Chapter 2
TWO
Izan Collins stepped back and admired his handiwork. “It’s perfect.”
The three-foot-tall Christmas tree stood in the corner of the men’s bunk room, between the end of Izan’s bunkbed—he had the lower bed, Zack took the upper—and the wall. In addition, he’d strung up Christmas lights around the room, tacking them on the wall with about a hundred pieces of tape.
Decorating the firehouse didn’t happen all in one day, and he liked to draw the season out as long as he could. Wring out every ounce of Christmas cheer. Bask in the music, the fun, all the parties and extra events. Go to the church services and kids’ concerts.
All of it.
If it was about Christmas, Izan wanted to be there.
Eddie Rice, his fellow firefighter, leaned over his shoulder. “It looks like Christmas threw up on your tree.”
“I know.” Izan grinned at his friend. “Isn’t it great?”
Eddie slapped him on the back, laughing. “Sure, bro. Whatever you say.”
From his bunk, where he’d been reading a parenting book, Zack Stephens said, “It’s like you forget every year how he acts around Christmas.”
“I don’t want any Grinches,” Izan told them. “Got it?”
“I’ll leave a sternly worded note for B shift not to mess with it.”
Izan winced. Eddie had the right idea, but…“Doesn’t that usually make them mess with it more?”
“Hmm. Good point.”
Zack said, “We can tell them it’s Amelia’s tree. They’ll never mess with it then.”
“Or the chief’s wife and kids put it up. Spent hours decorating it,” Izan suggested. Not that he wanted to be a liar, but desperate Christmas times called for desperate Christmas measures. “I’ll figure it out. Coffee?”
Eddie frowned. “It’s nearly one in the morning.”
“Any time is coffee time.” Especially with the life they lived. No one wanted to be dragging or slow on the uptake in the wee hours when someone’s life was on the line.
Izan trailed through the hallway to the day room, which was a long rectangular room with a kitchen area at the far end, a dining table to the left, and the living area to the right.
Zoe was curled up in the recliner, reading a book, while Della watched the local news report from earlier in the evening.
“…storms rolling in. You can expect heavy rain the next few days and dropping temperatures, bringing the possibility of snow in the forecast. So take care out there on those roads. More in the next segment. Back to you, Wilma.”
Izan headed for the coffeepot to fill his and Eddie’s cups. “Anyone else want coffee?”
“Yes!”
Izan glanced back and saw Della’s attention on him from over the top of the couch. He lifted his chin. “Had enough tea?”
She smiled. “Never. But coffee is fine once in a while. I took my grandma to the doctor, so I had to get up early.” She stretched her arms above her head.
“Everything okay?”
Della rolled her eyes, smiling. “She wouldn’t let me go in with her. Said it was old lady things and apparently none of my business.”
He brought her a full mug of creamy coffee with sugar. “Here. This is strong enough to put hair on your chest.”
“And that’s something I want?” She took a sip and sighed. “Good stuff.”
He chuckled. “As good as Christmas.”
“You’re like the Christmas evangelist.”
“You know you love it.”
Della just snorted.
He’d worked with Zoe, Della, and their lieutenant, Amelia, long enough to know the three women pretty well. Zoe had two boys, her husband was deployed, and her mom looked after the kids while she was on shift. Della lived with her grandma and read books a lot.
Izan knew Della well enough to have run up against the things she didn’t want to tell anyone, the dark parts of something that’d happened to her.
She wore a bracelet sometimes, when she wasn’t on shift, with the name Lily on it.
Amelia, their lieutenant, was in a category all her own. A force of nature.
Izan could’ve easily fallen for Della or Amelia, but the moment he’d seen a certain police officer, he’d been a goner. It was better that way, because he could keep things at work professional and friendly. It had never gotten weird between him and any of the female firefighters due to attraction.
Too bad they’d noticed his crush on Olivia just enough to give him a hard time whenever that certain police officer came around.
Junior Ramble, who happened to be her partner, was one of Izan’s best friends.
They frequently commiserated about their pathetic attempts to get the women they liked to even notice them.
