Page 24 of Forged By Fire (Danger in Destiny #9)
Chapter Twenty-Three
L eslie was on the phone with Becca when she got a text from Clint, immediately followed by a phone call that she couldn’t answer before it went to voicemail. As soon as she hung up with Becca, she checked the text to find a photo of a man, but no explanation. She called Clint back.
He answered on the first ring. “Hey, I was leaving you a voice message, but this is better.”
“Sorry I missed your call. I was on the phone with Becca.” She’d gone to the kitchen area while talking, and several of her co-workers were nearby and clearly listening in.
No doubt they were anxious for word about Danny, and she couldn’t blame them.
She raised her voice slightly to make sure they could hear what she was about to tell Clint.
“Becca says his fever broke early this morning. The doctor is continuing the IV antibiotics to be safe, but he’s hopeful that the quick response to the infection means Danny will be in the clear soon. ”
Her fellow firefighters all grinned with relief and nodded their approval.
“That’s great, Leslie. I’m so relieved to hear that. Do they have any idea how much longer he’ll be in the hospital?”
“Nothing definitive. The doctor mentioned the possibility of going home on Saturday, but that they’ll know more tomorrow.”
“Still, that’s wonderful news.”
“So, I got this picture you texted me. What’s going on?”
Clint told her about the interview with Christopher King.
“He isn’t the shooter, but there’s more to this guy than he lets on, and Paris and I are confident he’s involved in some way.
He strikes me as the type who’ll keep his nose clean to keep from drawing more attention to himself, but I wanted to make sure you have his picture.
Show it around the station. If anyone sees this man, please let me know immediately. ”
Anger flared in her chest. If this guy was involved at all, then he put all of their lives in danger, and especially Bryce and Jin, who were the ones who found King and got him out of the warehouse. The very idea that King might have been playing them all was unacceptable.
“You okay?” Clint must have sensed her fury in the silence between them. “I promise you, honey, we will get these guys.” He emphasized every word of his last sentence.
His determination, combined with the first time he’d used a term of endearment, and Leslie’s heart swelled with gratitude that not only was Clint on her side, but that he was becoming such a big part of her life.
“I know. Thank you.”
“I have to run. Be careful. I’ll touch base again later.”
“Yeah, you be careful, too. ”
The information she had about King weighed heavily as she ended the call.
Bryce and Chet, who were still in the room, immediately approached. Bryce put a supportive hand on her shoulder. “What is it?”
“An update from Clint. I need to speak to the chief. Then it’s something everyone needs to see.”
Ten minutes later, Menendez had everyone gather in the meeting room. Leslie had sent the picture of King to his phone, and he had it up on the large smart board.
“Some of you may recognize this man. His name is Christopher King. When we responded to the fire at the warehouse, he was the security guard who was unaccounted for. Keyes and Cho, you located him and were able to get him out of the warehouse safely. However, it has now come to the attention of the DPD that King may have had a hand in setting the fire and informing the suspect who shot Bracken when we got to the building.”
Angry murmurs filled the room as everyone spoke of their disbelief.
Jin stood from his chair. “You’re telling me that idiot may have had us in there looking for him for no reason? Did he start the fire?”
“Is he in police custody?”
“Do we know who actually shot Danny?”
Menendez raised his hand to try to quiet the group.
“First of all, we have to remember that these are just allegations at this point. The DPD is still working on getting solid evidence. Until then, they didn’t have enough to charge him, and they’re hoping he’ll lead them to the shooter or they’ll be able to find irrefutable proof that he was involved.
” He walked over and tapped the TV screen.
“If he knew what was good for him, guilty or not, he’d stay holed up in his house somewhere out of sight.
But if you see him, whether here at the station or at any call-out locations, we need to know about it immediately. ”
The chief took a moment to meet each of their eyes before speaking again. “It’s imperative that this information stays within the department. Is that understood?”
Everyone acknowledged his orders. Bryce was just about to ask a question when the station alarm sounded.
They were the closest station to a residential fire. A shop behind the house was involved, and there was concern that the fire could jump to the house or even possibly the neighbor’s house.
Their engine company was activated, and within minutes, they were driving out of the station, their lights flashing and siren blaring.
As she always did, Leslie said a prayer that her fellow firefighters would stay safe.
