America's Bravest (53 page)

“Was it a man or woman on the phone?” Megan
asked.

“Woman. She said she was a secretary for the
realtor and her boss would meet me there.”

Ryan jotted that down.

“Did you get a look at the assailant?”

“I’m sorry, no. I was hit from behind first.
Then I had my hands up and didn’t see who it was.”

“This is so horrible,” Sydney whispered, her
voice throaty.

“I’m okay. Nothing’s broken, honey.”

Again, Megan questioned him. “Did the
attacker say anything?”

Frowning, Max tried to remember. “No—wait a
minute. Yeah, when he bent over me. He said something about
The
Heart of Hidden Cove
and to watch what stories I cover.”

Cal, who’d been silent all this time, pushed
off the wall. “Jesus Christ. Did he mean your fire department
edition?”

“Why would anybody care about that?” Sydney
asked.

“The arsonist who’s been targeting the fire
department might,” Ryan suggested. “Maybe this is connected.”

“Who else knows about the magazine issue?”
Megan asked.

“The whole department.” Sydney rolled her
eyes. “They’ve been giving the Rescue Squad grief about being the
focus of the November issue.”

“Anybody outside of the department know?”
This from Ryan.

His head aching, Max thought hard. “I didn’t
tell anybody.”

“Yes, Max, you did.” Cal shook his head. “You
told Parker Allen.”

Sydney gasped. “Tony’s wondered all along if
she’s connected to the arson.”

Everyone was quiet as the suggestion settled
in.

“Is that all for now?” Max laid back against
the pillow. “The nurse said I could go home, and I want some time
alone with Sydney.”

“Take all the time you want here,” Cal said.
“But I’m bunking at your house tonight.” He looked to Sydney. “Even
if she does, too. We gotta sort this out about your safety.”

Megan nodded. “I’ll have somebody drive by
every hour.”

“Is this necessary? Maybe it was a robbery I
interrupted. There was a lot of office equipment there.”

“We’ll have to do an inventory and
cross-check.” Ryan shook his head. “Meanwhile, we won’t take any
chances.”

Cal started toward the door with the others.
“I’ll wait in the lobby. Come out when you’re discharged.” As he
walked by, he squeezed Sydney’s arm. “Take it easy on him, will
you? He’s not as tough as he says he is.”

“I know that now. I’ll be nice. I
promise.”

oOo

“Is that why you came?” Max asked as soon as
they were alone. Angry welts marred his handsome face, and his lips
were puffy. “Because you found out I was hurt?”

“Of course I came because of that.”

“Oh.” He seemed disappointed.

“Don’t misunderstand. I’ve been trying to get
in touch with you since I got home from work.”

His green eyes lightened. “Really?”

“I listened to the tape.”

“Ahh.” He sighed. “Not a nice story.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” She wished she could
touch him, but every part of him was bruised. “I think the
interviewee came off looking pretty good.”

“He was a jerk.”

“So he said.” She kissed his hair lightly.
“I’m sorry for what happened with your wife. You loved her so much,
you must have been devastated.”

“I was. But I saw my part in what she did.
It’s just that we’d been together so long, I couldn’t believe she’d
turned to another man. It was infidelity, sweetheart. Even if she
never slept with him.”

“I can understand you’d see it that way.”

“So I freaked about Kessler. I’m better about
him now,” he said. “When that clod beat me up, all I could think of
was how I might not see you and Amber again. Nothing else really
matters.”

“Still, I’m a sorry about Annette. Though I
understand her, too.”

“Yeah, I came to a better place about that.
Luckily, I could quit my job, because I had money from the computer
chip I designed. We were able to be together—really together—in the
time left.”

She held his gaze. “I don’t know what’s going
to happen with Ken, but I don’t care. I want you to forget about
him and be with me.”

“I want that, too.” He brushed a hand down
her hair. “I love you.”

Hearing the words while he looked at her made
her throat tight. “I love you, too, Max.”

“Thank God.” He held out his arms. “Come
here.”

“It’ll hurt your ribs.”

“I don’t care. I have to hold you.”

Gingerly, she nuzzled into his chest. “What a
mess everything is now.”

