Jon Baker stepped into Sergeant Getraer's office. "You wanted to see me, Sarge?"
Joe looked up from the map he had been studying. "The call just came in, they're evacuating. I'm sending you and a team up to assist them through the canyon area. You're OC."
Jon nodded and looked at the map on the table. "It's gotten that bad."
"The fire is out of control, they'll have to set up a fire break. No way possible to save those homes now."
"I'm out of here." Jon turned to leave.
"Jon," Joe called him back, "everybody comes home."
Jon nodded in agreement and went to prepare his team.
*****
Jon leaned over the map laid out on the table in front of him. "I wish they'd keep these dang things current," he griped at his partner who was leaning against the wall behind him.
Poncharello shrugged his shoulders and joined him looking at the map. "Aw Jon, these contractors can put up a house in less than 3 months. Who can keep up with that?"
Baker ran a hand through his thick blond hair and straightened up. "I guess we'll have to go by the post office listing and just use this thing as general reference."
The door to the school gymnasium opened up and Bonnie Clark entered followed by Arthur Grossman, Jed Turner and Barry Baricza.
"You guys on the bikes get all the luck," Bonnie complained good-naturedly. "The traffic is already backing up with people trying to move everything they own out of here. A car has a hard time getting through."
Jon scowled slightly and looked at Grossman. "You in a car, Artie?"
"Yea," Grossman made a face, "they thought that the car would be more useful in case we had to drive someone out of here."
"Oh, isn't that lovely," Jon almost exploded. "and what are we to do when the cars get stuck in the traffic and we can't get to the problem. What numbskull came up with that one?"
Grossman opened his mouth to answer but Jon waved him off. "Never mind, Grossie," he sighed, "I already know the answer. I'll be so happy when that man gets some real experience outside of the public relations department."
The officers clustered around the table peering at the map in front of Jon. "This area outlined in blue is ours," Jon began his briefing, "go towards the farthest house on your road and evacuate there first moving in towards here. Anyone who has no where to go, send here. The school is being set up as an evac zone. Keep in touch at all times. Any officer over 30 minutes late on a check in will be assumed in trouble and in need of assistance. Be careful out there."
*****
Bonnie Clark slowly moved her car up the canyon road observing the residents as they prepared to evacuate their homes. She shook her head sadly and waved reassuringly at driveways and sidewalks where people looked at her hopefully. "No last minute reprieve, guys," Bonnie mumbled under her breath. The homes were beautiful and well kept with manicured lawns and swimming pools. Now and again, she would pass a home that was already sealed up and abandoned. Within a few hours, this road would have as much life on it as a ghost town.
The farther she drove the less affluent the homes became. It was very clear where the new construction had met with the older homesteads of the area. The road became rougher and the manicured lawns turned into untamed wilderness fronting little more than shacks with only the rudiments of civilization. Electricity ran into most of them, but it was clear that plumbing was an option in some of the more dilapidated structures. Outhouses stood as mute testimony to places where technology had not quite caught up to the squatters and homesteaders. Finding the end of the road, Bonnie parked the car and walked up to a door that looked like one solid knock would take it down. "Anybody home?" She waited for several minutes before beginning a search of the premises. She peered into the dirt encrusted windows but couldn't see into the dark interior. She walked around the house knocking on the walls with her baton in an attempt to contact anyone living there. The backyard was overgrown and had deep holes dug in it like a dog had been busy burying bones and other areas had mounds of dirt where holes had been filled in. It gave the entire yard the appearance of a war zone with bomb craters. Bonnie stepped carefully over to one of the excavations and looked inside. A rusted coffee can lay at the bottom of the hole with its plastic lid cracked and broken. Coins dark with age had fallen out and were scattered around the can.
"You just don't move now," the surly voice came from directly behind Bonnie. She took a firm grip on her club as she felt a gentle prod in the back that could have been a shotgun.
"Sir," Bonnie's voice was calm and controlled, "I am a California Highway Patrol Officer. I am here to inform you that an evacuation has been ordered of this area effective immediately. I can offer you any assistance that you might need."
"Assistance? Assistance?" the voice quivered and shook, "I don't need no assistance. I've taken care of myself for 62 years without no assistance from the State. I worked hard, I did. I never took no help. That's for slackers. I ain't no slacker."
