Smiling gently, Will put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “No worries. Matt was just saying hello to Coco. Have you met my girlfriend? Danielle Harris, this is Gordon Walker, one of our line supervisors.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Walker.”
“Likewise, Ms. Harris.” Gordon pointed to Coco. “I don’t mean to be rude, but is it okay to have a dog at an event like this?”
“Not rude at all, sir. Coco is a search-and-rescue dog with the Seattle Fire Department. I’m her handler,” Dani explained.
He smiled then, his shoulders losing some of their stiffness. “So you’re the firefighter that went to Matt’s school last week. He’s been talking nonstop about the two of you. Says he wants to be a firefighter just like you when he grows up.”
Dani laughed and ruffled the boy’s hair. “We had a great time that day.”
Gordon leaned in close and said in a voice low enough his son wouldn’t hear, “I can’t thank you enough, Firefighter Harris. What you did for Matt gave an incredible boost to his confidence. His teacher said he’s talking more at school and making friends. Honestly, we were starting to get very worried about him.”
The words of appreciation wrapped around Dani like a warm blanket. Situations like this, where she’d touched someone’s life unexpectedly, were why she loved her job so much. She blinked and swallowed down the lump in her throat.
“Matt’s a great kid. Any time he wants to see us, bring him by Station—”
Oh God. Realization crashed down on her. She wouldn’t be at the station. No one would ever call her Firefighter Harris again. She’d never get to help kids like Matt again. This was it. Fighting back tears, she fumbled in her purse for a pen and a piece of paper. After writing down her name and phone number, she handed it to Matt’s dad. “Better yet, call me at this number. Matt and Coco can play in the park. They’re obviously great friends.”
After they left, Dani and Will continued to greet the arrivals. When they’d finally made their way to the end of the line, the party was well underway. Will led her inside the building to the cafeteria where buffet-style tables piled high with food had been set up. Noticing the sandwiches, she grabbed a couple along with some vegetables. No way would she have risked eating a burger and dripping ketchup on her new outfit. The thing had cost her a paycheck.
Will dragged her off to the far end of the cafeteria, some distance away from the other diners. They sat side by side and enjoyed the moment of relative quiet and privacy. He smiled at her, his expression soft and happy. “Danielle, what you did for Matt is nothing short of a miracle.”
“What do you mean? I just let him play with Coco.”
Still smiling, he shook his head. “Last time I saw him, he was sullen and withdrawn. He refused to speak to anyone. The Walkers were even considering moving away to get him into another school district with better programs for kids with disabilities. Maybe that won’t be needed now.”
She was happy she’d been able to help Matt in some way. But he’d be the last. When she leaned her head against Will’s shoulder, he brushed her lips in a light kiss. Surprised by his public display of affection, she jerked away from him and glanced around.
“Relax,” he said, grinning. “You looked like you needed a little something.”
“Oh, I need something all right, but it’s not little.” Had this been a week earlier, she’d have found a way to discreetly palm him. Now she just arched a brow.
“You are so naughty, Ms. Harris. Wait until I get you alone, then we’ll see if what I’ve got is big enough to satisfy you.”
“I’m pretty sure we’ve already established that you satisfy me plenty, Mr. Caldwell.” But could he be her everything? Could he replace the satisfaction she got from being a firefighter, from her work with the SAR team, from the work they did with schools?
Will frowned. “You okay, sweetheart? You seem a little sad.”
“I’m fine.” She forced a smile and bit into her sandwich.
He munched absently on a carrot. “You seemed to enjoy talking with Matt, and you’re great with Chloe.”
Her brows rose. Where was he going with this?
“Uh… do you want kids some day?” he asked, the tips of his ears turning red.
Why was he asking her this? Without thinking, she spouted her usual reply. “I love kids, but they’re not for me.”
Will stared at her. “Really? What would make you think that?”
“My work. I can’t raise kids if I’m never—” She stopped abruptly. Her work wouldn’t be a problem anymore.
“Danielle, what is it?”
Although she’d planned to tell him later that evening, she didn’t see any other way out of this conversation. “I—I quit my job. I gave Jamie my resignation letter this morning.”
