by Malone, Cara
And then Carter yanked her right out of her reverie and brought her back down to earth. “Wow, I think somebody got lucky last night.”
“What?” Suddenly self-conscious, Simone wondered if she had love bites on her neck or something. She looked around, and half her crew was staring at her, probies included. “Mind your business, guys.”
For once, nobody seemed interested in listening to their lieutenant’s orders. Carter persisted, and that seemed to give everyone else permission to listen in. “I swear I’ve never seen a dopey smile like that on your face. Who’s the lucky lady?”
“She seemed pretty familiar with that medical examiner the day of the tornado,” Williams suggested, and Simone’s mouth dropped open. She really was losing her touch if the probies thought they could speculate about her love life like that.
“You know what else would make me smile?” she asked. “Seeing the fire engine cleaned up and detailed. Williams, Larson, Velez, give it a good wash. And Carter, if you make another crack about my love life, you’ll be waxing it from bumper to bumper.”
He may have been her best friend at the station, but she wasn’t about to let him compromise her professional image in front of half the crew. Suddenly she understood exactly what Amelia had been talking about when it came to staying on top in a male-dominated field. You had to be on your guard all the time, and your love life could easily become a weakness—but only if you let it.
Simone pointed the probies in the direction of the supply closet so they could get started, then headed upstairs to clock in and grab a snack. She’d burned a whole lot of calories in the last twenty-four hours, and some late-night pasta and a croissant weren’t enough to replace them.
Carter appeared in the kitchen as she was rooting around in a cupboard. “Hey, sorry I called you out.”
Simone came up with a protein bar and took it over to the dining table. They both sat and she said, “You know how hard I work to be taken seriously around here.”
“Yeah, you’re a total hard ass,” Carter teased.
“Just don’t tease me about Amelia in front of people, okay?” she said. “I’m not just another one of the guys anymore and I need them to see me as their lieutenant.”
“Got it,” Carter said. Then he grinned. “Amelia—that’s the cougar-y coroner, right?”
Simone wrinkled her nose. “Okay, rule number two, never refer to her as a cougar again. In fact, you just keep her out of your filthy head, okay?”
Carter laughed. “You really like her.”
I do, Simone thought. Nobody else put a smile on her face the way Amelia did, and Simone usually didn’t mind sharing the details of her hook-ups with Carter. But Amelia was so much more than a hook-up, and Simone wanted to hoard all the precious details of their night together, keeping them for herself because they were special.
Apparently, Carter didn’t need more of a response than the emotion written on Simone’s face. He turned earnest, saying, “It’s about time. I’m happy for you.”
It was a sweet moment, which Simone ended by blowing raspberries at him. Then the fire alarm started to ring, and they both jumped to their feet.
“It’s go time,” she said, shoving the protein bar in her pocket. She and Carter ran down the hall to the fire pole, and when they got to the ground floor, she shouted to the probies, “Forget the cleaning, get into your gear!”
Ten minutes later, the fire engine pulled to a stop in front of an apartment building with smoke billowing out of its third-story windows. Simone jumped off the rig along with the rest of her crew and surveyed the scene while the probies uncoiled the hose.
“Hey, where’s the hydrant wrench?” Velez called.
“Oh no,” Williams groaned. “I think I left it at the Balch Street hydrant.”
All three of them looked to Simone, who rolled her eyes. “There’s a spare in that compartment.”
She pointed to the side of the truck, then made a mental note to go back to Balch Street when she had the time and see if she could find the wrench. It wasn’t that they were all that expensive, but people—teenagers in particular—just loved to open up hydrants in the summer and a wrench lying on the ground right beside it would be too much of a temptation.
While the probies connected the hose to a nearby hydrant, Simone jogged over to a cop who’d responded to the scene. It was Mel Pine, who Simone had met on scenes a few times before. She asked, “What’s the story?”
“A neighbor from across the street saw smoke and called it in to dispatch,” Mel said. “There are ten apartments in the building, but the good news is everybody had already evacuated themselves by the time I arrived. I’m waiting on paramedics for a couple of them due to smoke inhalation.”
She gestured to a young couple sitting on the curb, their arms around each other. They coughed periodically, but otherwise seemed fine. The rest of the building residents were all huddled together on the sidewalk, watching the spectacle and hoping their apartments wouldn’t burn.
“You sure the building is clear?” Simone asked.
Mel said, “I haven’t gone in, but everybody who was home tonight is be accounted for.”
Simone gathered her crew and gave them the game plan. The fire looked like it was contained on the third floor, and if they acted fast, they could save the rest of the building. She directed Larson and Velez to open the hydrant while she sent Carter up the fire engine ladder with the hose over his shoulder to start dousing the fire. He’d only climbed halfway up when a woman started shrieked behind Simone.
“My baby!” the woman screamed as she ran up the sidewalk. “Oh God, Julie!”
She was heading straight for the burning building and Simone caught her by the wrist before she could go inside. “Ma’am, you can’t go in there. Your baby is inside?”
Talk about every firefighter’s nightmare.
