The Protector

  She clicked on the cassette player and the sound of the familiar music startled the boy into stopping midcry to look around at her. “This is for you,” she reassured, adjusting the volume and then slipping the headphones on him. She used the blanket to wipe his wet face and running nose. The screams had become broken sobs. She put her arm across him and silently gestured to Jack for him to get started.

  Exhausted, feeling a crick in her neck that refused to ease, Cassie stood back as the ambulance pulled away. The boy had been whimpering rather than crying, clearly relieved to be out of the van, clutching the bear the paramedic had offered him. His mom had already been transported to the hospital. Both were stable. It was the way the accidents were supposed to end. “Good job.”

  She looked over at Jack and offered a weary smile. “Thanks.” The sleet had temporarily ended but the wind had picked up. She adjusted the face mask, knowing exactly how Jack had felt on Christmas working in the snow.

  “Climb up in the engine and thaw out while we finish the cleanup. Ash and I need another ten minutes,” Jack recommended. Behind him the whine of a tow truck winch started.

  Cassie nodded, more than willing to accept the offer. “Deal.”

  She was grateful for Bruce’s help up into the engine cab. She gave a relieved sigh as she stripped away the frozen face mask and the cold gloves.

  “Coffee, drinkable hot.”

  “Thanks, Bruce.” She warmed her hands around the cup as she drank the coffee.

  Cole’s vehicle was parked immediately in front of Engine 81, its lights flashing. She watched Cole walk cautiously from the wreckage back to his vehicle.

  Jack and Cole made a good team.

  Tones sounded. It was for Company 81 but served as a heads up for Cole. She saw him duck into his vehicle and knew he was talking to dispatch. He got out of the vehicle and called something over at Jack. Moments later tones for the engine and truck crews sounded.

  She opened the door and braved the wind to hear Cole.

  “We’ve got a report of smoke at an apartment complex. We’re pulling out from here to check it out. Rescue 81 will finish up with the taxi driver and join us.”

  Cassie could feel the fear and dread building. It was a fire call. She was glad she was not responsible for driving the rig. A million dollar rig on icy roads was not a job for the faint of heart. She leaned forward from the back bench to hear Jack as she worked the buttons on her fire coat and turned up her collar. “Make sure you keep an eye on where the hose teams are to try and keep out of the water mist.”

  She nodded. She’d worked many fires during the winter and the advice was something she knew well. Bathed in water and moving into the wind was a prescription for frostbite.

  “Do you think it’s him?” she asked, worried.

  “Maybe. If conditions are such you are able to look around the scene, you have to stay with Cole or Ash. No exceptions.”

  Wandering around on her own was the last thing she wanted to consider. She had no desire to meet him alone. “Will do.” She was grateful Ash was with her. Her partner was checking his gear beside her as if nothing unusual was going on. He was a good man to have around in a crisis.

  Cassie leaned forward and peered into the night. She recognized the red and white light display on a white house with pillars. She had been in this area recently, and they were heading to an apartment complex— “Jack, this street. There’s only one apartment complex out this way.”

  He nodded, his expression turning grim as he picked up the radio to call Cole.

  The smoke wasn’t heavy, there was no sign of flames, but it was definitely not a false alarm. The smoke curled into the night sky lazily, not sure of its movements, with the exception of the east end of the building where the rise of smoke was stronger, indicating more heat was present.

  It was either good luck or bad that they had approached the one building she and Jack had visited when viewing one of the apartments to rent. Had she wanted to move, this complex had the best layout of those she had looked at. Engine 81 pulled to the front of the building, as close as they could get given the cars in the handicapped spots.

  Cassie hurried to join Cole as they did a fast planning powwow. “Jack and I were in this building less than two weeks ago to look at an apartment.”

  “Where exactly?”

  “East wing, one of the end apartments.”

