Page 11 of Falling for the Playboy Pilot

5

DALTON

Idid what Laser suggested. I went and got myself a cold drink. Not a beer, even though that sounded amazing right about then. But there would be no booze. Not while I was on call.

I didn’t know why the woman pissed me off so badly. It wasn’t even that she pissed me off. It was the fact she poked at me when I was in the worst mood. She had no idea what she was saying. She was some bright-eyed young thing that didn’t know shit about shit. As if I was the bad guy for wanting things to work right.

Was it too much to ask for people to just do their damn job? Today’s mission was training but that didn’t mean there weren’t actual flames. Just because it was small and there was a ground crew in the area training didn’t make it any less important.

I snatched one of the protein bars from the small breakroom in the building that housed the simulator. The building included a classroom that often doubled as a briefing room. Right then, the place was cleared out, but soon, there would be maps covering the walls. There would be tables set up with bottles of water and high protein snacks. When we got into the peak of fire season, the room would also house any wildland fire fighters that needed a place to crash. I liked that about fire season. Everyone came together. We all had one goal—beat back the orange beast.

It had been ten minutes. I went into the simulation room and loaded the program. There were no windows in the room. Just four high-resolution screens mounted in a rough semicircle around a mock cockpit that looked close enough to the real thing to make a person feel like they were actually flying.

Chief had rigged the place with speakers and I had added one of those heaters meant for a shop. It blasted heat. That was the thing people didn’t realize about flying one of the planes. It was fucking hot. There wasn’t AC that kept things nice and cool. It would be hot and uncomfortable. There would be days we’d be up in the air for hours. The sweating never stopped. It was miserable.

It wasn’t like it was the flames that cooked us. It was the lack of ventilation. The heat of the day. And yes, a forest fire was fucking hot and I often felt like I was a rotisserie chicken.

And because I was in a shitty mood and the sexy little blonde pissed me off, she was going to get the full experience. I turned on the heater just as the door was pulled open.

“Oh, come on,” Laser said with a groan. “The heater?”

“What heater?” Janna asked.

“He’s in a mood,” Laser muttered.

“Would you prefer to run the show?” I asked.

Laser nodded. “Yes, but Chief needs me to fly in a bit.”

“Come on,” I told Janna. “Let’s get this done. I have shit to do.” I gestured to the seat in front of the controls.

“Good luck,” Laser murmured.

She leaned against the back wall while Janna had the decency to look a little nervous. She got in the seat and looked up with defiance in her eyes. Her hair was blowing around her face with the force of the breeze from the heater. She reached into her pocket, pulled out a rubber band thing, and quickly piled her hair on top of her head.

“Let’s do this,” she said.

“Lights,” I said.

Laser turned off the lights, plunging the room into darkness. I had the small controller in my hand and pushed the button for the screens. The program loaded, running through the usual startup.

Janna grabbed the yoke like she was born in that seat. Confident, like someone with a thousand hours logged and something to prove. We were about to see what she could do. I had seen guys wash out in the simulator. It was realistic and allowed no room for error.

The screens flickered, then filled with images of a mountain range to the west. It was all pretty and beautiful with a lake cutting through the range. A park on one side and lots of forest land. It was nature in its most pristine condition.

And then I pushed another button. Black smoke covered the screens. Artificial sunlight bled through yellow haze. The trees were torches. The mountains were hidden from sight. It was very similar to what it was like in an actual fire.

I hit another button that turned on the sound. The chaos of a wildfire in full swing consumed the room. Flames licked at the edges of the forest, and thick plumes of smoke billowed into the sky, obscuring visibility. Janna’s hands tightened on the yoke as she adjusted her grip, her eyes darting between the screens. The heater was already doing its job. In the soft light, I could see beads of sweat on her forehead.

“Alright,” I said, my voice flat. “You’ve got a fire line to mark. Smoke’s thick, wind’s unpredictable, and there’s a crew on the ground waiting for your call. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

She nodded and began maneuvering the simulated plane through the smoke. At first, she did fine but that was when she was on the outskirts of the fire. Her hands were steady. But then I introduced the first complication: a sudden gust of wind that sent the plane lurching to the side. Her grip tightened, and she overcorrected, sending the nose dipping too low.

“Watch your altitude,” I said sharply. “You’re too close to the tree line.”

She pulled up quickly, but not before the simulated warning system blared in her ears. The sound was jarring. She flinched slightly but kept her focus. I could see her lips moving as she muttered something under her breath. I almost laughed because I was pretty sure she was cursing me out. Good.

Laser had stepped forward and was standing just a couple feet behind the chair. She shot me a dirty look. I knew what she was thinking. I had tossed Janna right into the deep end. Usually, there would be some time for the person in the simulator to get a feel for things. I would ease them into the program. But Janna’s overconfidence made me give her a real test of her skills.