by Radclyffe
“That’s good,” Deo whispered. “Because I’m falling in love with you.”
Nita didn’t know how to believe her, wasn’t sure she dared. She had never been enough for anyone—not enough for Sylvia to choose her over the privilege of a life that was a lie, not enough for her family to stand by her against the brotherhood of blue. Why should Deo change her free-wheeling ways for her? Nita’s voice shook. “I didn’t think that was your style.”
“Neither did I.” Deo smiled a lopsided smile. “But I think you hooked me the first time I saw you at the clinic. You were cool and beautiful and a little pissed, and I fell a little bit in love—”
Nita pressed her fingertips to Deo’s mouth. “I should tell you not to say that. Hell, I should probably run.” She moved her fingers and kissed her. “But I’m not going to. Call me when you get a chance. I need…I need to hear your voice.”
“You won’t change your mind, will you?” Deo eased free of Nita’s grip and backed up a step. “You’ll be here?”
When their bodies separated completely, Nita ached. She wanted to reach out and grab her, hold her there. Keep her inside, out of the storm. Inside with her. Nita shivered. She wanted her inside her.
“I won’t go, Deo,” Nita said just as Deo started to turn away. Deo looked back, the questions still in her eyes. “I’ll be here waiting for you.”
“Then like I said before, I’ll be back.”
Nita watched her until she disappeared with another group of excited men and women. She recalled the suffocating loneliness she used to feel watching Sylvia drive away. She didn’t feel that way now. She missed Deo immediately, but unlike with Sylvia, the ache came from something she had found, instead of lost.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Pull up onto the sidewalk over there,” Deo told Joey, pointing to a ring of emergency vehicles parked haphazardly around the mouth of a wide access alley that led to one of the huge wooden piers in the far West End. A commercial fishing building on the end of the pier was burning, and the flames and the reflections from the light bars on top of the police cruisers, rescue rigs, and fire engines shimmered eerily through the inky rain.
“They’ve got a lot of boats up in dry dock,” Joey yelled, yanking on the emergency brake. “If the pier collapses and takes them too, it’ll be a hell of a loss.”
“Raise the other guys on the walkie-talkie,” Deo said, already out of the truck, hard hat in hand and a Maglite under her arm. Frigid rain lashed the back of her neck. “Tell them to get out here with hydraulic winches and joists. We’ll shore it up if we have to.”
“I’m on it.”
Deo ran down the pathway, struggling for balance as her boots sank into the saturated sand. Closing in on the conflagration, she skirted thick coils of fire hose and mounds of equipment that suddenly loomed up out of the darkness like predatory beasts. Even fifty yards away, the heat from the burning building caused sweat to stream down her face. Squinting through the billowing smoke, she spied Reese.
“Reese!” she shouted above the roar of the inferno. “How bad is it?”
“Might save the building,” Reese yelled back. “If the pier doesn’t collapse. Incident Commander’s down there now checking it out.”
“Let me go see what he needs.”
Reese lifted the restraining tape that Bri and Allie had used to cordon off the area, although there were no gawkers to discourage. “Got a radio?”
“Yeah.”
Deo didn’t see anything at first except the burning building, and then she caught the wink of a flashlight under the pier and followed the blinking pinpoint of light. Soon she came upon three men standing ankle deep in water underneath the 200-year-old pier. The tide was out or they would have been up to their thighs in sea water. The creosote soaked pilings supporting the pier would not burn easily, but they would burn. Unfortunately, time and weather and ocean salt had weakened some of them already. Above their heads, the fire raged.
Recognizing Alan Peterson, the fire marshal, Deo sloshed over to him. “How does it look?”
Peterson spared her a glance as he hammered a metal temperature probe into one of the horizontal joists. “We’re okay for now, but if we don’t contain the spread mighty fast, we’re going to lose this pier. Some of these beams are going to go up like kindling.”
“We can probably jack it up in enough places to buy you some time,” Deo said. She’d only worked this close to a fire once before, and that had been nothing near the scale of this one. The sound of air being sucked into the building to feed the fiery furnace was like an enormous dragon breathing in huge rasping gusts.
