The Protector (39 page)

She’d joined him for breakfast in order to talk about plans for New Year’s Eve. She’d borrowed his newspaper. Now she wished she hadn’t.

“Rachel, you can’t have it both ways. You asked me to help you out. He’s a serial arsonist, and that mural painting is a signature someone who knows him will recognize. This article is a public service. Someone knows the man and this will generate the leads Cole needs.”

“Couldn’t you have at least warned Cole?”

“I asked him for a quote. He knows. Quit scowling at me. I’m doing my job.”

“You should have told me.”

“Rae—”

She shoved back her chair “I’m going home.”

“You just got here.”

“And now I’m leaving.”

“Sit down.”

His quiet order caught her off guard. She looked back at him. “Sit down.”

She sat.

“Jack knew this was running. Cole. Ash.”

She sank back as what he said registered. “Jack is planning to use his presence on the shift to draw the arsonist out,” she whispered.

Gage just looked at her.

She underestimated Jack so many times in the past; she’d done it again. “If he isn’t on shift, the arsonist just goes underground to strike out another way.”

“Jack’s not going to take unnecessary chances. Cole won’t let him. But they’ve got to do something.”

She didn’t want a noble brother; she wanted one who was selfish and thought of himself first. She rubbed at the headache. It was going to be a very long day and night until he came off shift.

“Finish breakfast. Stay for the day. I’d like the company.”

“You just don’t want to come to my place in order to hold my hand.”

Gage smiled at her and nudged her orange juice toward her. “You can help me dust.”

“Can I now tell you I told you so? You shouldn’t have fired the housekeeper.”

There was ice in the rain. Cassie leaned against the engine bay door watching the pellets bounce when they hit the pavement. She was scared. And the longer the day went, the more scared she got. The arsonist had been at the apartment building last night. Why? Following her, or worse, following Jack? Jack had just given her a hug this morning when she tried to raise the concerns and she understood why. He couldn’t offer anything more definite but that silent reassurance. He’d protect her. That was what worried her the most.
Lord, protect Jack.
With night would come the odds of another fire. On top of that, there was this incoming weather disaster.

The weather station was on in the lounge. They had spent the day watching the ice storm come their direction. The front edge had arrived. The day before New Year’s Eve, one of the busiest travel days of the year, and they had an ice storm coming through. Somehow Cassie didn’t think people were going to be wise enough to stay off the roads. Mandatory callbacks of all shifts had begun forty minutes ago.

“Cassie, you’re riding tonight on Engine 81. Check your gear.”

She turned to look at Cole as he strode by, stunned. “Who, me?”

“You’re drafted. And if I can get the blasted fax machine to work so I can get a waiver issued for Ash, he’s drafted too. As soon as he gets here find him gear.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Has Ben reported in yet?”

“I haven’t seen him.”

“Holler when you do.”

She nodded.

She was on active duty on Engine 81. It took her a moment for that to sink in. There was no question they would be rolling out nearly continuously during the next hours. If Cole was drafting her and Ash, he considered this to be an emergency shift requiring all manpower available. She hurried to her locker and started checking out her gear. She knew it was ready, but it wouldn’t hurt to check it again.

“Cassie.”

“Jack, don’t protest to me. Cole said I was rolling out with you. Take it up with him.”

His hand came down on her shoulder and she paused long enough to look around. “A face mask. You’re going to need it to avoid frostbite,” he said, handing her the blue cap. “And I asked for you.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“Thank me after you spend a few hours trying to walk on a skating rink. Ash was going through some gear a couple days ago. Do you know where he stored it?”

“The unassigned locker next to Frank’s. Ash had checked out everything but the boots. I think some came from the warehouse earlier today.”

“Your partner is riding with us in Engine 81 as well. Stay beside Ash throughout the night, understood?”

“Not a problem.” She was willing to accept any conditions he set just so she wouldn’t have to sit here at the station while they went out.

“Medical runs; I want you on the cardiac kit. If we hit a wreck and have to do an extraction, you’re my mouse. Be prepared with the blankets to go under or into the wreck if necessary. Any signs you’ve acquired a taste of being claustrophobic?”

“Not a bit.”

“Good. Where’s Cole? We need a plow assigned full time to work with us tonight.”

“Heading back to his office. He was working that problem earlier,” she offered.

“Toss extra gloves and socks into the Engine 81 cabinet. You’ll need them.”

“Yes, lieutenant,” she said, and meant it with absolute respect.

He grinned at her and tossed her a bright orange packet. “For your coat pocket.” It was an instant hot pack; break the seal and it heated to 105 degrees. Jack glanced around the bay. “Bruce, find us at least one extra thermos of coffee. Ash takes it sweet like Cassie.”

Forty-one

C
an you get in there?” Jack leaned in near Cassie to be heard above traffic.

She shone her light on the crumpled metal of the van tailgate. She had to squint as stinging pieces of ice were striking her face. “I can get in there.” The van had been broadsided by a sedan and then hit from behind by a taxi. It was the third accident of the night she had worked.

“In the passenger side door of Engine 81, there’s a canvas bag with a Velcro tab on top. You’ll find a handheld tape player, a pair of child sized earphones, and a bunch of
Sesame Street
tapes. Get them and a thermal blanket. Try to hold the boy still. He’s going to react when we take the Jaws of Life to the roof, and I don’t want him moving that leg. I’m certain it’s fractured.”

Cassie nodded.

She struggled the ten feet back to the engine, the scene lit by its flashing lights and halogen strobe. Walking on ice was impossible and more than one firefighter had fallen. As tough as the job was, she loved being back on the job. It was good to be useful again. She was getting proficient at how Jack liked to work.

