Chasing Fire

didn’t do that because we’re going to continue our planned agenda from this morning.”
    “No. It’s the tampering, Rowan. Brakeman thinking of it, then pulling it off—all while eluding the cops. That’s just not working for me.”
    “He knows this area better than most. He’s a mechanic, and he has a grudge against us. It works for me.”
    On the surface, he thought, but you only had to scratch off a layer.
    “Why tamper with some of the equipment?” Gull began working off his mental list. “He doesn’t know how we roll here, or in a fire. Not all the ins and outs.”
    “His daughter worked here three seasons,” Rowan pointed out. “She had a working knowledge of how we roll, and he’s spent time on base.”
    “If he wanted to hurt us, there are more direct ways. He had weapons; he could’ve used them. Sure, he could’ve known or found out where the equipment is,” Gull conceded, “and he could’ve gotten to it. This stretch of the season, most of us would sleep through a bomb blast. We’d hear the siren, the same way a mother hears her baby crying in the night even when she’s exhausted. We’re tuned, but otherwise, we’re out for the count.
    “This was subtle, and sneaky, and it was the kind of thing, it seems to me, you’d know to do if you knew just how broken equipment could impact a crew on a fire. Because you’ve been there.”
    He was right, Rowan thought. She didn’t like it. “You’re actually saying one of us did this?”
    “I’m saying one of us could have done it, because we know how to access the equipment, how to screw it up and how it could impact an attack.”
    “How stupid would that be since you could be the one impacted?”
    “There’s that. Let’s take that first. Who didn’t jump either fire?”
    He toggled his screen back to the document he’d worked on.
    “You’re right; I don’t like it one damn bit. And first, Yangtree jumped with us.”
    “He spent nearly the entire jump coordinating, doing flyovers.”
    “That’s crap. And L.B.? Seriously?”
    “He didn’t jump. Cards worked as spotter, so he didn’t jump. Neither did any of these. That’s over twenty, with six of them off the list altogether for personal reasons or injuries.”
    “Yangtree’s been jumping thirty years . What, suddenly he decides to find out what’ll happen if he screws up equipment? Cards has ten years in, and L.B. more than a dozen. And—”
    “Look, I know how you feel about them. They’re friends—they’re family. I feel the same.”
    “In my world people don’t make up a suspect list of friends and family.”
    “How often in your world has your equipment been sabotaged?” He laid a hand on her knee to soften the words. “Look, it’s more with you because you’ve been with them a long time. But I trained with a lot of the names on this list, and you know going through that makes a tight bond.”
    “I don’t even know why you’re doing this.”
    “Because, damn it, Rowan, if it wasn’t Brakeman, then we can do our patrols, our rechecks and spot checks, but . . . If you wanted to get in the ready room, the loadmaster’s room, any damn place on base tonight and mess something up, could you?”
    She didn’t speak for a moment. “Yeah. I could. Why would I? Why would any of us?”
    “That’s another deal entirely. Before that, there’s the possibility, if it’s one of us, it is somebody who jumped, who knew they were high on the list. Who wanted to be there, be part of it. We’re in a stressful line of work. People snap, or go too far. The firefighter who starts fires, then risks himself and his crew to put it out. It happens.”
    “I know it happens.”
    He hit another key, took her to another page.
    “I divided the crews, the way we were that day.”
    “You’re missing some names.”
    “I think we can eliminate ourselves.”
    “Dobie’s not here.”
    “He had the duct tape.”
    “Yeah, that was real handy.”
    “He always carries . . . Okay, you’re right.” It burned his belly and his conscience, but he added Dobie’s name. “I should add us because you wished for the damn tape, and I remembered he’d have it.”
    “What’s our motive?”
    “Maybe I want to scare you off the job so you’ll stay home and cook me a hot dinner every night.”
    “As if. But I mean the question. What’s any motive?”
    “Okay, let’s roll with that. Yangtree.” He toggled back again. “He’s talking about giving it up. His knees are