Bonnie turned slowly towards the man behind her. It had been a shotgun sticking in her back, but it was pointed to the ground now. The barrel was just inches off the dirt of the yard being held by a dirty clawlike hand attached to a skinny arm. The old man removed his hat and wiped the perspiration from his forehead. "I ain't no slacker," he repeated dully.
"I'm sure you're not," Bonnie soothed. "I'm not here from the Welfare Department. I'm State Police. Do you understand?"
The man stared at her uncomprehendingly. "I never did believe in banks."
Bonnie looked around her at the myriad of holes and the tin can of coins with dawning comprehension. "Didn't you make a map of where you buried your money?"
"And have someone come and read it? No, ma'am. I have it all up here." He pointed to his head with one arthritic finger. "Nobody can say I'm a fool!" He followed her gaze to the empty holes. "Course I was a bit younger when I buried my stash. Could be I missed by a few feet or so."
Bonnie turned to him and offered her most charming smile. "If it's buried, the fire won't touch it. This isn't worth risking your life for, let's go. We can come back when it's safe."
The old man searched her face and then smiled with a crafty flicker of his eyes. "Aw no, you want me to leave so's you can come back and dig for it yourself. I know your kind, Goldie. I've been taken to the cleaners once or twice by women like you. Ain't gonna happen again."
Bonnie dropped the smile and took a firm grip on the baton. "Sir, you are ordered to evacuate by the State of California. Now, move it."
The old man stared at her badge as though he hadn't seen it before. "You really a cop?"
"Yes, I am," Bonnie replied firmly. "Shall we go?"
"NO!" The man screamed so loudly that the trees around the shack rang in echoes. "I'm not going without my money." He turned and ran towards the brush in an attempt to escape.
Exasperated, Bonnie followed him jumping over unfilled holes and dodging mounds of dirt. "Come back, sir. You must evacuate."
He ran around the house and through the high grass and wildflowers that passed for his front yard with Bonnie in close pursuit. Then there was no sign of him.
For a moment, it seemed like the old man had disappeared on her. Panting, she returned to her car and picked up her mike to call the situation in to Jon when her head exploded with pain, and she fell to the ground. Seconds later, everything went black.
*****
Grossman watched as Poncharello spoke in rapid Spanish with the couple that were watching their employer's house. The beautiful 3-story home stood as a backdrop for the scene that was being played out between the police officer and the caretakers. Swimming pool, tennis courts and a long curving drive gave the place a feeling of elegance and affluence even though the home itself was relatively small. Grossie had tried for almost half an hour to make them understand that they had to leave, but eventually had to call for Ponch's assistance when his own Spanish came up far short. He shook his head as he watched the scene in front of him. Ponch's arms were flying around in wide gestures as the man in front of him spoke with an equally loud tone and violent gestures of his own. Without his training, Grossman would have thought they were fighting. Experience in LA had taught him differently. The Hispanics always spoke with a great deal of emotion and emphasized each word with gestures.
Ponch turned and walked down the driveway to where Grossman stood waiting. "They understand now. They were afraid that their boss would hold them accountable for the house if it got burned. I told them that if the State orders them out, they must go and their boss is going to have to understand. They're going to pack."
"Thanks to you," Grossman groused. "I sure didn't do anything."
Ponch looked quickly up from putting on his gloves, his dark eyes full of concern. "Grossie, you did fine. It's not your fault they can't speak English."
"What if you hadn't been available," Grossie sighed. "What then?"
"You would have thought of something," Ponch replied confidently. "Grossie, you're a good cop. One of the best. You can't be good at everything."
Grossman smiled at his friend. "I can try."
Ponch laughed warmly and flashed his remarkable smile. "You do too. I gotta get back on my assignment. Give me a call if you need me again."
"Hey, Ponch!"
Poncharello turned to face Grossman when he heard the change in tone.
"Look there!" Ponch followed Grossman's finger towards the hills above the canyon floor where tiny fly-like helicopters were dropping water on the encroaching blaze. Smoke billowed up behind them and then dissipated down again.
"They're just buying time, Grossie. I understand they're setting up a firebreak about 4 miles down the road. These homes will be gone by tonight without an act of God."
