Gideon O'Brien hopped down from Engine Two and assessed the
chaos in front of him. Strapping on his air pack, he started
toward his captain. A hand gripped his arm and stopped his
forward progress. He turned toward the blonde woman who held
him, her large blue eyes glistening with tears. She looked
familiar, but he couldn't place where he knew her from. His
neighbor's daughter, perhaps?
"My two sons and my
cousin—their babysitter—must still be inside. I don't see
them outside with the other tenants." Her voice quivered.
She tightened her hand on his arm and scanned the crowd.
"I'm Kathleen Hart. My sons are Jared and Kip. I tried
Sally's cell but she didn't answer. Please get them out." A
tear slipped down her cheek.
"Where are they?" Gideon
moved toward his captain, his palm at the small of her back,
guiding her in the direction he wanted her to go. Yes, he
realized, she was his neighbor Ruth Coleman's
daughter.
"Sally's second-floor apartment is on the
east side, the fourth one down on your right. Number
212.
Hurry." Her round eyes fastened on the fire
consuming the three-story apartment building on Magnolia
Street.
Gideon paused in front of Captain Fox. "Mrs.
Hart says her sons and babysitter are still inside. Pete and
I can go in and get them." He looked toward the west end of
the large structure where the men of Engine One were
fighting the flames eating their way through the top level.
"There's still time."
"Okay." His captain surveyed the
east end. "But hurry. It won't be long before this whole
building goes up."
The scent of smoke hung heavy in
the air. The hissing sound of water hitting Magnolia Street
Apartments vied with the roar of the blaze. Gideon turned
toward the mother of the two boys. "We'll find them." He
gave her a smile then searched the firefighters for
Pete.
When Gideon found him a few feet away, he
covered the distance quickly. "Let's go. There are three
people trapped on the second floor. East end."
At the
main entrance into the building Gideon fixed his mask in
place, glancing back at the blonde woman standing near his
captain. He had seen that same look of fear and worry many
times over his career as a firefighter. He wouldn't let
anything happen to her sons and Sally.
Gideon switched
on his voice amplifier and headed into the furnace with Pete
following close behind him. Through the thick cloud
suspended from the ceiling in the foyer, the stairs to the
second floor loomed. Crouching, he scrambled up the steps.
The higher he went, the hotter it became.
On the
landing, he peered to the right, a wall of steely smoke
obscuring his view. To the left, the way he needed to go,
the gunmetal gray fog hovered in the hallway, denser at the
top.
Gideon dropped to his hands and knees and crawled
toward Sally's apartment. Sweat coated his body from the
adrenaline pumping through him and the soaring temperature.
The building groaned. Visibility only three feet in front of
him, he hugged the wall, his heart pounding. He sucked air
into his lungs, conscious of the limited amount of oxygen in
his tank.
Calm down. Not much time. In and
out.
Mindful of every inhalation, he counted the
doors they passed in the corridor. One. Two. Three. The next
apartment was Sally's. His breathing evened out as he neared
his goal.
At number 212's door, Gideon tried the
handle. Locked. He rose and swung his ax into the wooden
obstruction, the sound of it striking its target
reverberating in the smoke-filled air.
When a big
enough hole appeared, Pete reached inside and opened the
door. A pearly haze, not as heavy as in the corridor,
engulfed the room. His partner rushed into the apartment,
Gideon right behind him. In the small foyer, he noticed a
large television on in the living room but didn't see anyone
in there.
"I'll take the left. You the right," Gideon
said, making his way down the short hallway to the first
bedroom. "Fire department, is anyone here?" His gaze riveted
to a double bed. He quickly searched everywhere two young
boys might hide. Nothing.
For a few seconds a memory
intruded into his mind, taking his focus off what needed to
be done. He shoved it away, went back in the hall and
crossed to the other bedroom. After checking it, he came
back out into the corridor and opened the last door to a
bathroom. Empty.
He pictured his neighbor's daughter
next to his captain, waiting for them to bring her sons out
safely. The thought that he might not be able to quickened
his breathing for a moment.
When he met up with Pete
in the small entryway, his partner said, "All clear in the
kitchen as well as the living and dining rooms."
"The
same in the bedrooms."
"Gideon, Pete, get out. Mrs.
Hart sees her children and their babysitter. They just
arrived and are safe," his captain's deep gravelly voice
came over the radio.