Tears streaked down the woman’s cheeks and Simone registered the scrub uniform she wore, the Fox County Hospital ID badge clipped to her breast pocket. “I was at work,” the woman said. “I got called in to cover a shift this afternoon and I couldn’t get a babysitter. It was just for a few hours!”
Simone asked, “How old is Julie?”
“Nine,” the woman sobbed, and relief washed over Simone. At least they weren’t talking about a literal baby. The woman insisted, “I have to go in there!”
“You can’t be in the building, it’s not safe,” Simone said. She was having trouble holding the woman back and she waved Velez over to help. Together, they guided the woman a safe distance away and sat her down on the curb. Then Simone told Velez, “Go ask around among the residents. See if you can find her daughter.”
“On it,” Velez said, then jogged away. In the three weeks she’d been working with Simone, she always brought her A game, she never disobeyed orders, and Simone was starting to really trust her. The other two probies were making progress too, but Simone could already tell that Velez would make a great firefighter.
Simone turned back to the woman, trying to keep her calm. “What’s your name, ma’am?”
“H-Helen,” she stammered. “I know nine’s too young to stay home alone, but it was just for a few hours after school, and just this once. I don’t have anybody else to help out, there was no one to watch her…”
She was rambling now, and Simone did her best to soothe her. That only lasted a few seconds, because Velez came running back over and said, “None of the neighbors saw Julie come out of the building.”
Simone turned back to Helen. “Are you sure Julie was home this afternoon? She didn’t go over to a friend’s house or stay late at school?”
Helen shook her head, trying to get to her feet again. “She would have texted me if she had. Julie!”
Simone pushed her back down to the sidewalk and told Velez, “Keep her out of the building.” Then, turning to Helen, she promised, “I’ll find your daughter. Which apartment is yours?”
“Three-oh-six,” Helen said.
Oh
shit, Simone thought. She looked up at the third floor, where flames were actually licking the exterior of the brick at a couple of the windows.
The strange sense of calm that always enveloped Simone when she was right in the middle of a high-stakes situation descended, and she called two of her most senior crewmembers over. Carter was still on the ladder, spraying water into the windows where the fire was concentrated, and Simone radioed up to him to let him know they were going in. Then she donned her face mask and turned her oxygen on.
Inside, the air in the stairwell of the first two floors was dark and hazy, warmer than it should have been for sure, but not too bad. It wasn’t until they were halfway up the flight to the third floor that the heat really cranked up.
Even in all that heavy gear, Simone felt it. She could tell the air quality was bad, and there was a lot more smoke in the hallway on floor three.
“Everybody get down low,” she said, her voice muffled through her mask. “Apartment 306. Split up and search, but stay in communication.”
“Got it, Lieu.”
The door handle to 306 was hot, and locked. Simone kicked it open and stepped aside as black smoke billowed out. This was definitely the source of the fire. She dropped to her knees and crawled into the apartment, her crew right behind her.
“Julie?” she called. “We’re firefighters—we’re here to help you.”
There was no answer, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to hear it if there had been. The fire was so close now it was loud, snapping and gnawing at the wood walls. They needed to get out of there, fast.
“Julie!” she called again, crawling from the living room into what she hoped was the girl’s bedroom. “Where are you?”
If they couldn’t find her–
Simone forced herself to stop thinking like that. They would find her, and then they’d get out of this building before the whole thing came down.
“Kitchen’s engulfed,” she heard one of her guys call from behind her. “No girl, though.”
“Bathroom’s clear,” another said.
The bedroom Simone was in had light pink walls and a lot of stuffed animals. It was definitely a little girl’s room, a likely place for Julie to seek comfort if she was home alone when the fire started.
Unfortunately, it also appeared to share a wall with the kitchen. As Simone inched deeper into the room, she felt an intense heat coming from the shared wall, and curls of black smoke were snaking from the electrical outlets.
Simone crawled over to the twin bed in the middle of the room and lifted a frilly pink bed skirt. A pair of glistening blue eyes, wide and terrified, looked out at her from under the bed. The girl shrank back, a reaction Simone was used to, especially when she was in her gear.
“It’s okay,” she said, lifting her mask so Julie could see her face. “I’m a firefighter.”
“Mommy…” Julie whined, scooting deeper beneath the bed.
They didn’t have much time. Simone inched a little closer and said as gently as she could, “Hi, honey, I’m Simone. Your mom’s downstairs waiting for you. Can I take you to her?”
She held out her hand. The girl hesitated, and Simone resisted the urge to reach in and drag her out. This would go easier if the girl wasn’t terrified of her, but if it came to that, Simone would haul her out of here.
Luckily, Julie took her hand.
Simone helped her crawl out from under the bed, then she held the mask up to her. “Will you put this on for me? It’s really smoky out there and this will help you breathe.”
Julie nodded and Simone put the mask over her face. It was much too big, but better than nothing. Simone picked the girl up in her arms, then carried her out to the living room.
“I’ve got her,” she called to her guys. “Come on, let’s get out of here!”
The act of shouting brought hot smoke into her lungs and she started coughing. Julie wrapped her arms around Simone’s neck, scared, and as soon as Simone had eyes on both her crewmembers, she headed for the door.
