Brave the Heat

by Sara Humphreys

  Gavin pushed himself to his knees, and as Jordan sat up, he helped her put the top of her sundress back in place. Giggling, she brushed the sand off and held out both hands before Gavin yanked her to her feet. She kissed him firmly, linking her arms around his neck, and then hugged him. Her face nestled against his throat, and the warmth of her breath fanned his skin like a caress. He laced his hands in her hair and breathed her in as the scent of the beach and a hint of her shampoo filled his head. She smelled like home. That’s what scared him and thrilled him. For the first time in his life he wanted to build a home, a real home, and it would be with her.

  Hand in hand they walked toward the house. Just before they hit the steps to the deck, Gavin heard the distinct and familiar sound of sirens in the distance.

  “So much for making tonight last,” he murmured. “I’m sorry, but I have to go. I’m not on duty, but I’m always on call.”

  “It’s okay. If you and I are going to be…you and I, then this is part of the deal.” Jordan wrapped her arms around his waist. “Promise me you’ll be careful, and we can finish this when you get back,” she purred.

  Giving her a quick kiss, he reluctantly left the warmth of her embrace. He threw on dry clothes and grabbed the keys to his truck, the whole time wishing like hell he didn’t have to leave. As he backed out of the driveway, Gavin saw Jordan’s tall, lovely form standing in the window, watching him go. The danger of his job was never lost on him. But this was the first time in his career that he actually had something to lose.

  Chapter 14

  Gavin pulled up to the school. Orange flames were shooting out of the first-floor windows along the south side of the building, lighting up the night with a macabre glow. Not only had his squad shown up but Rick had called in Engines 11 and 13 from neighboring towns. Fires in buildings like this could go from bad to worse in record time, and having backup on hand was protocol.

  Hauling his gear, Gavin ran over to Bill, who was manning their pumper engine.

  “Rick’s inside?” he asked, pulling on his air tank.

  “Yup. He’s with Jeff, Mark, Owen, and four other guys, two from each engine. They’re ventilating the first floor by busting out the windows. We’re trying to take it horizontal to see if we can keep it from taking out the second floor,” Bill said, referring to the fire. Gavin nodded his understanding. Fire was a hungry beast and it ate oxygen, so it went where the air was. The trick was to try and make the flames go where you wanted them.

  “We’ve got the volunteer guys on the hose and the kid wanted to help,” Bill added, referring to David, “but I have to keep reminding him he’s too freaking young.”

  “David’s here?” Gavin glanced over to the crowd of onlookers, and sure enough, his eager future firefighter was in the mix with that same expression of awe and excitement. Dread clawed at him but he shoved it aside. “Keep that crowd back. Including the kid.”

  “Rick said it’s creeping along the south side.” Bill’s face was a mask of concern as he kept his serious stare on the water gauges. “We have to get this one under control quick or we’re gonna lose the entire building.”

  “Understood.” The other two pump engines were attacking the blaze from both sides of the school, and it looked like the flames were starting to shrink back. “I know it’s late on a Friday, but did they find anyone in there on the sweep? Is the building clear?”

  “Yup. All clear.” He nodded to the small crowd of people that had gathered by the police cars. “The principal showed up right before you did and she’s freaked out, but she said the building should be empty. All of the campers cleared out by four o’clock and the building was supposed to be locked down by six. Damn good thing this didn’t happen during the school year. We’d definitely have people in there.”

  “Right.” As Gavin secured his mask, he studied the crowd. In addition to the Heffernan kid, it consisted of the usual EMS personnel, some of the other volunteers, and police, but Gavin did a double take when he spotted the school’s van. The cold finger of dread ticked up his spine as he scanned the crowd, not finding the person he was looking for. “Where’s Tommy?”

  Before Bill could answer him, Gavin ran over to the group standing a safe distance from the building. Mrs. Drummond was crying and let out a sound of relief when she saw Gavin.

  “What happened, Gavin?” She grabbed his coat and uttered strangled cry. “My God. I was here a few hours ago and everything was fine. Tommy locks up at six every night. I don’t understand how this could have happened.”

