It Had To Be You (34 page)

After he yanked the pry tool off the rig, as
the others were unfurling the hose, Riley followed Ramirez to the
building.

The doors were double-wide and padlocked.
“Shit,” Riley said. Someone from behind nudged his arm with
cutters. Firefighters never left the truck without a tool. Riley
snapped the thick chains and, over the mic pinned to his collar,
heard the lieutenant speak into his radio. “Door’s chained. We
snapped it but the Rescue Squad should know that nobody got in this
way.”

Riley put the tip of the rabbit tool—a
hydraulic hand held manually operated tool—between the door and
frame. He pumped the pneumatic unit so the two interlocking jaws
exerted enough force to pop the doors. They opened inward.

Inside the building, they were met with a
gray curtain of smoke that they couldn’t see through. The Rescue
Squad had a thermal imager for use when the flames were out, but
Riley’s group would work blind.

His crew slapped water in the front rooms,
which
was
the point of origin. The noise was loud and
hissing; he could hear it, even through his facemask and helmet. In
ten minutes, the fire was doused. Next, two of his guys would take
axes to the walls to make sure no flames were hiding.

The lieutenant’s voice came over the mic
again. “Gallagher, go down the left hallways with Duncan. Me and
Decarlo will take the ones on the right.”

Again over the mic, Riley heard from Evans
from the rear. “We’re in the back of the store and searching these
rooms. We already found two guys and dragged them out so there
are
folks inside.”

“
Make sure you’re thorough.” Malvaso’s
voice came next. “We don’t want to lose anybody because of
neglect.”

Thinking,
Nobody will be left behind on my
watch,
Riley turned left with Duncan behind him. Because of the
heat, they dropped to their knees and ran their hands along the
wall to find their way. Their progress was slow, but this was how
fires were fought.

o0o

Jane Phillips was glad she kept in shape.
Even so, her arms ached with the weight of the four people she’d
dragged out of the building. She was heading back inside when Evans
stopped her. “You okay to go in again, Phillips?” he asked. “You
been in and out four times.”

“
Since I heard you ask Bilky that, I
won’t consider it a sexist question, Cap.” Her tone was teasing.
She knew Evans was fair and generous to women and had gotten some
on to rescue squads.

“
Then ladies first, Phillips.” The
remark was also made in good humor. Man, she loved her
job.

Jane led the way through the door, and Evans
nudged up to her side. The smoke was lessening, but she still
couldn’t see her hand in front of her face. Evans held up the
imager. They walked quickly through the sectioned-off areas they’d
already checked. The rank smell of decay and the stink of smoke
seeped in through her SCBA mask.

“
There’s an area at the end we didn’t
cover, Phillips. Stay close.”

They’d taken only three steps when a loud
cracking noise rent the air, and the floor opened up. They fell
through fast. Before Jane could internalize what had happened, she
landed on top of the captain. He hit his head and his face mask
flew off. Loss of air made him cough.

When she got her bearings, Jane thrust off
the burnt wood that covered them and climbed off Evans. He wasn’t
moving. She began to feel around, running her gloved hands along
the floor. Finally, she touched metal. “Thank God.”

“
What’s going on there, Evans?” The
voice came over the mic.

Jane ignored Malvaso’s question and grabbed
the helmet, felt the cap’s face and managed to secure the hat and
breathing device on him. Then she said into her mic, “Chief, me and
Evans fell through the floor. Northwest quadrant of the building.
Evans’s out cold. He lost his SCBA, but I retrieved it. Oh, wait,
he’s moving, coming to.”

“
We’re sending ropes and harnesses.
Hang on. We’ll be there in minutes.”

It was quieter down here and she heard a moan
come from the corner. Jesus, victims in the basement were all they
needed. She rummaged around again until she found the imager and
scanned the direction the noise had come from. A body was moving in
the corner. Quickly checking the rest of the area through the
viewer and seeing no heat-emitting shapes, she started to move
toward the corner. Evans rasped out, “What is it, Phillips?”

“
Victim about ten feet away. I’m going.
Stay still, Cap.”

