by M.L. Buchman There are some characters who just end up being so much fun to write, and Jeannie and Cal land near the top of that list for me. Jeannie is a helitack pilot (which means she flies helicopters against wildfires). Cal is one of the few hotshot-certified forest fire photographers who ends up on the wrong side of a fire break and needs a rescue. By the end of the first day, that isn't the only thing he's ended up on the wrong side of: Mr. Asshole Photographer had sure taken any joy out of the day. His mother should have thrown him away and kept the bloody stork. Once the Firehawk was settled, Jeannie began the shutdown checklist. Cycling down electronics and engines, and finishing up the logs for the day was normally a soothing, meditative action. But her pen wouldn’t write; it took her a while to scrounge up one that wasn’t dried out. The setting sun was streaming straight into the front windshield, making it wholly impossible to read the gauges in the shadow...
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