Brotherhood of District 23 Complete Series

by Amy Briggs

  “I don’t know, Danny. I see the same thing on the screen you do. It’s just a phone number, I have no idea who is on the other end.” Which is true, but I probably shouldn’t be so snippy with him since I’m tied up at the moment with what feels like a nasty shiner forming.

  “Don’t get shitty with me, bitch. Maybe it’s that boyfriend of yours, the new Chief. I’ve seen his truck here a few times. You fucking brothers, you dirty little slut?” He laughed at me and touched my face softly. I jerked away at his touch, it made my skin crawl. When I jerked away, he slapped me again. What the fuck is with him hitting me? I had no idea how fucking vile he was.

  “He’s not my boyfriend, he’s my boss,” I hesitated. “And my friend.” I was running out of ideas to get out of this, and Danny was getting fucking creepier by the minute. He grabbed me by the hair on the back of my head again, pulling me up to him. I let out a little wince, he was hurting me and I was getting even more scared, which I didn’t even think was possible. I was starting to feel like I would pass out.

  “I see. Just your boss. So who are you fucking, Jo?” He whispered in my ear, still holding me in place by my hair. I could feel his breath on my neck, and it felt like bugs crawling all over me, I was disgusted.

  “That’s none of your business,” I whispered and tried to jerk away.

  “How about one more fuck for old time’s sake? I did enjoy that tight little pussy of yours,” he looked me in the eyes. He was actually serious? I thought I’d throw up, and before I could, he shoved his tongue in my mouth and tried to kiss me. With my hands still tied behind my back, I pulled away and squirmed out of his grip for a moment, ending the disgusting attempt at whatever he had in mind.

  “NO! Get away from me!” I screamed. I felt tears start to fall. I didn’t want to cry, but I was so scared, and so angry I just couldn’t control it.

  “Oh, I see how it is,” and he hit me again, hard, in the same spot as before. I saw stars this time, and fell backwards onto the couch, reeling from the pain. “I’m not done with you yet,” he said, yanking me back to him, and hitting me again on the other side of my face. “Not so pretty and feisty now, are you?”

  This time, I stayed down, and he didn’t pull me back up. He left me on the couch, where I could see blood dripping from my nose onto the couch cushions. I could also taste the metallic tinge of blood in my mouth. This was bad, and I didn’t know what to do at that point to get out of this, but I didn’t want him to hit me again. He had me overpowered, and the only chance I had was for someone to show up and help me.

  He'd gone back to my dad’s desk unsatisfied with what he was finding. “It looks like your dad was lying to me. There’s nothing here that implicates me in anything. Such a shame I’m going to have to kill you over nothing. But now you know the truth, and that can’t get out and ruin my career.”

  “You don’t have to do this,” I said. That’s what you say when you know someone is going to kill you right? What the fuck else do you say?

  “Yeah, I never considered myself a killer, hun, but I can’t let this ruin my career. I’ve worked way too hard to let a little thing like skimming off the top of the county send me to jail. Besides, I’m way too pretty for jail,” he laughed. “I’ll be back, you stay right there,” he got up and walked to the door. “Don’t try anything, Jo. I’m serious.”

  I just stared at him as he walked out of the house. I looked around for my phone but couldn’t see it. He must have had it. Shit. It was time to pray.

  “Did you try calling her?” I snapped.

  “Of course I did. She isn’t answering, and that’s not like her. Something's up,” Matt said.

  “Yeah, she changed her mind, and isn’t going to show up. That’s what happened,” I didn’t really believe that she would just ditch work. Even if she didn’t want to see me, she wouldn’t do that to Matt or the other guys. But what do I know? Here I am, giving her space, all the space she needs but maybe what had happened in my office sent her running.

  “That’s not it and you know that. Something must be wrong. Maybe it’s that shitty Jeep of hers or something,” Matt was clearly grasping at straws, although her Jeep could use some work.

