Page 2 of Rescued Dreams
This was supposed to have been a routine callout, but fire was never routine. Things could go wrong a million different ways. One moment, a fire extinguisher was all it took, and evacuating residents was only routine. The next, she’d have to call for the hose.
Behind her, the fire boomed, blowing out the windows of apartment 1-C. Everyone in the vicinity ducked, covering their heads. Someone screamed. An older woman tripped trying to walk faster, and a young man moved to help her up.
Amelia switched her radio to the dispatch channel. “This is Truck 14.” She gave the address. “We need backup.”
She listened to the dispatcher’s response in her earpiece while she replaced her mask and helmet. “Copy that.” She ran back to the apartment. The natural gas line had to have caught the flame somehow and gone up. It should’ve been off. What on earth had happened here?
She shut off the analysis she could save for her report, wondering how the hyperawareness that meant she saw the worst coming was even supposed to be helpful. It wasn’t like she could’ve stopped it in time.
Useless.
How many times had she been called that? As many as it took for that word to sink into her bones. For it to become a part of her.
The Christians at the firehouse kept telling everyone to pray, but God had never shown up to save her before. Why would He start now?
Amelia shouldered the door to the apartment open.
The manager ran over between the buildings. “Hey! What’s going on?”
She yelled from behind her face mask. “Keep everyone back.”
Amelia ducked inside the apartment. She spotted one of her firefighters in the hallway on the floor. She grabbed Zoe Lewis under the arms and dragged her out the door, across the concrete to the grass.
Rescue squad pulled up, but they weren’t close enough. She left Zoe on the grass near Izan, who was now stirring as he woke up. Trace moved over to assess the downed female firefighter.
Amelia ran back to the apartment.
Inside, she could barely see her hand in front of her face. She clicked on the light on the side of her helmet and pressed into the dark. Searching for her friend.
“Nixon, call out!” She found the base of the fire, but the main blaze of the oil pan had been extinguished. Flames in the living room came from the gas fireplace and an open line. The buildup had caused the explosion, but now the running gas was coming out, keeping the fire going. The front of the unit had blown off, and the blaze swept up the wall and across the ceiling now. Moving fast, toward the hall. Seeking out fuel. Destroying everything in its wake.
“Nixon!”
She went back to the kitchen, trying to figure out where?—
A heavy hand dragged her shoulder back. “We’ve got this.”
Bryce Crawford. Twin to Logan. Ladies’ man turned one-woman good guy. Penny was a blessed lady. Bryce was a good lieutenant.
Amelia considered him the brother she’d have preferred to the one she actually had. But his family, the Crawfords, were all overachievers, and she had to fight for every inch just to measure up, so belonging to the Crawford clan would never have worked.
Besides, there was only one guy at the firehouse she would even consider dating. The rest of them…she knew too much personal stuff about them. And their locker room smelled like a high-school gym.
“Get clear.” Eddie Rice tromped in after Bryce, followed by Zack Stephens, whose wife was pregnant. He spent every spare moment at the firehouse reading baby books.
“We’ll find Della,” Zack said.
Then Ridge was there in front of her. “You good?”
Every word they said would be heard by everyone on the comms channel. All the firefighters on scene, and the EMTs as well, if they switched over to hear what was happening.
He stared down at her, close enough their face masks were nearly touching. She saw his eyes scan her face. Checking if she was all right. His dark gaze held hers, those brooding eyes that always seemed to see far too much.
Until he got too close and she had to tell him to back off. Give her some space.
Amelia squeezed his elbow. “Find her,” she said into the comms channel. “I’m going outside to check on the others.”
She tromped out, partially irritated that rescue squad had to swoop in and save their bacon—even if she’d been the one to call for backup. She and her Truck 14 crew wouldn’t hear the end of that one for a while.
