Chapter 30
Rico
Despair claws at me. But if Jesse isn’t here, then he isn’t here. Wishing isn’t going to make him magically appear. “Fire department! Call out!” I try one last time, but I hear nothing over the blaring alarm and the ominous crackling of the fire beyond my front door.
I can tell it’s close to getting through, so I take a second to look for some towels to dampen and throw down. But I realize they’re already in a pile in the entrance hall area, so Jesse must have been aware of what was going on. A thought strikes me, and I run to check under the kitchen counter.
The fire extinguisher is gone.
Okay, that’s a good sign! I try and slow my heart rate down.
Maybe in the time it took me to get up here, Jesse and Klaus were able to fight their way down before the flames got too bad.
I still run the towels under the faucet for a second then throw them down in the hopes of salvaging some of our home and possessions.
“Hey! Over here!”
The voice comes from outside and I almost miss it over the rest of the noise going on around me. But that doesn’t negate the fact that it came from nearby outside my window.
I run back to the empty frame, my boots crunching over the broken glass scattered over my carpet.
When I stick my head out, I don’t see anyone directly above, but I do see Lochlan helping the family next door with their escape.
Well, that’s one less thing I have to worry about.
I can also see the rest of the team are hard at work using the hoses to get the blaze under control.
The One-Two-Two are already set up and are joining in with the rescue effort.
But as I scan the crowd, I still don’t see Jesse or Klaus.
Then I glance left and realize my Russian neighbor’s window is open. Oh, crap. Katerina is not so nimble on her feet and I haven’t seen her since we got here, either.
Not wasting any time, I haul myself back out onto the windowsill and start carefully easing my way along this ledge.
It wasn’t designed to be climbed, let alone by anyone wearing as much gear as I am.
More than once I almost lose my balance, but I manage to keep clinging to the wall by my gloved fingertips.
Finally, I reach the sill and stretch my leg out, covering the last couple of feet as quickly as I can.
With a relieved exhale, I crouch down, ready to enter.
Just as Jesse lunges toward me.
“Fuck!” I yell, finally losing my battle with gravity. My stomach drops as I begin to fall…
But then Jesse grabs my hand with two of his and hauls me back toward the building. I seize the window frame with my free hand and find my purchase again.
“Holy shit!” he shouts in my face, still pulling on me until I tumble inside Katerina’s bedroom. “Rico! Are you okay? Oh my god, I almost killed you! I’m so sorry.”
I find my feet again and stop his rambling by throwing my arms around him and hugging him tight. “Thank god, you’re safe,” I utter.
He hugs me back awkwardly in my turnouts, but I still appreciate it.
“Excuse me, Mr. Firefighter,” Katerina says loudly. I let Jesse go and see where my neighbor is pointing. “Maybe fight fire first, then hugs. Okay?”
“Oh, shit,” I say. The blaze has clearly progressed farther in her place compared to mine for whatever reason and is licking at her bedroom door.
I jump on the radio. “This is Flores,” I say as I spin around and lean back out of the window, waving my free hand to get the attention of anyone looking my way.
“I’m on the fourth floor in the third apartment with two civilians. ”
“And a dog and a cat!” Jesse adds.
“And some four-legged civilians,” I amend with a tweak of my lip. “In need of immediate evac. Can we get a ladder up here? Some H2O would really be great as well.”
“On it, Lieutenant!” Captain Valentine responds.
“Come on, we need to get ready to leave,” I say, moving over to Katerina’s bedside. “Are you able to move, Ms. Petrova?”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Talk like this to me again, you see how fast I move.”
I back up with my hands raised as she throws her bed covers back and swings her legs over the side of the mattress. She’s wearing a big, fluffy dressing gown over her night clothes and slips her feet into a sturdy-looking pair of slippers.
“Okay, then,” I say, glancing out the window to see a lot of movement going on, and not just for us.
The crews are steadily helping more people to safety as gallons of water continue to pour onto the flames wherever they can be reached. Gene is maneuvering the ladder from the truck our way, but we’re not out of the woods yet.
“We’re going to have to climb down,” I explain.
“What about Klaus and Noski?” Jesse asks.
I nod and quickly weigh up the options. “Lochlan will be there to help Katerina. So If I carry Klaus, do you think you can manage the cat? Does that case have a strap you can use to secure her across your body?”
“Let me check,” Jesse says, approaching Katerina. She’s got the bag clutched to her chest defensively. “I promise I’ll take care of her,” Jesse murmurs, holding out his hands.