  “I’ll try calling her from here. Maybe she’s ignoring you,” I tried to make a joke, even though I was having a slight pain in my gut telling me something was wrong. I tried calling her from my desk, and it just rang and rang, then went to voicemail. “Well it’s ringing, so maybe she’s on her way or something.” If this is bullshit, I was going to have to lecture her on her first day about being on time, which I really didn’t want to do.

  “Let’s give her a little bit. I’m sure she’ll show up,” Matt looked nervous, and I was definitely getting the feeling it was something else. We both got up and went to the kitchen to get some coffee, and avoid the elephant in the room which was the fact that we both know Jo is not only always on time, but to her, on time is early. She was already forty-five minutes late, and that was way out of character.

  “Chief, did you find my gear request that I gave to, uh, Jack?” Jax came into the kitchen to get some coffee too.

  “I actually did just find it this morning. I signed the approval, but it’s got to go to the commissioners, so I sent it over electronically and requested they expedite it. Sorry, it’s taken so long, the paperwork is a real bitch,” I complained. I didn’t think being a Chief was pretty much all paperwork. I didn’t want to complain too much about my job to the guys, it was an honor, but I was really second guessing that this was for me so early in my career. Yes, I’ve been a firefighter since I was eighteen, and that's nineteen years, but I’m nowhere near ready to give up fighting fire and going on scenes to basically doing paperwork full time. I had those goddamn budgets to look forward to later in the week.

  “No problem, Chief. I’m sure that coming into all of that suddenly wasn’t exactly an easy task,” Jax replied. He’s a good guy. He always had his shit together, he’s safe, and he’s smart. He also follows orders, and rarely, if ever, questions anything. He’s always keeping himself busy at the station training, watching videos of other stations fires on the internet, and keeping informed on the latest in safety technology. He’s a class act too.

  We all stood around the kitchen chatting, having our coffee, but all the while I was really getting worried about Jo. Even though I didn’t think she’d reply, I pulled my phone out to text her. Something is wrong, I know it is. I can feel it.

  Are you okay?

  I didn’t get a reply, which didn’t surprise me really, but it did still concern me. I started to think of all the realistic explanations for why she wouldn’t be here by now. I honestly couldn’t think of a single one other than that something was wrong, something happened to her. If she was in an accident, we would’ve gotten a call, so it wasn’t that, but something was definitely wrong, and it was nagging at me, bad.

  “Hey isn’t Jo supposed to be here today?” Jax asked.

  Matt replied, “Yeah, I’m not sure why she isn’t here yet. If she’s not here by ten, we should just take the truck over there and see what’s up. It’s just too weird, and I’ve called like ten times. I’m a crazy stalker now,” he laughed. His laugh had a hint of nervousness too.

  Then the tones dropped. “Engine 23, Rescue 23, Ladder 23, Active fire reported at 243 Old Seminole Road. Victims unknown.”

  FUCK.

  I dropped my coffee cup and made eye contact with Matt. It smashed to the ground spilling coffee and shards of ceramic everywhere.

  “GO!” he yelled. “We’re right behind you!” I ran to my truck without saying a word. It was Jo’s address. Her house was on fire. FUCK.

  Something was terribly wrong, and I needed to get to her immediately. I hit the lights and sirens, which escalated my adrenaline even more. I've always been a stickler about safe driving, but I didn’t give a shit about any of that. I've never driven a department vehicle faster in my life, and I thanked God and Jack in that moment for insisting that we get
a pickup with a huge engine as I hauled ass to her house. She was about seven minutes away on a good day, and today there was a lot of traffic. Every sound that my truck could make from the sirens was employed, I was beeping like it was a third world traffic jam, and hitting the airhorn as often as humanly possible. Traffic parted around me like the red sea, and while it felt like a hundred years, I’m sure it was just moments before I turned the corner to her street where I could see smoke billowing in the sky.

  Oh, God no. This is bad. This is a real fire, please don’t be home, baby, please don’t be home, I prayed. The moral dilemma of being a firefighter is that we truly do love fire. We love when something is really burning because it gives us a chance to finally put our training to use. The downside is this. There are lives at stake. As I got closer to her house I could see her Jeep in the front where she always parked. No no no. She’s home. She’s here somewhere.