  “Where is Tommy, Mrs. D.?” Gavin had a pretty good hunch that this fire was no accident, and right now he had to find Tommy. “The van is still here. Doesn’t he take that home with him?”

  “What?” she asked absently before looking around. “The van? Well, yes. He does take that home. Why do you…” She stopped speaking when her teary eyes fell on the vehicle in question. “Oh my God, Gavin. Tommy could be in there. He’s not out here. Have any of you seen Tommy?” she shouted, looking frantically around the crowd.

  The others all confirmed what Gavin feared. Tommy was nowhere to be found, and in all likelihood he was still somewhere inside the school.

  “Okay.” Gavin kept his voice calm and commanding even though under the surface he was panicked. He settled his hands on Mrs. Drummond’s slim shoulders and looked her square in the eye. “I need you to think and tell me where he might be. If he’s in there and he’s not calling for help, then he’s probably passed out from the smoke.” His gut clenched as he recalled that day so long ago and the fire that had changed both of their lives forever. “Given what Tommy’s been through in the past, he might even be hiding.”

  “The basement,” she sputtered. “He has a room down there that he uses as an office. Oh my God. It’s under the gym in the back left corner of the school, on the south side of the building. If he was here after his usual hours, then that’s where he would be. I know sometimes he stays later during the week, but it’s Friday and I didn’t think…”

  “It’s okay.” Gavin pulled his mask on and immediately radioed to Rick as he headed toward the building. “Rick. It’s Gavin. You copy?”

  “Ten-four.” Rick’s voice came through loud and clear, but he was breathing heavily. “We’ve ventilated the first floor and the smoke is still thick as hell in here. So far we’re keeping it from climbing, and those pumpers are starting to stamp it out. The game’s gonna change if these flames hit the boilers in the basement, but it looks like we have most of it contained to the back right side of the building.”

  Gavin moved faster, forcing the voices of panic away as he tried not to notice the tingling in his shoulder. He had to find Tommy.

  “This was definitely our firebug’s handiwork, Gav. It went too hot too fast. The sprinkler system went off, but this baby just laughed at it and kept on coming. There had to be an accelerant used—and a hell of a lot of it. My bet is that when that arson investigator gets in here, he’s gonna find a clear V pattern and an accelerant trail as dark as the devil.”

  “Copy that, but we have another problem.” Ax in hand, Gavin strode through the smoky hallways of the school, the familiar sound of his breathing echoing through his mask. Visibility was low in the hall, and as he moved farther down, the heat increased tenfold. “Tommy’s van is parked outside and he’s nowhere to be found. There’s a good chance he’s in his office. Drummond says it’s in the basement. Back left corner under the gym.”

  “Ten-four.” Rick’s breathing picked up, a sign he was moving fast. “I’ll meet you on the lower level. I’m comin’ down the back center stairs. Mark and the others are heading out now.”

  “Roger that. Mark, do you copy?” Gavin confirmed.

  “We copy, Chief.” Mark’s voice crackled through loud and clear. “Clearing out.”

  “Ten-four.” Gavin made his way down the side stairwell. The smoke grew even thicker as he went—not what should have been happening, based on where the fire was situated. “You said the
fire’s contained? I’m getting heavy smoke down here. I think we have another hot spot somewhere—a slow burn—in the walls maybe.”

  Every warning bell went off in his head as he turned the corner. The heat was undeniably stronger. Senses alert, sweat dripping down his back, Gavin made his way down the basement’s dark hall. The emergency lights had come on, but even that did little to help illuminate the underground level of the building.

  “Rick, after we find Tommy, we need to make another full sweep of the lower level. There’s something else going on down here, man. I have a bad feeling about this.” Gavin moved down the hall, stopping at the first door on his left. “If he’s not in there, we gotta sweep any rooms leading to the south side of the building.” He knew he sounded slightly panicked, but as he did a sweep of two storage closets and two larger storage spaces, hope dwindled. “I hope like hell he’s in that office.”

  The minutes ticked by, and with every passing second, Gavin’s level of panic rose. The smoke was dense and toxic, thanks to the materials in the building that were being burned, and if they didn’t find Tommy soon…

  Shit.

