Protecting What's Mine(61)

It was protocol. Firefighters got rescued first. Otherwise, no one got rescued. But he trusted his team, and he was another able body already geared up.

He dodged the ladder truck as it maneuvered itself around the building and saw Skyler wave to the driver from the open third-floor window.

Linc jogged back to the engine and grabbed his SCBA. He threw the bottle on and was on the move in a second. Still strapping on the tank, he caught up to his second engine. The weight of it felt familiar, reassuring.

“We getting you up to the third?” the driver guessed.

“Yeah. Possible entrapment.”

He didn’t see quite as much action as he once had. Being chief carried other responsibilities. But when he got the chance, he took it.

The call for the second alarm went out over the radio. “Dispatch from Chestnut Street Command, take me to the second alarm,” Sam said.

The fire escape in the back was a definite no-go. Supports were rusted through, and it had pulled completely out of the brick on the third floor.

A scant minute later, the engine crew had the ladder propped against the front of the building away from the flames. He climbed carefully, steadily up three floors to the unit’s large front window. He felt the sway of the ladder as a man climbed behind him.

“This is chief to command. About to VES third floor unit east side. Visibility limited.” The smoke was already thick as fog inside. And it was the smoke that posed the real danger.

“Be careful up there,” came Sam’s cautionary warning over the radio.

Linc heard it then. Faintly over the crackle of flames, more sirens. The bark of a dog.

Training and experience were his guides. Vent. Enter. Search. He slipped the breaker from his pocket and, with a sharp blow, shattered the glass.

“Anyone here?” he shouted into the room as he cleared the window frame. Smoke billowed out the window, obscuring his vision. But there was the bark of a dog again. More insistent. More helpless.

“Chief Reed entering the structure third floor east side for search and rescue,” he said into the radio.

He dropped over the sill and hunched down. It was a small, boxy living room with a cheap sofa that was a minute or two from going up in flames. Those beautiful red and orange licks teased their way through the far wall, entering the apartment like ghosts from hell.

Training dictated that responders clear rooms on their hands and knees, keeping their heads out of the noxious smoke. But when the opportunity allowed, Linc stayed on his feet, moving and clearing faster.

The bark was a lonely howl now from the back of the apartment.

“Front room clear,” he said for the benefit of the firefighter at the top of the ladder.

He picked his way over worn carpet into a kitchen. It was hot enough that the linoleum was peeling. The smoke was even thicker here. If there was anyone or anything alive inside, they were living on borrowed time.

He listened to the radio chatter. His search and rescue crew was out, safe and switching to hose lines. The rest of the apartments in the building had been cleared. More units were stacking up on the scene.

The bedrooms, three of them, bumped off a skinny hallway. He kicked open the first door and swept quickly. One double bed. A crib. Both empty. Thank fuck. He checked the closet and under the bed before moving back into the hallway. The second bedroom was empty as well. He gave the third door a shove, dropping to his knees now. Inside, he found a wet towel on the floor. It had provided a seam to block the smoke until he’d opened the door.

Visibility was almost nil as the smoke rushed him.

The flames were eating at the wall, licking at the neatly made bed. He saw the body under the window, the dog lying next to it, and crawled forward.

The dog’s tail wagged slowly. The body was a woman. Elderly, frail. Unconscious. With his gloves, he couldn’t tell if there was a pulse, and there was no time to check.

“Hey there, buddy. Let’s get you two out of here,” Linc said through his mask.

“Command to BFD chief.” His radio crackled. “Can man’s reporting the roof is gonna go any second now. Get the hell out of there.”

“Copy that. Found two victims. One unconscious woman, one large dog. Third floor. Back bedroom. Extracting now.”

“Copy that. Holding for you at the window.”

The flames were coming for them. Hypnotic flares, sensual snakes of orange and red. The black was closing in. The black and the heat. He could hear the monster’s roar through all his protective layers.

Sweat, every drop of water in his body, was being pushed through his pores. There was a rumble and roar. He felt the floor shake under him and prayed the ceiling in this little room would hold just another minute or so.

“What the fuck was that?” Linc yelled.

The dog gave a pitiful whimper and crawled closer to him.

“Anyone have eyes on that?” Sam called.

“Engine 21 to Command. Ceiling in front room of east unit collapsed.”

And just like that, Linc was trapped in a burning apartment with someone’s grandmother and a dog that only had a minute or two left to live.

“There’s a window in the back bedroom. Get me the ladder!” he yelled into the radio.

“Copy that, chief.”

He got to his feet and hooked his gloved hands under the woman’s armpits. She was a tiny thing, and pulling her the short distance to the window took little effort. The dog belly-crawled after them. Its whimper barely audible above the snarl of the fire. They were in the belly of the beast, and it was only a matter of time before the roof rained down, crushing them.