by Jo Davis
“Which probably wouldn’t endear me to your brother.”
“On that note, we’re getting out of here!”
The idea of Shane hearing about this from one of his buddies got her moving. She leaped up and grabbed her towel, quickly shaking off the grass and wrapping it around her.
Tommy did the same. “Shower? Then we’ll lock up and go.” “Lead the way.”
He grabbed his duffel with one hand, her hand with the other, and pulled her toward the house. Walking by his side was the most natural thing in the world. She still had fears, but she felt capable of dealing with them now. She’d wasted enough precious time and wasn’t willing to let doubts steal another second.
With Tommy by her side, she could do anything.
“What the heck are you grinning about?”
Tommy glanced up from the television show he hadn’t paid a bit of attention to and looked over at Six-Pack. The lieutenant’s big body was sprawled in one of their recliners and the guy was watching Tommy with a bemused expression on his face.
“Me? Not a thing. Just enjoying the program,” he said, waving at the TV. “Who doesn’t like reruns of America’s Funniest Home Videos?”
“Um, this is Good Morning America. I changed the channel ten minutes ago, buddy.”
“Oh.” Well, crap. Might as well come clean. “Okay, the truth is, I’m in love. And she loves me.”
“Get out!” Six-Pack said, beaming at him. “Would she happen to be Cori’s friend Shea? The girl we met at the Waterin’ Hole and the one who took care of you in the ER a couple of weeks ago?”
He couldn’t keep the pride out of his voice if he tried. “That’s her. She’s awesome. The real deal, if you get my meaning.”
“I believe I do, having found the ‘real deal’ myself. Congrats. I mean that.”
“Thanks.” Tommy studied the older man, tempted to reveal his interest in a career change. He knew Six-Pack would be nothing but supportive, would even keep his confidence if he asked, but it wouldn’t be right. Tommy needed to speak with Sean first. As captain, Sean had the right to know before anyone else. “You know if Sean’s here yet?”
The good humor faded along with the other man’s smile. “Actually—”
The phone rang, and rang again. Six-Pack shifted in his chair. “Everybody’s outside. I’ll get it.”
“No, sit. I’ve got it.” Tommy pushed off the couch and crossed to the phone on the table across the room. “Station Five.”
“Uh . . . Skyler?”
“Hey, Cap. Runnin’ late?” he asked, careful to keep his tone respectful.
“A bit. Be there in thirty.”
Sean Tanner’s vocal cords sounded like they’d been through a meat grinder. No doubt, he was hungover.
And late for work.
For the fourth shift in the past couple of weeks.
Tommy’s hand tightened on the receiver as the lieutenant’s eyes met his from the opposite side of the room. The older man’s expression was grim as he shook his head. “I’ll let Six-Pack know.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Sean disconnected before Tommy could reply. And shit, what could he have said that everyone hadn’t already tried?
You’ve broken every single promise you made to us.
Get help. Before it’s too late.
Right. That would go over well.
Tommy set the phone into the cradle and turned to see that Julian and Eve had joined them. A strained silence filled the next few heartbeats, until Tommy cleared his throat and shot his buddies a cheerful grin, hoping to distract them.
“So, what’s for breakfast?”
Eve rolled her eyes. “Anything, as long as you’re not cooking.”
“Hey,” Julian said, coming to his defense. “His breakfast the other day was great. We just didn’t get to eat it. And he can now follow directions on a box without setting off the smoke alarm.”
“Is the damned thing broken?”
Tommy relaxed. This was the normal bullshit. Just another day on the job.
Still, he mulled over the captain’s losses, not to mention his own. He shivered, thinking of how one man’s life can turn—or end—in the blink of an eye.
Fate was an evil, evil bitch. Sooner or later, she’d catch a man unaware. And burn his life to the ground.
With his soul trapped inside.
Christ, feeling love for someone outside family was new to him, and had obviously made him jittery. So far, in his experience, if something seemed too good to be true, it was.
If that wasn’t so, Donny would still be alive.
Two hours later, when the call came, he wondered if he’d had some sort of premonition. Station Five was sent to assist on a two-alarm warehouse fire that was rapidly progressing to three. The caller had reported one night watchman inside, who was supposed to have gotten off duty at eight this morning and hadn’t been located.
Fuck.
They arrived at the scene and Zack started readying the preconnected hoses while the others looked to Sean for their orders. Sean spoke briefly with the captain of Station Three, and walked back to join his team. Tommy frowned, thinking Sean’s coordination seemed a little off, but immediately dismissed the notion. Though the man had problems, he’d never come to work incapacitated.
“What’s the plan?” Six-Pack called above the crackling noise of the fire.
Sean stared at the building for perhaps two seconds too long before turning his bloodshot gaze to the rest of them. A tendril of dread curdled in Tommy’s gut. He sloughed it off.
The captain shook his head as though to clear his thoughts. “We’ll try and douse the fire from there and there,” he said, pointing to the sides of the building. “Skyler, Marshall, you two are going in to assist Jones and Valdez from Station Three in conducting a search for the night watchman. Let’s get moving.”
