explain your lazy ass.”
Foss kept his eyes on Jack. “Clint Foss’ brother. Makes you think, doesn’t it?”
Christy’s mouth gaped open, incredulous.
“I’d get these two under control,” Foss said. “You don’t need more trouble. You know, trouble? Like in Montana?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jack turned away. “It’s Johnny’s fire. Take it up with him.”
“What should I do, boss?” Johnny asked.
“Johnny, you said he’s out of here. He’s caused enough trouble. You don’t need his disruption.”
Foss turned to Johnny. “He’s hanging you out to dry. Letting you get your ass in trouble, saving his.”
Jack spun around and stepped forward. “Johnny, strike that. I’m pulling rank.” He turned to Foss, and pointed toward the trucks. “Get the hell out of here. Get your stuff. Go!”
Christy pointed in the direction of the vehicles.
Johnny managed a smile.
The man stood his ground. “You’re not exactly overstaffed. Don’t be stupid.”
“Go,” Jack shouted. He took a quick step toward the man.
Foss recoiled. He threw down his shovel, and kicked the ground.
“Go!”
Foss stomped off.
“When you get back to your park,” Jack shouted after him, “tell your boss to expect a call. To talk about your reputation. What’s left of it. Count on your name coming up in a review of what happened today.”
“Jerk,” Christy muttered. “We don’t need him.”
“Actually, we do,” Johnny said. He turned to Jack “Love it when you pull rank. Way to kick some ass by the way. What’s that about another Foss?”
Jack sighed.
“Someone mentions Montana, you stop talking.” Johnny spun around to the smoking remains. “Makes me sick but I can’t think about this now. Got wind to worry about. I need an updated weather forecast. Tell me later what I’m in for on this review.”
He reached for his mike. The radio popped first. “Johnny, one of the crew just walked off the job. He’s in a truck, hauling ass out of here.”
“We released him.”
“We did? The folks from his park aren’t exactly heartbroken, but they wonder how they’ll get home.”
Johnny keyed the mike. Before he could answer, Christy shouted, “I’ll drive ’em.”
A deep tone bled over the radio, then, “Reger, this is Dispatch.”
“This is Reger. I was about to call you, Molly. I need a fresh weather forecast.”
“Stand by, Johnny. Prepare for instructions regarding personnel.”
Jack picked up his drip torch, but paused to listen.
“Go ahead,” Johnny said.
“Regarding that person you released,” Molly said, then ended the transmission.
Jack turned toward the two-track. Dust hung in the air. Could Foss pull strings that fast?
“He was a problem,” Johnny said. “Had to send him home.”
“Understood, but . . . stand by.”
Johnny dropped his hand. He kept an ear to the radio.
The radio popped and Molly came back on. “We’ve got a bigger problem. Luiz needs help. He needs you to keep him.”
“The guy’s worthless. Plus he’s gone. What’s up?”
“Rescue. We’re short-handed,” Molly said, a slight crack in her coolness. “We need all the help we can get.”
“He won’t be much good.”
“You’re not gonna like this, but we need him. And, we need some of you.”
“No way.”
“No negotiating. We need people. We’ve got a man stuck on a wall.”
Chapter 2
Johnny shook his head as he keyed the radio. “You want the guy we released, stop him at plateau junction. You’re welcome to him. His name’s Foss.”
“I’ll get someone there. Plus, we need two more. Maybe three. Raising system experience. People to lift the load.”
“Are you crazy? We can’t give you bodies. We only have so much time to keep this fire from visiting town. If we give you people, we risk losing everything, maybe today.”
“Sorry Johnny, we need people. Orders from the Superintendent. Chief Ranger says change plans or whatever you need to do, but we need two more people.”
“Stand by.” Johnny rubbed his eyes and turned to Jack. “Can you see if we have anyone with rock rescue experience?”
Jack clicked over to the crew channel and started calling squads. Within a minute he had answers. “None of those folks,” he said to Johnny. “How about you?”
“A little training, but I live by a strict set of rules. Never leave terra firma, unless it’s by helicopter.”
Jack keyed the radio. “Dispatch, this is Chastain.”
“Go ahead.”
“Johnny has training but no experience, and he needs to be here.”
“We’ll have to take him. Tell him find a replacement. Anyone else? We desperately need someone with experience in raising systems on big wall rescue.”
“One person. Dated experience. It’s been a few years.”
Johnny glanced over. “Thought you said no one?”
Molly came back. “I copy. Give us those two. We’ll catch Foss at the road.”
“The other person is me,” Jack
