Chapter 9
NINE
DUKE
Something he'd never had to deal with in Hawaii, even on the Rescue Crew, was an accident involving a train.
When they got the call, Kaleo rushed out to the truck along with everyone else, tugging on his bunker gear, listening intently as the information on the crash was relayed to them over the radio.
He recognized the voice on the other end of the call as Miriam from the 911 Call Center.
He'd also come to recognize the voice of another dispatcher, Irish Noble. Irish was married to Theo who was assigned to the ladder truck at Twenty-nine.
Miriam was Irish's best friend.
And she was blind.
Just knowing how great she was at her job, it just amazed him.
Miriam's calm, cool voice detailing a horrible accident made him feel that things were even worse.
On the drive over to the site, Rock and Halo, a guy named Javier Suarez, talked to him about what to expect on scene.
Kaleo knew just where all of the big equipment was stored on the rig. He'd used all of them during his time as a firefighter.
Today, he had a feeling they were going to use all of it.
What the others didn't tell him, but he could read all over their faces, was that they weren't likely to rescue all of the victims.
They'd likely be recovering bodies, but there was always hope.
And that hope was what he was going to hold onto.
The scene when they arrived was chaotic.
Smoke was rising from the engine of the train and there was debris everywhere.
They all piled out of the Rescue truck and opened all of the compartments while Faust rushed forward to the scene and assessed the damage and the need for help.
When Faust returned to the truck, the crew were all focused on their lieutenant.
Faust filled them in as quickly as possible. "Two cars tried to beat the train. They smashed the barriers and before they could clear the tracks both of the cars were struck.
"The car in front has back-end damage. Rock? Reese? Take that car and check on the people inside."
The two crew members ran off to cross the tracks.
"The train personnel are okay. They can wait for the EMTs to come. Everyone else, there are bodies in the front seat, they can wait for recovery. We have two adults in the back and a child in between."
Kaleo's breath caught in his chest.
"All three are alive, but the child seems to be in the best condition." Faust looked at the group, his face set in a mask of calm. "Let's get them out. We have buses on route to this location. I want them to be able to transport as soon as possible."
With a simple exhale, Kaleo started to move.
Together with Halo, they worked on one door while Greco and Faust worked on the other.
Part of the window on Kaleo's side of the car had been broken, but the child looked untouched by broken glass or debris. Stripping off his coat, Kaleo reached in and covered the young child with it to prevent any glass from reaching her during the extrication process.
He felt a scrape along the underside of his arm, but he could care less. He picked up the
The hydraulic jaws of life pried the door from the frame. There was already a gap created by the accident when the impact bent the frame.
The sound of the metal door being wrenched from the frame didn't normally have an impact for Kaleo, it was just a part of the job, but hearing the screams of the little girl in the backseat at the same time...
He swallowed down the bile in the back of his throat and concentrated on his job.
They had to get in and save her as soon as possible.
The door gave a loud groan and swung open once they managed to separate the most twisted parts of the door from the body of the car.
"Lieutenant!" Kaleo looked over the top of the car. "Our door is open!"
Faust looked up from the other side of the car and nodded. "Check the man for a pulse. If it'll be a difficult extraction, get the child out first."
"Yes, sir."
He leaned in and got a good look at the passenger closest to him.
The greyish tint of the man's skin spoke volumes. So did the blue tinge of the man's lips.
He didn't look good, but he still had to check.
Kaleo already had his gloves off, so he reached in and touched the carotid artery along his neck.
Nothing but skin that was quickly going cold.
Then he reached down the man's arm and touched the pulse point in his wrist. Even though he moved his fingers a second and third time, he couldn't find anything.
Kaleo looked back over his shoulder and shook his head.
Halo nodded and lowered the hydraulic device to the ground. "I'll go and see if anyone else needs help."
Kaleo nodded and focused his attention on the child.
He lifted his bunker coat off of her and a little bit of his heart died when she turned her tear-streaked and red-eyed face toward his.
Her wails intensified and her arms reached out for him, her fingers grasping at the air.
"Hold on a second, 'kay? Let me unbuckle you."
He had no idea if she'd heard him, but he felt better telling her what he was doing.
Leaning over a little further, he reached between her kicking legs to release the clasp on the car seat.
