Where There’s Heat – By Aliza Mann #4
Charity also prayed he would make it back to her now that she realized just how much Mike meant to her.
Mike wasn’t even sure how long he’d been in the field. The sky was blotted by smoke, the ground shifting beneath their feet as the ravaging blaze decimated mile after mile of his beloved Los Angeles County.
He’d been called in more times that he cared to count. Each time, he was drawn into another emergency. When he’d nearly passed out from ignoring the alarms his body was sending, Daniel had placed him in an ambulance to the medical center, wherever that was.
He should have fallen out the moment he hit the gurney, but as the ambulance roared to life with sirens and lights he could see as they cut through the dark atmosphere, he could only think of one thing.
More than anything, he wanted to go back to the command center.
They may have already evacuated the civilians that had been on site, but still…
it was the last place he left her. He’d seen many things in the fire that made him want to prioritize having someone in his life whenever he found someone who felt like home.
He knew now that Charity was someone who very well could be his shelter from the world.
Removing the oxygen mask, he tried to turn and face the young EMT who he hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting. “Hey, what do you say you radio in a change of plans? I need to get to the Command Center?—”
“No can do, Chief. The mayor has been trying to get you out of the field for more than six hours. When they found out you had an episode, she insisted you only go receive medical treatment. Orders are orders. Could you please put that mask back on? You know how smoke inhalation works, right?” The sarcasm was thick in this one.
Mike surveyed him with the textbook intimidation glare that came with years of working with hard-headed fire personnel. “You think her orders take precedence over mine?”
“Today, I do, sir. She said when you are incapacitated, she’s in charge.”
“No chance I could change your mind? I’ll give you the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays off.” The cough was body rattling.
“You won’t have to give those days off if I’m fired. Now, could you please place your O2 mask on?”
“For Christ’s sake,” he mumbled, but did as he was told.
Somewhere between his grumbling and the medical center, Mike did fall asleep. It was the first time he’d needed continuous oxygen. The fire had gotten the better of him.
Mike blinked, then blinked again to being wheeled out of the ambulance, somehow. The jerky movement woke him each time the wheels hit the ragged asphalt. He’d obviously been affected by his environs. Anyone else doing that under his command would have been fired.
“Forty-three year-old male, suffering from minor smoke inhalation, loss of consciousness, and heat exhaustion. BP one thirty-seven over ninety-one, pulse ox ninety, heart rate one hundred and two bpm…”
He could hear the unnamed tech rattle off the vitals and wondered if they would let him out to find Charity.
“Let’s get him on an IV drip, continuous oxygen flow, and a heart monitor. He isn’t exhibiting signs of distress at the moment, however, let’s get him in for a chest x-ray, and a CT of his abdomen. Thank you, Brady. We’ve got him,” a female voice noted.
Since another party had taken over, Mike decided to play his hand again, before he got hooked up to all that wiring.
He would only rip it off once he could stand.
He was going to find Charity, no matter what it took.
No one and nothing would stand in his way.
“Hey, I have to get to the Command post. I’m Mike Henry, CAL Fire Chief.
We are in the middle of an all call an?—”
“No can do, Chief. If you think we get a VIP in here without express orders from Mayor Mendoza, you have another thing coming. Now, sit back and enjoy the ride to Radiology… or what passes for it right now.” He stole a glance at the strident blonde who was wheeling him somewhere in what looked to be a shipping container turned medical facility.
Bright overhead lights had him blinking away tears, probably more due to the heady mix of smog and smoke he’d been in for hours than the fluorescents.
Another series of coughing quaked him, but he just needed to know what was happening…
and needed to find Charity. “Get someone on the phone for me then…” Yeah, he probably popped off, but it was a matter of finishing his conversation with Charity.
He needed her to know… after seeing so many people losing their entire way of life and at times, the one person who made life make sense, he wasn’t ready to waste another minute over silly differences.
In one moment, when he thought he was going down, all Mike could think of was Charity.