Tommy and Eve slipped on their masks, turned on their Air-Paks, grabbed a pair of axes, and started for the structure. Tommy glanced around the parking lot and in an instant, something struck him as wrong. He couldn’t pinpoint what at the moment, and then it got pushed to the back of his mind. They were in, and had work to do. If the man was still here, they had to find him, get him out safely.
The inside of the warehouse was thick with smoke, flames shooting to the ceiling in places, spreading rapidly to wooden pallets stacked in clusters throughout the vast space. A high row of windows near the roof let in sunlight and kept the place from being too dark, but they all knew that even in broad daylight, the deadly smoke could render the visibility pitch-black in minutes.
Across the warehouse, he could barely make out the figures of two other firefighters searching as well. One gestured to their side and both of the corners, gave a thumbs-up to indicate an all clear. Eve waved and they made their way to the back of the building, picking carefully through the burning piles.
Sean’s voice cut through the noise on their radio units. “North side is clear. Check the west side. There’s an office, a break room, and restrooms back there.”
Tommy keyed the microphone attached to the collar of his jacket. “We’re on it.”
In front of him, Eve paused in her trek and looked around, shaking her head. “I don’t like this,” she yelled over her shoulder.
He knew why, too.
“It’s burning too hot,” he called, hurrying to catch up. “I smell something, maybe gasoline.”
“Think we’ve got another arson?”
“Could be. Look how the fire is concentrated in spots. Almost too neat, instead of starting in one corner as an electrical short or something, and spreading outward.”
“You’re good, kid.” She turned briefly and from the way the corners of her eyes crinkled, he knew she was smiling.
“Not a kid.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
The back of the warehouse, along with the office, was empty. They checked quickly, and he thanked God the rooms were small, with few hidden nooks and crannies. The
smoke was becoming dense, and they both knew time was of the essence.
As they left the office and stepped into the hallway to try the break room next, a groan shook the structure.
“Shit!” Eve pressed the button on her radio. “Tanner! What’s the status?”
The answer was more than ten seconds in coming. “She’s holding. Find the guy yet?”
“No. I don’t think there’s anybody here,” she told him, tone rising. “The building is becoming too unstable.”
Again the response took too long. “Complete the check.” They were already on it. He and Eve exchanged a worried look, the tension thick as the smoke.
“Will do,” she snapped.
With angry strides, she led them to the break room. The silhouette of an old Coca-Cola machine hunkered on one wall, testament to the fact that they were in the right place. Thankfully, there was nothing else to be found.
The walls shuddered. Eve pressed the button one last time. “All clear in back.” Pause. “Sean? What’s going on with the other team? You want us out?”
Another shudder.
“Fuck this, we’re gone,” she barked. “Let’s move!”
Hurrying, Tommy followed her out into the hallway. As he did, it hit him what was wrong with the scene in the parking lot.
There were no civilian cars. No vehicles that didn’t belong to the fire department.
Which meant no night watchman. If there ever had been.
The third time the building shook, Howard whirled and got in Sean’s face.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he yelled. “Get them out!”
“What?” Sean blinked at him, pale, almost in a daze.
The duo from Station Three burst from the warehouse, into the clear.
“Pull them out!” one of the men bellowed. “She’s gonna go!”
Howard took charge, keying his mic. “Marshall, Skyler, vacate the premises! You copy?”
“Coming your way,” Eve said, voice crackling on the other end. “Almost there.”
He saw her emerging from the smoke, handing off her ax to Jules and pulling off her mask.
“Thank God.”
Of course, at that moment, the walls of Jericho came tumbling down, and pitched them headlong into hell.
Tommy lost Eve in the smoke. One moment she was there and the next? Gone.
He kept moving forward, toward where he thought the entrance should be. Searched for daylight. Vision was shadowy, but he could just make out the interior highlighted by the last of the flames that hadn’t yet been extinguished. Just a little farther—
A blow on the back of his head sent him to his hands and knees. Thankfully, his hat cushioned the impact, but it was now lying on the dirty floor in front of him. Stunned, he fought to regain his feet and pushed up. What the hell?
A second blow sent his senses reeling. His knees buckled and everything slowed as the floor rushed up to meet him. He lay prone, the ax next to his outstretched hand. The tank on his back was heavy, but oddly reassuring. He had air, he could make it out of here.
Disoriented, head spinning, he shoved upward once more.
And heard the building give a roar, like that of an enraged beast.
He knew, even before he got to his knees, before he looked up at the ceiling, that he was a dead man.
The walls gave up the ghost and with a mighty crack and a horrible rending noise, the roof plummeted. It came at him like a freight train and he had only a second to raise an arm in front of his face before he was slammed to the floor.
Debris rained down forever, piled on top of him.
Crushed. His body pinned, arms and legs immobile.
Pain. So much pain.
Can’t breathe.
A shaft of sunlight broke through from somewhere above him, but his vision blurred. Then the light faded, along with awareness. No more agony.
So silent here. Strange, he’d never thought death would be so peaceful. Shouldn’t this moment be more profound?
He was sad for his folks. God, I’m so sorry.
Both of their sons taken too soon. They didn’t deserve this.
