| |
Alaina pulled up just as the first burst of flame exploded from the third floor. I heard the sound of glass pummeling the sidewalk and bits of debris sizzling as they dropped from on high. Alaina stomped on the brakes, making the car shake as it fought to comply. I fell forward in my seat, caught by the seatbelt, and was momentarily trapped by the safety device.
As soon as I could release the clasp, I darted from the car, not bothering to look back and see if Alaina was following me. She was integral to the investigation, but in the case of a live fire, I was the one at bat.
The Littleton fire engine was already there, hoses out, spraying the front façade. I recognized a few of the guys from the previous fire but didn’t see Stacia. Jogging up to them, I tried to get some information.
“Is anybody inside?” I asked.
“Who are you?” one of the hose jockeys asked.
“It’s cool. He’s with Denver FD,” another guy said.
“Yeah, Tricia’s in there along with Adam,” the first guy responded, now that he knew we were on the same team.
“Tricia’s in there?” I repeated, searching for confirmation and hoping I was wrong. Tricia was the name Stacia was going by in Littleton. If she was in the building, and the building had just exploded, I didn’t want to think about what that meant for her survival.
“Yeah,” the second guy answered.
I raced around to the back of their engine in search of a spare suit. It was possible that my own fire truck was on its way, but I hadn’t bothered to call it in. I didn’t want to wait and see if Alaina’s chief had communicated with my own, or if there would be any reinforcements. Luckily, the Littleton truck was up to code, and there was an extra suit with a mask and a tank ready to go. I slipped them on, grabbing an axe and heading toward the building. As I was running, another shower of sparks rained down. The thing was like a furnace, and it was only getting hotter.
I dove into action, spearing through the open front door and into the lobby. There were a collection of plush chairs, all on fire, circled around a legitimate fireplace. The fake logs in the gas-powered fireplace were cold, the one place in the room that wasn’t ablaze.
As I stood there, scanning the room for the entrance to the stairwell, a young woman burst out. She held a piece of cloth to her face, her knees weak and stumbling the entire way. I couldn’t leave her to fend for herself, so I gathered her to my chest and led her out the door to safety.
I could see the lights of an ambulance in the distance, but I didn’t have time to wait. I took her to Alaina’s car and left her propped up against the hood before dashing back into action. This time I knew exactly where I was going, but I had no good intel about where Stacia was within the building. She could be on the second floor or the fifth. I didn’t have time to make the wrong call.
I closed my eyes, forcing myself to remember all the times we’d fought fires together. We had been partners on a few jobs, so I should be able to figure out where she had gone. I remembered that she always wanted to start at the top.
“I’m smaller,” she once said. “I’ll be less likely to fall through the floor if the thing comes crashing down.”
With that in mind, I approached the stairwell. The ventilation system in the building was burning. There was smoke everywhere. I couldn’t see any firelight, but the smoke was so thick it was like stepping into a cloud.
There were precious few moments. Half of my brain was wondering about the explosion. It was either by design or by accident, and if it was by design, we were all in trouble. That could only mean that the criminal had left a surprise specifically for us firefighters, some kind of incendiary device that only went off after the first responders were in the building.
I didn’t want to think that Stacia’s own father would be so heartless, but there didn’t seem to be any other rationale. I pushed away thoughts that she was lying somewhere, injured. I might not be dating her, but she had been a big part of my life for a long time. I didn’t want to see her hurt.
I emerged from the stairwell on the fifth floor and scanned the hallway. This was by far one of the worst fires I’d ever seen. Flames licked upward from both sides of the hall. The floor was a mess of charred planks that was rapidly losing stability. I had only moments to find her if I wanted to get her out of there alive.
It was no use to call out. She would be wearing her mask, and I was wearing mine. Even with a bullhorn, the fire was too consuming to allow any noise to travel above its own wicked crackling.
Suddenly, I heard a voice. It was the only thing that could have cut through the din: a child’s terrified wail. I set my sights on the third apartment on the left and hurried through to find a heartbreaking scene.
Two children stood near the window, the older one trying to force the thing open. I knew that if he succeeded, the fire would swoop in and consume them. The deadly backdraft attacked the uninitiated as they attempted to escape with their lives.
