Former military pilot Blaine Darby carries a load of guilt and pain from the harm he may have caused in wartime. Now he seeks to earn some good karma by fighting wild land fires while holding on to his great love of flying. But reporters like young Daz Contreras scare him -- one of the few things that do -- because he shuns the public eye.<br><br>Freelance investigative journalist Daz Contreras is convinced terrorists are behind at least some of the wild land fires plaguing New Mexico. All he needs is enough proof to break the story. As he pursues leads, he begins to shadow pilot Blaine Darby and, in the process, develops a gigantic case of hero worship.<br><br>When Daz is allowed to ride with Blaine one time, he hopes the adventure will help him to uncover the proof he seeks. Yet when a near tragedy unexpectedly develops and Blaine puts his life on the line to save a trapped hotshot firefighting crew, Daz realizes he’s an eyewitness to what may be a bigger story than the one he planned. But will the reclusive Blaine actually allow Daz to report the news as he sees fit, even as they grow closer?

Red Tails in the Sunset

Only then did he take time to call in another terse report on the situation. He decided not to mention the mysterious walkers they’d seen. In fact, he figured he’d try to retrace their route and see if they could spot the bunch again as he headed back to reload and go a second run.


Might as well make young Contreras’ day for him.


Daz sucked in a breath as the plane nosed over the ridgeline with a hundred feet or so to spare. Talk about pucker power. For a few seconds, he would have sworn they were going to nose right into the cliffs along the rim of the canyon. No question, Darby knew how to fly this bird.


He listened as the pilot called in the coordinates of the fire and said he’d make a second run on it as soon as he could. Darby mentioned it would be a long hike for a ground crew and there were no roads to bring trucks anywhere close. A chopper might be able to drop in with a small bulldozer, although that would be a tricky maneuver at best.


Chapter 8