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Dumbass.

Her helmet had a big fucking badge on the front of it which read, “Battalion Chief.”

The man seemed flustered at being wrong. Becca also guessed he wasn’t used to people telling him when he was wrong.

“Of course…my apologies. Chief.”

“The situation is, I need you and your people to stay right where you are. We’re working on getting you out.”

“Yeah, that’s what they said forty-five minutes ago!” a younger man

, dressed in a nice suit complained. Probably a junior executive. “What the hell is the hold-up, huh?”

Becca stared at him.

“You’re right,” she said. “I’ll go back out there and ask the fire politely if it wouldn’t mind getting out of your way so you can pass.”

Dunston chuckled. It earned him points in Becca’s mind.

The younger man turned beet red. Becca continued staring him down.

“Stay right here and we’ll get you out safely,” she ordered.

She was turning to leave when suddenly something brushed past her.

“Josh!” Dunston called out. “Get back here!”

Becca tried to reach for him but he was already too far past.

Shit!

Other firefighters had spotted Josh running and also tried to stop him, but Josh, slim-built and not burdened by wearing heavy turnout gear, easily eluded them all. He was making his way towards the north staircase. It was like running into an obstacle course where all of the obstacles were on fire. And he was doing it without any protection.

“Get a line on him!” Becca called out, running after him. This should have angered her. Instead of battling the fire, some of her men were now having to waste water—and time—to try to spray this guy down. But she was too worried about Josh’s safety to be angry now.

The nearest crew tried to turn their hose on him but it was too late, Josh was just beyond reach of the stream.

And then…

With a roar, the Burning Beast struck. The fire suddenly flared up and caught Josh as he was trying to run past an open office door. It was almost as if the fire knew what it was doing, the way it just reached out for him.

No!

Josh’s clothing instantly caught ablaze. He started waving his arms, spinning his whole body wildly. His screams were inhuman. Becca, who had never stopped her chase, finally got close enough to be able to launch herself at him, tackling him. Even before they hit the ground, she knew he was dead.

An instant later, she and the corpse were being sprayed with water.

“Chief, are you okay?” one of the firemen asked, pulling her off what was left of Josh.

She nodded, looking at the blackened human figure on the floor.

If they didn’t get this under control soon, there were going to be a lot more of those.

***

“Where’s the roof access?” Becca asked the firefighter who had pulled her off Josh.

“I don’t know,” he admitted.