He put his chin on her head. “No, it’s not.
We’re together. I feel like a very lucky man.”

The guy was something else, Sydney thought,
lying in bed, battered and beaten, saying he was lucky. And in that
instant, Sydney vowed she was going to make it work with him
despite outside interferences. They were both quiet with their
thoughts.

Then he said, “Thanks for rescuing me.”

“From that fire?”

“No, from the life I was leading.”

Drawing back, she saw his face was full of
love. “Then you rescued me, too.”

“I did, huh? I kinda like you being the
hero.”

Funny thing. Sydney felt like Wonder Woman
and Bat Girl all at once. Life with Max, Daisy and Amber would be
great. She pictured him calling her daughter
Princess
,
being there for the good and bad times of firefighting and all the
great sex they had to look forward to. If she had him, she could
handle anything like a superhero. Anything.

-oOo-

Novella number six in the AMERICA’S
BRAVEST SERIES

Kathryn Shay

“Absolutely not!” Battalion Chief Cal Erikson
raised his voice when he objected to Noah Callahan’s outrageous
suggestion.

Noah’s brows arched and he recoiled back. Cal
realized what he’d done. “Sorry, Noah. I didn’t mean any
disrespect.” The man was his boss as well as his friend.

“The hell with respect. I’m concerned about
you. You’ve never resisted trying something without even thinking
about it.”

Taking a deep breath, Cal forcibly calmed
himself. “You have no idea the trouble it will cause if we give
Parker Allen access to the Rescue Squad, the firehouse and the
calls.”

“Limited access. And for a limited amount of
time.” Noah leaned over and braced his forearms on the desk.
“Truthfully, Cal, I don’t know what else to do. I can’t let her
diatribe go on unhindered. We’re already under the gun because of
the city’s budget problems, and the mayor is reconsidering the
brownouts I talked him out of last year.”

Brownouts were the closing of one firehouse
for a week while the others picked up the slack. Over in Camden
Cove, where they’d tried it, they’d lost a firefighter.

“Isn’t there anything else we can do to shut
her up?”

“I’m open to ideas.”

“We could still leak her background.”

As soon as he said the words, Cal had a
vision of Parker Allen’s face going wide with shock when he’d
intimated they could expose nasty things about her. He’d told Max
it would be cruel to use what they’d found out, but wasn’t that
better than having the woman around the firehouse? It’d be a
nightmare and the Rescue Squad would rebel.

“We’ve discussed this several times and
always come to the same conclusion. That’s not us, Cal. We’re not
that kind of men. I refuse to crucify her like she’s doing us.” He
waited a beat, then added, “We’re the good guys who went to Ground
Zero and dug out our buddies.” They’d both lost friends in 9/11 and
had formed a bond over that.

“You’re right, of course. Sometimes I forget
what’s important.”

“Well, you’ve reminded me a time or two. We
said we’d do that, too, after working at the pile.”

Cal nodded, thought for a minute, then
remembered something. “We’re still not sure she’s innocent of Max
Delinsky’s attack.”

“We are now. Though the police suspected
gangs from New York City, they discovered a footprint that matched
one we found at an arson scene. It was big and probably male.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“The report came in this morning.”

“Huh. Well, White said she believed Allen
could be part of the arson. Ramirez thought the same thing when she
knew to come visit Sands at the hospital.”

With a heavy sigh, Noah shook his head. “I
just don’t buy it. She’d have to have had help from somebody who’s
at the scenes and has knowledge of firematics, somebody who can get
inside information on where we are and what we’re doing. And
frankly, somebody who’s bigger and stronger than she is.”

Unfortunately, Cal agreed. Somehow he
couldn’t see Allen getting her hands dirty. Though he knew for
certain she spied on them. “It infuriates me to think one of ours
is either the arsonist or an accomplice.”

“Cal, let’s just try having Allen at the
firehouse and see how it goes. If it’s as bad as you think, then we
can stop. Deep in my heart, I believe if she gets a close-up of who
we are and what we do, she’ll relent.”

“I doubt it.” He tapped his foot on the
floor. “What’s the time frame?”

“Let’s start with twice a tour. See how it
goes.”