Grossman sighed and opened up the door of the cruiser. "I don't care how much money you have or how much insurance, this has got to hurt."
*****
Jon got off the handheld unit with Baricza and marked another location off on the map in front of him. Standing up, he stretched out a kink in his back and rubbed his neck. It had been several hours since the start of the evacuation and things were moving slowly. People had remained optimistic far too long and weren't vaguely prepared to move out of their homes. Reports from the firefighters were not encouraging either. They were slowly losing the battle with the blaze that had now eaten up hundreds of acres of forest and was heading towards them at an alarming rate. Families intent on saving as much as they could crammed the exit routes with overloaded cars and panic was putting an edge on tempers. The parking lot at the school was beginning to fill with cars that couldn't make it out onto the road and needed temporary shelter as well as people who simply had no place to go. The cots and supplies that had been provided by the State for the emergency were proving to be inadequate for the number of people that had been living in the area. The map had been even less accurate than Jon had originally thought with one full development not listed and at least a dozen squatter sites bordering on the State gamelands that were unaccounted for. He had moved out of the gymnasium hours ago in order to work without interference from the well-meaning souls who were staffing the emergency shelter.
He checked his log and sighed. It was going to be a long afternoon. He read it and then read it again. Deep concern reflected in his warm blue eyes. Picking up his unit, he clicked on the send button. "Anybody heard from Bonnie lately?"
*****
Bonnie groaned and sat up nursing her aching head. She opened her eyes and almost panicked as the darkness continued to press in around her. Dropping to her hands and knees, she crawled across a wooden floor until she found a wall. She pulled herself up the wall cautiously feeling every groove and nail until she was standing upright. Keeping her hands on the wall, she slowly slid around the room cursing softly as her legs hit buckets and odd containers in the dark. Her searching fingers found a door and she eagerly looked for the handle. To her surprise, the handle turned easily and she was rewarded with a blast of sunshine in her face that left her blinking like an owl. She sat down on the ground relieved that her eyesight wasn't damaged and waited for her eyes to adjust.
She found herself sitting in front of an old shed that apparently housed what few gardening tools the old man used for his raggedy garden. The man, unaware that she was awake, was industriously digging yet another hole in the yard. The dirt flew as he dropped to his knees using his bare hands to excavate the hole. Triumphantly, he raised another coffee can in his hands. He struggled to his feet and staggered with fatigue over to an old potato sack that lay on the ground. Opening the sack, he shoved the can in and tied it closed.
Bonnie raised her eyes to the hills above the small shack and cringed. The sky was slowly filling with tendrils of smoke that covered the white clouds and turned the sunlight off. Strangely beautiful, it twisted and turned above the trees combining and recombining until the threads became ribbons and the ribbons became solid clouds. Bonnie shot to her feet ignoring the pain in her head. She ran across the pockmarked terrain and grabbed the shotgun that the old man had left leaning against a mound of earth.
For the first time, he noticed that she was awake. "Hi, girlie, I'm digging it up. I'm getting my money." He was calm now, almost serene in his happiness that his money was found at last. "Just about five more cans and I'll have it all."
"We're leaving now," Bonnie ordered him. "Get to your feet."
"Or what, Goldie," the old man's eyes turned crafty once more, "or you'll shoot me and take what I've already dug up? I'm telling you there's more. I have about five more cans to find."
"We'll find them later, old man," Bonnie's tone was level, "right now, we have to evacuate. Can't you see that smoke?"
"I need my money," the man seemed surprised that Bonnie didn't understand what he was telling her.
"You need your life, let's go." Bonnie pointed the shotgun at him and indicated that he was to walk to the car.
Picking up his sack of coffee cans, he complied with tears streaming down his cheeks. "I don't want to be on no assistance. I can pay my own way."
"I am NOT with the Department of Public Welfare," she explained patiently. "You can come back and dig up your coffee cans after the danger is past."
They walked around the shack and moved towards the police car sitting on the road. The old man shuffled forward seemingly resigned to the idea that they would be leaving his home. Suddenly, he turned and threw the bag of coffee cans directly at Bonnie. She nimbly sidestepped the bag but turned her ankle in a hollow on the ground. She fell down dropping the shotgun. The old man ran to the car, yanked the keys from the ignition and threw them into the brush alongside the road.
