Chapter Twenty
Walker
It was a week later when the fire station alarm rang halfway through the Thursday afternoon shift.
‘Let’s go, team,’ Walker shouted immediately, and his crew scrambled to don fire suits. The truck pulled out with everyone aboard one minute later. The lights were flashing, and pedestrians turned to look as they sped past.
Walker sat upfront on the phone with the dispatcher, plugging in the address and awaiting further information.
Today was his first afternoon shift after a very quiet week of night shifts where the highlight had been catching a stray dog on the common.
The team had all undertaken physical training together that morning and now he took a deep breath, feeling his adrenaline rise.
It hadn’t been the only thing that had risen that morning.
He’d woken after the deepest and most satisfying sleeps he’d had in a long time to a hard-on worthy of a flag.
Since that almost-night with Gabriella, he’d only been thinking of when he might get to actually complete the night in person.
The images in his head were certainly proving a good distraction, as he hadn’t had a bad dream all week.
He’d texted her the day after their late-night phone call, telling her he’d found her crutches abandoned at The Bolthole and had left them outside her door and posted her keys through the letter box.
She’d texted back immediately asking him if she could thank him in person, adding a little devil emoji.
But he’d had to postpone, as he’d been on his way to start night shifts for the week.
Something he’d never minded, until then.
Now that he was back on days, he fully intended to message her and ask for a repeat performance.
The dispatcher crackled back onto the line.
‘Incident at Treetop Challenge,’ she said and then the words that made his blood run cold. ‘Involving children from the Honeybridge Tots.’
Walker’s stomach clenched. That was Riley’s nursery. He’d been there himself with Rosie to collect Riley on occasion. He’d stood outside and waited for her to appear on the doorstep. Riley, his red-headed goddaughter, usually paint-speckled, often wearing dungarees, always hungry.
‘Are the children all safe?’ he asked.
‘Not all of them.’
John threw a glance at Walker and then sounded the siren. Walker set his jaw, all thoughts of Gabi forgotten for the time being.
Treetop Challenge was a series of high ropes between platforms in the trees, ending with a zipline back to the ground.
All perfectly safe, with different levels for different age groups, strapped in and clipped on at all times.
Walker couldn’t imagine what the incident could be – and found it hard to believe even when he stood in front of it.
He dropped out of his door before the engine skidded to a stop.
A woman beckoned him from the clearing in the woods and he jogged over.
She wore the Honeybridge Tots sweatshirt, and she and another helper were surrounded by children, some crying, others sucking thumbs.
A quick scan told him Riley was not among them.
‘What’s happened?’ he asked without preamble.
‘There was a massive crack.’ The woman looked stricken. She wrung her hands and couldn’t take her eyes from the trees ahead. Walker scanned the canopy but couldn’t spot what she was staring at.
‘A tree fell,’ the woman continued. ‘It crashed through one of the wired walkways. All the lines were broken.’
‘Anyone hurt?’ Walker asked.
‘Luckily, no. Most of the children were off the bridge at the time. They carried on to the end of the course and we’ve got them down. But one girl had her foot trapped in the bridge as it fell. She’s stuck.’
She pointed a shaking finger up at the canopy and Walker saw his worst fears confirmed. Riley’s red hair dangled towards the ground as she hung upside down under the broken bridge.
‘Is she still strapped in?’ Walker demanded, motioning his crew to reverse the fire engine closer.
‘We’re not sure . . .’ This came from the attendant from Treetop Challenge. ‘The falling tree seems to have taken down most of the wiring.’
There was already a crowd forming. This kind of news spread like wildfire. The mums and dads would all be on social media, and he knew that meant Rosie would hear about it soon.
Riley could be hanging there by her shoe alone, tangled in the ropes, without any harness attached.
Walker jogged back to his truck and gave a brief download, then jumped on the back of the truck and told his team to raise the ladder.
The mechanism clicked into motion and the ladder began to ascend.
Walker climbed onto it and held on with one hand.
‘Riley, it’s Walker,’ he called calmly through the leaves as he rose towards her. ‘How are you doing?’
‘I’m stuck . . .’
Her voice was quiet and sounded like she was crying, but at least she was conscious. For how long, though, hanging upside down like that?
The ladder reached its full length and Walker’s heart fell again. It was about six feet short. Even stretching to his full height on the very top rung he would not be able to reach her. ‘Hang on in there, Riley,’ he called. ‘I’m coming for you.’
‘I’m scared,’ Riley sobbed. ‘I’m going to fall.’
‘I’ll be right back.’
He descended at lightning speed, shouting his plan to his team at the bottom who grabbed his supplies.
He armed himself with the equipment he needed, scaling the ladder again as if running up a flight of stairs.
He chose a branch above where Riley was hanging and threw a perfect snake of rope over the top of the bough.
Securing himself with knots and a makeshift pulley, he hoisted himself from the top of the ladder until he hung directly next to where Riley was suspended.
‘Hello, kiddo,’ he said quietly as she turned a tear-streaked, freckled face towards him.
‘Ride time. Hold on tight.’ He held her easily with one arm as he detangled her foot from the ropes.
She clutched at him as he finally freed her and swung her against his body.
Allowing himself one brief moment of relief, he began to lower himself again, one-handed, with his homemade pulley.
By the time he got to the ladder, his teammate was waiting for him to pass Riley over so that they could all descend safely.
At the bottom of the ladder, Riley sprang out of his crewmate’s arms and back into his. He hugged her back, fiercely.
The crew moved round him, past him, retracting the ladder and storing the supplies. He saw Rosie running through the crowd and a second later she crashed against his side. Walker caught her, pressing her and her daughter together.
‘She’s okay,’ he said into her hair. ‘She’s okay.’
Rosie grasped at him, and he held her to keep her upright.
‘Thank you,’ Rosie said, and it came out as a sob. ‘I thought she was going to fall . . .’
Walker shook his head, not wanting to go there. He couldn’t have borne it. Once was enough. Everyone he saved now was just trying to make up for the one he hadn’t been able to.
‘Thank you,’ Rosie said again, dropping to her knees to cover her daughter’s chubby face with kisses.