Chapter Fourteen
Finn
Miriam slapped me on the back. “Holy shit, dude, that was amazing.”
We were back at the station, having just executed one of the toughest calls I’d ever been on. Extractions were brutal at the best of times. This one? Off the charts.
“Yeah, you should get a freaking medal.” Giancarlo beamed.
I removed my turnout gear and tried not to grin.
“Okay, enough. Team effort.” These calls were always tough.
Today’s was truly one for my, holy shit I really did that book.
“I need a fucking shower.” I stank. I couldn’t remember ever having sweated so much.
So much on the line and so little time to get everything done.
“Yeah, you go shower. I’ll heat up some pasta.” Miriam grinned. “Lasagna.”
“Oh God, my favorite.” I placed my hand on her biceps. “Thanks for this.” I gestured to Giancarlo with my chin. “You too, eh?”
“Yeah.” His dark-brown eyes shone brightly.
We did good.
I made my way to the shower and was under the hot spray within moments of stripping. Please let us not get another call. I need to come down.
Someone else stepped into the shower and started humming tunelessly.
Marlon.
Krish had once—tactfully—suggested that maybe being silent in the showers would be acceptable.
Twitty Marlon had lost his temper and thrown a hissy fit.
Since none of us wanted Chief to come down on us, we opted to stay silent.
I’d watched Krish’s back until the furor had died down. Seriously, one would think we’d asked Marlon to make…some great sacrifice or something.
Instead of lingering, I finished washing up and hopped out.
I was sore as fuck, but that was as much about the stress and adrenaline that’d been running through me as any physical exertion.
I’d done exactly what I was supposed to.
Textbook perfect. I was glad rookie Toby had been along for the ride so he could see what a successful extraction looked like.
After putting on jeans and a department T-shirt, I spent about ten seconds drying my hair. I added gel and then beat a retreat since Marlon had started singing louder. His voice was so terrible that I didn’t even recognize the song he was massacring.
Sigh.
I rounded the corner to the smell of lasagna and the sight of a familiar man standing next to Giancarlo.
Ulysses saw me and grinned. “I understand you’re to be congratulated.”
“What are you doing here? This is a private area.” I tried to keep my tone neutral.
And apparently failed since Giancarlo shot me a warning glare I’d have had to be extremely dense to miss. I arched an eyebrow.
Ulysses’s smile broadened. “I got permission.”
I was about to ask from whom when Miriam popped her head out from the kitchen. “First come, first served, and the reporter’s joining us. To get a sense of our work, right?” She gave him a bright smile.
Sheesh. Everyone’s fucking smiling tonight. And I should’ve been as well. Except I’d been trying to keep a clear delineation between Ulysses and work. He was asking too damn many questions. Questions for which I either had an answer I didn’t want to share or, worse, didn’t.
“Lovely.” I pasted on my best smile as we made our way into the kitchen.
The tomato sauce scent assailed me, and I inhaled deeply.
“Hero gets first piece.” Miriam handed me a plate with a massive slice.
I was hungry enough to eat it—and probably a second serving. Lunch was a long-distant memory.
“And guests after that.” She handed Ulysses a plate. “Sit close to Finn.” She cast me a what the fuck is wrong with you look I was well-familiar with.
“Yes. It’ll be lovely. I’ll be stuffing my face.” I put the plate on the table and made my way to the counter. “Water for everyone?”
I got a bunch of yes, pleases. Polite bunch tonight.
After setting out water for everyone, I took my seat. Across from Ulysses. So I could look into those mesmerizing eyes and remember how sore he was able to make my ass when he drilled me hard—just the way I liked it.
He put a forkful of pasta in his mouth as he held my gaze.
Surely there must be some kind of rule…like conflict of interest?
Except we weren’t paying for his meal. Weren’t bribing him. Weren’t attempting to sway him so we could get better coverage.
“I got some great shots of the accident. Not of personal trauma, of course.” Ulysses swept his gaze along the table.
“Were you supposed to be that close?” I tried to picture the scene in my mind. The crushed cars, the highway littered with debris—
“I happened to be just a few cars behind. I didn’t see the accident, but I called emergency services.”
“Apparently several people did.” Miriam cut a piece of her lasagna. “We responded as quickly as we could.”
“I was trying to comfort the older lady. The paramedics said she was having a heart attack?” Ulysses separated a bit of cheese from the pasta.
Giancarlo nodded. “Yeah. They got there before us, which is unusual. But that worked out because they helped her while we extracted the family.”
“Using the jaws of life, right? That was so impressive.” Ulysses held my gaze.
“Actually, we call it the cutter. Or the spreader or the combo. Depending on which tool we use. The general public say jaws of life.”
“Ah. Maybe I should get a lesson in terminology. I’d love for readers to have that insight.”
“Finn would be happy to give it to you. We have a media-liaison person, but Finn’s about the best we’ve got.” Miriam gave me a pointed stare.
“He really is. I’m so lucky to be learning from the best.” Rookie Toby’s grin was so wide his face damn near split.
I rolled my eyes.
Giancarlo poked me in the ribs.
“Well, I look forward to getting the lowdown on the department from Finn.” Ulysses eyed me. “So what happened tonight?”
“We got the call. We were the closest firehouse, so we pushed hard to get there. Two-vehicle crash at high speed. The hypothesis is the elderly driver of the pickup truck had a heart attack and, it appears, crossed the center lane. But that’s up to the accident reconstruction people, so please don’t put that in print.