My neighbor frowns at him and me but then holds out the mesh case. “Very precious, yes?”
“Yes, of course,” Jesse tells her, quickly assessing the various straps he has to work with. “Yep, I should be fine,” he says, adjusting one then fitting it over his shoulder. “Don’t worry kitty, we’ll get you out of here.”
For a second, my breath hitches and my heart flips just looking at this wonderful man of mine show such compassion to a scared little creature and her anxious owner. But then I’m swiftly reminded that this is still an emergency and I should be doing my damn job.
“Fast, please!” Katerina cries, holding up her hands as flames finally start edging their way through the top of her door, clinging to the ceiling and amping the temperature up in the bedroom. “Go fast!”
“Yes, good idea!” I tell her.
I can appreciate my husband later. For now, we survive.
I check out the window again, relieved to see that the ladder has almost reached us and Lochlan is racing back up it toward us.
“I’ve got you, Lieutenant!” he yells. “Let’s get the hell out of Dodge!”
“Amen to that,” I mutter. “Okay, Katerina. You ready?”
Her lips wobbles as she looks around her bedroom. But then she marches over to the window. “The handsome firefighters will help me, yes?”
“Yes, they will, ma’am,” I say with a chuckle.
I offer her my hand as Lochlan reaches into the room to also assist. As we work to carefully get her onto the ladder, I see Jesse grabbing Klaus’s leash and ushering him off the bed.
It looks like Katerina has gathered quite a few possessions there, and Jesse makes short work of gathering them up in the duvet.
Then he looks around before studying the end of the bed closer.
“It’s an ottoman!” he cries, grabbing the handle and heaving the top half up to reveal storage space underneath.
“Jesse, you have to go!” I urge him as the fire crawls closer to us overhead.
But he takes an extra second to push aside some spare bedding and place Katerina Petrova’s lifelong keepsakes inside before closing the bed again. “Maybe they might make it in there,” he says with a small smile as he runs over to me. “She’s lived a remarkable life. She shouldn’t lose it all.”
I know we have to hurry, but I grab the side of his face and kiss him hard. “You’re, remarkable, Jesse Silverman. Now get down the damn ladder!”
He nods at me, then looks at Klaus, who’s facing the door and growling at the fire, like he could protect us from it.
“You’ll both be right behind me?” he asks anxiously.
“I promise,” I tell him with all my heart.
Jesse nods again, then hugs Katerina’s cat to his chest before climbing hastily out the window and starting to shimmy down to safety.
“It’s just me and you left, buddy,” I tell Klaus. “You ready to blow this Popsicle stand?”
He looks over his shoulder at me, then back at the flames and smoke, barking at it defiantly.
“It’s okay, boy,” I say, crouching down to his level. “Guter Junge. You did such a good job. Thank you for keeping Daddy Jesse safe. Danke. But we have to go now. I promised to take care of you, and Daddy Rico keeps his promises. Come on, Klaus. Where’s Daddy’s Jesse? Wo ist Jesse?”
He snaps his head around to properly look at me and wags his tail for the first time since I arrived on the scene.
“Ja?” I prompt, standing back up. “Shall we go find Daddy Jesse?”
That gets two loud barks before he runs over to me and circles my legs.
“Okay, big boy,” I say, bracing myself. “Just don’t fight me, all right? I’ve carried grown ass men down this ladder. I can lift you so long as you don’t wriggle.”
Klaus gives me a quizzical sound, but I don’t give him a chance to think too hard on it. I wrap my arms around his legs and scoop him up so he’s sideways against my chest with his head resting on my shoulder.
He manages to turn enough to lick my cheek with his big wet tongue.
“Thanks, buddy,” I say with a grimace.
The fire is growing and we really are out of time, so I awkwardly back out of the window and do my best to hold Klaus steady. But then he shifts, and for a second, my whole world tilts.
Except he climbs over my shoulder, moving his butt into the crook of my arm with his front legs resting over my back. Meaning that so long as I lean forward to keep us balanced, I can use my other hand to guide us down the ladder.
This is a lot better.
“Good boy!” I shout as I begin our decent, putting more distance between us and the damn blaze. “Guter Junge! The best boy!”
I can hear people cheering from below, but I try not to concentrate on anything other than putting one foot behind the other until we’re back on solid ground. At which point, Klaus mercifully jumps off me and my whole body trembles in relief.
Note to self. Rescuing anyone without apposable thumbs is no joke, even if they only weigh eighty pounds.