by Olivia Rush
“I needed to get some direction in my life, and fast. So, I ended up taking a job as a bouncer at a bar near the ocean in order to make some cash while I figured out just what I was going to do with myself. It was a go-nowhere gig, but I had the build for it—I could manage to break up most trouble before it happened with just a look.”
I smiled, imagining a younger Stone looming over a pair of plastered, stupid kids, managing to get some sense into their heads with a hard glare. He was right—Stone was the most physically imposing guy I’d ever seen. I couldn’t imagine any trouble breaking out at a bar under his watch.
“And I’d managed to settle into a nice routine. My ex worked during the day, so I watched Jason then. At night, she took over baby duties, and I went off to work until early in the morning. We’d managed to save a little bit of money over time, and my new-parent fears were slowly fading by the day. Our house was a secluded little beachfront place, within walking distance from work but far enough that we didn’t have any neighbors to bother us. I was starting to feel like I’d be able to handle this new life of mine.”
Stone looked away for a moment, a grim expression forming on his face. He tensed his mouth into a tight line before speaking again.
“That all changed one night. It’d been a long, hard day at the bar, and the crew and I decided to blow some steam off with a few drinks. I ended up getting a little liquored up, more than I should’ve, considering my responsibilities. But I figured it was fine, that I deserved a little R&R every now and then.
“I decided that I’d had enough before I got too plastered, and I started my walk home. It was a mild California night, and I remembered spending the walk thinking about how happy I was, how slowly but surely, I was beginning to make all of this work.”
He shook his head.
“And that’s when I spotted the fire in the distance. At first, I didn’t know what the hell I was looking at, but as I started off into a run I realized that not only was there a fire blazing, it was coming from my house.”
My eyes went wide, and my stomach tightened.
“I ran as fast as I could. My ex and I had picked the house for its seclusion, but unfortunately it meant that there weren’t any neighbors around to call for help if anything like this happened. I pulled out my phone as I ran, calling 911 and telling them that the place was on fire. They told me that they’d be on their way, and that I needed to stay clear of the house. But Jason and my wife were in there—not a chance in hell of me staying on the sidelines.
“As I ran up to the house, I saw that the fire was mostly on the right side of the house where the kitchen was. The bedrooms were on the side nearest to the beach, but I knew it was only a matter of time before the whole house went up. I had to act fast. Those few moments when I ran into the house, not knowing Jason and my wife were OK… Those were some of the worst moments of my life.
“The smoke was awful, and I started coughing as soon as I set foot in the living room. I could barely see five feet in front of my face, but luckily I knew the house so well that I could’ve navigated it with my eyes closed. I couldn’t believe how hot the fire was—it was like I’d just stepped into hell itself. But over the roar of the flames I could hear the sound of Jason screaming. I hurried toward the hall leading to the bedrooms, the flames right at my feet.
“The nursery was one way, and the bedroom was the other. My wife let out an awful, blood-curdling scream, and as soon as she did, the fire jumped past me and began racing down the hallway toward the master bedroom. I ran into the nursery, grabbed Jason, and made my way out the window. I ran as far as I could, my lungs burning from all of the smoke. Jason was safe, but my wife was still trapped in the house. I knew I had to go back for her.
“I jumped back in through the nursery window, knowing that I had minutes at the very most to get my wife. I bolted down the hallway, the smoke now so thick that I could barely breathe. Finally, I reached the master bedroom, but the doorframe was already on fire. Through the flames I could see my wife, trapped in the room, an expression of the most awful fucking horror on her face.
“She saw me, and I called out to her. But I felt weaker by the second—the smoke was getting to me, and I was starting to worry I wouldn’t be able to make it out. With my last bit of strength I reached into the bedroom for my wife. Then she stuck out her hand to me, and just when I nearly had hold of her, the top of the doorframe cracked from the fire and fell right onto my arm. I still remember the smell of my own burning skin—it was actually the last thing I remembered before I finally passed out from the smoke.”
“Oh my god,” I said, not able to hold back my reaction to the story. “Your wife… Was she…?”
He nodded slowly.
“I woke up the next morning in a hospital bed, my chest feeling like someone had skinned it and poured salt over the wounds. I had a respirator on my mouth and I could barely take in a full breath. And my arm that’d been burned was covered in gauze. Right when I woke up I called for the doctor, demanding to know what had happened. The doc rushed into the room and gave me the story.
“Jason was totally fine, thank god. I’d gotten him out of the house before the smoke had managed to do any damage. My wife, on the other hand, was a different story. Luckily for the both of us, the fire department showed up just after I’d passed out. They managed to drag my sorry ass out of there, along with my wife. But however badly the smoke had affected me, she was even worse. She’d suffered major smoke damage to her lungs, and the doctor told me she’d be lucky to get her full lung capacity back.
“We were all released a few days later, my wife’s family having taken care of Jason while we were in the hospital. Both of us slowly recovered physically, but damage had been done to the marriage that wouldn’t heal. Sure, I’d saved Jason and done my best to save my wife, but she became more and more distant by the day. She refused to talk about what had happened, but it seemed clear to me that she’d felt I’d failed her. I couldn’t really argue with her—I’d been gone because I was out drinking with my work buddies when I should’ve been home with my family.