“If we don’t do something fast, it won’t make any difference,” Peterson yelled back. “I’ll have to pull my team out of there and let it burn.”
“I’ve got a crew on the way. Five minutes.”
“Okay, you’ve got fifteen.”
“I hear you!”
Deo ran toward the street and met Joey coming down.
“They’re here!” Joey exclaimed breathlessly. “They’re offloading gear onto the Jeep and will have it down here in just a couple minutes.”
“Let me show you what we’ve got,” Deo said, grabbing his arm. She guided him back down the circuitous path, tugging him along when he slowed to gape at the fire.
“Holy cripes,” Joey shouted. “They’ll never save that building.”
“Let’s worry about the pier.” Deo shone her light over the ancient timbers. The sky overhead was now a rosy grey. The fire above them was closer. “We need to get supports under here to shore up the joists, every twenty feet or so.”
“Man,” Joey said, gazing upward. “It’s almost right on top of us.”
“We’ve got a little time,” Deo assured him. “Come on, let’s get our crew down here.”
Deo turned and sprinted, slowing when she realized Joey wasn’t with her. She looked over her shoulder and saw that he had stopped to stare at the burning building again. “Joey, move it!”
He turned, his back to the pier and the pyre above, a look of innocent amazement on his face. He didn’t see the section of roof above him break free and start to fall. Deo didn’t even have time to scream. She launched herself at him and struck his chest with her shoulder mid-dive just as the world erupted in flame and fury.
*
“Tory,” Chief Nelson Parker said in a low urgent voice. “I just got a call from Bri. She says casualties from a fire on one of the piers are coming our way. ETA two minutes.”
“Did she give you anything else?” Tory swallowed back a wave of fear. Why had Bri called? Why not Reese? “God, Nelson, we’re not set up for major trauma here.”
“At least one serious. The others didn’t sound too bad—a few burns, couple lacerations.”
“All right.” Tory motioned to KT and Nita to join them as she continued thinking aloud. “We’ll stabilize here and transport anyone who needs it. Nelson, I need a vehicle standing by that’s capable of getting out of here, no matter what the roads look like.”
Nelson grimaced. “I’m not sure we can do that. Route 6 is pretty much underwater.”
Tory shook her head. “I don’t care if you have to pull a boat out of the harbor. If I have injured that need transport, I want them transported.”
“Trouble?” KT asked, her demeanor nonchalant but her eyes sharp and intent.
“What’s going on?” Nita looked from Tory to KT, her expression turning to alarm.
“We have incoming,” Tory said, hurrying towards the treatment area. “Nelson, get some people to clear a path through the lobby up to here. And ask Sally to come up.”
“I’m on it,” he said.
“KT,” Tory said, automatically assuming the role of team leader. It was her town, her clinic, her call. “You’re the trauma surgeon. You’ll get the most serious. Sally, Nita, and I will take the others. If you need help, call me.”
“Pia can give me a hand,” KT pointed out. “She’s an excellent assistant.”
>
“All right, fine.” Tory surveyed the corner of the room where they had piled their emergency medical supplies and instruments. “Hell, we don’t even have treatment tables. Keep the patients on the gurneys they come in on and treat them there.”
“This reminds me of operating in Southeast Asia when I was a resident and I did that charity tour,” KT said, her eyes bright with adrenaline and anticipation. “Remember, Vic? I told you we had to work with flashlights when the generators went out.”
“Hopefully we’re a little better off than that,” Tory muttered, but she wasn’t entirely certain that was true. Her worst fear was that they’d have serious injuries they wouldn’t be able to handle with their limited resources. She met KT’s gaze. “We could be in trouble here.”
KT swept a hand down Tory’s arm and squeezed her fingers. “Don’t worry. I’ve got your back.”
“Thanks.”
“I’d better get Pia and set up.”