  “Jack—you, Ash, and Cassie check the east wing. Bruce and Nate, handle the west. This is defensive only, so take no undue risks. I’ll start generating a head count out here. Feed me temperature and smoke data, and I’ll have the next arriving units laying hose. But dispatch just warned it’s going to be a few minutes. They’ve got a pileup on the toll-way slowing them down.”

  Cassie looked to Jack for directions. “We go in carrying air. Be ready to don it at a moment’s notice.”

  She walked carefully across the slick pavement. Ash was already bringing out the self-contained breathing apparatus canisters. Cassie accepted one. The weight helped, making it easier to walk on the slick sidewalks. Cassie held on to that truth as she tightened the harness and clipped the face mask to the harness within immediate reach. She refused to consider the fact that this time she was wearing SCBA with a good likelihood she would need to use it. “Relax, Ash.”

  “Stay between Jack and me.” He was worried about her and not bothering to hide it.

  She smiled and clamped her hand on his forearm, dislodging a thin film of ice from his coat as she did so. “Fine with me. You carry the ax, I’ll handle the extra torchlight.”

  The number of people coming from the building had slowed. Cassie winced at the realization two of the ladies had taken enough time to retrieve not only purses and coats, but one was carrying a photo album and the other wall pictures.

  Bruce jammed a wedge-shaped piece of wood under the front door as a doorstop. He followed Nate into the building.

  Building fire alarms were piercing.

  Cassie followed Jack inside. She got hit with a wave of warm air. The lights were on in the building, the hallways wide and empty of people. It smelled smoky but no smoke was visible. It was a smell not much different than a grill in a neighbor’s backyard, a lingering whiff of something close to lighter fluid.

  “We’ve got dormant water,” Jack indicated, using his torchlight to point out the sprinkler head on the ceiling. “Watch for heat spots that may suddenly trigger it.”

  Ash used the fire department master key to unlock the steel box where building master keys were kept. He handed keys to Bruce and Nate. Cassie closed her glove around hers. It was an odd key, T shaped for grip, master fit to open every door in the building. She nodded and pushed the strap around her glove.

  Jack led down the east hallway.

  “I bet it’s a Christmas tree fire. I’m smelling whiffs of pine,” Ash said.

  “There’s something sharper underneath it.” Jack paused. “What’s that?”

  Ash used the handle of the ax to turn over the package. “Someone dropped a Christmas present as they rushed out.”

  Cassie nudged the box to the side with her foot so it wouldn’t be trampled as she left.

  From behind them came the sound of voices as Bruce encouraged someone to go outside, insisting it was necessary even if no smoke was visible and it was bad weather out there.

  They reached the turn in the hallway into the east wing proper. Smoke lingered in the hallway, hovering around the ceiling and surrounding the hall lights, creating an impression of a fog coming down.

  The hall was warm and edging toward hot, but still no flames were visible. Cassie watched the walls and the ceiling for any clue of the source.

  Jack pointed her to the first apartment door to the left, Ash to the first one on the right. The three of them moved down the hallway checking doorways. They opened one apartment after the next, checking to confirm everyone was out.

  The fourth apartment on the right had small wisps of smoke coming from under the door
. The smoke burned her eyes.

  Jack tentatively closed his glove around the doorknob and tried to turn it. The door was locked.

  “Go to air. Cassie, stay within arm’s reach of me.”

  She nodded, slipped off her helmet, and donned the mask. Her breath hissed inside the mask and her hands grew clammy at the thought of what she was doing.

  Jack reached over and rested his hand heavily on her shoulder, setting the maximum distance. “Ash, open it. We search clockwise.”

  Ash nodded and popped the lock open.

  There was a quiet whoosh and an inward flowing breeze as the room drew in air. It was an eerie feeling. The apartment was dark.

  Cassie felt her fear level leap. The movement of air was a good indication the fire had found itself a flume for the heat.

  Cassie shone her torchlight inside and saw only thicker smoke. It was hard to tell if it was coming from a ceiling or a floor fire; the smoke simply hovered.

