by EM Lynley
E21 was first on the scene. Kevin and Gilbert hopped off the engine as the fireground IC—Riggs—came up to them.
“The tenant in 2B, the far right unit, is here. She thinks her son and his nanny might still be inside.”
“Could they have left the apartment?” Gilbert asked. Kevin peered at the second floor in the gloom of a late afternoon in winter.
“No. The boy’s been in bed with the flu. No one answered the phone when she called, and she doesn’t see either of them in the evac area. Take a look there first when you clear the building.”
“Yes, sir,” Gilbert responded.
Their first task was search and rescue, while others would follow with more hoses once the building was cleared. The fire had started in 1A, and as it spread, 2B would be full of smoke and potentially hot from the fire below.
“Perez and Walsh, head to the roof,” Riggs said once Kevin and Gilbert had their orders. The men on the roof would ventilate the building and lower the temperature inside as well as clear away any smoke.
Kevin and Gilbert pulled a hose, and Kevin took the nozzle as they raced upstairs. Other teams took ladders to the roof and the cherry picker sprayed from above.
The building was fairly new, which meant most of the materials included chemicals that burned quickly. They wouldn’t have much time to contain the original blaze before the whole building would be in jeopardy.
Smoke was thick in the hall, and even with the SCBAs, they kept low, first crouching then on hands and knees as they approached the most involved section of the building. The floor was warm, not hot. They weren’t directly over the fire burning in the ground floor units. It wasn’t too bad, Kevin thought. At least they weren’t crawling on their bellies.
The door to 2B was locked. Kevin dropped the nozzle and put a hand on the axe in his belt. It had been his father’s. Dad had given both Kevin and Nicky axes when they graduated the academy. Using the axe took time. He gave the door a hard kick and it gave way. Easier to repair in case the apartment didn’t eventually burn.
He saw and heard no flames but plenty of smoke obscuring visibility. No one answered when they shouted, and they lay the line down to search more easily. On hands and knees, Kevin entered first, followed by Gilbert, to search for occupants. In the front room, they found a middle-aged woman unconscious. She lay on the floor, now so hot they felt it through their heavy boots, gloves, and turnout pants. She had contact burns from the high temperatures in the apartment below.
With his gloves, Kevin couldn’t check for a pulse.
“Gilbert, pull her out and I’ll look for the boy.”
Gilbert easily hoisted the woman over his shoulder and moved out of the apartment. Kevin found the boy, about ten, in the next room, unconscious and still clutching a stuffed turtle. When Kevin hoisted the child over his shoulder, the toy fell to the floor. The boy was so light Kevin was able to move quickly out of the bedroom. He could hear the crews on the roof stomping around, then a shout from behind.
“Flint?” Gilbert was back.
“First bedroom on the left!” Kevin had barely backed out of the room before he felt Gilbert behind him. “Take him out.” He handed the tiny boy over to Gilbert. He only needed a few seconds to do what he wanted, but he didn’t want to delay the boy’s treatment.
Two easy steps back into the bedroom to grab the stuffed turtle and push it under his utility belt as he exited. The boy needed something familiar to help him recover from this ordeal. Kevin quickly backed out along the hose line as smoke thickened in the apartment. The floor felt even hotter through the knees of his fireproof pants, and he quickened his pace. The fire had rekindled in the lower unit. He couldn’t see at all now, one reason they’d taken the hose even with no flame. It served as a guide to move though the apartment. Then he took another step back and didn’t feel the hose against his knee. He felt around on the floor and realized the hose had burned through.
Then the floor gave way, and he saw only smoke and flame as he fell. Was this what it would be like to go to hell?
Chapter 6
THE engines returned at midnight. Alex and Lacey had nearly finished the gingerbread house and couldn’t wait to show it off to the guys. They heard the garage doors closing, then silence. After several days in the firehouse, they’d learned the patterns. Cheers and greetings after successful runs and silence when things hadn’t gone so well.