  There was fire coming through the front windows, which had blown out already somehow. I could hear the sirens of the other trucks coming in the distance. I grabbed my helmet and my coat, but didn’t bother putting my bunker pants on; I wasn’t wasting one second getting into the house. I knew she was in there, and I knew she needed me. I grabbed an axe and ran through the smoke to the front door and tried the doorknob. It was locked, but with one blow of the axe to the door it crashed open, and a huge billow of smoke hit me immediately.

  I started coughing, and put my face in the collar of my coat as I ran in. “Jo! Jo! Where are you?” I ran into the front room, where the fire had clearly started, it was extremely hot. Jack’s desk was completely engulfed in flames, and it had spread to the walls, and curtains, which must have caught fire causing the windows to blow out. I ducked low and continued calling her name, coughing. “Jo! Baby, where are you?”

  Then, I heard it. “Brian?” My heart lifted immediately at the sound of her voice and I started scanning the room.

  “Baby, where are you? I can’t see anything! Help me find you!” The smoke was getting very thick, and I didn’t have anything with me but an axe.

  I could hear her coughing, and then hoarsely, she called out. “On the floor, by the couch! Help!” I ran to her, she was only fifteen feet from me and she was on the floor, tied up. What the fuck happened here?

  “Baby, I’m gonna get you out of here, hang tight,” I grabbed my knife from my belt and cut off the restraints on her wrists and pulled her to me. She grabbed me and held on.

  “Oh, my God, Brian, thank you,” she was coughing, and her face was black and blue. Someone had done this to her, and I was going to kill them.

  I touched her face gently and looked in her eyes, she looked so scared. I had to get us out of there now. “We gotta get out of here, baby. I want you to hold on to me as tight as you can, and put your face in my coat,” the fire was getting hot and the front room was now almost fully consumed with fire. We needed to go out the back.

  “We can’t go out the back, it’s on fire too,” she said quietly, while coughing a bit. She started to sit up. “I can walk,” she said, but as she started to get up, her knees buckled, and she couldn’t stand up. Probably a concussion judging by the marks on her face.

  “We're going to run for it, the guys are on their way.” I could hear the sirens loudly now, and knew they were only moments away. “Hold on to me.” I scooped her up in my arms, and she buried her face into my chest. I was starting to cough more too, so it was time to get the fuck out. I wrapped my arms around her head and face the best I could while carrying her, and I ran for it.

  Through the front door, we ran into what was a bit of fire, but God had given us a little pocket where there was a safe enough opening to get out of there. I carried her out to the front yard and dropped to my knees in the grass as the trucks showed up. I laid her down gently, tossed my helmet to the side, took my coat off and balled it up to put under her head.

  Her face was covered in bruises, and dried blood was crusted around her nose and the corner of her mouth. I felt a rage inside me like I’ve never felt in my life, I was going to murder whoever did this to her. The guys ran by me, setting up and getting water on the fire, doing what they do. Matt made eye contact with me as he took over the scene, and I nodded to him, signaling that I was staying with Jo, and the fire could be someone else’s responsibility today.

  I was inspecting her, checking her for other injuries and being as gentle as I could while I kneeled holding her to me. She looked up at me and I saw her eyes start to well up with tears, “Brian, I’m so sorry,” she whispered to me.

  I can’t imagine what she could be sorry for, “Baby, who did this to you? I’m going to kill them, who did this?” I touched her face gently, looking into her eyes.

  “Danny,” she whispered. “He didn’t think I’d be home. He was looking for something in my dad’s stuff but he didn’t find it,” tears started to fall from her beautiful gray eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Baby, what are you sorry for?” I leaned down and kissed her gently all over her face right there in the front yard for all to see. I couldn’t keep it a secret anymore, “I love you, Jo, I love you so much, and I’m so sorry I didn’t get here sooner. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what you mean to me. I can’t believe I almost lost you today…” I pulled her to my chest and felt the sting of tears welling up in my own eyes. It was just then that the paramedics came rushing over to check us both out.

  “Chief, we can take over now.” They tried to push me out of the way.