"Do you have any idea what you just did?" Bonnie demanded incredulously. "That's our way out of here!"
The old man chuckled delightedly. "Go find 'em, girlie. I got me some holes to dig."
*****
Jon Baker worked his way up the route that had been assigned to Bonnie Clark. He stopped at each house along the way to check that it was locked or that the residents were readying to leave. At each stop, he looked for signs that Bonnie had been there or questioned anyone he could find about the lost officer. The further up the road he went, the more concerned he became. All but a handful of the families were gone, and no one had seen Officer Clark since earlier in the day. His first responsibility was to the evacuation of the residents, but his mind was filled with possibilities as to what had happened to Bonnie, not one of which was good. He stopped at the end of the paved road and picked up his mike. "Hey, Ponch, you there?"
"I'm here. Where's Bonnie?" The voice came reassuringly over the receiver.
"I don't know. I haven't been able to locate her. How's the evacuation coming there?"
"I'm letting the local authorities get everyone settled in and the traffic problem is practically under control."
"Where's everyone else?" Jon looked up and down the road trying to locate a cruiser that wasn't anywhere in sight.
"Everyone's in but you and Grossie. Want me to come out there and help you look for Bonnie?"
"No, stay where you are. It doesn't make sense to risk any more people. If she's out here, I'll find her."
*****
Bonnie searched methodically in the bushes for the keys. She was literally pulling out the vegetation, shaking it and tossing it aside. "Crazy old fool," she muttered. "Everyone else gets nice rational people. What do I get?" Standing up to give her back a break, she glanced worriedly at the hill above her. She could smell the smoke now, and the first glow of fire could be seen above the horizon. "Damn." Bending down, she renewed her search with more urgency than before. "I've got to find those keys or I'm going to have to hot-wire the dang thing."
A glint of metal caught her eye and she laughed with joy. "Yes, got 'em." She snatched up the keys and ran back to the car. Starting the ignition, she took her rifle from the car and went back to get the old man.
He was back in the yard digging like a man possessed. She pointed the rifle at him. "Hey!"
He looked up confused and dazed.
"We're leaving now." She indicated the direction of the car one more time.
He picked up his bag and walked again towards the road. "Just three more cans, Goldie. I need just three more."
"There is no time," Bonnie carefully enunciated each word. "Get in." He threw the potato sack into the back of the car and sat down heavily.
"You win, Goldie, you win."
Bonnie shut the door with a satisfying thud and secured the rifle. Slipping into the driver's seat, she threw the cruiser into drive and pulled out onto the road.
*****
Jon pulled off the road and balanced his bike. He leaned over and coughed harshly, his eyes stinging with the smoke that was now billowing across the canyon floor from the ridge above. If it weren't for the natural rock formations of the area, this section of canyon would already have been burning. "Bonnie!" he called knowing it was useless. Even if she were within ten feet of him, she wouldn't have heard his rasping voice. Terrified that his friend was beyond help but aware that he could get no further without some protection from the smoke, he turned his bike and headed back along the road he just came. The road was totally dead now except for a police cruiser that was slowly moving along the stretch of homes performing one last check.
*****
Bonnie drove using every skill she had ever learned. Keeping the speed as high as she could, she swerved and swung around obstructions and broken road heading for the haven that she knew was beyond the break area. Smoke was spreading across the road in front of her and she knew with a sinking heart that the fire had spread around them while she had been arguing with the old man. Cursing softly, she slammed on the brakes just in time to keep from hitting a large tree that was burning across the road. She jumped out and opened the back door, grabbing the man from the back seat. He screamed and reached for the potato sack.
"My money, I need my money."
"We can't take the time for that. We have to move quickly." She yanked the man from the seat breaking his hold on the potato sack full of coffee cans. Sobbing, he reached again for the bag only to have Bonnie stand between him and the car. "Listen to me," Bonnie was yelling at him, "I can't handle you and that bag. You are more important, do you understand?"