Get the final verdict from the experts.”
“That’s fair.” He continued to hold my gaze.
“The paramedics arrived first, and they took control of the first casualty while my team worked on extracting the occupants of the second vehicle. A mother and three children. Fortunately, all were wearing restraints. Unfortunately, their car sustained severe damage.”
“Pickup truck against a sedan rarely ends well for the car.” Giancarlo winced.
“But Finn had that car open in no time, and we were able to get the lady and her kids out.” Toby beamed.
I could’ve pointed out we’d all contributed. Just because I’d held the machine, didn’t mean I deserved any more of the credit.
“Just in the nick of time.” Ulysses held my gaze.
“Yeah.” Toby nearly bounced out of his seat. “The baby went into respiratory distress and Miriam stepped in and…uh…” He squinted.
“Latest reports from the paramedics are that the baby’s been stabilized and has been transported to Children and Women’s Hospital in Vancouver.” Miriam poked at her food. “I didn’t do much. The second set of paramedics arriving in the rig made all the difference.”
Perhaps. But she’d kept the baby from going into shock and, more importantly, had kept the baby’s airway open.
“I saw the second ambulance. And, obviously, the helicopter.”
“Yeah.” I let out a breath. “We thought we might be transporting the elderly patient to the hospital that way, but she was holding her own and the baby was going downhill fast.”
“Tex was piloting, right?” Giancarlo offered a small smile. “Best we’ve got.”
“Tex?” Ulysses gazed over at my friend.
“Yeah. Long story. He grew up in Mission City, then joined the army, then got injured and left. He sort of flitted around from here to there until he got his accreditation to fly life flights. At that point, he settled in Mission City with his husband and now he runs flights in Cedar Valley.” Giancarlo offered a smile.
“Now there’s someone worth interviewing—he’s got quite a story.
And an adorable husband to boot, who is some fancy scientist guy. Something to do with physics, right?”
“Yep.” I returned the smile. “Good memory. Davey teaches at the University of British Columbia and is some kind of genius. Talk to him, though, and he’s just sort of adorable.” I considered. “He might make a good human-interest story as well.”
“So many residents, so little time.” Ulysses offered me an enigmatic expression I couldn’t identify.
“You planning on going somewhere?” My stomach lurched.
I’d sort of assumed he was making his home in Mission City for the foreseeable future.
Have I read that wrong? Is he really itching to leave?
Small-town life wasn’t for everyone. I loved it.
So did many of my friends. Other people definitely didn’t.
Marlon entered the room. He helped himself to a huge serving of lasagna and then, inexplicably, took off. Or maybe explicably.
“How about him? Was he involved today? You all sort of look the same in your turnout gear.” Ulysses was adjusting his proverbial reporter’s cap.
“He was there, yeah.” Miriam’s jaw set.
Well, fuck.
“Oh, what was his role?” Ulysses just not wanting to quit.
Giancarlo caught my gaze. He cleared his throat. “He was helping coordinate with the police.”
Ulysses wrinkled his nose as if he caught the undertones. “Is that normal? You all looked pretty busy—”
“Things vary.” Shovel the bullshit as best you can. “All good.” Nothing to see here. Move along.
“Well, I’d really like to talk to him.”
“Talk to who?” Chief McInerny sauntered into the room. “Good job, everyone.”
“I’d love to talk to the fireman who was coordinating with the RCMP officers.” Ulysses grinned. “I’m trying to get a sense of how the team operates and—”
“Who the hell are you?” Chief glared.
“Ulysses MacDonald. I’m a reporter for the Mission City Gazette.”
“You shouldn’t be in here. Who let you in?” He turned his attention to me. “This your doing, O’Sullivan?”
“I, uh—”
“My doing.” Miriam shrugged. “He wants to do a piece on the department. I figure it would be good for us. And we can slip in some important things like fire safety, wearing seatbelts, not drinking and driving. Right?”
“That’s for the city liaison officer to deal with. Your job is to fight fires.” He stared at Ulysses. “You can just move along, son.”
Ulysses offered a broad smile. “I had permission to be here, and I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.
I’m not doing a fluff piece—I saw the teamwork involved today.
I think that should be highlighted. You’ve been busy fighting an awful lot of fires recently.
Most people in Mission City probably don’t even know about the other heroic things your people do.
They are your people, right?” Sweet…but not syrupy.
“This is Chief McInerny.” I had to try to get this back on the rails. “Why don’t I give you the official tour when we’re done eating? Any official information can come from the media person.”
Ulysses cocked his head.
Work with me here. Please don’t make things worse than they already are. I’d thought this was a terrible idea for an entirely different reason—my bad for not thinking about all the ramifications.
“That’s a good idea, O’Sullivan. Quick tour and then we can send our…visitor…on his way.” The chief eyed Ulysses. “Stay away from my people.” He took off, leaving in his wake clear confusion as well as distress.
Ulysses was confused.
I was distressed.
“So that was the chief?”
I nodded.
“And the other guy was…his son? Nephew?”
“Son.” Miriam sighed.
“Ah. I see.” He dug into his lasagna. “This really is great pasta.”
With a small smile, Miriam nodded. “Thanks.”
“My pleasure.”
Oh shit—this is not going to end well.