  She looked toward Jack, letting him make the critical decision. He nodded and gestured for Ash to watch the ceiling. Jack led them inside single file. Cassie was grateful to be between Jack and Ash.

  A cat darted out between their feet, startling Cassie and causing Ash to trip a step back. It was an occupied apartment. And most residents rushing outside would probably have stopped to grab their pets. Odds had just increased to fifty-fifty that someone was still in here.

  It was the same layout as the apartment she had looked at briefly during her short consideration of moving. Jack led the way through the smoke toward the bedrooms.

  She could hear the fire.

  Forty-two

  The apartment was laid out with the bedrooms to the left and the kitchen and living room to the right. Jack made the turn toward the bedrooms, hating the way the hallway narrowed down. Two bedrooms on the left, bathroom straight ahead, Jack moved forward from memory.

  He stopped at the doorway to the master bedroom, feeling incredible heat. He put his hand back to pause Cassie, not sure what they were facing. His light disappeared in the smoke, touching what might be the edge of a bed but unable to pierce the smoke. His light crisscrossed the floor, then stopped. Someone had tried to reach the door and gone down about three feet inside the room.

  “Cassie, with me. Ash, see if you can break out a window.”

  He moved toward the victim. An adult male. Cassie’s light joined his and together they turned him over. “Chad.” Jack was horrified to see someone he knew. He had been expecting smoke inhalation, ready to grab and carry to get him out, but it took a moment for the realization to set in that there was blood staining the man’s chest. What had been a dark blue shirt had a huge stain.

  “No.”

  Jack tightened his hand on Cassie’s arm to steady her. The man’s stiffness was rigor mortis setting in. His light picked up the gun the man had been lying on. Self-inflicted? Murder? He couldn’t tell.

  Glass shattered. Ash took out both windowpanes and the room exhaled, smoke and heat rushing toward the new vent as a warm wind. All the panes had been in the window, the front door had been locked, the apartment hadn’t shown an obvious source of entry. Jack mentally cataloged it as he tried to decide if they could stop the fire so as not to disturb the scene. That suggested suicide. The fire, something much more sinister. Ash moved back toward them, his torchlight now able to pierce through the clearing smoke.

  Jack saw something that frightened him, and he grabbed his torch and swept it up. He lifted his light to the wall behind the large headboard.

  There was a mural on the bedroom wall. A mural of flames. Big, bold, red flames. It shocked him.

  Cassie got to her feet, locked her hand onto his shoulder, and aligned her light with his.

  The word atop the mural of fire was huge. Burn.

  Fear rippled through Jack’s muscles from his toes up to his back.

  The huge word flickered.

  The paint peeled back.

  He shoved Cassie toward the open windows. “Get out!”

  The wall exploded toward them.

  “I’ve got five trapped. Go to three alarms,” Cole ordered the dispatcher coolly, not having time for emotions. Around him people were screaming and trying to run backward, falling on the slick pavement. Rescue crews were not going to get here in time. He needed help. Unfortunately he only had himself.

  The dispatcher was swift to put out tones.

  Natural gas, that was his first hunch. The explosion had ripped through the back of the east wing of the building. He couldn’t see the wall that had collapsed at the back of the building, but he saw the effects the instant it blew out. The crown of the roof snapped and the second floor shifted backward.

  Lord, have mercy. Cole was depending on the truth of that mercy.

  He dropped air on his back. Five people. He didn’t have the wisdom of Solomon, but he now needed it. He had two in the west wing hopefully only trapped; he had three in the east wing who were likely injured. And he could only go one direction.

  The police officer working to keep residents back got a terse message from Cole. “When firefighters arrive, tell them three are down in the left wing and two in the right. Do whatever you must to keep other people out. Untrained help won’t be a help, no matter how good the intentions.” He looked at the man hard to make sure that message was received. “This building is going to collapse at any time.” Unsaid was the simple reality that five firefighters might give their lives if that happened, but he’d allow no one else to join them.