She wasn’t sure what kind of reaction she’d expected from Will, but it sure as shit wasn’t the stoicism he currently sported.
“May I ask why?”
Her vision blurred. Fuck! She turned her back to him and crossed her arms, circling them tightly around the very conservative skirt suit she wore. What was with the waterworks lately? She ran into burning buildings, crawled through collapsing tunnels, and swung off the sides of bridges to help hapless strangers. She wasn’t some ninny who cried at every turn.
“Danielle.” With his hands on her shoulders, Will turned her to face him. “Why did you quit your job?”
Looking up at him, at his gorgeous blue eyes filled with concern for her, she swallowed any regrets. “I did it for us. So we’d have a chance.”
“Because you want a family—a husband and children.”
Before answering, she paused and studied his expression. Why was he so upset? “Yes,” she said.
“You think you can’t have a family and a career?”
She squared her shoulders. “Not with a man like you.” Despite her struggle, her voice retained a quiver she detested.
“Is that what you want? A family, with me?”
“It is.” She locked gazes with him. “Now the question is, Will, what do you want?”
Before Will could respond, Dani scented something acrid. “Hold that thought,” she said, pushing to her feet. Letting her nose lead her, she hurried down a narrow corridor behind where she’d been sitting, Will and Coco on her heels.
“What is it?” Will asked.
Just ahead, smoke seeped out from under a closed door. She pointed. “Fire. Pull the alarm.”
Will’s eyebrows rose. “What? Are you sure?”
When he approached the door, Dani’s heart lurched. “Shit! Don’t touch that.” She grabbed his arm and shoved him behind her. Christ. Didn’t he know the fire would roar through the door if the room were engulfed? Seeing a fire alarm on the wall, she ran over and pulled it, then as the blare of the warning signal battered her ears, she pulled out her phone and dialed 9-1-1. After quickly relaying the details to the operator, she caught Will’s arm and headed back to the cafeteria.
Jamie came running toward her, the soles of his bunker boots slapping the tiles. “Dispatch said you called in a 2-1-1.”
“I spotted smoke coming through a door down that hallway,” she said, pointing behind her.
“What’s down there?” Jamie asked Will.
“Inventory room.”
“Fuck. Any chemicals?”
“They should be locked up in a different room.” Will looked up at the ceiling. “The fire-suppression system isn’t working, and the alarm didn’t go off until Dani pulled it.”
Jamie glowered at him. “Interesting, isn’t it?”
Turning to the men behind him, Jamie called out orders. “Engines 10 and 13 are on their way. Drew and Colin, go throw a ladder to the Charlie side of the building. That should put us right over the inventory room where the fire seems to be. Evan and Mark, start softening the building. Gabe, you and I will handle evacuation.”
“LJ.” Dani grabbed his arm. “What do you want me to do?”
He s
tared at her, his mouth stern. “Get outside and wait for the all-clear.”
“Of course.” Her stomach twisted into knots. She wasn’t working today, and soon, she wouldn’t be working at all. This is how she would feel every time she heard a siren—useless. Will took her hand, squeezing it reassuringly. They walked outside and into a chaotic storm of crying infants, excited children, and fearful adults.
Under Gabe’s direction, the security team spread out and started urging people into the parking lot, away from the building. Wanting to see what the platoon was doing, Dani tugged on Will’s hand. “Let’s go to the back of the building.”
After casting a look at the CFF employees and their families, he nodded. As they rounded the corner of the building, Engine 10 pulled up beside Ladder 27. Black smoke was rising under the edge of the roof. Drew extended the ladder while Colin got their ventilation equipment ready. The engine company began laying lines into the building. Engine 13 arrived, stopping beside Engine 10. The firefighters got out and hooked up their hoses before the driver drove the three hundred feet to the pump to get a supply, with lines paying out of the back hose bed.
Jamie ran out of the building, the rest of the platoon behind him. Seeing the Battalion 5 chief arrive, he ran over to the man’s vehicle. They conferred for a minute, then Jamie made a beeline for her while signaling to the platoon to continue on. “Suit up, K9.”
“Right away, LJ,” she said, snapping to attention.