Her wide, beautiful smile, the glimmer of whimsy and passion in her almond shaped eyes, and the hint of mischief in her expression each time she challenged him.
There were a hundred other reasons to be attracted to, and yes, have feelings for such an amazing woman, but that’s what flashed across his mind.
It was high time he did something about it.
The nurse took the mask from his hands and pressed it to his face.
“Once we’re done with your testing and you can breathe regularly, I will get you a phone.
That’s if you don’t have some kind of episode with those oxygen levels.
Since you’re the chief, you know as well as anyone else how smoke inhalation works.
And don’t you sass me. I’ve had political officials and actors on these gurneys before.
One little fire chief is no match for that, thank you very much. Now, put that mask back on your face…”
Mike had to wince, then accept who was in charge at the moment. “If you’re ever looking for a job in CAL Fire, give me a call. Some of those lunkheads need a leader like you,” he said before promptly replacing his oxygen mask once more. He was a smart enough man to know when he was losing.
In that moment, he supposed his profession of deep like with Charity would have to wait.
Charity had been on her feet since she got to the medical tent.
It was exhausting. So many people were showing up looking for their loved ones, all desperate for answers, she was weary of the times when she’d had to share there was no word.
Her heart broke with each failure to locate a person.
Then there were times when she did, just not enough.
The fires were getting worse. Not for the first time, she opened the summaries being sent out with status checks each hour. Her heart raced as she scrolled through, the injury reports her primary focus.
The last time, she saw a Michael listed as critically injured. Her heart hammered at her chest until she realized it was a different last name. Not Henry. Not her Michael. Thankfully.
For a moment, someone else was handling the droves of people looking for family.
Instead of going right back, she found a chair in a relatively quiet corner to rest for a moment.
Her feet pulsed from standing so long and her head swam as she leaned it back onto the chair.
When was the last time she’d eaten? One of the nurses had told her, what…
two hours before, there was food in a trailer outside.
Volunteers were manning it, with top chefs and celebrities donating food, time, and manpower to feed the masses.
It was such a gracious thing to see so many provide resources during a dark time for LA County.
Charity made a mental note to thank them once it was all over.
“Get someone on the phone for me then…”
The voice came from one of the temporary rooms made from curtains and iron stands, but there was no way to know which one was his. She was sure, however, that steely voice was Mike’s.
Jumping to her feet, no matter who sore and swollen they were, she ran to the space immediately behind her first. Yanking open the curtain, she found a young mother cradling her son. “I’m sorry. I was looking for another patient,” she explained, begging forgiveness from the mother.
There were three more before she found the one with Michael in it.
His head was listing to the side, and she wondered how severe of an injury he’d incurred.
His big body looked unbelievably uncomfortable on the gurney, but after a glance at the monitors surrounding him, nothing was beeping too fast, and no alarms were going off.
Just one nurse injecting something into his IV bag.
“Michael,” she called out, resolving that Michael was her favorite way to pronounce his name and she would spend a long time calling him that, if he would allow it.
His head lifted, the strain evident as he turned to face her. He immediately grabbed at the mask. “Charity, I’ve been looking for you,” he said, then coughed violently.
The tall nurse rolled her eyes, then grabbed the mast and strapped it back around his head. “I am not going to tell you again. Keep it up, and no visitors.”
“Mike, you’d better listen to the nurses. I know how stubborn you are.” As she found herself moving toward him with no free will, only the need to touch him, to hold him, as relief flooded through her.
This time, he only lifted the bottom of the mask and gave a weak smile. “I’m all right… since you’re here.”
She moved by his bedside and leaned over, thankful he wasn’t on something much more ominous than an IV.
A hot rush of tears spilled over her cheeks, and she grabbed his hand with both of her own, holding them until the urge to kiss him passed.
She didn’t know if he wanted her to do something like that, after all.
“Don’t worry. Apparently, no one here is afraid of me,” he said.