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She wanted to be straight with him, and so she plunged into the rest of the story.
“Derek and I were called into the Bakersfield wildfire in Wyoming.”
She halted, absorbing the sounds around her as if just noticing them. The crackling
fire and the sound of harsh wind battering against the windows, all reminded her that she
was here and now with Jack. The past didn’t have to take control of her if she didn’t
allow it.
His touch swept over her hair, slipped through the strands with a sweetness that
brought more tears to her eyes. “You’ve been pretending it didn’t happen and now that
you’re back here in Clifton the arson fires are bringing it back. That’s why you’re having
nightmares. We’re both haunted by our memories.”
His perceptiveness took her off guard, but Autumn understood he’d seen his own
share of trauma. Of course, he also probably recognized the symptoms of post-traumatic
stress. While never diagnosed with the disorder, she knew if she hadn’t come to grips
with her feelings, she might have suffered more.
“Tell me what happened, Autumn.”
“It was a freak accident of the worst kind.” Recalling the circumstances, she closed
her eyes and relived it step by step. “We were in the C-130. The choppy air was bad. It
was a clear, cloudless day.”
She remembered the thrill she felt jumping into air, sailing like a bird on currents
until time to pull the cord on her chute.
“I can still remember every detail of my gear. The tight cap over my hair and the
helmet over that. I had an ax, shovel, map, compass, water, first-aid kit and a knife to cut
away the shroud lines if my first parachute failed and I had to use the second chute. The
second chute was always strapped to my front, and the first to my back.”
All that weight could drag her down fast, and once she reached the landing zone the
hikes to the fire area could be miles away. With twelve hour or more shifts to accomplish,
she had to be in top shape to take on arduous fire breaks.
“The plane carried ten of us that day and it was freezing. Derek was only seconds
behind me when I jumped. I’d checked the altimeter on my wrist and flattened out to
slow down my descent. Before I could pull my cord, there was this downdraft. It
slammed me so hard I almost lost my breath. I saw Derek pull his cord and then his chute
began to stream. He couldn’t get the shroud lines to separate and he was struggling. I
watched in horror for a second before I knew I had to do something. If I didn’t he’d die.”
Her heart banged in her chest as if she’d leapt from the plane in that moment. Jack’s
arms tightened around her, and she almost pressed her face into his sweater.
“Since that day, I’ve retraced what happened dozens upon dozens of times.” Tears
slid down her cheeks and her throat tightened. She swallowed hard. “His second chute
crumpled, Jack.”
“Oh, man.”
She continued. “I dove toward him because I knew if I didn’t do something Derek
would die. I made a grab for his shoulder harness. I caught him. I thought the weight was
going to rip through my gloves and break my fingers.”
Heavy breaths issued from her, and she felt Jack’s hands slip over her hair with
gentle, warm strokes. She barely registered the comfort he gave, her memories ripping at
her with sharp claws. “My chute opened and Derek started to slip from my grasp. He was
holding tight to my harness but the force was awful when my chute opened. I thought for
a moment I’d lost him. I held on for all I was worth. But it wasn’t enough.”
“Autumn.” Jack’s voice sounded strained, and she knew what he thought.
“We came in too fast. Our combined weight was too much for the one parachute.”
She brushed tears away from her face. “We hit the trees because we were blown off
course from the landing zone. Derek was jarred loose on impact. When we hit my knee
jammed against a heavy branch.”
“That must have hurt like a son-of-a-bitch.”
“The pain was so bad I was sure I’d broken my leg. Something hit me in the back of
the head. When I woke up, I was sprawled face down on the ground. I wanted to get up
and check on Derek but I couldn’t stand on the knee. Then I saw him about twenty yards
away. I thought he might be unconscious, but when I crawled my way over there—” She
closed her eyes and remembered Derek’s crumpled form. “He was already dead.
Apparently when he hit a branch his neck was … broken.”
“The woman in the club. When you saw her neck broken, it reminded you of Derek.”
“Yes.” Silence settled over the room for some time before she spoke. “The wind
blew Derek and me closer to the fire than we should have been. The rest of the crew hit
the landing zone as expected. When they realized what happened, some of them set out to
find us. They located us a considerable time later. We weren’t that far off course. Just
enough to kill Derek and end my career.”
“What happened then?” His question came so softly she almost didn’t hear him.
“It took me time to recover. My knee was busted up big time.” [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]