Too Much Heat (Wounded Heroes: The Redemption #4)

Prologue

“May Day, May Day, clear the building.” Lieutenant Joe Romano’s voice was strong and calm, even though his twin brother Jimmy was inside the structure.

“Copy that,” DeLuca responded.

“Got it, Lieutenant.”

Connors said, “Me, too.”

Joe waited for his brother to respond.

Finally, he heard, “No can do, Cap. I’m already upstairs. There’re two kids trapped in the last room. They’re screaming their heads off.”

“This is an order, Romano. May Day.”

Nothing.

“Goddamn it, Jimmy. I’m your officer. Get out.”

No answer.

“The hell with this!” Joe threw down his clipboard, pulled on his facemask, grabbed the thermal camera and stalked to the structure. He looked through the lens at the layout of the upstairs.

Joe hurried through the door, found the staircase off the foyer and climbed the steps carefully, but fast. The house was hotter and the acrid scent of the smoke was almost overwhelming.

At the top he went left. By-passed the three main bedrooms. Sure enough, there was another room in the back that didn’t show up on the camera. He could see three heat signatures through it. That damned kid went in instead of evacuating. Joe hurried further down the hall.

Three feet from the room, the timbers in the old house cracked and fell in front of him with the force of a volcano. Joe was slammed back on his ass.

Into the radio he said, “Jimmy, you okay?”

Nothing.

“Romano, answer me.” He practically shrieked out the order.

Nothing. He managed to stand and pick up the camera from where it had fallen. He held it up.

Now, there were zero heat signatures in the room.