“It didn’t take long before things got so bad between us that I knew our marriage wasn’t going to last. She’d never been the warmest and most open woman in the world, but her near-death experience caused her to just shut down. I could barely get her to pay attention to Jason. We eventually agreed to a divorce, with me taking full custody of Jason. I moved to New York, wanting to get as far away from everything as possible.”
“And that’s when you decided to join the FDNY,” I said.
He nodded.
“That’s right. I owed my life to the fire department, and I suppose joining up was my way of trying to pay back that debt. But it didn’t take long before I fell completely in love with the job. I fit right in with my crew, and before I knew it, I was wondering how it was that I’d done anything else. Every day I feel like I make a difference—with how many jobs can you say that?”
I smirked. “I don’t know,” I said. “I think letting all of the other socialites in town know just how expensively dressed their rivals are performs some kind of social good.”
He returned my grin. “That’s right,” he said. “You keep the boutique dress stores in business. Everyone plays their part in keeping this city running every day, right?”
“In our own small way.”
Silence fell over us for a few brief moments.
“How did Jason take everything?” I asked. “The fire, his mother leaving.” My hands shot to my mouth. “Sorry,” I said. “I know that’s probably really personal.”
“No, it’s fine,” he said. “Jason was too young to remember the fire, and I’m thankful every day that I managed to get him out of there before he was hurt even in the slightest. His mother, well, as far as we’re concerned, she doesn’t really exist. She doesn’t make any effort to contact us, and she ignores us whenever we reach out. I don’t know how it is that a woman could cut her own family out of her life like
that so callously, but I suppose trauma can do strange things to a person.”
“He’s got you,” I said. “And you’re like two parents in one.”
He shook his head slowly.
“I do my best, but it’s hard keeping up with the little guy. And it just kills me to leave him for half the week like I do. He deserves more.”
The subject was clearly a tough one for Stone to talk about, so I decided to take the pressure off. I nuzzled up next to him, and Stone responded by wrapping his big, thick arm around me. A smile spread across my face as he held me.
“Something about you, Mr. Black,” I said, closing my eyes, feeling comfortable and cozy against his solid body, “just makes me feel…” I glanced up and saw him raise his eyebrows in expectation of what I was going to say next. Right at that moment, a strange feeling ran through me, a tinge of intense fear, a fearful anticipation of the reality of our circumstances. “Stone,” I said, my voice coming out soft and small.
“Yeah?” he asked.
“Do you…think you’ll be able to keep me safe? Keep us safe?”
I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth, but it was how I felt. I’d never been in danger like this before, and it was bringing out a fearful side of me, one that I’d always tried to ignore.
Stone didn’t waste any time in responding. His eyes narrowed in hard intensity as he pulled me close.
“I’ll keep you safe,” he said, his voice hard. “No matter what it takes. You have my word.”
And that was all I needed to hear. I closed my eyes, and with the rise and fall of Stone’s chest a gentle rhythm against my face, I fell into a comfortable sleep.
28
STONE
“What the hell are you doing? Take the shot!”
“He’s not in range yet, goddammit—we’re only gonna get one chance at this!”
“This is our one chance! And it’s staring at you right through the scope of that rifle. Now take the shot!”
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
The booming blast of the rifle shot was so loud I could’ve sworn it shook the pictures hanging on the walls. And next came the explosion of the target’s car as the bullet hit home and pierced through the engine, sending the vehicle rocketing into the air from the force of the blast.
“Cool!” shouted Jason, pumping his fist as he took in the action spectacle on the TV.
“You know,” I said, sitting back on the couch and raising my soda can for a drink. “That’s not really how that works.”
“Oh man,” said Jason, realizing just where this conversation was going.
“Cars don’t really explode like that when you shoot them—they’re not bombs. Really, what would happen if you shot a car like that would be a chance of hitting the gas tank. Sure, some fuel might leak out, but that just catches on fire, rather than exploding like a firework.”
“Uh huh,” said Jason, his eyes on the shoot-out unfolding on the TV.
“Not only that, but you’d need a heck of a rifle to even go through the engine block. You know, I’m starting to think this movie isn’t entirely based in reality.”
“Who cares about reality?” asked Jason, turning his eyes away from the screen for just a moment. “It’s cooler like this.”
A man on the screen unloaded on a group of thugs with a machine gun, the baddies dropping like flies. I shot my hand over Jason’s eyes, doing my best to hide the already toned-down violence.
“And what am I even doing letting you watch this movie to begin with?” I asked. “You should be watching Disney movies or something.”
“Disney movies are boring!” said Jason. “Besides, this is PG-13, remember?”
“Yeah, and I’m only letting you watch it because it’s the TV-edited version, and I’m fast-forwarding through the bad parts.”
I sat back and watched as the familiar face of Steven Seagal appeared on the screen. He was dressed all in black, a pistol in his hands as he walked in slow motion through a blazing, knee-high fire.