He stared at her dully as though he was in shock. Grabbing his arm, Bonnie dragged him through the foliage around the burning tree until they were walking on the road again. The man trudged along behind her in a state of shock. By now, the fire was igniting the bushes around them and breathing was difficult. Bonnie felt a dead weight pull her arm down and she toppled over onto the unconscious body of the old man. "Oh God." She stood up and pulled him across her shoulders in a fireman's carry. "My mother told me there would be days like this." Stumbling under his weight, she continued down the road without a prayer of coming out on the other side. Even as she willed herself to take one more step, she heard the wail of a siren. Tearing from the smoke, she almost walked into the path of the police cruiser coming towards her. A tall figure was silhouetted in the smoke and within minutes the weight of the man was off her shoulders. She allowed herself to be drug towards the car and unceremoniously dumped into the passenger's seat breathing heavily. It was ungodly hot, but opening the windows would only have allowed the smoke to come in.
The cruiser swung around in a 180-degree turn and raced back along the road trying to outrun the flames that were licking both sides of the macadam. Swerving around downed trees and in some cases driving through burning debris, Bonnie was momentarily transported to her short career as a stunt driver. She turned and looked at the officer next to her as he swung the wheel sharply to hit yet another obstruction slightly offcenter to keep the vehicle on four wheels. "You know, for a motor cop, you're not that bad a driver."
"Gee thanks," Jon answered as he drove through the backyard of a two story house with a swingset. "I'll remind you that you said that."
"Never mind," Bonnie replied as they found an opening between a house and a backyard pool that barely accommodated the car, "I take it back."
"Everyone's a critic," Jon complained as he dodged a gazebo.
"Where'd you get the car, I thought you came up with your bike?"
"Grossie and I made a deal."
"Did you notice that tree?" Bonnie pointed directly in front of her at the ornamental cherry that was still in bloom.
"What tree?" Jon swung the car around and hit a residential street that was miraculously free of flames.
"The one we just drove through." Bonnie supplied.
"Oh, that one. Yea, it was pretty." Jon answered absently.
"I think 'was' is a good description." Bonnie looked at his profile from the corner of her eyes. "You drive like this at home, do you?"
"Nah," Jon shrugged his shoulders "just when I'm doing offroad racing."
Bonnie nodded her head in understanding as they left the road once more as they found themselves heading towards another arm of the fire. "Do you ever win those races?"
"Sometimes." Jon bounced across a vegetable garden and found another road heading out of the firebreak. "Why? Is it important to you?"
Bonnie shrugged her shoulders. "For some reason, it just came to mind that it would be nice if you had."
They swung around a corner and came face to face with the firefighters who were controlling the firebreak. The weary men stepped aside as Jon slowed the car and eased between them. Above them, the helicopters loaded with tons of water were wetting the area to confine the fire and force it back upon itself.
Jon pulled the cruiser to a stop and watched as the water released and fell towards the ground behind them. "I think we won this one."
Bonnie leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes. "Yea, I think we did. By the way, if you ever decide to change partners, I'm first in line."
Jon laughed and wiped the perspiration from his face. "I'll be sure to tell Ponch. It'll make him nervous."
The old man groaned and struggled to sit up. "I need my money. Goldie, you're just like all them other women. You took my money, too."
Bonnie turned and stared at him in disgust and then looked at Jon. "Do you believe this?"
"You took the man's money?" Jon shook his head. "Why Bonnie, I never knew you were that kind of girl."
"I'm going to hit you, Jon."
"I didn't know you were THAT kind of girl, either."
"JON!"
The radio crackled and Ponch's voice came over the receiver. "Jon, did you find her? Talk to me, partner. For the love of God will you talk to me?"
Jon picked up the mike. "I got her Ponch. She was apparently looting."
"She was what?" Ponch was laughing and the rest of the team could be heard behind him cheering.
"Ow!" Jon rubbed his arm where Bonnie had connected solidly. "She's under arrest for assaulting an officer."
Turner's bass came over the receiver. "Save it until you get back here. I'm not dealing with these Red Cross ladies any more. You're the OC."
Jon replaced the mike. "I guess I am. Let's go rescue Turner, Bonnie."
He was reaching for the ignition when Bonnie's hand went over his. He looked up at her in surprise.
Bonnie smiled and took the keys. "I'll drive."