“No!” I shouted, even though the mask ate up most of the word.
I made it there in time, clamping my hand down on the windowsill to thwart his efforts. He looked up in shock, momentarily afraid. But when he saw that I was there to rescue them, he wrapped his arms around my stomach and hugged fiercely.
I was going to have to content myself with two lives instead of one. I couldn’t leave the children, and it was going to be so treacherous going down, I probably wouldn’t have another shot.
I took my mask off and put it over the boy’s face. Running to the bathroom, I grabbed two towels and drenched them in water. Giving one to the little girl, I showed her how to hold it over her face.
I was about to brave the inferno of the hallway again when the little girl tugged at my jacket. She pointed to a heap of yellow fabric on the floor halfway out of the kitchen and I froze. It had to be Stacia.
I ran over, pushing her onto her back to check for signs of life. I couldn’t take a pulse with my gloved hand, and I couldn’t see her face very well through the mask. I didn’t know how I was going to carry her downstairs while simultaneously looking after the children.
Luckily, I didn’t have to. Her head shook of its own volution, and she sat up unsteadily. I glanced into the kitchen and saw that the oven door had been blown off its hinges. Possibly another trap from our mutual enemy, or maybe something else had gone wrong. Either way, there was no time to debate.
I helped her to her feet and pointed to the little girl. Stacia pulled her mask off and exchanged it with the child’s damp rag. The four of us ventured out into the hallway, Stacia and I each carrying one kid.
Flames licked at our heels, and our sides and our faces all at once. The pathway to safety was narrow and scorching. It felt like we were fleeing hell with two living souls in our arms. I punched my way into the stairwell and felt the smoke burning my lungs through the towel. I held my breath as much as I could, thundering down the stairs to the ground floor.
We burst out of the building as another explosion went off. Rossi had set multiple bombs to make the destruction complete as Stacia and I forced our way through the pit of fire. We raced toward the ambulance, coughing and discarding our ruined towels along the way. If there was anyone else in that building, it was going to be a matter of body recovery, not rescue. It wasn’t safe for anyone anymore.
Alaina met us at the back of the ambulance, helping me set the boy down. Stacia dropped her child abruptly and sat down on the asphalt. The girl tumbled, losing her balance. She came right back to Stacia, wrapping her arms around the woman’s shoulders and holding on for dear life.
One of the paramedics helped the little boy up into the back of the ambulance and carefully removed the mask from his face. The EMT handed it back to me without another word, checking the child for signs of smoke inhalation.
Alaina put her personal feelings aside and knelt to gather the frightened girl into her arms. She delicately removed the mask, placing it on the pavement beside Stacia. The girl transferred her attention to Alaina, recognizing only that she was another person who could be trusted.
I leaned up against the bulk of the ambulance and closed my eyes. That had been too close. So close, in fact, that it seemed like a trap. Damn Rossi for using innocent people to get to Alaina and me. And damn him for putting his own daughter in harm’s way.
I glanced over at Stacia finally, concerned that she might have suffered more damage than I’d originally thought. While her legs had given out, she was still sitting upright, which was a good sign. I didn’t have any words to convey my feelings, so I just had to content myself with knowing that for the time being, we were all still among the living.
Alaina came back to me, having successfully transferred the young girl into the back of the ambulance. “This was a trap,” she said bleakly. “There’s no other explanation.”
“There were bombs placed around the building,” I relayed, my voice harsh. “At least three, maybe more.”
“So he’s moved on to bombing?” she guessed.
I shook my head. “I’ll bet the fire was started the same way. They just added a little extra to make sure we didn’t leave here alive. The bombs weren’t sophisticated. They were designed to go off when the fire reached them. He was targeting the firefighters.”
Alaina didn’t have anything to say to that. She joined me in my vigil, leaning up against the ambulance. We stood shoulder to shoulder, watching the remains of the apartment building burn. Despite the efforts of the guys with the hoses, all five floors were now engulfed in flames. It was chilling to think I was meant to die in there. The level of evil necessary to want to kill your own child in a bonfire was even more telling. We had to catch Rossi, and we had to catch him fast. There was no limit to his depravity.