“Uh, don’t ever walk through a fire like that,” I said. “I don’t know what Mr. Seagal’s wearing, but that’d roast normal-people skin pretty quick.”
“Uh huh,” said Jason, now doing his best to ignore me.
I heaved myself up from the couch and grabbed our plates, Jason’s piled high with discarded pizza crusts.
“You want any more pizza, champ?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “One more pepperoni and pineapple. And can I have another soda?”
“You got it, boss,” I said, heading to the kitchen. “But we’re splitting the soda—I don’t need you bouncing off the walls all night.”
Callie had some work to do, so it was just me and Jason for the evening. The two of us decided to have a movie night in of pizza and crappy nineties action flicks. I was doing my best to take my mind off everything that was going on between Callie and me, but I still didn’t feel good knowing she was alone.
Callie was strong, though, and she said she needed to feel like she could live a somewhat normal life. I didn’t blame her, but I would’ve felt a hell of a lot better knowing where she was. Something told me that this situation with the fires was going to get worse before it got any better.
I tossed a slice onto Jason’s plate and brought it over to him, along with a fresh glass of half a can of Coke. I threw another slice of supreme onto my plate, folded it in half, and took a big bite as I turned my attention back to the events on screen.
“They’re onto us,” said one of the crooks, a bulky man with sharp features and bright blond hair tied back in a ponytail, as he paced back and forth in front of his gang at some warehouse. “That means we’ve gotta act fast.”
“Act fast?” interjected one of the thugs. “But boss, you said yourself that this heist was gonna be our biggest yet, and that we needed to take as much time as we needed to get it right!”
The gang leader shot the thug a hard, icy glare.
“I know what I said!” he barked. “But we don’t have the luxury of time! You know as well as I do that Cutter Barnes is right on our damn heels, and the more time we spend with our thumbs up our butts, the better the chances of him bringing this whole plan down on our heads!”
Something about the dialogue caught my ear. Sure, it was as bad as anything else you’d hear in an action movie, but for some unknown reason, it was drawing my attention.
“So, we’re gonna push everything up—to tonight!”
The thugs gasped, talking among themselves until the leader raised his fist in a gesture of “shut the hell up.”
“You all know the plan: We’re gonna hit the three biggest banks in the tri-county area—all at the same time. And we’ve got no room to screw around.”
Then his eyes narrowed.
“And an extra share to the man who brings me Cutter Barnes’s head on a silver freaking platter!”
The men let out a cheer, and the sound of the TV turned into a soft blur as my mind turned to our investigation.
There hadn’t been any fires in almost three weeks, which was out of sync with the loose schedule that had been taking place. I’d been thinking that this might mean the crooks had accomplished what they wanted, but what if that wasn’t it at all? What if they, like the thugs in the movie, were simply taking time to plan an even bigger job?
And what if their knowing that Callie and I were onto them meant that they were moving the timetable up?
I knew there was only one thing to do: I had to go into the station first thing in the morning and let the chief know everything.
So that’s just what I did.
“Let me get this straight,” said Chief Stokes from behind his desk, a look of disbelief on his face. “You and that reporter have been teaming up to investigate these fires on your own time?”
I hated to admit it, but I knew that coming clean was my only option.
“That’s right,” I said. “I just couldn’t stand by and wait for the NYPD to
get their asses in gear. We’ve been lucky as hell that no one’s been killed so far, but I just know it’s only a matter of time before someone’s in one of those offices when the next fire breaks out.”
Chief shook his head, and for a moment I wondered if I was going to get the chewing-out of a lifetime.
“And you went into these offices and took a look at all of the fire-safety equipment? How did you even know where to go?”
“That’s where Callie came in handy,” I said. “The girl’s a damn genius when it comes to finding out information like this. She took a look at the types of firms that’d been hit, how far away they were, and just about everything that it took to narrow it down to a few places—three in total, in fact.”
Chief focused his eyes in curiosity, and I knew this was my cue to keep going.
“So, we took a look at a couple of the offices and found that, just like I’d thought, they’re all on the same fire-safety system—a system that’s all controlled through software. And we also found out that the computer equipment runs on extremely sophisticated cooling systems. Those computers run hot as hell, and if they overheat that would be enough to start a fire.”
I kept on.
“That wouldn’t normally be a problem, but if the sprinklers are off and the security cameras have been disabled, a small blaze like that could easily spread into something much worse—something like what we’ve been seeing.”
“OK,” said Chief. “So you’re thinking that these aren’t accidents.”
I shook my head.
“That’s what I wanted to believe at first, but the more I looked into everything, the more I realized that these fires were way too complex to just be a bunch of accidents. And this was confirmed, in my eyes, at least, when we found that two of these three offices have outsourced nearly all their IT work to the same firm—some company called Praetorian. I’d be more than willing to bet the third has the same company working for them.” I shook my head, remembering. “We tried to talk to one of these guys and he took off running—if that doesn’t look guilty as hell, I don’t know what does.”