The air in the hallway was even denser than before, acrid and unbreathable. Simone ran down the stairs with the girl in her arms and her crew at her heels. She tried not to inhale, tried not to need air. There were too many stairs, though, too far to go. When she breathed, the hot, toxic air sliced at her lungs and made her cough violently.
“Lieu,” one of the guys called from behind her. “Take my mask.”
“We’re almost there,” she answered. She’d been trained to make sure her crew was safe, to think of them and the people she was rescuing and put herself last.
When they emerged from the building, the night air felt like ice-cold heaven. She dropped to her knees and let go of the little girl as Helen shrieked, “Julie!”
“Mommy!”
Simone helped Julie take off the mask, and her last thought as she watched the little girl run into her mother’s arms was that she needed oxygen. She should put the mask back on her own face, breathe deep.
Instead, the world went black as she collapsed.
19
Amelia
It was early on Sunday morning when Amelia got a call from an unknown number. She was in the bathroom getting ready to meet Simone at the diner and she nearly let it go to voicemail, figuring it was some particularly unscrupulous telemarketer. But something told her to answer.
“Hi, Amelia, this is Carter from the firehouse. Do you remember me?” A man said when she picked up.
“Yes, is everything okay?” Amelia’s gut immediately felt heavy, like there was a large stone in it.
“Simone’s in the hospital,” he said, then hurried to add, “she’s okay.”
“What happened?” Amelia demanded, sinking down on the edge of the bathtub to listen.
“We got called out to an apartment fire,” he said. “She sustained some pretty severe smoke inhalation. Paramedics took her to the hospital around seven o’clock and kept her overnight for observation. They’re going to release her sometime this morning and she asked me to call you.”
“Thank you,” Amelia said, her voice shaky.
“She saved a nine-year-old girl,” Carter added. “She’s a hero.”
“I already know that,” Amelia answered.
A handful of conflicting emotions swirled in Amelia’s chest. Part of her wanted to go to Simone right that second and never let her go. Another part was afraid that this was what life with a firefighter would be like. Her own job was demanding, but it wasn’t dangerous. Did she have what it took to open up her heart to someone who ran into burning buildings for a living and put her own life at risk on a regular basis?
In the end, there was only one thing she needed to know. “What hospital is she in?”
“Fox County,” Carter said. “Her parents are coming, but I know she wants to see you too.”
“Thank you.”
“And don’t worry too much—Lieu’s tough, she’s been through worse.”
Amelia was sure that was meant to be comforting, but it only made her wonder what worse meant. How often did this happen?
But she cared about Simone more than she was scared for herself, and she needed to see her. She thanked Carter again and hung up the phone. Thirty minutes later, she was at the hospital, looking for an employee to point her in the right direction.
“Are you family?” the woman she found at the reception desk asked.
For a split second, Amelia thought about lying just to make sure she’d be able to get in to see Simone. They’d only known each other three weeks and already she was willing to lie to get to her. But she shook her head and explained, “No, I’m a colleague and... a friend.”
More than that, she was sure Simone would agree. But they hadn’t actually discussed it yet so she stuck with ‘friend.’
Amelia wasn’t willing to lie to get to Simone, but she didn’t mind pulling rank to see if she could get a little more information. She added, “I’m also a doctor. Can you tell me how she’s doing?”
The woman
tapped on her computer for a few seconds, pulling up Simone’s electronic chart, then said, “She’s in a hyperbaric chamber right now. Looks like she’ll be done in about an hour, and by then visiting hours will have started.”
Amelia nodded. That was good. “Does she have carbon monoxide poisoning?” she pressed. She hadn’t treated living patients in years, but she knew that was one thing hyperbaric oxygen was used to treat.
“I can’t give out that information,” the receptionist said, and Amelia didn’t blame her. Legally, she had no right to know, even if she really wanted to. The woman pointed to a cluster of chairs, mostly empty at this time of day. “If you want to wait, I’ll let you know when she can have visitors.”
Amelia nodded. “Thank you.”
She headed over to the waiting area, finding an empty chair near the window. She sat for about ten minutes, fidgeting and growing increasingly impatient. Then an older man with graying temples walked into the hospital with a woman his age and told the receptionist, “We’re Simone Olivier’s parents. She’s here with smoke inhalation and we need to see her.”
Amelia got to her feet. She inched closer to Simone’s parents while they talked to the receptionist.
“She’s receiving a treatment right now so she can’t have visitors,” the woman explained. “It’ll be another forty-five minutes or so.”
She explained everything that she’d told Amelia, then invited them to sit down and wait. That was when Amelia stepped in.
“Excuse me, you’re Simone’s parents?” she asked. “I’m… a coworker.”
She’d paused again over her relationship with Simone. She had no idea how often Simone talked to her parents, or what she typically shared with them. Did they know about Amelia? Was there even anything to tell, considering their first date was just twenty-four hours ago?
It felt like something to Amelia, but that didn’t mean it was important to the rest of the world.
They shook hands and Simone’s father said, “I’m Victor, and this is Celine.”