  The cop grimly nodded.

  Cole headed into the building to try to reach Bruce and Nate. It would take more than one to have a chance to reach the others.

  Forty-three

  Nate, pass him across.” Cole braced his feet to take Bruce’s weight. It made more sense to go out a window than try and work back through the hallway. The shock wave of the explosion had taken out almost all the windows.

  Considering what might have happened, Cole was relieved Bruce only had broken ribs to deal with. He lowered the injured man as carefully as he could to the ground. Nate dropped to the ground beside them.

  “Leave me here. You two go get the others out,” Bruce bit out, his hand fighting the straps to remove the air pack.

  “You can walk if you have to?” Cole asked. “ Yes…go.”

  Additional help still had not arrived. Cole looked at Nate. “Let’s try to get in through the back of the building.”

  Cassie was looking up at Ben. He hovered over her, blocking the worst of the stinging sleet. She was outside, the shattered wall lying around her dotting the snow. She’d been blown through it. She struggled to think as adrenaline surged, as the agonizing impression formed that he was the man she’d seen watching the Wallis house fire. “Ash. Jack—”

  “They’re in there?”

  She struggled to nod, her ears ringing with a white noise that surrounded and swallowed her. She fought the nausea to turn her head.

  It had exploded. The outside wall of the apartment had blown out. Part of the second floor had collapsed into the void. It was a blackened shell with a glowing red flame flickering in the heart of the destruction. The fire was beginning to spread.

  She was left lying in the snow as Ben headed into the building.

  Cassie rolled onto her stomach, gagging. She fought the waves of pain as she struggled to try and get to her feet.

  She had to get inside.

  She had to find a way inside.

  Lord… She fell again, hard.

  “Cassie!”

  Cole caught her. She wanted to cry at not having seen it. No fires on Black Shift— “Ben. It’s him. He’s the arsonist.”

  Gloved hands caught her face and helped lift it. “You’re sure?”

  She nodded, and she felt betrayal so deep it hurt to breathe. Not Ben. Not someone she admired.

  “Nate, get her farther back,” Cole ordered. He headed into the building.

  Jack fought to keep focused. The pain in his shoul
der was not yet a broken bone, but it was agonizing to be alert and trapped. He was facedown, the only thing visible the flickering light of flames and the edges of something wooden. Where was Cassie? Jack fought against the panic and the fact he couldn’t move. He was going to die here, and it wasn’t nearly as ugly a thought as knowing Cassie was somewhere in this exploded rubble.

  He listened to the hiss of his air exhalation valve. The heat was building. His air was running down. He hoped they went after Cassie first.

  Jesus.

  The awareness of someone coming back from the dead now rippled as something more than a myth. The desire to live was incredible. If Jesus truly was the author of life and had overcome death…

  He was crying inside the mask. He remembered the words the thief said to Jesus as he hung on the cross beside Him: “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jack desperately wanted Jesus to remember him too. Jesus, I’m a sinner. Save me. I don’t want to die.

  He struggled to get air into his lungs. He was at the mercy of someone he couldn’t see, could only believe in. A calm replaced the fear. Lie still, conserve energy. When his air tank ran dry, push off the mask and hold on.…

  Cole yanked Ash from under burning carpet. Cole’s elbow struck a walnut dresser lying on its side and his hand momentarily went numb. The owner of the apartment above had loved walnut furniture, and all of it was in the way now that the floor above had collapsed. “Hold on, Ash.”

  The man had broken his leg but the time for finesse was later. Where was Jack? Where was Ben? He had to prove Cassie wrong. It couldn’t be Ben. Not a friend, not a man who had spent his life fighting fires.

  “Cassie forgot to say getting buried in rubble was like being landed on by an elephant,” Ash bit out, able to help some by protecting his leg as Cole finally pulled him clear. “Did you get her out?”