“Bring Coco. The building has been evacuated. But there was a tour going on, and now one person is missing.”
“Who?” Will asked, sounding anxious, and Dani couldn’t blame him. This party was turning into a clusterfuck.
“Some kid. Name’s Matt,” Jamie said.
Dani’s knees grew weak. Will steadied her with a hand on her elbow. “Walker?” he asked.
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
“Oh God.” She wrenched her arm out of Will’s hold and ran with Coco to Ladder 27. When she opened the door, all her gear was lying on the floor, waiting for her. Jamie wasn’t going to take her resignation lying down.
Her outfit would be ruined, but there was nothing to be done about it. Hiking up her skirt, she jumped into her boots and pulled up her bunker pants, slipping the suspenders over her jacket. After shrugging on her turnout coat, she hefted the SCBA onto her shoulders and shoved her mask in place.
“Gabe, you’re on search and rescue with Dani. Start with the manufacturing rooms. That’s where the tour was when Dani hit the alarm. Drew, man the truck; everyone else, up the ladder. We need to get this baby ventilated.”
Dani and Gabe entered through the loading dock door. Because of the health-and-safety inspection she’d done with Will, she had a good sense of the layout and was able to get to the manufacturing section through a series of long hallways without any false starts. Smoke was beginning to seep into the hallways. If it got much thicker, she’d have to send Coco back out.
Over the two-way, Jamie said, “Dispatch, this is Lieutenant Caldwell, Rescue 21. We need to balance this to a full response. Do you copy?”
“Roger that, Lieutenant.” Based on Jamie’s request, CFF would soon be swarming with an additional forty or so firefighters and staff, including the ever-formidable Deputy Chief Wright.
As in all emergency situations, Dani’s head was clear, her pulse even. But that didn’t stop the thread of fear that she’d be too late to save Matt. When they reached the door to the first manufacturing room, where frames for the famous Caldwell beds were assembled, Dani checked in with Jamie. “LJ, what’s the status on ventilation?” Until that was done, it wasn’t safe to open doors where there was smoke. If the room was on fire, the air currents would pull the flames toward her.
“Started. Clear on your end.”
“Copy that,” she said. Gabe tried to shove the door open, but it wouldn’t budge. Dani pointed to an electronic keypad. “It’s locked.” The radio embedded in her mask transmitted her words to the rest of the platoon.
“Drew, get someone from security to unlock the damn doors in the manufacturing section. And let William know. Those doors are supposed to unlock automatically,” Jamie said.
While they waited, Dani walked up and down the corridor with Coco, letting her sniff at all the doors. But she kept returning to the first one.
Boots clomping on the cement floor drew their attention. Will arrived with one of the security guards. He slid his ID card through the slider and punched in a code. The light turned green. “It’s unlocked now.”
“Any word on Matt?” she asked Will and the security guard.
Will’s mouth straightened, becoming bloodless. She had her answer. As Gabe prepared to push open the door, Dani stood to the side with Coco. She turned to Will. “Go back. It’s too dangerous here.”
“Be careful.” He squeezed her arm, then stepped back.
With a mighty heave, Gabe shoved the door open. Smoke billowed out. Dani leaned in to scan the room, but from her vantage point, she couldn’t see any flames. Behind her, she heard someone coughing. She turned to see Will bent over, his hands on his knees. Men. Rolling her eyes, she went and put her mask on his face, giving him a shot of oxygen. “Better?” He gave her a sheepish look and nodded. “Good. Now get out of here.”
Still coughing, he hurried down the hallway. Along with Gabe, she and Coco entered the manufacturing room. Luckily, once the first wave of smoke escaped through the door, what was left filled the top half of the room. The space ten feet above the floor was relatively clear.
Crouching, she unhooked Coco’s leash. “Find it. Find Matt.”
Coco barked and began sniffing the air. Then she ran to the left side of the big room, sniffing around boxes, rising up on her hindquarters to sniff along piles of lumber.
“K9,” Jamie said over the two-way. “Fire’s in the northwest corner of the inventory room.” From her prior visit, Dani knew the inventory room, filled with highly flammable lumber, was on the back side of the manufacturing room. A door connected the two.