In his head, he said a little prayer of thanks that whoever had decided to take her in the car had at least buckled her in safely.
If that person was one who survived the crash, it was something in their favor.
Lifting the clasp up, he had to work it gently over her head, some of her wild curls were tangled around her face, grasping at the straps restraining her.
"Hey... hey..." He spoke to her softly and hissed in commiseration as he lifted the straps up and away from her head. "It's okay... It's going to be okay."
As soon as the straps fell against the back of the car seat it was like some kind of a spring-loaded seat.
The little girl was up and out of the car seat, rocketing into his arms.
The impact of her against his chest felt like a wrecking ball, making him exhale in one harsh woosh of breath.
"Ohkay." He tried not to groan as he stepped back and lifted her from the car.
One ambulance rumbled up along the gravel along the side of the train tracks. Another two followed it, fanning out along the edge near the access road.
The EMTs in the first ambulance weren't people he recognized. They must be from another firehouse nearby.
But the second and third pairs of EMTs were well known to him. The first ones out of their rig were Harmony & Vega who were assigned to Ambo Nineteen. The other two were Ramsey and Raffe in Ambo Sixty-five.
Harmony came up to him and the squirming toddler in his arms.
"Hey, Duke. Who do we have here?"
He turned his head toward the car where Faust was shaking his head.
With a heavy sigh, Kaleo looked back at Harmony.
"She might be the only survivor of this crash."
He felt tears in his eyes and struggled to hold his emotions in check.
"Lucky for her, huh?" Harmony looked at Vega. "Go on and see if you can help the others. I'll stay here with Duke and take care of this little sweetie."
Vega nodded at Harmony and gave Duke and chin lift. "I'll be right over there if you need me."
Kaleo tried to move the little girl so Harmony could get a good look at the child, but every time he tried to adjust his hold on her, the little girl would twist back into his arms, wrapping herself around him like she was climbing a tree.
"Hey now... This is Harmony. She's just trying to see if you've been hurt."
He tried again to turn her around so that Harmony could examine her, but the little girl twisted around and hid her face in his chest. "Mm mmm."
That was a definite no.
He heard Harmony laughing softly beside him.
"It looks like she feels safer where she is, why don't you bring her to the ambo with me and sit down on the back bumper. She might settle down if you're sitting down."
Kaleo nodded. He was fairly tall and with nowhere to relax, the little girl might just be holding onto him because she was afraid of falling.
She didn't know him at all, and she was already afraid from the crash.
He wanted to make her feel as comfortable as he could.
"Okay, sweetie," he gave her a few pats on her back, being careful not to put too much pressure on her back, they were still trying to assess any injuries and with everything that had gone on there was a chance that adrenaline was still pumping through her veins.
She could be injured and they wouldn't realize it just yet.
He followed Harmony back to Ambo Nineteen and sat down on the back bumper.
It was cold, but thanks to this bunker gear, he barely felt it.
"How about now?" He turned the little girl around and she gave him a narrow-eyed look before she turned away from him. "You can sit down on my lap. You won't fall. I promise."
The little girl sat down on his thigh, her gaze turning back around a few times before she relaxed against his chest and let Harmony look at her.
With his chest to lean against, Harmony made quick work of the exam, rewarding the little girl with stickers, but every time Kaleo tried to set the little girl down, or transfer her to Harmony's partner, Vega, or Harmony herself, the little girl refused.
Kaleo met Harmony's gaze with his own and both of them smiled, commiserating with each other.
Faust appeared beside him and Kaleo looked up at his lieutenant. "Sorry, Faust. I... She," he gestured to the little girl, "she doesn't seem to want to let go."
Harmony reached out and brushed the little girl's hair back from her face again, since the wind swept through again. "We have a little limpet here."
"Limpet?" Faust frowned as he said the word. "What's that?"
Harmony leaned in and used the crook of her knuckle to tap the little girl on the tip of her nose, earning a little smile from the child. "A limpet. A little aquatic creature in a shell that clings to rocks. Or, in this case, someone who might be a little clingy."
Kaleo heard the tone of Harmony's voice more than her words. It was a light, sing-song tone that seemed to work to ease the little girl's anxiety.