“Coming over with another drop,” she said.

“Good timing,” her uncle said after a long moment. “We dropped back off of Sherman. Target to the immediate west of the road – basically the shoulder, if you can.”

She did as she was instructed, and this time, it was easier. She came in close over the fire, letting the heat shimmy the plane. She didn’t try to fight the air, trusting instead that Fire-Eater would know how to manage the changes in air density. The plane would leap up and down, but it wouldn’t stall unless she caused it to do so. She flicked the switch and let the water drop, and once she could feel it was all gone, she pulled up and drew a long line up from the fire’s front and pointed back toward the South Fork.

“That’s a dead hit,” her uncle said. “You’ve got your dad’s knack for it, kid. That last one just about did it here, I’m impressed. We might actually hold it here with the ground crew.”

“It’s still burning up the ridge into the national forest,” she said.

“Nobody’s living up there,” her uncle said. “If the feds care to get involved at some point, they can deal with it. How’s the fire look on the west side?”

“It’s burning into the grass,” she said. “Uncle, I think your house is…”

“It’s done in,” her uncle said. “I know. It sounds like I might need you to make your next drops up over there. I’ll give you the locations when it’s time, but it’s gonna be right around Kiowa. Near my place.

“Why there?” she asked.

“We got some bad news,” her uncle said. “Sounds like Tom and his family decided not to clear out.” Tom Haskell, she thought. Her uncle’s neighbor.

“They’re still there?”

“And their house is, too,” her uncle said. “Tom says it’s getting desperate, and they can’t get out.”

“Why didn’t they evacuate?” She asked. “Why would they stay?”

“Why didn’t you?” her uncle asked. “They’re protecting their home. No point arguing over it now, they need some help. I’ll talk to Tom, you fill back up, I’ll get you the next target. Good?”

“Good,” she said.

“Good to have you in the air, ace,” her uncle said.

Vera smiled, pushed Fire-Eater forward, and went for the resupply. This time, she was bold. The surface of the water didn’t frighten her, it called to her. She brought the plane in as soon as possible and exalted at the rush of water as Fire-Eater drank and prepared for the next punch. Then, she pulled the plane around, following her uncle’s instructions without a hiccup, and headed back toward town. In a tight sixteen minutes, Vera was positioned for the next drop. She had ¾ of her fuel left.

“Ready to drop,” she said. “Where at?”

“One second, kid,” her uncle said. She waited, watching the flames flow like lava beneath her.

“Killing time up here,” she said.

“One second.”

She waited.

“Got a target? What’s the hold up?”

“He says he doesn’t want you flying low over the ranch,” her uncle said, his voice exhausted. “But he won’t say why. I’m trying to get him to call out the spots where the drop should go, but he won’t say.”

“I can see it,” she said, pulling around so that the ranch was visible out of her left window. She saw the black square where her uncle’s house had been. Fire was spreading under the fence line onto Tom’s ranch. There was a clear break a few hundred feet back from the house, and a ladder of flames had climbed over the break and was close to the back porch of the ranch house.

“I’ve got a pretty obvious target,” she said. “Most of their firebreak is intact but there’s a spot where it clearly failed. That’s the biggest threat. I can go at the fire along the ring of the break after that.”

“I’ll radio him,” her uncle said. “Wait three minutes and then go in for it. I want to make sure none of them are standing right there when you go.”

“Sounds fine,” she said. She brought Fire-Eater down closer to the ground. There were no trees in this part of town, and the burn scar wasn’t putting out heat. With only a grass fire to worry about, she figured she could get closer. She came over the Haskell Ranch, banking to follow the line of the fence. This low, she could see two figures with a garden hose spraying a cone of water over the front of the flames. It didn’t look like it was making any difference.

“They are out there,” she said, circling around the property.

“Wait for them to go up to the house,” her uncle said. “If they see you, hopefully they’ll get the message. Tom’s not talking to me anymore. If they don’t back off, wave off. We’ve got other targets.”

Vera circled twice more, and on the second time, the two impotent firefighters were gone. She was ready to go. She pulled Fire-Eater down even lower and got her hand over the drop switch in advance. She’d drop a fraction of the load, she thought, then pull around and see where to put the next drop. A few smaller, tactical drops without a refill could quell the grass fire effectively. She pulled over the flames and flicked the switch.

And saw a person, in the midst of the flames, on fire.

“Fuck!” She yelled, flicking the switch to shut the water off. A curtain of heavy water might kill the flames, but it could also snap a spine. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

“What’s going on?” Her uncle asked.

“I fucked it up,” she said.

“Just come back around and give it another go.”

“There was a person in there!”

“There was still someone near the fire when you dropped?” Her uncle was alarmed.

“No, in the fire,” she said. “Right in the middle.”

“No,” her uncle said. “Just a trick on the eyes. Tom wouldn’t get caught in the middle. Probably just an old fence post or a tree. Come back around, you’ll see.”

She did come back around; her drop, like the last two, was on target. A few flames remained in the circle where the water had fallen, but they were diminished. There was no figure now. No human, no fencepost, no tree. That couldn’t be, she thought.

“Gone,” she said.

“See?”

“No, I don’t see,” she said, circling back around. “He was there, uncle. He was already on fire, but I saw him. Now there’s nothing there. Do you think I…”

“That’s not how it works,” he said, stopping her. She was going to suggest that she’d put him out, that maybe he’d used the chance to run for the house. But that wasn’t possible. That torrent of water would knock a person flat to the ground, and if he was already badly burned, there was a good chance he wouldn’t get up again. The water would also kick up red-hot ashes and embers. If you hit the ground, for a second you burned even more. She couldn’t have hammered him into the ground where she couldn’t see him, right? She’d see the body if he’d really been there, she knew she would.

“It’s stressful to fly,” her uncle said. Vera became aware he’d been talking to her for a while. She prepared for a second drop, seeing that her hopper was still mostly full. “You’re going fast and thinking fast. Sometimes you’ll see things that aren’t there. Trust me.”

“Ok,” she said. She lowered her nose to another patch of fire and dropped again until the hopper was only half-full, then she switched it off and pulled away. The line of fire that had broken through was dying. She could see a few more spots where it looked like the fire might threaten to jump again.

“Jesus Christ,” her uncle said. “He really wants you to wave off.”

“Tom?”

“Yeah.” She was relieved. She’s assumed the two she’d seen earlier were the rancher’s wife and Melissa, their daughter, leaving Tom to be the one in the flames. If he was still alive and still telling her uncle to stop, she must not have hit anyone.

“He says they’re good now,” her uncle said.