Tory watched KT amble away as if she had all the time in the world. She knew that blasé manner was a practiced disguise perpetrated to instill calm in others. KT was already mentally planning, organizing, and executing any number of potential emergency scenarios in her head, and as soon as she saw her patient, every action would be choreographed with deliberation and certainty. Tory trusted Nita’s competence, but she depended on KT in a far more personal way.
“Nita,” Tory said, refocusing. “You triage—your ER training’s more recent than mine.”
“Got it,” Nita said, grabbing several packs of sterile gloves and tucking them into the waistband of her jeans.
“Let’s hope we don’t need blood,” Tory said. “We’ll have to make do with—”
“Here they come,” Nita announced as the loud thud of the heavy front doors banging open followed by a rising jumble of voices signaled the arrival of the paramedics with their casualties.
Nita leaned over the balcony and tracked the progression of the emergency teams across the lobby and up the stairs. Three grimy firefighters and a paramedic maneuvered a stretcher up the stairs with surprising speed. Behind them, paramedics and police officers guided several more walking wounded. At the top of the stairs, Tory directed the stretcher bearers toward KT. Nita focused on the other injured still slowly making their way up. Her stomach sank when she recognized Joey Torres leaning on Bri Parker for support. His face was streaked with soot and blood, and his clothes were soaked. Then she picked out the brunette officer, Allie, with another injured fireman.
Why wasn’t Deo with Joey? Anxiously, Nita scanned the crowd again. Deo wasn’t there. Deo wasn’t anywhere she searched.
Fighting a wave of dizziness, Nita pushed her way to the stretcher.
“Oh no,” she whispered.
Blood seeped down Deo’s forehead and angry red blisters covered the left side of her neck. Burns. Sandbags cushioned Deo’s head. Head injury?
“What happened?” Nita demanded, struggling for calm. She wanted to shove everyone out of the way so she could touch Deo, just touch her. “Where else is she hurt?”
“Put her over here, guys,” KT directed. “Let’s have a look.”
“Deo,” Nita said, as if expecting Deo to answer. “Deo, sweetheart?”
Pia pushed into the crowd. “Deo? Oh my God.”
“Baby,” KT said to Pia, blocking her view of her cousin on the stretcher, “let me take care of her. You go help the others.”
Nita tried to edge around KT to get to Deo, but a hand on her arm held her back.
“Let KT work, Nita,” Tory said. “She’ll take care of her.”
Nita spun away. “I won’t get in the way. I just need to—”
Pia caught Nita’s arm. “Tory’s right, honey. Come on. Joey’s over here. He needs your help.”
“Joey.” Nita took a breath and the part of her that functioned despite her own anguish and fear clicked on. Her mind cleared. “Yes. Of course.” She looked to Tory. “You’ll let me know as soon as I can see her?”
“I’ll make sure you’re notified as soon as KT gives the word,” Tory said.
Squaring her shoulders, Nita forced herself to turn her back on the scene of KT working on Deo’s still form. It was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life. She fisted her hands, hoping to stop the trembling before she reached Joey. Pia was already with him, kneeling in front of the chair where he slumped, a bloody gauze pressed to his cheek.
“What happened?” Nita asked as she pulled on gloves. She glanced at the clipboard by his feet. His blood pressure was a little bit low, but Sally hadn’t noted anything urgent.
Joey shivered and his eyes glistened with tears. “Oh man, I fucked up. How’s Deo? Is she hurt bad?”
“KT is looking after her right now,” Nita replied, her voice sounding strangely flat to her own ears. Funny, her whole body was numb, but she knew exactly what she had to do for Joey. “Let’s take care of you. Tell me how you got hurt.”
“The building…part of the roof…it was on fire and it fell.”
Nita placed her index finger on the radial side of his wrist. His pulse was thready and fast. If he wasn’t young and healthy, he’d probably be in shock. “Pia, would you get him a blanket. He’s wet and cold.”
“I’ll be right back, Joey, sweetie,” Pia said, rising quickly.
“Deo pushed me out of the way,” Joey continued miserably. “I didn’t see it falling, and she pushed me out of the way.” Tears ran down his face. “Something hit her and she fell and I…oh, fuck, it’s all my fault.”
