America's Bravest (63 page)

Maybe he hadn’t. Maybe you
misunderstood.

“Stop it, Parker. You heard the words the
mayor spoke yourself. Fool me once, and all that.”

So, okay, time to regroup. Time to
flee…again. She’d leave town after doing this one last thing. From
where she stood on the lower level in front of the open doors, in
the place she’d brought Cal the night he’d seen her scars, she
stared out at the lake. God, she loved this house, this town in
some ways. She’d thought she might live here with Cal. The pain of
that loss was so slicing, she was immobilized.

The doorbell rang. She glanced at her watch.
Her visitor was early. Well, good, she could get this over with.
Very carefully, so she didn’t jar herself too much, because she was
afraid she’d fall apart, she made her way to downstairs and drew
the door open.

Her heart slammed in her chest. “Oh.”

“You misunderstood if you heard what I think
you heard,” Cal said without greeting her.

Get it together, Parker. Have some
pride!

So she folded her arms over her chest, poor
armor against what he’d done to her. “Let me guess. You’re going to
try to
sweet talk
me into disbelieving what I heard with
my own ears.”

He brushed past her into the house, making
his way to the seating area. Well, she wouldn’t be so gullible this
time, she thought as she followed him. He stood in front of the
sliding doors and faced her. Warm air drifted in, but Parker was
ice cold.

“A while ago, the mayor came to me and told
me to get you on our side. He thought your visits to the firehouse
were the arena to do it in.”

She stared hard at him, trying to calm her
thumping heart.

“And at that time, he told me to sweet-talk
you.”

“Congratulations, Chief. You succeeded. You
sweet-talked me right into bed.”

He started to cross to her. She held up her
palm. “Don’t come near me!”

He halted. “Okay. But you’ll hear me out. I
was shocked at his suggestion. And disgusted. I had a long talk
with Max about it. You can ask him if you want.”

“Yeah, I’d believe your best friend. What,
Cal? Are you afraid I’ll renege on my offer to stop the blog?”

As if he hadn’t heard the question, he went
on. “The mayor got it all wrong!” He’d raised his voice.

“No, I’m the one that did. I thought we
were…” Damn it, tears welled in her eyes.

“Jesus. Don’t cry. You thought right, honey.
Last night meant everything to me. I want a relationship with you.
I want us to have a future.”

“Why? So you can keep me under control?”

“No, so we can be together.”

She sighed and shook her head. “I don’t
believe you. And I’d like you to leave my house now. I don’t ever
want to see you again.”

He advanced then and grasped her arms gently,
despite her command he not touch her. She literally shrank from his
touch. “I’ve fallen in love with you. Doesn’t that count for
something?”

“It would if it were true. Since it’s not,
I’d like you to stop manhandling me”—a lie—“and leave me alone.”
When he didn’t move, she said, “I’ll call the police, Cal. And
write a blog about how you assaulted me.”

His beautiful green eyes rounded. “How can
you say that to me?”

Before she could answer, she heard behind
them, “The lady asked you to leave, Chief. You’d better do it.”

They both looked over to see Ed Snyder in the
doorway.

Cal’s face reddened. “What the hell?” He
looked to Parker. “What are you doing?”

“Getting information for my very last blog.
It’s gonna be a doozy.”

“I can’t believe you’d consort with
Snyder.”

“Believe it, Chief.” She wanted to hurt him.
“Where do you think I’ve gotten all my
inside
information?”

He glanced from her to Snyder. His hands
fisted. Then, after a moment, he started away. At the entrance to
the room, he stopped. “You’re going to regret this, Parker.”

“Not half as much as you, Chief.”

Cal tried to tell himself she was hurt, that
she wasn’t far enough along in her recovery from that terrible
beating to see what had gone on with the mayor clearly. He tried to
convince himself that he could have another chance with her. But as
he drove along the lake, he knew in his heart he wouldn’t. Whatever
fragile trust they’d built up had been shattered by a few
misunderstood innuendos. Still he kept driving, trying to figure
out a way to make her believe him. Finally, he gave up and as he
reached the city limits, he noticed a message light flashing on his
phone, which he’d tossed on the seat when he’d gone to talk to
Parker. Jesus, how long had he been out of communication? He
clicked into voice mail.