“Let’s just stay here till someone tells us what happened,” Lacey said. She put coffee on. That was another thing they had learned. The men needed hot fresh coffee on a very regular basis.
Firefighters filed into the kitchen and poured coffee and went into the dining hall. Their faces were sooty and their hair matted down with sweat, and they barely spoke. Bobby Perez gave Alex a silent nod and walked into the dining room with Walsh.
Kevin, Gilbert, and the captain didn’t show up.
Alex and Lacey glanced toward each other. Lacey’s eyes were wide, reflecting the worry that crept up Alex’s spine. “This is worse than yesterday.”
“I don’t know how they can do this, worrying every day that someone might not come back.” Lacey wrapped her arms around herself.
The captain came through the kitchen, followed by Gilbert. They didn’t even stop for coffee. They had news for the crew, and since Kevin wasn’t with them, Alex’s brain connected the obvious dots. He picked up the chill Lacey felt and walked to the doorway to the dining room.
The captain was speaking. “He’s out of surgery.” A cheer went up around the room. “Broken left arm and leg. Those will heal. Some burns. And he’s got a skull fracture. They say it’s minor—we all know he’s got a hard head.” A few guys laughed. “They’re mostly worried about brain swelling and injury, and they won’t know more until morning. If that’s not too serious, he could be out of the hospital in a week and back to work in a couple of months, depending on PT.”
“Can we visit him?” Walsh asked, and several other guys echoed the question.
“Not till he wakes up. His mother and brother are there. She almost called a priest, that’s how worried she was. And they’re not even Catholic.” A few men let out weak laughter.
Gilbert stood up. “We also heard the woman and little boy are going to be okay. She has some burns, and they both have smoke inhalation. Otherwise, no injuries to any other tenants or rescue personnel.”
“What about the turtle?” someone shouted.
“It’s going to be fine. Nothing a washing machine can’t fix.” The room erupted in genuine laughter, and the men looked relieved.
“Turtle?” Lacey mouthed to Alex. He shrugged.
“Everyone get cleaned up. There’s bound to be more tree fires now that people have their heat on for the cold snap,” the captain announced.
The men filed out, some through the kitchen to grab more coffee or snacks, and others from the dining room.
Gilbert and Bobby came into the kitchen.
“What happened to Kevin?” Lacey asked.
“We were in a second-story apartment and a hot floor gave way. We don’t know for sure till he wakes up. I was taking the boy out when it happened, and I didn’t see him fall.”
“Wakes up? He wasn’t awake when they got him out?” Alex had an ugly tremor in his stomach.
“Not in the ambulance or at the hospital. Maybe he’s awake now,” Perez said.
Gilbert shook his head. “The doc said they might put him in an artificial coma until the brain swelling goes down. It depends how bad it is.”
“What were you saying about a turtle?” Alex asked.
Gilbert shook his head again. “Kevin had this stuffed turtle tucked into his utility belt. Somehow it didn’t burn when he fell. At the hospital the boy’s mother told us he never went anywhere without the turtle. She broke down crying when she saw the thing. She put it in his bed so it would be there when he wakes up.” Gilbert sighed and shifted his weight. “I didn’t know why Flint handed the boy to me and stayed in the apartment
after I left. What made him go back and get the turtle?”
A lump in Alex’s throat swelled and he couldn’t take in air or speak for a moment as he turned over one possible answer to that question.
“We gotta get showers and clean the gear before we get another call.” Bobby looked sorry to be leaving, but Alex understood he had a job to do.
Lacey sat down and ran her fingers through her hair. “I know the guy’s a douchebag, but I hope he’s gonna be okay.”
“Yeah,” Alex said, staring at the table and the array of decorated gingerbread men. He picked one up and took a bite, but didn’t even taste as he chewed. He still couldn’t swallow and nearly choked on it.
“Alex, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to talk right now.” Alex got up and walked down the hall to his room. He lay down on the bed near the door, the one he’d been in with Kevin, and curled up on his side.
