“Concerning?”
“A crew behavior violation,” said Tara.
“And I’m here to report one too, about the same person.” Angela’s drawl kicked into overdrive.
The man and woman exchanged glances. He pushed back from the table and looked at Tara. “Come with me and my co-worker will help your friend.” He looked at Angela.
Angela lifted her chin. “I’m Angela Divina.”
“This way, Angela,” said the woman, motioning her to a chair across from her.
The man led Tara to a private corner at the rear of the tent. He gestured to two folding chairs. “Have a seat. My name is Marc Stevens.”
“Tara Waters.” She folded her hands. “A member of my crew harassed and threatened me, then accused me of pushing him into a burning ash pit.”
Stevens regarded her for a long moment before picking up a pen and clipboard. “I’m so sorry. Tell me what happened.”
She explained the entire sordid mess, starting with Hudson’s comments the first day of training and ending with his threatening her and accusing her of trying to kill him.
“You’re sure it was Mike Hudson?”
“Yes. The one medevacked this afternoon.”
Stevens nodded. “The burn injury. What happened?” He sat cross-legged, hands on his clipboard.
“He fell into a burning ash pit on our hike back to base camp.” She blew out a heavy sigh. “I came here to report him this morning, but no one was here.”
“We had business on other fires.” Stevens raised his brows, scribbling on his notepad.
“Hudson accused me of shoving him into the pit. He said I tried to kill him.”
Stevens leaned back, scrutinizing her. “Did he say this in front of others?”
“Yes, the entire crew.”
He scrawled on his clipboard. “Anyone see it happen?”
“No. The guy is a sociopath. He sabotaged Angela Divina’s fitness test by adding extra weight to her pack.”
Stevens eyed her over his glasses. “Who’s your crew boss? Does he or she know about all this?”
“Jon Silva is my crew boss. Yes, he does.”
“I’ll need to talk to him.” He sat back and let out a sigh. “And you’re sure the person who did all this was Mike Hudson?”
She gave him a funny look. “Yes, why do you keep asking that?”
“Are you aware his stepfather, Duncan Martelle, is the director of the Alaska Fire Service?”
She felt like a Mack truck just flattened her. “No, I didn’t know.” Her body went numb.
“Not that it makes a difference. But it could make this situation difficult for you.”
“Are you saying Hudson will get a pass because his stepdad runs the show?” Heat spread in her face.
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. But it would behoove you to have witnesses.”
Her anger rose to the forefront. “For which infraction? His harassment, threats to physically harm me, or his sabotage of a firefighter’s fitness test?”
“Each allegation.” He dropped his gaze to the clipboard, poised to write.
“I better tell you we hung him on a moose antler—and I punched him for groping me.” She cleared her throat.
He gave her an odd look. “On or off duty?”
“Off. At the Yukon Roadhouse the night before we left Chinook.”
He gave her a plaintive expression. “Didn’t help that you escalated the situation.”
“And it didn’t help that he physically assaulted me before that, but here we are. The moose antlers were meant as a prank. But it still doesn’t justify his threats to hurt me or accuse me of trying to kill him.”
Stevens sighed. “You’ll need to get witness statements. Otherwise, it’ll be your word against his. We’d like you to submit a written statement and you may have to demobe once the agency investigates.”
She fought to control her temper. “I don’t want to demobe. I want to stay and work. I shouldn’t have to leave because some jerk on my crew has it out for women firefighters. And he should not be excused from what he’s done because he was injured. Or that he’s the stepson of a VIP.”
“Understandable. Other than that, do you feel safe here? Anyone else you’re concerned about?”
She stood to go. “No. The guys on my crew are fantastic.”
Stevens stood with her. “I’m sorry this happened.”
“So am I. I’ve worked lots of fires and never had problems. I hope you take care of this one.” She turned to leave.
“I’ll keep you posted once the agency investigation is underway. Could take a while since Hudson was injured.” Stevens pointed to a blank space on the complaint form. “Jot down your email address.”
She scribbled it. “Thanks.”
When she walked out to the main tent area, Angela had gone. She was beat and her body let her know it.
Tara strolled back to camp, stupefied. Hudson’s stepdad was an agency muckety-muck? Would he be held accountable? She wanted to talk to Ryan before he found out from someone else. I should have told him when he was here.
She powered on her cell. No service. Fifteen per cent power left. All this technology and she couldn’t even text Ryan. To save what little juice was left, she powered off her phone.
Reaching Aurora’s camp, she whispered next to Angela’s tent. “Angie, you awake?”
Angela unzipped and Tara crawled in. “Alaska’s a flipping wasteland when it comes to cell reception,” grumbled Tara. “And my phone’s dying. I can’t plug into a tree.”
“Bateman and Robin have portable chargers. Hit them up tomorrow,” whispered Angela. “How’d it go with HR?”
Tara slapped a mosquito on her cheek. “Told Stevens everything. How did your talk go?”
“I told her what Rego said. Hope they fire Hudson.” Angela sat cross-legged and offered her a moisture wipe. “She wants to talk to Rego.”
Tara rubbed her eyes. “Hudson’s stepfather, Duncan Martelle, is the director of the AFS.”
“Get out of here. Are you serious?” Angela wiped her face.
“This should be an interesting process.”
Angela finished cleaning her face. “There’s more shitty news.”
“What could be worse?”
“Liz talked to some hotshots who arrived from base a bit ago. When she said she was on Aurora Crew, they asked if she knew Tara Waters. They said social media has been exploding with you bedding down guys on Aurora Crew. Specifically,
