Page 152 of Burn

“Actually,” Finn says as we both started downstairs, “I do.”

The first tone from the speaker interrupts Finn.

And then comes the second tone, then the third.

We stand as the dispatch comes through. “Structural fire . . . Corner of Olive way and Pine at the Wellington Plaza.”

Wellington Plaza?

My heart drops, my stomach rolling.

“Engine 25, Engine 34, Engine 1 . . .” Dispatch reads off the assignments. “Ladder 1, Ladder 10, Ladder 4, Aide 35, Medic 1, Medic 10, Battalion 2, Battalion 5, Air 9.”

I’ve never felt fear like this. It’s instant, from my head to my toes, numbing and all-consuming.

The guys look at me as we load onto the truck. “Is that her hotel . . .?” Their voices trail off as I start to shake, my head nodding vigorously as I sit on the truck.

We pull out, anxious eyes watching me carefully, not knowing what to say. There’s nothing you can say in a moment like that. There’s nothing I want to hear anyone say.

I’d just been texting her and she was fine. What could have happened?

My breath trips when dispatch comes through. Third alarm called in. Fire contained to floors 3-7. Guests trapped on floors above.

Cap looks at Owen. “Is that her hotel?”

I didn’t think he knew about Mila, but apparently, he knows more.

Owen doesn’t reply, just stares straight ahead.

Cap turns around and reaches for the radio. “You’re off duty, Ryan.”

“The fuck I am,” I mutter, ignoring him. There’s no goddamn way he’s keeping me out of that hotel with her inside of it.

This is real. This is so fucking real, and I have to deal with it. There’s no way I’m not going in there to get her, regardless of what they tell me to do.

I’m well aware of the dangers in a hotel fire. There’re so many places for the fire to hide and too many places it can spread and potentially grow. And then you ran into the fact that you never knew what was going to happen. Guys get lost in big buildings filled with smoke and people suffocate, choked out by the toxic gases in the air. Ninety percent of deaths in a high-rise fire are from smoke inhalation and even if the smoke doesn’t kill you right away, it can days later.

“They’ve activated a third alarm already,” Cap notes. “Owen, you’re taking lead on this one.” He points to me. “Keephimout of that fuckin’ building. I mean it.”

Owen side-eyes me. He won’t. He’ll let me go.

For me, there’s too much time to think on the way there. My thoughts are all over the place. Every worst possible scenario playing out and then more.

What if she’s already dead?

With my mask already on, we come around Pine, and smoke is billowing through broken windows shattered from the heat on the fifth floor. Her floor.

As soon as the truck pulls up in front of the hotel, lights of the emergency vehicles parked in the drive spill over the street like strobe lights. My focus is getting in there and finding her. My boots are on the asphalt before the truck’s stopped. Rounding the front of the apparatus, I get my first look at the lobby. The double doors have thick black smoke rolling out.

My dad’s there, and he tries to catch me by my SBCA tank. Cap tries, too, and Corbin even blocks me, but not this time. I’m going in no matter what. They wouldn’t stop me like they did at the apartment fire.

“Caleb!” I struggle against my dad once more. “Keep your head, son. Be smart.”

Turning away from him, I crank my air tank on, shove two people off me and race inside the lobby doors.

As with any firefighter, I’m there to access the situation and respond based on my training. How can you do that when your mind is stuck on one thing? How do I save her when I’m so clearly caught up with anger?

This is why they didn’t want me going in. I’m not thinking about anything else or the danger I’m putting myself in.

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