“Okay, then. Let’s give it a shot.”

“I’ll tell your crew.”

“No. They’re my responsibility. But if I end
up tarred and feathered, come rescue me.”

“You won’t. Those guys are so in love they
probably won’t even notice.” Noah gave a sappy smile. “It’s amazing
how they all found their soul mates in two years.”

Cal rolled his eyes. “It’s like living inside
a soap opera.”

The chief sat back and steepled his hands.
“What about you, Cal? Any women on the horizon?”

“Sure, I date. But I think the fairy dust
missed me.” He stood. “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck. Shall I ask Allen or do you want
to?”

“I’ll do it. So I can set parameters.”

“Let me know what happens.”

“I will. I just hope you know what you’re
doing.”

“I do, too, buddy.”

oOo

Parker Allen exited her car and took a deep
breath of the beautiful August morning. Smoothing down her summer
dress with the violet, black and yellow flowers on it, she headed
toward the door of the Hidden Cove Diner, her heels clicking on the
blacktop as she crossed it. She’d been surprised to get Cal
Erikson’s email asking her to meet today for coffee because he had
a proposal for her. For a minute, she recalled his overwhelming
presence in the Lakeside bar last spring—he was big, broad
shouldered, with a military cut to his blond hair. She was a bit
startled by his chiseled features and dark green eyes when she met
up with him and his buddy. He’d been intimidating, and Parker had
spent years learning to stand up to men like him in her life.
Still, her heart stuttered some as she opened the door.

He sat in a booth by the window, dressed in a
starched white shirt with epaulets designating his rank. Parker
knew a lot about the hierarchy in the fire department, as well as
the difference between the trucks and the equipment. A Quint was
the biggest rig, with five capacities, like hauling water and hose,
carrying ladders. The Jaws of Life was a nickname for the
scissor-like Hurst tool that took off the top of a car, and tours
were four days on, four days off. Lucky stiffs to have that much
downtime.

Briefly, she thought of 9/11 and the
sacrifices fire and police personnel had made, but she pushed the
notion aside. Fire departments couldn’t rest on those laurels
forever.

Glancing up, the chief gave her a weak wave.
She couldn’t imagine why he wanted to see her, but she was ready to
go another round with him. They’d met only once, but his emails had
kept coming and been acerbic. She never responded because it killed
men when you ignored them.

He stood when she reached him. That surprised
her. She didn’t expect chivalry from these guys. “Thanks for
meeting me, Ms. Allen.” He circled around and held out a chair for
her.

Uneasy with his closeness, she sat. “I
wouldn’t miss this for the world, Chief. I’m dying of curiosity.” A
waitress came over and she ordered coffee.

For a moment, he stared at her. “Noah
Callahan has a proposal for you. He’s asked me to talk to you about
it since involves me and one of the crews I oversee.”

“A proposal? I thought maybe you wanted to
lure me into a back alley and beat me up.”

His gaze hardened for a minute and she didn’t
know why.

“So what is it?”

“We’re offering you a chance to get to know
the fire department on a more intimate basis.”

“What does
that
mean?”

“You’re invited to spend time with Rescue 7
twice a week. Come and go when they do. Watch or even participate
in training. Ride along with us to calls.”

Parker wasn’t easily shocked. She’d carefully
constructed a life where surprises were at a minimum. But she was
indeed bowled over by the suggestion. “Let me get this straight.
You’re going to give me total access to your guys and how they
spend their time?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

He leaned over, his green eyes intense.
“Because Noah Callahan thinks it will change your opinion of the
fire department.”

“Get me off your backs, you mean.”

His lips thinned, revealing his impatience.
He couldn’t be more than forty, but now, lines etched around his
mouth. “In a sense, yes.”

An adrenaline rush went through her as she
considered the possibilities. “So I’d be allowed to hang out with
you twice a week and…oh, wait. For how long? If it’s only for one
week, then you’ll be on your best behavior. I won’t see any
warts.”

“Noah was thinking two months.”

“Wow. I can’t believe this good fortune.”

Shaking his head, he looked away briefly,
then faced her again. “Can I ask you something?”