Page 13 of Hot Response
She stepped aside and let the two guys out. It only took them a few seconds, but they were valuable seconds and she felt her impatience growing. Finally, she was at the boy’s side and she swept aside some books and broken glass to kneel beside him.
She radioed in to request the first available paramedic and then heard shouts from somewhere in the house, followed by a pounding of boots.
“What’s going on?” she asked as she opened her bag.
“Reflash.” She glanced up at him, and his mouth was set in a grim line. “The house is on fire again. Below us. They want us out.”
“He can’t be moved yet.” If she didn’t get a tourniquet on his leg, he was going to bleed out. And she hadn’t even assessed his head injury.
“I’ll pick him up and carry him out.”
“If you do that, he’ll probably die. I need a few minutes.”
“We might not have a few minutes.”
“Then go.”
She didn’t even have to look up from her patient to gauge his reaction. Thefuckthat echoed through the room was enough.
“I want you out of here.” His voice was harsh, almost raspy. “Tell me what to do and I’ll take care of him.”
There was too much to do, and they didn’t have the time for her to explain it. “I’m not leaving him.”
“Get the fuck out of here, Tasker.”
“I’m not leaving him, Boudreau, so if you wanna go, go. Don’t waste your time barking at me.”
His gaze locked with hers, his mouth set in a grim line. “I won’t go without you.”
For a long moment, she felt the weight of her decision being potentially life or death—hislife or death versus the child’s life or death. They’d been ordered out. If they moved the boy now he’d die.
They couldn’t save everybody.
She knew the rules and she was prepared to break them, and damn the consequences.
“Please go,” she whispered.
* * *
Not fucking happening.
Gavin gave a status report to everybody on the receiving end of the radio as he turned his back on Cait to assess the situation.
She could tell him to leave. The commissioner himself could get on the radio and order him to leave. Hell, they could get his mother outside with a megaphone, yelling for him to get his sorry butt out of there or she’d drag him out by his damn earlobe. He wasn’t leaving without Cait and she wasn’t leaving without her patient.
So all he had to do was keep them safe until the child could be moved or more help came.
Suddenly, the entire world seemed to shift and he threw himself at Cait and the boy. He was able to block most of the falling debris from hitting Hunter, but they were dropping and sliding. The noise was deafening, and then it went dark as the wall with the big window caved.
Then it was still and all he could hear was his breath and Cait’s ragged cough. He took out his light and turned it on. The room they’d been in was now just a small box with no openings, because they’d all been crushed or were blocked by debris.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I think so.” Cait nodded and then wiped at her eyes before turning all of her attention back to her patient.
They were yelling his name on the radio, so he told them they were okay, but they weren’t going to get out on their own.
The smoke was a problem. It wasn’t getting worse, but with no place to vent, it wasn’t getting any better, either. And the Sheetrock dust didn’t help. When Cait coughed deeply and then lowered her face to check the boy’s breathing, he knew it was abigproblem.