Even with gloves her fingers were frozen. She struggled to get the door open.
Sesame Street
tapes: It shouldn’t have surprised her knowing what she did about Jack and his habit of being prepared, but it did.

She was grateful he had them available.

With the blanket and the cassette tapes, Cassie worked her way to the boy, her world closing down to the size of the air pocket inside the crumpled vehicle. She was able to use Ash’s help to get leverage.

“Hi, Peter.” The boy was screaming and for once she was glad she was partially deaf. “I’m Cassie.” She shoved aside the coloring books that had tumbled out of a child’s backpack and winced when her knee landed on a metal Matchbox car.

The boy was buckled into a car seat, but when the impact had happened the entire bench seat had been thrown off its tracks and had crunched into the driver’s seat. The boy’s left foot had been caught. The paramedic had been able to work an air splint around his lower leg and inflate it. Now they just had to get a way to move the boy out. If they tried to bring him out the way she had wrestled her way in, his leg would have to turn. Cassie strained to get the blanket across him.

She clicked on the cassette player and the sound of the familiar music startled the boy into stopping midcry to look around at her. “This is for you,” she reassured, adjusting the volume and then slipping the headphones on him. She used the blanket to wipe his wet face and running nose. The screams had become broken sobs. She put her arm across him and silently gestured to Jack for him to get started.

Exhausted, feeling a crick in her neck that refused to ease, Cassie stood back as the ambulance pulled away. The boy had been whimpering rather than crying, clearly relieved to be out of the van, clutching the bear the paramedic had offered him. His mom had already been transported to the hospital. Both were stable. It was the way the accidents were supposed to end. “Good job.”

She looked over at Jack and offered a weary smile. “Thanks.” The sleet had temporarily ended but the wind had picked up. She adjusted the face mask, knowing exactly how Jack had felt on Christmas working in the snow.

“Climb up in the engine and thaw out while we finish the cleanup. Ash and I need another ten minutes,” Jack recommended. Behind him the whine of a tow truck winch started.

Cassie nodded, more than willing to accept the offer. “Deal.”

She was grateful for Bruce’s help up into the engine cab. She gave a relieved sigh as she stripped away the frozen face mask and the cold gloves.

“Coffee, drinkable hot.”

“Thanks, Bruce.” She warmed her hands around the cup as she drank the coffee.

Cole’s vehicle was parked immediately in front of Engine 81, its lights flashing. She watched Cole walk cautiously from the wreckage back to his vehicle.

Jack and Cole made a good team.

Tones sounded. It was for Company 81 but served as a heads up for Cole. She saw him duck into his vehicle and knew he was talking to dispatch. He got out of the vehicle and called something over at Jack. Moments later tones for the engine and truck crews sounded.

She opened the door and braved the wind to hear Cole.

“We’ve got a report of smoke at an apartment complex. We’re pulling out from here to check it out. Rescue 81 will finish up with the taxi driver and join us.”

Cassie could feel the fear and dread building. It was a fire call. She was glad she was not responsible for driving the rig. A million dollar rig on icy roads was not a job for the faint of heart. She leaned forward from the back bench to hear Jack as she worked the buttons on her fire coat and turned up her collar. “Make sure you keep an eye on where the hose teams are to try and keep out of the water mist.”

She nodded. She’d worked many fires during the winter and the advice was something she knew well. Bathed in water and moving into the wind was a prescription for frostbite.

“Do you think it’s him?” she asked, worried.

“Maybe. If conditions are such you are able to look around the scene, you have to stay with Cole or Ash. No exceptions.”

Wandering around on her own was the last thing she wanted to consider. She had no desire to meet him alone. “Will do.” She was grateful Ash was with her. Her partner was checking his gear beside her as if nothing unusual was going on. He was a good man to have around in a crisis.

Cassie leaned forward and peered into the night. She recognized the red and white light display on a white house with pillars. She had been in this area recently, and they were heading to an apartment complex— “Jack, this street. There’s only one apartment complex out this way.”

He nodded, his expression turning grim as he picked up the radio to call Cole.

The smoke wasn’t heavy, there was no sign of flames, but it was definitely not a false alarm. The smoke curled into the night sky lazily, not sure of its movements, with the exception of the east end of the building where the rise of smoke was stronger, indicating more heat was present.

It was either good luck or bad that they had approached the one building she and Jack had visited when viewing one of the apartments to rent. Had she wanted to move, this complex had the best layout of those she had looked at. Engine 81 pulled to the front of the building, as close as they could get given the cars in the handicapped spots.

Cassie hurried to join Cole as they did a fast planning powwow. “Jack and I were in this building less than two weeks ago to look at an apartment.”

“Where exactly?”

“East wing, one of the end apartments.”

“Jack—you, Ash, and Cassie check the east wing. Bruce and Nate, handle the west. This is defensive only, so take no undue risks. I’ll start generating a head count out here. Feed me temperature and smoke data, and I’ll have the next arriving units laying hose. But dispatch just warned it’s going to be a few minutes. They’ve got a pileup on the toll-way slowing them down.”

Cassie looked to Jack for directions. “We go in carrying air. Be ready to don it at a moment’s notice.”

She walked carefully across the slick pavement. Ash was already bringing out the self-contained breathing apparatus canisters. Cassie accepted one. The weight helped, making it easier to walk on the slick sidewalks. Cassie held on to that truth as she tightened the harness and clipped the face mask to the harness within immediate reach. She refused to consider the fact that this time she was wearing SCBA with a good likelihood she would need to use it. “Relax, Ash.”