  Gavin shoved the awful thoughts aside and kept moving. The scar on his left shoulder tingled, but he pushed through with one thought on his mind. He had to find Tommy and get him the hell out of this building.

  “Found him,” Rick grunted. Relief bloomed in Gavin’s chest and he picked up the pace, barely feeling the heat anymore. “Gavin, come straight back. Drummond was right. He’s in the office past the south stairwell, directly below the gym. He’s passed out behind his desk and his breathing is shallow. Getting the RIT mask on him now,” Rick said, referring to the lifesaving tool they each carried. “Hang in there, man.”

  “I’m almost there.”

  Gavin ran down and turned the corner at the four-way intersection, relying on his years of experience of attending the school within these walls. It was a labyrinth of hallways, especially down here, but he and his brothers had spent more than their share of time exploring places where they weren’t supposed to be.

  As he rounded the corner, he spotted Rick emerging from the doorway, Tommy’s body thrown over his shoulder.

  “This little guy hardly weighs a thing,” Rick said, his voice a welcome relief in a tense situation. “Let’s get out of here, Gavin. I’ve got a gorgeous woman waiting for me back in my bed.”

  Gavin and Rick, with Tommy slung over his shoulder, headed to the back stairwell. The moment before they hit the first step, a massive explosion erupted to their right, rocking the building. Debris rained down. Concrete. Drywall. Pieces of the building, the school he’d loved for so many years, slammed into Gavin. His breath rushed from his lungs as he was pummeled to the ground.

  The last sight Gavin witnessed was Rick pulling Tommy down and in front of him, in an effort to shield the injured man.

  * * *

  The shock of the explosion knocked Gavin’s face mask askew. Stunned from the blow and with toxic smoke leaking in through his mask, Gavin gasped and struggled to fix it. Sucking in a few deep breaths, he coughed and hacked in a desperate attempt to clear his lungs. His eyes stung and his chest burned as he fought to regain his bearings. As the smoke cleared, his first thoughts were of Rick and Tommy.

  As Gavin blinked the sweat from his eyes, his heart thundered in his chest. He spotted them. Both men were facedown on the stairs and covered in debris, Rick’s body protectively covering Tommy’s. Gavin scrambled to his feet and ran to the two men, pulling various sections of debris off them. Neither of them moved.

  “Chief!” Bill’s frantic voice came through the speaker. “Chief? Do you copy?”

  “I copy,” Gavin ground out. “I’m okay, but Rick is down.”

  “We’re comin’ in.”

  “Negative,” Gavin shouted, pulling pieces of the ceiling off Rick’s legs, along with what had to be parts of the wall. Black smoke curled around them like a snake, and visibility was getting worse by the second. “No one else comes in. That felt like a damn bomb going off. For all we know, that’s exactly what it was.”

  “I’ll radio the bomb squad from the county,” Bill responded.

  “Son of a bitch,” Gavin growled as he pulled a heavy section of stone off Rick’s back. He went to turn his friend over, but let out a strangled cry and dropped his hands. A jagged piece of metal pierced Rick’s jacket and protruded from his back, directly between his shoulder blades. “Oh my God.”

  Tearing off his glove, Gavin pressed his fingers to Rick’s throat, frantically searching for a pulse. Something. Please, God. Letting out a strangled shout of rage, Gavin checked again but was met with nothing. The vacant, wide-eyed gaze staring back at him answered the question he didn’t want the answer to.

  Fury and grief flooded Gavin. Tears stung his eyes and a knot of unbridled rage coiled in his chest as the truth settled over him. Kneeling on the step, with Rick on one side and Tommy on the other, only the sound of debris falling nearby and the heat of the flames pulled him from his personal loss.

  If Gavin didn’t move fast, Rick wouldn’t be the only casualty. He had given his life to save Tommy. Gavin would be damned if he’d allow his friend’s death to be in vain.

  He checked Tommy’s pulse. It was weak and thready, but it was there. He adjusted the RIT mask, securing it back in place and ensuring that Tommy was getting clean air. Gavin felt for any other injuries that he might make worse by picking him up, but didn’t find any. Grabbing Tommy’s arm and leg, he leveraged his body weight and, with a grunt, hoisted him over his shoulder.