Will Donny be waiting for me?
The idea brought him comfort as consciousness slipped away.
Shea. Baby, be happy.
Awareness shrank to a pinprick, and then the world was gone.
13
Howard started for Eve, and the building let out a shriek. A sound he knew well, one that sent a jolt of fear through his system.
“Run!” he yelled.
As he waved her on, she sprinted toward the quint and safety.
Just as the entire structure collapsed.
Events seemed to unfold in slow motion. Eve spun, half stumbling, as the whole thing caved inward. Her scream went through them like a blunt spear, agonized.
“Nooo! Tommy!”
She ran, but Howard caught her, dragged her backward. She fought him like a wildcat, no matter that she was no match for his size.
“Howard, let me go! Let go of me! He’s in there and . . . Oh, no, no.” She spun and launched herself at him blindly.
He pulled her against his chest, unable to take his eyes off the smoldering wreckage. Struggling to comprehend.
“I thought he was right behind me,” she sobbed.
When his mind caught up to what his eyes were seeing, reality hit him hard. Skyler was probably dead. Probably. The odds had been cheated before.
That slim hope was good enough.
He turned to his stricken team, who stared at the charred rubble in horror, and shouted loud enough to burst a blood vessel. “What the fuck are you all staring at, goddammit? Fucking find him!”
Shocked into action, they scrambled, yelling Tommy’s name. Eve started to turn and he grabbed her arm.
“Are you okay?”
“No.” Her chin quivered. “But he’s my partner and I left him behind. I have to find him.”
“You didn’t leave him; the building fell on him. A huge difference.” But he understood how she felt. He’d feel the same way under the circumstances.
She nodded, her expression miserable. “He should be near the front entrance, where we went in. We were almost outside.”
“Okay. Go, help me tell them where to start looking.”
At that moment, the kid’s PASS device—Personal Alert Safety System—attached to his coat began to emit a shrill alarm, much like that on a car when it’s been burglarized. That meant he’d been immobile for much too long, and Howard’s heart wrenched.
After Eve jogged over to join the rest of the firefighters and the captain from the other engine company, Howard stalked over to Sean. The older man was leaning with his back against the door of the quint, head bowed, face in his hands.
Without thinking, Howard seized the front of his best friend’s coat and shook him hard enough to rattle his teeth. “You’re done, do you hear me? Finished.”
Sean raised his face, expression tortured. “Howard—”
“Shut up! Just shut the fuck up. Because you were hungover and exhausted, because you hesitated and couldn’t make a decision, that young man might be dead,” he yelled, getting in Sean’s face. “The only reason I’m not beating you to death is it’s partly my fault. I stood by and I watched it happen, and I trusted you one too many times.”
“Howard, I saw them,” Sean whispered.
“Wh-what? Who?”
“My family. Blair, Bobby . . . and Mia. I couldn’t get to them.” His voice broke. “I couldn’t get to them.”
Sean slid down the engine, tears streaming down his face.
God in heaven. To his knowledge, Sean had never cried after their deaths. Never. And now he was having, what? A flashback?
So here it was, the final breakdown. Rock bottom. And Howard knew what to do, because he’d coached himself through the motions in preparation for this day.
He retrieved his cell phone from inside his coat and made a call to fire chief Bentley Mitchell, who was supposed to
retire at the end of June, and had postponed the event for a few months. Thank God.
After two rings, the man picked up.
“Dad,” he said. “I need your help.”
After he’d explained the situation, his dad promised to come right away. Feeling no relief, Howard made one more call, this one to Shane Ford at work.
“Ford. What’s up?”
“Detective, this is Howard Paxton.”
“Hey, great to hear from you! What can I do for you today?”
“This isn’t a good call, Shane. You know your sister is dating one of our guys, right? Tommy Skyler?”
“Well, she doesn’t tell me a lot about her love life lately, but I’d kind of hoped things would work out.” Caution edged into his voice. “Why? What’s going on?”
Howard told him. And when he was finished, he said, “I think she’d better hear this from her brother, in person.”
“Ah, fuck,” he said quietly. “I’ll head over to the hospital now. Thanks for calling, Howard.”
“No problem. I didn’t want her hearing this from the news or some shit.”
“Call me as soon as they find him.”
“Will do.”
Hanging up, he replaced his phone and crouched in front of his best friend. He grabbed Sean’s shoulders and shook him. “Look at me. Dad is coming, and when he gets here, you’re going to go with him and you will do what he says, no questions asked. Okay?”
No response.
“We’re going to get you through this. Do you understand? Sean?”
The other man raised his head, green eyes ravaged with pain. “Nobody can help me now. It’s too late.”
“No, it’s not. Don’t you quit on me, you selfish bastard,” he said harshly. “Don’t you dare.”
“Howard . . .” He looked away, lost. In a daze.
“I’m here, buddy.”
“I want to die.”
And there it was. The crux of the matter, naked and exposed. At last.
“Tough shit. We’re not going to let you.” Torn between his responsibility to the search effort and his duty to a fallen friend, he pulled Sean close, the lump in his windpipe as big as an apple. “I will not let you.”
