Goddess of Love (Goddess Summoning #5)(86)

The goddess would forgive him. She'd have to. He wouldn't stop trying until she did. Minutes later when the station's alarm shrieked Griffin was actually relieved. At least he'd be kept busy for the next few hours - it would make time seem to pass faster. Like a well-oiled machine, he and his men flew into action. As Griffin pulled on his forty-plus pounds of equipment and moved quickly to the engine, his lieutenant handed him the rip of paper that had the address of the fire printed on it. Griffin climbed into the driver's seat, his mind working as smoothly as the big engine he drove. The fire was at the Twenty-first Street Borders Books and Music. The good: one, the store was close, so they'd be there in minutes; two, it was two o'clock in the morning, so it was closed and there should be no lives in jeopardy. The bad: one, it was one of those huge two-level stores, so the fire could be large; two, it was a store filled with books, which meant lots of fuel for a quick, hot fire. It could go up like a torch. Before he sighted the store he knew he'd been at least partially right. It was a huge fire. By the time they pulled up in the big parking lot, the entire front of the store was engulfed in fire. Flames shot out of the windows, shattering the plate glass.

As always at the scene of a fire, everything began to happen in double-time. The men piled out of the engine. Griffin barked commands. The police that were already there started moving the watching civilians back while the hoses and ladders were quickly put into position.

"Captain!" Griffin looked up to see Robert running from the ladder truck over to him. "Nineone-one dispatch radioed. A cell phone call just came from inside the store. The night watchman is trapped near the rear offices."

"Follow me around back!" Griffin snapped. The well-trained men knew exactly what to do. They grabbed the proper equipment and jogged after their captain.

"Break it down," Griffin said.

Robert and J. D. went to work with the axes. The steel door folded like a flower under the strength of their blows.

The escaping ghosts of black smoke rushed out at them.

"Which office is he trapped by? Where?" Griffin asked Robert.

"Don't know. His phone cut out. Nine-one-one got the manager on the line and he says the whole rear of this thing is office and storage space."

"So he could be anywhere," Griffin said. It wasn't a question - there was no need for anyone to answer. "All right, let's go in. J. D., Robert go right." He glanced at the rookie, who looked pale, but who met his eyes calmly. "Bennett, you come with me to the left. Keep your masks on - it's smoky in there. Let's go!"

Griffin always thought entering a burning building was like entering a living beast. It had a personality. It breathed and changed. It was as unpredictable as a wild animal. This one was no different.

That the flames hadn't reached the rear of the store yet mattered little. The heat was there. The smoke was there. The danger was there.

Griffin moved to the left, ignoring the growl of the fire that was moving ever nearer. He kept visual contact with Bennett, and every few minutes had J. D. and Robert checking in. The damn place was a maze of filled-to-overflowing bookshelves and cubicles. He was getting ready to check another office, when a cry down the hall ahead of them called his attention forward. It sounded like someone was pounding on the far door.

"Capt, that door looks like it opens to the bookstore," Bennett said.

"Yeah, stay close." He took off jogging down the hall.

The heavy door was locked. Griffin used the handle of the axe to pound twice on it. Two desperate knocks instantly responded.

"We got him," Griffin called. Then he put his face close to the door. "Can you hear me?" he shouted.

"Yes! Help me!" came the muffled response. "I'm trapped and the fire's in here!"

"Step back! I'm breaking down the door."

"Hurry!" the watchman cried through the door.

"Let's do it," Griffin told Bennett.

They wielded their axes quickly, but the door was stubborn and it took several strokes before they jarred it enough for them to pry it open just wide enough for Griffin to squeeze through. He walked into an inferno of flame and smoke and heat. The watchman had stepped away from the door, but overcome by smoke, he'd collapsed in a heap against the wall. Instantly Griffin took off his oxygen mask and fitted if over the man's nose and mouth. Then he lifted him in the traditional fireman's carry and moved back to the partially open escape door, trying to breathe shallowly.

"Here, take him." Griffin passed the awkward weight of the unconscious man through the narrow opening to Bennett. "Got him?" he called.

"Got him, Capt.!" Bennett grunted.

"Get him outta here. I'll be right behind you."

"Roger, Capt!"

Griffin watched him disappear into the smoke. He started to squeeze through the doorway, and then all hell - literally - broke loose. The explosion threw him at least ten feet. He landed on his back. The air was knocked out of his already strained lungs. Still he struggled to gather himself and regain his feet. Then a noise much like the screech of a dying bird pulled his attention up just in time to see the railing of the curved metal staircase come loose and hurtle in slow motion toward him. He couldn't move. He couldn't do anything except brace himself for the impact of the twisted, melting metal.

Pain seared the left side of his body. Then, thankfully, blackness took him into its cool darkness....