He’d told Kevin to do something important. Told him he had to earn Alex’s respect. Then Kevin had stayed behind in a dangerous situation to get a kid’s toy? Had he done that because of what Alex had said? The thought chilled him to the bone, but he didn’t pull the covers up. He needed the chill. It wasn’t right that he was here in a comfortable bed, alive and well, while Kevin had a fractured skull and might not wake up.
Alex remembered the conversation they’d had earlier when he’d called Kevin all those names. That was practically the last thing he’d said to Kevin. Those insults, and telling him to do something worthy of respect.
Alex was the one who needed forgiveness now.
Chapter 7
WHEN Kevin woke up, all he saw was white.
This couldn’t be heaven, since the last thing he saw was fire. He remembered falling. He remembered hitting his head, which still hurt, and then he remembered nothing until now.
Why was everything white?
He moved his head, and it felt like a million hammers pounding into his skull. He’d once had a hangover like this.
“Kevin, don’t move.”
His mother.
“Mmmmm.” His mouth didn’t work. He realized he had something in his mouth and down his throat.
“Yes, honey, I’m here.”
He inhaled and choked. Hands steadied him, and an unfamiliar voice told him he had a breathing tube down his throat and they were taking it out.
And that felt like they were pulling his stomach out through his throat. The plastic tubing scraped his windpipe, and he felt it every inch of the way up. When it was out, he gasped, and that hurt almost as bad.
“Kevin, I’m here.” Mom’s voice. Someone squeezed his hand.
“You’re in the hospital, Kevin.” It was a man’s voice. “I’m Dr. Little. You have a head injury and a broken arm and leg.”
“Myes.” That didn’t sound like it was supposed to.
“Gauze on your eyes, until we could determine the extent of the head injury. I’m taking it off now you’re awake and out of danger. Close your eyes and don’t open them until I tell you, or it will be painfully bright.”
He closed his eyes. Everything went dark. He felt the gauze being cut off. A hand over his eyes.
“You can open your eyes. The lights are off.”
The hand came away and he saw shapeless blobs. A white one, probably the doc, and a gray one. Mom.
“Mmmm.”
“I’m still here, honey.”
Brain injury? Is that why he couldn’t speak? They should have let him die.
The doc shone a light in his eyes. “We’ll do a more thorough exam once you’re alert. Just relax for a while with your mother.”
When his vision cleared, the first thing he saw was his mother crying.
“ot. eye.” Hell, she’d never understand that.
“I’m crying because I’m happy.”
She had understood. He had such a great mom. Or maybe his mouth was working fine and his ears were broken. But he’d heard the doc and his mom perfectly.
She gave him a summary of what had happened.
“itt oy?”
“The little boy is okay. Just smoke inhalation. The woman is going to be okay too. You saved them. If you’d gotten there a few minutes later, well, the floor would have fallen in before you could rescue them.” She squeezed his hand and cried some more.
“Oh, Nicky’s back.” She sniffled a few times and blew her nose. She made the most ladylike nose-blowing sound.
“Little bro!” He hovered over the bed peering down at Kevin. “Did the doc give you the news?”
“oh.”
“They had to amputate your dick. But you still have one ball, so you can have kids.”
“Nicky, don’t!” His mother swatted his brother and tsked a few times.
“And you look like a fucking mummy. All these bandages all over you. I’m gonna have nightmares.”
“uck oo.”
“Yeah, Mom, he’s fine.”
“Nicky!”
The doctor came in before Nicky could torture Kevin any more. If his brother was joking around, Kevin must not be too seriously injured.
THE doc repeated what Kevin’s mother had said, only in longer words. By the time the exam was over, he was able to speak almost normally.
“You’re doing much better than expected. We’ll keep you in the rest of the week, so you’re going to miss Christmas dinner. I’m sorry about that. We’ll let your family bring you leftovers, though. Don’t worry. I just hope you got all your shopping done early!”
“Thanks.” The only shopping he’d wanted to do was find another chrome piece for his baby. Not that he’d be up to working on her anytime soon.
