33. Jake
Chapter 33
Jake
T he sirens go off at the station and I can’t tell if I’m happy for the distraction or annoyed because I need to be left alone with my thoughts so I can work this shit out about Martin and the businesses.
But emergencies don’t care what else you have going on and right now, whoever made that call needs me to be at the top of my game, so I shove my own drama aside, jump into my fire suit, throw on my hat, and shrug into my jacket as I climb into my seat on the truck. I’m in back tonight.
Dispatch rings through the truck loud and clear.
“ Fire reported at 3-3-6 South Hampton Drive. Repeat. Fire reported at 3-3-6 South Hampton Drive. Industrial fire reported with occupant trapped inside the building, all units please respond .”
All the breath leaves my lungs.
“ Dylan.”
“What?” the guy next to me asks.
“That’s Dylan’s shop,” I say a little louder before yelling, “Phoe! That’s Dylan’s shop!”
He doesn’t look in the rearview mirror, but keeps his eyes on the road, although I feel him accelerate a tiny bit more.
The guy in the front passenger seat pulls the radio down to respond.
“Engine one-six responding.”
Through the buzzing in my ears, I hear another voice come over the radio. “ Engine two-nine en route as well .”
“Breathe, Jakey,” Phoenix calls from the driver’s seat. He’s always so fucking calm under pressure.
“What’s the big deal?” The guy next to me asks. Phoenix finds his voice before I do.
“That’s his boyfriend’s auto body shop.”
“Boyfriend liiike…” Pete trails off and I’m hit with a wave of fury. As if this situation is the time and place to let your homophobic flag fly.
“Like lover, partner, best friend. Don’t worry, you piece of shit, you’re not my type.”
Pete claps me on the shoulder with a gloved hand. “Hey, I’m gonna give you a pass because shit just got real, but don’t come at me like I’m judging you, Ellington. Who you fuck is your business, but if the person in that building means something to one of us, we all know it changes the game.”
It does. Obviously, we try to save everyone and the structure as quickly and completely as we can. It’s not like we pick and choose, but when it’s personal, we’re more likely to take risks we otherwise might not. Like right now, I can’t say our current speed would be deemed “safe” for traveling through these streets, but Phoenix is willing to risk it for me. For Dylan. For Cassie. For Charlie.
I nod, not wanting to waste more time on this conversation with Pete. I’ll apologize later when Dylan’s in my arms. “Phoe, we need to get there now. Dispatch said someone’s trapped inside. I can’t fucking lose him.” I’m almost sobbing. How the fuck am I going to do this?
“Jake, we’re gonna get there in time. We haven’t lost anyone yet and we sure as shit aren’t starting with Dylan or Cassie.”
I can see the smoke from two blocks away and it clicks something into place in my brain. Immediately, I start filling the guys in.
“A few months ago, I had the windows replaced with bullet resistant polycarbonate, the doors are also fire-resistant stainless steel. The fastest way in will be to take the doors off their hinges. I don’t know why the bay doors won’t open. The office is small. Inside there’s a breakroom and a bathroom. The second door leads out to the garage. We’re looking at eight hundred square feet of internal floor space, max, for the office and eighteen-hundred to two-thousand square feet of shop space.”
“Got it, man. We’ll get him,” Pete reassures me.
When we pull up outside the shop, it’s completely engulfed. Usually, we take a minute to put together our plan and quickly assess the structural integrity as best we can before infiltrating the building, but as soon as our truck stops, I’m out of the door screaming Dylan’s name so loudly, I taste blood, no doubt having ruptured something with the force of my scream.
I run straight to the lock on the bay doors, hoping like hell I can just throw the lock and rip the door up, but when I examine the lock, I see a key has been broken off inside of it, rendering the mechanism useless.
And stuck in the locked position.
Before I can get the bolt cutters from the truck, I look over to see Phoenix already has them in his hands and is fighting the heat emanating from the building. When he opens the door to the office, we’re going to feed the fire, but there’s no time to find a better way in.
“Masks on!” Phoenix yells and we all drop our masks into place as he snaps the second hinge and tugs the door to pull it open from the outside. It falls flat in front of the doorway and a black ball of smoke tinged with orange flame comes racing out into the open. We’re ready for it though and are off to the sides.
“Pipe coming in!” Pete yells, holding the hose as Marcus, the fireman who was up front with Phoenix, stands at the ready to turn the water on. Phoenix grabs the hose behind Pete.
“Water in, all up!” he yells, telling Marcus they’re braced for the power in the hose and to turn it on as high as it’ll go. Another reason it’s important to stay low during a fire. You don’t want to get caught in front of the fire hose.
The water carves a small path that the flames are working their hardest to fight against when Phoenix nods at me. “Go get him, we’re right behind you.”
I race inside, unable to yell because the smoke is so fucking thick. Even through my oxygen mask, it’s hard to breathe.
I quickly scan the main portion of the office and come up empty. Thankfully the space is small and familiar, allowing me to move to the bathroom before checking the breakroom. The smoke is thicker the closer I get to the shop and with the office being clear, I head for the door.
Why the fuck is it locked?
The knob is smoldering but my gloves allow me enough time to twist the dial to the unlocked position and rip it open. There’s nowhere for me to stand to the side so when a rush of smoke and heat come at me, I drop to the ground, but get choked up anyway.
I call out for Dylan, but it comes out as a rasp. I try again without much luck.
The heat. My God, it’s unbearable and I’m in full fire gear. It’ll be a miracle if whoever’s in here hasn’t… no.
I push through and crawl on my hands and knees, hoping to run into someone as I desperately call out for whoever’s in here. I need to get my mask on them ASAP if they stand any chance at all.
I hear a crack above me and look up in time to see a piece of the ceiling tumbling to the floor, a fresh hole created in its wake, flames just visible through the smoke.
I’m running out of time.
I’m almost to the back corner of the shop when my hands land on what is undoubtedly Dylan’s chest. I’d know it anywhere.
“Dylan!” My voice is already hoarse. I strip my mask off and put it on his head before quickly retrieving the skin-safe flame retardant from my pocket and spraying his body down. We’re going to have to walk through flames to get out of here so if this spray keeps him safe, I’ll give Phoenix any goddamn thing he wants. I lay Dylan out so I can get him over my shoulders and out of this deathtrap. “Come on, baby. Breathe.”
I see his eyes flutter and my strength renews. I hoist him across my shoulders, above my small oxygen tank, the way I’ve been taught and begin to make my way back toward the office. I’m breathing harder due to the exertion and without my mask, I’m taking more smoke into my lungs. With less oxygen fueling my brain, the edges of my vision grow blurry. The smoke and heat are burning my eyes and my movements are growing weaker.
I need to get him out of here.
I make it through the doorway back into the office just as I hear glass break in the garage bay. I think I can hear someone yelling my name as I stumble and crash into the counter.
I don’t bother screaming out because my throat feels as dry and on fire as this fucking building and I can no longer hold my eyes open. It’s like staring straight into the smoke gust of a backyard bonfire multiplied by ten thousand.
I’m crawling toward the door with Dylan still draped across me, refusing to give up my forward progress when suddenly, Dylan’s weight is lifted from my shoulders. I can’t see, but he either fully came-to and walked out or someone got him out and as long as he wakes up to see tomorrow, I can die happy.
Knowing he’s safe causes my entire body to go limp. Tired of fighting the raging inferno, I succumb to the lack of oxygen and everything goes black.