“It’s okay. Let me see your face,” Nita requested abruptly. She couldn’t hear any more about Deo if she hoped to be able to work.
The laceration on his cheek was long, but not too deep.
“Are you hurt anywhere else? What about your hand? Did you re-injure it?”
Joey stared down into his lap. His splint was wet and sandy but intact.
“It’s okay. I didn’t fall on it.” He turned anguished eyes to Nita. “Can I see her? Can I please see her?”
“In a little while.” Nita straightened and her vision dimmed. For a second, she thought she might faint, and then she felt a steadying hand on her elbow.
“Hey,” Reese said gently. “Nita, are you all right?”
“Yes. Yes, thanks.” Nita took in the white bandage wrapped around Reese’s left hand. “You’d better let me look at that.”
Reese followed her gaze, then shrugged. “It’s nothing much. A few burns.”
“She pulled Deo out from under the stuff that was on fire,” Joey announced. “She saved her.”
“Then I owe you thanks,” Nita said. “More than I can say.”
“No you don’t,” Reese said. She scanned the area, her gaze landing on the activity around the stretcher. “How is she?”
“I don’t know yet.” Nita couldn’t think about what was happening behind her. She couldn’t think about Deo lying so still, blood on her face. She couldn’t. “Is there anyone else injured?”
Reese shook her head. “Just bumps and bruises. Nothing major.”
“You need that hand looked at,” Nita repeated.
“I’ll have Tory do it,” Reese said. “I want to let her know I’m okay.”
“Yes. Yes, you should do that. Go find her.”
“Nita, you okay?” Reese peered at her with concern.
“Yes. Fine. Go ahead. Tory needs to see you.”
Reese hesitated, then stepped away as Pia returned with a blanket and wrapped it around Joey’s shoulders.
“Can you irrigate out that laceration on his cheek,” Nita asked, “and steri-strip it closed. I don’t think he’ll need sutures.”
“Sure. I’ll change that splint too.” Pia gripped Nita’s arm. “Why don’t you go see what’s happening with Deo. Maybe KT can give you an update now.”
“Thank you. I’ll do that.”
Nita didn’t recognize herself. She’d been in the midst of more medical emergencies than she could count. She’d taken
care of the young and the old, victims of horrifying car crashes and brutal assaults and senseless accidents. She’d handled it all, calmly, even remotely. And now, she was terrified. The very thought of Deo being hurt left her disoriented, as if she were cast out to sea, far from land with no idea which direction led to safety.
She had to get to her.
The chaos around Deo had settled down to a controlled flurry of activity, and Nita was able to get close enough to see her. She wasn’t awake, but her eyes moved restlessly beneath closed lids. A white sterile cloth with a hole in the middle covered her stomach, and just as Nita looked down, KT made a two-inch vertical incision below Deo’s belly button.
“Is she bleeding internally?” Nita felt an icy hand grip her heart.
“Don’t know,” KT responded without looking away from what she was doing. “Her blood pressure’s been a little bit up and down, and I want to make sure nothing is going on inside. We can’t rely on X-rays or CT, since we don’t have any.” She tossed Nita a grin. “So we’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way and look.”
“What about her head?” Nita asked.
“She’s got a good bump on her temple.”
As KT talked, she slid a clear plastic IV tube into Deo’s abdomen through the incision she’d made, and Sally hooked up an IV bag to the other end. The clear fluid ran into Deo’s abdomen. Nita knew that in a few minutes, they would lower the IV bag and let the fluid run out. If it was clear, there was a good chance there was no internal injury. If Deo was bleeding inside, it would be pink or red. If that happened, Deo might very well die there, because as good as KT was, she couldn’t operate in the middle of Town Hall.
“The scalp laceration’s no big deal,” KT went on. “Her pupils look fine. With luck, it’s just a concussion. Reflexes are normal, so I think her neck’s okay, too.”
“Thank God.”
“You want to assist here?” KT asked.
“I’ll get Tory if you need help,” Nita said, her legs suddenly weak. “I can’t. I…she’s…we’re lovers.”