He pulled out his phone to text Junior about going to the shooting range in a couple of days, but the dispatch intercom sounded through the firehouse. First an alarm, then the call, “Truck 14, Ambulance 21, vehicle collision. Multiple victims.”
Della set her drink on the coffee table and left it. Zoe turned down the corner of the page she’d been reading. They followed Izan out the door.
The alarm overhead sounded again. “Rescue 5, person trapped.”
Everyone converged in the engine bay. Amelia met Izan on their side of the truck. “Guess Rescue has their own job.”
Izan shrugged on his turnout coat. “Good thing we don’t need them.”
Amelia grinned and climbed in. Della had the engine on already. Zoe settled into the back beside Izan, and they pulled out.
“Where’s this vehicle collision?” Izan leaned back and braced his boot against the back of the seat in front.
Amelia tapped keys on the dash laptop, one of those indestructible things you could drop off a building. “Mile marker six on the highway.”
“Shouldn’t take us too long to get there,” Della said.
Izan wanted to move up to the driver spot one day, but it hadn’t happened yet.
He also wanted to be a lieutenant at some point.
However, that would probably involve moving crews.
Not something he would be okay with. This group of firefighters and the EMTs they worked with had become a family over the last few years.
Considering his history, he needed family who were good people.
Not the kind who’d brought him into their savage world of drugs and guns and murder, but who made sure a child was raised by kind parents like the Collins family, who’d adopted him.
In the same way, this crew of firefighters had invited him to be part of their family.
Knowing his life would always be intertwined with the Crawfords made him feel like this firehouse where Bryce worked—where Andi and Logan had both worked at one time—was where he belonged.
Della stopped so hard he nearly slid off the seat. Izan snapped his attention back on the scene in front of him just as Della loudly exclaimed a series of nonsensical words.
“Exactly,” Zoe said.
“I’ve never seen…” Amelia shoved her door open. “Let’s go.”
Izan jumped out onto the asphalt. Two cars had collided up ahead, and between the fire truck and that was a minivan that had plowed into them and was now lying on its side.
A cop car had pulled over behind the wreck, but he didn’t see the officers.
One of the cars was on fire, the flames licking out from under the hood. He spotted the sheen of something spilled across the road. Most likely gasoline or another fluid from the car, which meant there was a risk that it would catch and send the whole thing up in flames.
They ran to the closest car, and he pulled the door open. No one in the back. One passenger on the driver’s side that Della reached in to help.
Trace and Kianna, their EMTs, pushed over a gurney.
Izan turned to Amelia. “We need—”
“Help, and more ambulances.”
He nodded.
“Get these people out, Collins.”
He ran to the next car, searching inside. The kid in the back was crying, probably four years old. About the same age as his cousin’s kid. “Hey,” Izan crooned. “You’re having a rough day.” He did a cursory assessment.
Mom in the front seat turned to him, gasping aloud at the pain. “Is he okay?”
“Car seat did its job, didn’t it, buddy?”
The kid hiccupped and quieted down.
“Mom’s gonna be fine, and you’re A-okay. All right, kiddo?” He turned to her. “Can you move?”
“It’s just my elbow. I smacked it when we hit that corrections van.”
“Say what?” Izan shook his head and said, “Actually, I’ll come around and you can get out. Tell me all about it then.” He scooped out the kid and carried him gently around to where the mom turned to put her feet on the ground. “Don’t get up if it hurts, okay? Move slowly.” He dragged the word out.
She nodded. “I can walk.”
That would help them, considering there were others here with more serious injuries.
“What’s your name?”
“Kathy, and that’s Elliot.”
“Hi, Elliot.” He shifted the child against him. “I’m Izan.” He held out one hand and helped Kathy stand, holding her steady while they walked toward the EMTs.
The cars on the opposite side had slowed to watch the chaos. Firefighters and EMTs all helping people get out. Treating the injured. This stretch of highway was surrounded by townhouses and apartments on both sides.
“What did you say about corrections?”
Amelia watched them approach.
Kathy said, “The van that flipped on its side at the front. It says Department of Corrections on the side. A bunch of guys in orange and a woman in black uniform jumped out and ran off the road, over the concrete divider. The two cops that showed up chased after them.”
Amelia’s eyes widened. “We have a prison break?”