She’d keep Coco away from that area. “Copy that.”
“Exit doors are chained,” Gabe said over the two-way.
“Damn.” The saboteur had returned and kicked things up a notch. “Are you thinking what I‘m thinking, LJ?”
“Yep. Already radioed it in. Arson is on their way,” Jamie said.
“Gabe, keep your eyes open, okay? Matt’s only six, and he doesn’t talk much.” Even if he heard them calling his name, he might not be able to respond. Beads of sweat rolled down her face along her hairline, and it had nothing to do with the heat. She was terrified of finding Matt’s small body lying still, of seeing his cheerful face devoid of life, his eyes empty.
“Coco, find it,” she repeated, letting the dog know the urgency. The smoke was thickening, and soon she’d have to send Coco out. “Matt,” she called. “It’s Dani. Can you hear me?” He might not speak, but maybe he’d move and make some noise. With her heightened hearing, Coco would be alerted.
Coco’s head jerked up. She barked and raced toward the northwest end of the room. “Coco, slow,” Dani called, not wanting the dog too close to the fire. Suddenly, Coco disappeared under a pile of oak boards. The strapping had broken and the planks had fallen to the side. “Coco!”
A series of sharp barks indicated Coco had found something. “Gabe, get over here.”
“Did she find the kid?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. Help me move these boards.”
Together, they started tossing aside planks, careful not to dislodge the already unstable pile. Her dog and an unknown victim were trapped underneath. Coco’s barks continued, directing them. Soon, a small sneakered foot appeared in a gap between two boards. “We’ve got him, Gabe. Careful now.”
They worked to free the child from the lumber, removing one plank at a time. If he was badly injured, any jostling could be fatal. Coco slid out the way she’d gone in and paced by Dani’s feet, whining and whimpering. Dan
i knew in her heart the child was Matt. Coco knew it too.
Please, God. Let him be okay.
Thirty seconds later, the child’s face came into view. It was Matt. She let out a breath, glad they’d found him, but scared by his lack of awareness.
“We’ve got him, LJ. We’ve got Matt.”
“Thank fuck,” Jamie said. “Get him out of there, K9.”
“Working on it.” Dani and Gabe lifted the last piece of wood hemming Matt in. Yanking off her gloves, Dani knelt beside the boy, and pressed her fingers to the side of his neck. The steady beat of his heart echoed inside her like a rock anthem. She pulled her mask off and briefly pressed a kiss to Matt’s dirt-smudged forehead before placing her mask over his face. The clean air would help revive him.
Quickly, she checked his body for cuts and broken bones. Other than a gash on his belly and bruises along his arms and legs, she found a knot on his head. He’d probably been knocked out when the pile of wood collapsed on him. A concussion was likely.
The arm she was examining quivered. Immediately, she lifted the mask from his small face to see if he was coming around. Her heart jumped in her chest when she saw his eyes open. Bloodshot though they were, she’d never seen anything more beautiful. “You’re okay, sweetie. Coco found you.”
He smiled and his eyes drifted shut. Per protocol, she replaced the mask over her own face, and carefully hefted him into her arms. “Good job, Coco.”
“Need help?” Gabe asked.
“I’m good.” She glanced down at Coco. “Let’s go, girl.”
“Relax, dude. They know what they’re doing.”
Chad clapped William on the back before turning to talk quietly with Liam. They’d already pulled out a stretcher and were prepared to treat any potential victim. When they’d moved the ambulance to the back of the building, the crowd had followed. Now, like everyone else, William waited.
Not far away, his parents stood with Gordon and his wife. Matt’s father seemed ready to charge into the building. It was only the quiet reassurances of William’s mother that kept the man in place.
William should be with them. He should be shoring up the poor man’s confidence. But what use would he be when he was falling apart himself? Holding Chloe in her arms, Erica appeared next to him. She nudged him gently with her shoulder. He wrapped his arms around Jamie’s girls, comforting them as they comforted him. Chloe’s pale face and trembling lips showed how frightened she was. Erica leaned into him and whispered, “It’s always worse when we see it.”
Everything Bared (Six-Alarm Sexy) Page 22