"We're on our way." Relieved the
two boys and Sally were all right, Gideon and Pete made
their way back into the main hallway.
The smoke had
grown thicker, darker. The crackling and popping sounds of
the fire overrode the rumbling noise from the water
continually bombarding the structure. A warning went off,
signaling Pete only had five minutes of air left in his
tank.
Our time is running out.
As those
words flashed into Gideon's thoughts, his breathing sped up
for a few seconds before he reined it in. He'd been in
similar situations. They would make it.
Gideon
gestured to his friend to go first. Every second counted.
Pete came out of the apartment and got down on all fours,
hurriedly heading for the stairs. Gideon crept along a body
length behind his partner. As he crawled past the second
apartment, his low-pressure air alarm alerted him to the
need to move even faster.
But the nearer he came to
the stairs, the soupier his surroundings were. He barely
made out the back of Pete only a foot in front of
him.
Gideon's shoulder brushed against the door frame
of the apartment nearest to the steps. Almost there. His
inhalations slowed even more to conserve as much oxygen as
possible. But heat warmed the inside of his protective suit,
and sweat rolled down his face. Its salty drops stung his
eyes. He blinked, his vision blurring for a few
seconds.
Then suddenly from above, wood and debris
came tumbling down. Gideon lost sight of Pete in the dense
smoke and dust. The crashing sound of a beam boomed through
the air.
Lord, help.
Rolling onto his
back, Gideon reached for his radio when another metallic
moan cut through the noise of the fire. A piece of timber
landed across his chest, knocking his radio from his hand. A
sharp pain lanced a path through his upper torso. Then a
second slab of lumber fell on top of the first. Gideon
stared up as the rest of the ceiling plummeted. Air rushed
out of his lungs, and blackness swirled before his
eyes.
Holding her two sons' hands, Kathleen Hart
watched them carry a firefighter out of the burning
building. Fear bombarded her from all sides. He could die
because she'd mistakenly thought her children and Sally were
inside. She relived the few seconds when she'd seen Jared
and Kip racing toward her with Sally Nance right behind
them. The elation they weren't trapped took hold. Then the
knowledge she had unnecessarily sent two men into a blaze to
find the trio swept away the joy. Now one of them was
injured. Because of her.
She turned to Sally. "Please
keep the boys with you. I need to see how the firefighter is
doing."
"Sure. I'm so sorry you didn't realize I took
Jared and Kip to the park. When the weather's good, we've
been doing that. With the storm coming, I didn't know when
we would get another chance anytime soon. I never in a
thousand years thought my apartment building would catch
fire and…" Her cousin gulped back the rest of her words and
stared at the man on the stretcher being attended to by the
paramedics.
"I know, Sally." Kathleen looked down at
her sons, whose eyes were round and huge in their pale
faces. "We'll talk later." She squeezed their hands gently,
drawing their attention. "Stay with Sally. I'm going to
check on the firefighter."
Tears shone in Kip's eyes.
"Tell him we're sorry."
She stooped and grasped her
nine-year-old's upper arms. "Honey, it isn't your
fault."
And it isn't my fault, either. It was an
unfortunate accident. If only she could believe
that.
Even knowing that in her mind didn't make her
feel any better as she rose and headed toward the ambulance
into which the paramedics were loading the
firefighter.
One of the paramedics hopped into the
back of the emergency vehicle while the other shut the doors
and started toward the front of the truck. She knew the
paramedic because she worked as a nurse at Hope Memorial
Hospital. Kathleen hurried her steps and caught up with the
driver before he climbed into the cab.
"How is he,
Samuel?"
"O'Brien may have some internal injuries."
Samuel gave her a once-over. "Did you just come from the
hospital?"
Still dressed in her scrubs, Kathleen
nodded. "Will he make it?"
"He should, barring any
complications." The paramedic jumped up into the
ambulance.
Kathleen backed away from the vehicle and
watched it leave the scene. She squeezed her eyes closed,
still seeing the flashing lights in her mind. She couldn't
shake the tragedy of the situation—one she'd had a part in.
Just like another one, not long ago.
She tried to
clear her mind of the memory. When would this go
away?
Someone tugged on her arm. She looked down at
Jared, her seven-year-old son, with worry in his expression.
"Sally said he went in searching for us. Is that
true?"
"Yes. When I didn't see you outside with the
other tenants, I thought you all were still inside."