Chapter Thirty-Three
ZACK
Hearing Mia’s voice on the radio as we made our way to the fire was a mix of comforting and torturous.
But also, it made me feel…odd. Something was off in her tone.
Like she was holding something back. But it didn’t make sense.
What could she possibly want to tell us that she didn’t want to say over the radio?
Obviously, my brain was just reading into things that weren’t there.
It wasn’t like she would say anything about us.
There was no hidden message just for me.
Or for anyone but me. But no matter what I told myself, I couldn’t shake the feeling something was missing from the brief, professional information she relayed.
“This better not be the fucking arsonist again,” Seth grumbled from his seat across from me.
My head whipped up at that. Why would he think that? None of this was his MO. “It doesn’t fit his usual pattern.”
Not only was it not early morning hours or the beginning of the month, but someone had called it in saying they were inside the home, and most of his fires were vacant buildings.
Seth narrowed his eyes, silently insinuating I was being a dumbass. “Neither was setting a bar full of people on fire, but obviously he’s unhinged.”
“I can’t shake the feeling that the address seems familiar,” Adam interjected, and his brows pulled together as he seemed deep in thought. “I think it might be one of the houses Lyla and I looked at last week.”
Fuck. None of us responded, his implication enough to put us all on edge. And regardless, if it was the arsonist who started the fire, we were now responsible for putting it out.
We pulled up at the house, noting that it was fully engulfed on one side.
Not wasting any time, Adam and I breached the front door and split off to do a primary search for the person reported trapped inside.
The rest of the guys were outside getting a hose line ready to attack.
I stopped when I thought I heard a voice, slowly moving toward the sound.
There was a small hole in the floor, almost like something or someone had fallen through it. Luckily, the fire hadn’t spread to this part of the house. Yet. But I didn’t have much time before it did. I squatted down, looking into the basement. Shock engulfed me as the Taylor kid stared back at me.
What the fuck?
Had he set the fire then fallen through the floor? Did he call in his own arson because he’d accidentally trapped himself in a mess he’d created?
Jesus. It would be so easy to just leave him there, solve everyone’s problem. But that wasn’t the oath I took. I saved everyone, regardless of whether they deserved it.
I jumped down, and before I could even get my balance right, the fucking shithead took a swing at me.
“What the fuck, man?” I stared at him in surprise and frankly anger. “I’m trying to help you.”
“I don’t want your fucking help,” he spat. “I’d rather burn to death than let you save me and become a fucking hero.”
Was he fucking kidding me? Did he seriously set this damn fire to become a martyr? Was he planning on taking as many of us with him as possible? Oh, hell no. I did not have the time nor patience for this.
I reached out and tried to grab him. Maybe I could put him in a headlock and then throw his ass up through the damn hole. I was pretty sure I could bench more than he weighed. And I couldn’t leave him down here.
Before I could get a hold of him, he moved away from me and farther into the basement.
The smoke swirling around us was already making it hard to see, and I lost track of him as he retreated.
Not wanting to get too far from the only visible exit, I scanned the dark space for obstructions before moving in the direction he went.
I caught sight of him a moment too late as he charged at me, catching me off guard.
I felt myself falling backward and landed with a thud on my breathing apparatus tank.
As it knocked the wind out of me, my head whipped back, hitting the hard concrete.
Blinking hard, my vision started to blur, but out of the corner of my eye I saw his foot coming toward my head.
I felt darkness pulling me under the moment he made contact with my skull.
My only hope was that the alarm on my personal alert safety system device would go off when it stopped sensing movement, alerting my team that I had been still for too long.
My head throbbed, and then my vision went dark, images of Mia and her sassy smile the last thing I saw.