“You have quite a few people who want to visit, but I’m limiting it to two at a time. You need rest. That’s what will help you the most.”
“Okay.”
His mother left while guys from the station came through in twos. Gilbert and the captain first, then everyone from A and B shift. His sister Lena came by when she got a break from Station 11 where she worked.
The room filled up with flowers, cards, balloons, and a collection of stuffed turtles they piled up on one of the armchairs in the corner.
The straggler was Perez, and he arrived in his dress uniform.
“Did you think you were coming to my funeral, Bobby?”
“No, man. I’m going to the charity auction at the Fairlawn with Alex Bancroft.”
“Oh.” Memories of Alex burst through Kevin’s addled brain. It hurt to think about him. “Have fun.” Not that Kevin meant it. He remembered that being a dick was why Perez was going to the ball and Alex wouldn’t even exchange a civil sentence with Kevin. “Have a good time,” he said with what he hoped looked like a genuine smile. He’d blown his chances with Alex. Perez would treat him nicer than Kevin had. “Did you take a picture of the finished thing? I want to see how it turned out.”
“I got one on my phone.” He found the photo and showed it to Kevin.
“Damn, that’s really impressive.” Kevin marveled at how the pieces of fruit and candy and gum he’d sliced up had become an incredible shingled roof and window casings and other architectural elements he couldn’t even describe. “Fuck.”
“They say it’s gonna sell for at least a thousand bucks. Maybe two. And we handed out the firemen cookies to foster kids this afternoon. I’m going to help with that again tomorrow. Then I’m on regular duty Christmas day.”
“Take care. Merry Christmas, Bobby.”
“You too, Kevin.”
Perez left, but the pain in Kevin’s head settled into his stomach again.
Nicky and Tommy came in a little while later, and Tommy gave Kevin a mock punch to the head. Didn’t he have the best brothers?
“Kev, I got an early Christmas present for you,” Tommy said.
“No, thanks. Keep it.” Kevin figured it was another joke.
“No, you want this. I called that chrome guy again today, to see if he might be able to scrounge up another piece. Thought he mig
ht know another source.” Tommy stopped and Nicky started grinning.
“The other sale fell through. Guy’s wife threw a fit because he used money she was saving for their kids’ gifts. He never came to get it. So it’s all yours.” Nicky was bouncing with excitement. “We’ll pick it up for you day after Christmas.”
“What?” Kevin shook his head, then regretted the movement. “Fuck you both, teasing me like that.”
“No,” Tommy said. “Nicky’s not shitting you this time. And we’ll even cover the difference if he jacks up the price again.”
But Kevin had something else on his mind besides the chrome grille. “Hey guys, what time is it?”
“Seven thirty,” Nicky said.
“I need a favor. A huge favor.”
“What else?” Tommy’s tone was unusually kind. Kevin must really have had a close call.
“Get me out of this fucking bed and to the Fairlawn Hotel.”
“What kind of drugs are they giving you? You’re crazy!” Nicky said.
“Why?” Tommy asked. He was the practical one.
“I need to see a guy about a gingerbread house.”
They stared at him.
“Alex Bancroft…. he’s at the auction for the house tonight. With Perez as his date, and I….”
“Alex Bancroft? Date?” Tommy stared at Kevin. It only took him a moment to connect the dots. “I see where this is going….”
“You wanna do a Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate?” Nicky shook his head. “Crazy. You must really have a thing for this guy.”
“It’s not that. Not just that. I want to do something right for a change. Fix something I fucked up.”
“We can unhook this thing and that one.” Tommy checked the tubes. “I’ll go get a wheelchair. I’ll say you’re under arrest.” Tommy was still wearing his police uniform.
“Great idea.”
Somehow Tommy had procured a wheelchair, and they managed to get Kevin into it without his head exploding. Everything else ached a little. Yes, they did have good pain meds here. No one stopped them as they wheeled him down the corridor and into an elevator.