“Cal, this is Noah Callahan. Call me, or
better yet, get over to my office right away. Eve’s here and we
want to run something by you.”

There were two more messages, each more
urgent. Since he was close to headquarters, he drove the few blocks
and arrived ten minutes after he listened to Noah’s first call. He
hoped this was something that would take his mind off his
problems.

Hurrying inside, he found his way to the
Chief’s office, knocked, then heard, “Come in.”

When he entered, he found Mitch Malvaso and
the other Battalion Chiefs assembled. Eve Callahan had been talking
and she stopped abruptly.

“Sorry I’m late. What’s going on?”

Noah said simply, “We know who the arsonist
is.”

oOo

“I’d like you to tell me how you feel the
department has been unfair to you, Ed.” Parker clicked on the tape
recorder and batted her eyes at the jerk for good measure. Flirting
with him was obscene, but she was a woman on a mission. And this
was the man who’d fed her information for months, so she knew how
to elicit it.

Snyder’s face was drawn, sported a scruffy
beard, and his clothes were wrinkled. Even at the distance she’d
kept from him, she could smell an acrid scent of alcohol. “I dunno
where to start.”

“How about when you transferred from House
7.”

“They brought that cunt Brennan in. I
couldn’t stand being around her.” He got a faraway look in his
eyes. “I showed them, though.”

“Excuse me?”

“They got paid back.” Another frown. “Then
there were those lieutenants who got promoted before I did. Fucking
women, even.”

“You’re a lieutenant, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah. Not till after them.”

Despite the fact that Parker was starting to
get uncomfortable with his swearing and his wooziness, she kept
going. “What else?”

“The reprimands started. Goddamned bastards
thought they could tell me what to do. Hah! They couldn’t control
me, though.” Again the disoriented, almost maniacal expression on
his face. “And today is the
piece de resistánce
. Hey, you
got any beer?”

“Sure. I’ll go get you one.”

Rising, she went out to the fridge, only to
find her hands shaking. Shit! Still, she retrieved a bottle and
brought it to him.

He lifted the beer to her, toast-like.
“Here’s to going boom!”

“Going boom?”

“Uh-huh.”

Parker’s heart started to beat fast. “What
are you talking about, Ed?”

“Erikson, Callahan, that prick Malvaso,
they’ll know…” He glanced at his watch. “Soon enough.”

Her reporter instincts, delayed because of
her upset over Cal, kicked in. People were in danger!

“Would you like to stay awhile, Ed? Sit
outside with me?”

“Too hot.”

“We could go in the pool.” Though it killed
her, she sidled up to him and touched his arm. “I thought I might
put on my bikini.”

“Oh, man, this is my lucky day.”

She nodded out the doorway. There’s a
changing room with suits of all sizes by the pool. Go ahead, I’ll
run upstairs to get mine.”

“Okay. Bring me another beer when you come
back.”

“Of course.”

He all but swaggered out the door. Parker
waited until he went into the small bungalow, then grabbed her
purse from the counter, and flew out. She hopped into her car,
drove away, and as soon as she could see her house in the rear
view, she punched in a number.

Please answer. Please.

oOo

Cal was just heading out of headquarters when
his phone vibrated. He grabbed for it. “Erikson.”

‘Cal, it’s Parker.”

“Jesus, I’m just on my way out to your house.
So are the police.”

Together they said, “Snyder’s the
arsonist.”

Stunned silence. Then Cal asked, “Is he still
there?”

“Yes, I—”

“Get away from him, honey.”

“I did. I tricked him into going out to the
pool. I’m on my way to town. There’s more. He rambled on about
something going boom
. Then you, Malvaso and Callahan
would know
. Could he have planted a bomb somewhere?”

“He’s had bomb squad training. Jesus, did he
say where?”

“No. He only mentioned you guys.”

“I’m just about to leave the building but
I’ll go back up. Call House 7 and tell them to evacuate. That’s the
next likely target if he named Gabe.”

“Cal, don’t go to Noah’s office.”