  “I’m coming out the south side exit by the gym,” Gavin seethed. His body strained with effort, and guilt tugged at him as he moved up the stairs toward the doorway. “I’ve got Tommy. Have EMS standing ready with a stretcher and keep everyone else back.”

  Climbing over various hunks of debris, Gavin reached the landing and shoved the door open with a grunt. He burst into the night air, Tommy passed out over his shoulder. Gavin ran to the EMS personnel who were waiting at a safe distance. He put Tommy on the stretcher and immediately turned to go back, but Bill grabbed him by the arm, stopping him.

  “Where’s Rick?” Bill’s worried brown eyes studied Gavin’s. “Chief?”

  Unable to say the truth out loud, Gavin simply shook his head. He yanked his arm away and ran toward the building. Flames continued to shoot out the windows, dark smoke billowing toward the night sky. “I’m going back in for him.”

  He hadn’t gone a few yards before another explosion erupted, sending glass and debris flying through air. Gavin and Bill were thrown back by the blast, and when he scrambled back to his feet, it was painfully obvious he wouldn’t be retrieving his friend’s body anytime soon.

  The reality of the situation hung over Gavin like a shroud. Suffocating him.

  Rick was dead.

  He had been Gavin’s coworker and his friend, but above all, he had been Gavin’s responsibility.

  One thought kept going through Gavin’s mind like a broken record.

  He had failed Rick.

  * * *

  Stoic and sitting ramrod straight, Gavin kept his serious gaze pinned on the casket. He had said barely two words since the fire—to Jordan or anyone else. She had assumed that he would come back to her house afterward, but he had insisted on being at the station. He had even gone straight there after leaving the hospital and stayed.

  He didn’t have to say a word for Jordan to know the kind of pain he was in. It was evident in every averted gaze and every unspoken word. He was blaming himself for Rick’s death.

  She kept her arm around Maddy, who was weeping quietly and dabbing at her eyes. She still hadn’t looked away from Rick’s picture. The colorful image perched on an easel behind the flower-covered casket—of Rick in his dress uniform and with that cocky glint in his eyes—was a painful reminder of the heroic, loving man they had lost.

  The ceremony had ended almost thirty minutes before, and several people were already gath
ering at the church community room for a reception, but Maddy didn’t want to go anywhere quite yet. Jordan couldn’t blame her. Those post-funeral receptions were emotionally draining. If Maddy didn’t want to be put through that, Jordan sure as hell wasn’t going to force the issue.

  “I should go to the reception, and then I have to get back to the station,” Gavin said, abruptly rising from his seat. “Rogers said he has more information about the arson at the school.”

  He looked as handsome as ever, wearing his dress uniform, but the haunted look in his eyes made Jordan’s heart hurt. She squinted against the sun to look him in the eye, but he artfully avoided both her gaze and Maddy’s. Placing his white uniform hat under his left arm, he stood at attention. Grief was etched into his features, and the lines in his face seemed to have deepened over the past few days.

  Bowing his head, he whispered, “I’m so sorry, Maddy. I want you to know that if I could trade places with Rick, I would.”

  Jordan’s eyes welled as a fresh wave of grief flowed through. Gavin secured his hat and saluted them stoically as a flock of geese flew overhead. His square jaw clenched and his green eyes welled with tears, but before they could fall, he turned on his heel and headed to his truck.

  He wasn’t merely saying something he thought he should say. Jordan was certain, with every ounce of her soul, that if Gavin could have died instead of Rick, he would have. That knowledge was frightening and heartbreaking at the same time. She could just as easily be sitting in Maddy’s place. If she stayed with Gavin, that was a risk she and her girls would be taking. But that paled in comparison to the risks he took on every day when he left for work.

  She loved him, and that far outweighed any risk.

  Gavin’s self-loathing and guilt dragged behind him almost visibly as he strode away. Jordan hugged Maddy tighter as her friend’s body finally shook with heavy sobs. A moment later, Veronica and Cookie appeared in the empty chairs on the other side of Maddy. The two women, so much more than mere employees, had stayed behind to make sure she was okay. Maddy didn’t have any family left, and neither did Rick. The two of them always said that at least they had each other.