  “I’m not going anywhere, I’m staying with her,” I clutched her even more tightly. I was never letting go.

  “Chief, we need to check her out, and you for that matter, please let us do our job, you know we need to,” that little medic, June, the sister of Detective Cruise pleaded with me, putting her hand on my shoulder.

  “Okay, okay, but I’m staying with her,” I relaxed my grip on Jo, and set her back down propping her up a bit on my coat.

  June kneeled down and assessed Jo’s injuries, her face was swollen and she was coughing from the smoke. June put an oxygen mask on her, and her partner came around to me.

  “Sir, I’d like to put an oxygen mask on you as well,” he said.

  “No, I’m good. I wasn’t in there very long,” I shooed him away and looked at June. “How bad are her injuries?”

  “Doesn’t look like anything’s broken, but we need to take her to the hospital for x-rays just in case,” she looked down at Jo. “Jo, we need to take you to the hospital, do you want me to call anyone for you?”

  Jo looked over at me and I shook my head side to side. “I’ll ride with you to the hospital and I’ll make any calls we need to.” Jo smiled under the oxygen mask and I squeezed her hand.

  While June and her partner loaded Jo up on a stretcher, I stood up and looked around at the scene, the fire was mostly under control now. Matt came running over to me as they were starting to wheel Jo away to the ambulance.

  “What the fuck happened here, man?” he burst out.

  “Danny Russell did this. He beat the shit out of her too, Matt. I’m going to fucking kill him,” I was so filled with rage. “I need you to look for Jack’s iPhone inside, and then call the police station and ask for Detective Isabel Cruise, the girl you met the other night, and tell her to meet me at the hospital. Bring the phone, it’s important. I’m going with Jo; I’m not leaving her alone.” I was praying it didn’t get burned up in the fire.

  “Holy shit. Yeah, man stay with her. I’ll handle it, and I’ll meet you there as soon as we’re done here."

  “Yea, thanks. I gotta go,” I grabbed my coat off the ground, and started to hustle my ass to the ambulance they were loading her into.

  “Yo, Brian,” he called after me.

  “Yea?” I turned around quickly.

  “The cat’s out of the bag now, so just take care of our girl,” he flashed a smile at me.

  I felt the corners of my mouth curl into a smile as I ran to the ambulance, “Will do. Thanks fo
r handling this,” I waved at the scene and took off. He’s right, the cat’s definitely out of the bag now. I'd told her I loved her, and kissed her in front of everyone. I’d do it again in a heartbeat, and planned on doing it every day from now on.

  I felt weak all over, and my face was throbbing. I closed my eyes while June and her partner loaded me into the rig, I was so exhausted and everything felt like a dream, like it was in slow motion. Did Brian save me? Was that real, or another dream? I wanted to sleep now.

  “Jo! I need you to stay awake!” Was that June Cruise yelling at me? It felt like a really strange dream. Then I opened my eyes and realized it wasn’t a dream at all and I tried to get up. I needed to get the fuck out of here, and I’m strapped down to this stretcher. What the fuck?

  “Whoa, whoa, baby, where do you think you’re going?” I looked over and saw Brian, he was grabbing my hand. He was covered in soot and sweat, and then I remembered everything that happened and I started panicking. My chest tightened, and I started hyperventilating. I had never been a passenger in an ambulance before. I knew this one, I started looking around and I knew I’d ridden in it on a duty crew before.

  “Jo, you gotta calm down. Lay back. Take a few deep breaths,” June said, as she adjusted the height on the stretcher, raising me up a bit, then looking over at her EKG machine. I knew she was checking my blood pressure, which had to be through the roof right. I did not like being a patient.

  I looked up at her and nodded, then looked over at Brian. His eyes met mine, but he looked different, he looked calm but scared. He leaned close to me, still holding my hand on top of me and whispered, “Baby, I’m here. You’re going to be okay. I won’t leave your side, okay? Just try to stay calm, and look at me.”

  I tried to talk, but my throat hurt so bad, and the stupid oxygen mask was annoying me. “I...” was all I could get out without coughing uncontrollably.