“I’ll be fine. Just get to safety and I’ll do
the rest.” After he clicked off, he thought about who was at
headquarters. Noah, Eve, the staff. Most of the chiefs. If
something happened…

Turning around, he took the steps two at a
time and jogged down to Noah’s office. The meeting was breaking up
when he burst through the door. “Noah, we have to evacuate the
building. Parker thinks Snyder might have planted a bomb here.”

“A bomb? What the…? All right, everybody out.
Now.” He picked up his phone. “This is Chief Callahan. All
personnel are to evacuate—”

Before he could finish, an explosion rocked
headquarters.

oOo

Plumes of smoke rose from the building on
Andrews Street as Parker swerved into the parking lot. Several
trucks were on the scene, their sirens blaring. Flames shot out of
one whole corner of the structure. As she exited the car, she
caught sight of Cal’s vehicle a few spaces down. “Oh, no.”

Firefighters descended en masse from the
trucks. But she didn’t care. She headed for the door of
headquarters.

“Hey, lady…”

“Don’t go in.…”

She didn’t hear them, didn’t stop until she
felt strong arms encircle her. “Parker, it’s Tony Ramirez. You
can’t go inside.”

“I have to help Cal.”

Tony held her close. “We’re helping him.
You’ll only keep us from doing our job.”

Somewhere in her panicked mind, Parker got
that. She stopped flailing. “Go ahead.”

“Get back to where Gabe is. He can let you
know what’s happening.”

As she hurried to Incident Command, she was
assaulted by the stink of smoke and chemicals. Gabe was listening
into his radio when she reached him. “Okay, okay. Keep me
posted.”

He put the radio down and faced her.

“Are they all right?” Parker asked.

“We don’t know. The bomb you told us about
when you called 7 went off in the corner by Noah’s office. People
evacuated but not everybody got out from that section of the
building. After we get water on the fire, several search-and-rescue
teams are going in.”

She closed her eyes and swayed. He grabbed
her arm.

“I’m okay. Take care of Cal and the
others.”

The wait was interminable. She got updates:
fire on the water…ventilation…bomb squad on the scene…evacuees from
different parts of the building. Still no sign of Cal. She promised
God she’d never say a cross word to him again, she’d forgive
anything he did, even if he betrayed her, she promised she’d go to
church, she’d…

Gabe touched her arm. “Parker, look.”

She pivoted around. From the side of the
building came a sight to behold. First, Noah Callahan with a guy
slung over his shoulder. Behind him, his wife carried a petite
blonde over hers. Several white-shirted men dragged others out,
under the arms, by their feet. But Cal wasn’t among them.

Parker started to cry.

There was a lull. For several minutes, no one
else exited. Parker’s heart was in her mouth, and tears were
streaming down her cheeks when a figure finally rounded the corner.
Even through the blur of tears and smoke, she identified Cal’s big
shoulders and muscular torso, carrying a woman in his arms.

Parker fell to her knees and sobbed.

oOo

“Son of a bitch!” He could have sworn Parker
would come to the scene. He’d have bet his life on it. But once the
smoke cleared, so to speak, she wasn’t anywhere in sight.

Not that he’d had much time to look, he
thought as he stood under the scalding shower spray in his office
bathroom and let the hot water sluice over him, cleanse him of dirt
and grime and the despicable fact that a firefighter had been
killing his own and civilians, doing untold property damage. He’d
never liked Snyder, but this? Who knew?

Instead of taking that on, of feeling guilty
for missing the signs, he chose to concentrate on Parker. She’d
gotten away from the guy—smart girl—and warned him. She’d do that,
though, even if he didn’t get another chance with her.

Which he would, or he’d go down trying. Other
than the time he went in after Max, Cal hadn’t been inside a
burning building in years. And once again, like most firefighters,
he’d cheated death. The bomb had caused fire and injury, but the
entire set of smoke eaters who’d been in that end of headquarters
had acted as a unit. Though they were hacking their lungs out,
they’d rescued all personnel in the area. It brought a satisfied
smile to his face. He was exhausted, and his chest hurt like hell,
even after the medics gave him oxygen, but he was going to head out
to Parker’s house.

He dressed in jeans and an HCFD T-shirt, got
his wallet and keys and opened the door.

Only to find five firefighters lined up
against the wall. Rescue 7, Group 3. “What are you doing here?” he
asked as he checked his watch. “You’re off duty.”