The fact that he did made her realize this
rescue was all on her. Slowly, feeling her way, she crawled to the
body. Her hands reached the victim and she discovered he was a big
lug of a man. “Whaaaa happened?”

“
There’s been a fire. I’m a
firefighter.” She took off her mask and placed the mouthpiece over
his lips. “Here take some air.”

The man sucked it in as she coughed like a
son of a bitch. He handed her the mask back. “Make sure you take
yours, Firefighter.” The gravelly voice sounded surprisingly
confident in his order.

They exchanged two more mouthfuls of air,
then she heard from above, “Hey, Phillips, we’re here.”

She yelled out, “Cap’s right below the hole.
I’m in the corner with a victim.”

“
Stay there.” Apparently Malvaso had
decided to join the rescue with his fellow firefighters. “I’m
coming down with two others, and there’s a group here to pull us up
top.”

The smoke started to clear. She saw the
outline of Malvaso shimmying down the rope. Then someone after him.
Malvaso went to Evans, and two people headed to her. She hoped one
of them wasn’t Riley. That’d freak them both out.

It wasn’t. Duncan and McCabe, both
paramedics, reached her. “I have the BVM,” Duncan said. “Keep your
mouthpiece on and I’ll fit the guy with the oxygen mask.”

The victim, who coughed mercilessly, muttered
something about saving somebody else first, but they ignored
him.

In minutes, the paramedics put a neck brace
on the guy and moved him onto a backboard. Before he left, McCabe
tugged her up by the arm. “Should I check you out?”

“
I’m fine, Jack. I fell on top of the
cap.”

As the two paramedics left, Jane glanced
around; she was the only one left down here. Quickly, she walked to
the hole, where megalights were shining through. Somebody threw her
a harness, she stuck her feet in it, belted the waist and let
herself be pulled up. She heard somebody joke, “Jesus, Phillips,
you gotta lose some weight.”

When she reached the top, her limbs were
saturated and her head hurt from the smoke. “Okay.”

“
Hell, she must be in bad shape if she
let that remark go.” She recognized the voice of the man who helped
bring her up. He grabbed on to her and held her close. “I got ya,
babe, like always.”

Jane removed her helmet and unbuttoned her
coat—the cool air felt wonderful—then surveyed the scene. Bodies
were scattered over the parking lot and grassy area behind the
store. “Casualties?” she asked.

“
Not a one.” Riley put his face close
to her ear. “You scared me, honey.”

“
None of that, Rye.” She looked around.
“The Cap?”

“
Fine. His head’s hard enough to
withstand the blow.”

“
How ’bout the guy I was
with?”

“
Alive, they say. With a wracking
cough.”

After a few minutes, Malvaso approached them.
“Gallagher, the man Phillips saved is asking for you.”

“
For me? Not Janie?”

“
Uh-huh. But she should go with
you.”

“
What? Why?”

“
Just do it.”

Jane and Riley headed to where Malvaso
directed them. The man lay on the grass propped up against a tree.
His clothes were in tatters, now covered with smoky grime, and he
sported a beard which practically obscured his face.

Riley knelt down in front of him. “You wanted
to see…” His voice trailed off.

Janie bent over, too. The guy smelled like
body odor and alcohol. He raised his dirty hand to cup Riley’s
cheek. “I never thought I’d see you again, son.”

Riley jerked back. Bolted up. His fists
curled at his sides. “Yeah, right back at you. Which was fine with
me.”

o0o

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Published by Kathryn Shay

Copyright 2012 Kathryn Shay

Cover art by Patricia Ryan

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About the Author

A USA TODAY bestseller, Kathryn Shay has been a
lifelong writer and teacher. She has self-published 12 original
romance titles, 36 print books with the Berkley Publishing Group
and Harlequin Enterprises and 1 mainstream women’s fiction with
Bold Strokes Books. She has won five RT Book Reviews awards, four
Golden Quills, four Holt Medallions, the Bookseller’s Best Award,
Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year and several “Starred Reviews.”
Her novels have been serialized in COSMOPOLITAN magazine and
featured in USA TODAY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL and PEOPLE magazine.
There are over five million copies of her books in print, along
with hundreds of thousands downloaded online. She lives in upstate
New York with her husband and children.