Introduction
I wanted to end the series with a bang. This was to be my last Hotshot short story, my last Firehawks short story, and actually, my last Firehawks tale of any kind—the last Firehawks novel, Wild Fire, was written earlier and released only a dozen days after this story. Of course it turned out that fire wasn’t done with me, even if I thought I was done with it. But the Oregon Firebirds were still an undreamed-of series waiting two years in the future.
I had such fun writing a previous Hotshot Christmas story, The Firelights of Christmas, that I definitely wanted to try another. Leavenworth, Washington (where my fictional team is based) is a delightful tourist village—pleasant enough that I’ve considered moving there a couple of times. And the most fun time of year there is Ch
