Chapter Fifteen #2
“I’m not worried about my stuff or even how my life plays out from here. I can replace stuff. None of it is as important as keeping that bastard from preying on someone else. You guys do what you have to. I can’t do much, but I’ll be an alibi. I can lie with the best of them when necessary.”
I felt pride twist in my chest. She was made for this. There was nothing in her now that looked like prey. “Don’t worry. It won’t come to that. Knuckles is protective of everyone in Kiss of Death. He’s the club president.”
She looked up at me, not a hint of fear. “Just so we’re clear. We’re ending him, Inferno. Right? I’m willing to do everything I need to -- whether or not you ask it of me -- but I want to know what the expected outcome is, so I don’t fuck up and kill someone I’m not supposed to.”
I had to laugh at that. “Honey, you won’t be killin’ anyone, no matter what.”
She narrowed her gaze at me. “You’re not going back to prison for this, Inferno.”
I laid my hand over hers and squeezed. “Don’t worry about that. No one will go to prison for this fuck’s death. He’s not worth it and Knuckles won’t have it.”
Later, we made love late into the night. We both needed it, and I’d been hard for the woman since she’d started showing a vicious streak. No, that wasn’t true. I’d been hard for her way the fuck before that. She kept me in a constant state of arousal when I was in her presence.
At 2:47 a.m., my phone let out an alert I hadn’t heard in a long fucking time. The fire station’s electronic tone drops, followed by the automated message saying what was on fire, the location, and the anticipated resources that would be needed.
I heard “Charlotte Avenue” and “Second alarm requested,” and I was up and moving. Just like I used to when this was my job. I pulled on jeans, boots, and a T-shirt, all lying on the floor.
“Inferno?” Juniper sat up in bed, clutching the covers to her chest.
“I’ll be back, honey. If you need to, go to Knight’s office. He’ll keep you updated.”
“Please be careful, Inferno. I meant what I said. You’re more important than anything else.”
I hurried back to the bed and leaned in to kiss her, then rested my forehead against hers. “I swear to you, honey. I’ll be careful and I will come back to you.”
“You better.”
I grinned, still holding her to me. “I will.” Then I kissed her once more before leaving.
I filled Knuckles in on my way downstairs, and he sent a couple of guys with me as backup. I didn’t wait for anyone to get ready, instead heading to Juniper’s bakery as fast as I dared.
The city was dark, but the sky over her block glowed vicious and orange, underpinned by a rolling, chemical blue. The place was burning very fucking hot.
I parked my bike on the street, far enough away from the scene not to get trapped accidentally or have debris burn my ride.
The heat was so intense there was no way to get anywhere near the place, even with the crosswind.
The bakery window was already blown out, glass pooling on the pitted sidewalk.
Flames worked through the top floor, licking across the roofline to eat into the corner wall with a hunger that wouldn’t be denied.
One engine was already there, laying line and prepping water.
The crew chief was a fresh-faced kid who didn’t even register me as I moved past. All focus was on containing the fire because nobody with half a brain would try even getting close to the bakery.
Brett had moved, and I’d been one day too fucking late.
I’d been about to go find Danner and thank him for adding me to the loop alert when I heard a scream.
I spotted the chief and shouted over the racket. “Hey! You got anybody inside?”
The chief shook his head, not even looking at me. “No reports of occupants. Building’s supposed to be empty, so I didn’t risk it.”
The hardware store next to Juniper’s bakery was already being licked with flame, whorls of orange peeling the paint.
That’s when I remembered an old squatter who often camped between the buildings, or slipped in the back of the hardware store.
He’d likely been passed out when everything went to shit, what with the rotgut I often saw him drink.
“Fuck,” I swore, jogging around the back of the building. It took longer than I’d like and not only was it hot as shit, but any water making it to the ground was hot enough to burn.
The back of the building wasn’t fully engulfed, but the smoke inside would still be thick and acrid. Sure enough, another scream sounded, but from the bakery instead of the hardware store. Had the old guy gotten inside the shop while Juniper had closed it?
Without thinking about it too much, I kicked in the back door.
I couldn’t let anyone burn alive. That was too cruel for words.
Smoke hammered my lungs before I even stepped inside.
The bakery was a Goddamn hellish landscape.
The fire was mainly in the front, but the smoke still rolled at me in wave after scorching hot wave.
I skirted the wall, one arm up to shield my face, and barreled through the back door.
Inside, the heat was intense, the smoke choking and blinding. I called out, my voice ragged from the heat. “Hey! Fire! Move your Goddamn ass, or you’re dead in here!”
I heard coughing to my left and I whirled around to move toward the noise. There, curled on a mattress under one of the big, wooden tables, a skinny man with a tangled beard had one leg trapped under the table, preventing him from escaping.
The table wasn’t that heavy, but with the angle he’d been caught at and the lack of oxygen, he hadn’t been able to manage. I lifted it. Thankfully, the guy was able to move, and I didn’t have to do more than hold the table until his foot was clear.
I hauled him upright and helped him toward the exit. We stumbled out onto the pavement behind the bakery as the ceiling started to singe and drop flaming bits of debris.
We scrambled away from the building as fast as we could. Once across the road in the grass, we stopped, and I dropped the guy to the turf just as the second crew rolled up.
I bent at the waist, bracing my hands on my knees while I coughed and spat out soot and grit.
One of the firefighter/medics in the new engine shoved an oxygen mask on my face.
I took a few deep pulls, but I waved him off after that.
“He needs it worse.” I motioned to the man I’d helped out.
“I’m just winded.” I did take the water he offered and rinsed my mouth out before taking a good, long, hefty pull.
When the medic moved on to the other guy, I took a knee without meaning to, my head swimming as I coughed up soot.
Someone slapped a mask on my face, and the world slowly righted itself as my lungs got what they needed.
I watched as they loaded the man I’d pulled out of Juniper’s bakery onto a stretcher.
He had an oxygen mask on his face too, and he nodded at me when he passed.
The view from where I now sat on the ambulance bumper was pure hell. Flames shot out of the bakery through every window and out the roof. Shingles curled up and blew away like burning leaves.