Menendez went back to his office to take a phone call. That left Leslie, Bryce, Chet, and Jin to wander to the kitchen. She wasn’t sure any of them were hungry, but the weight of knowing about King was a lot to deal with.
Chet pulled a plate of chocolate chip cookies from the fridge and set them on the counter. Leslie grabbed one and took a bite, but even the chocolate barely registered as it hit her tongue.
Jin flopped into a chair with a growl. “I hate that this makes me second-guess everything.” He addressed Leslie.
“I mean, did the guy go way into the back of the warehouse just to draw us away from you and Danny? Was it the luck of the draw—and if we’d swapped search areas, would it have been me and Keyes who were targeted? ”
“I don’t know.” Thinking about the possibilities gave Leslie a headache. “I wish we knew something definitively. None of this makes sense.”
Jin glowered as he ate a cookie in two bites and reached for another.
The station alarm sounded again, and this time the alert came up on Leslie’s phone along with the rest of the ladder company.
Cookies abandoned, they put on their gear and made their way to the ladder truck for a call-out to a structure fire on the edge of town, not far from the station. A large barn was on fire, and it was filled with hay and feed.
Leslie knew from experience that the entire thing was going to go up in minutes because of how flammable the contents of the barn were. But they needed to get the fire put out before it spread to any fields or structures nearby.
Minutes later, they were on their way with Bryce behind the wheel.
Leslie stared at Danny’s empty spot, and her heart ached. She had to remind herself that he was going to be okay. Soon, they’d be working together again, and the people who put him in the hospital would be behind bars.
“Granger.” Chet’s voice came over communications.
Her gaze snapped away from Danny’s seat to find Chet watching her in the rearview mirror from the passenger seat up front. As the ladder company officer, he was the one who kept them running efficiently.
“I need your head in the game. Are you good?”
He was right. She needed to focus so she could do her job and not be a liability for her company.
“I’m good, Lieutenant.”
With a single nod, he turned his attention back on the road in front of them .
The fire was located on a family farm that was down several small roads once they got off the highway. As they approached the farm, the owners had already opened the large double gate and were waving them in. As soon as the truck made it through, the couple got onto their ATV and followed.
The smoke wasn’t visible until they followed the driveway around the house to the back of the property.
A red barn came into view. It was relatively small with double doors that rolled open like a garage door, and another normal-sized door beside that.
Across the rest of the front were windows, and it looked like there were some down the sides as well.
To Leslie’s surprise, the barn itself wasn’t engulfed at all. In fact, the only thing she could see burning was a stack of hay bales sitting out front. Flames were quickly consuming the dry hay and beginning to lick the side of the barn, blistering the dark red paint.
They all immediately got out of the ladder truck and got to work as Chet called out assignments.
“Cho, grab the water can and see if you can get that under control. Keyes, let’s get this line stretched and ready in case we need it. Granger, find the breaker box and kill the electricity.”
Leslie noted where the electrical pole was and the line coming off it going behind the barn.
She jogged past the barn and around back to find the breaker box attached to the rear of the building.
Hastily, she opened it and flipped the main breaker, cutting off electricity to the barn and making it safer for them to enter the building if they needed to.
When she got back to the ladder truck, Jin was using the pressurized water extinguisher to douse the flames traveling up the side of the barn. Bryce had gotten the line hooked up and was holding the nozzle.
“Cho,” Chet called across the way. “Fall back. You and Granger back up the line.”
Cho stopped using the extinguisher and set it down next to the truck before picking up the hose, and Leslie took up her place behind him.
Bryce opened the nozzle, and water began to flow. Leslie worked with Jin to absorb the force created by the water and provide stability so that Bryce could maintain control as he directed a stream of water onto the hay bales as well as the side of the barn.
It took next to no time to put the fire out, leaving a steaming stack of blackened hay. There was certainly some aesthetic damage to the outside of the barn, but it didn’t look like there would be any structural damage.
They all removed their helmets and set them on the truck.
Leslie had noticed that the couple who lived on the farm had been watching them from their ATV and were now on foot and approaching.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.” The man reached out to shake Chet’s hand. “I’m Gary Tippin, and this is my wife, Francie. We appreciate your quick response.”
“Of course. I’m glad the fire wasn’t any worse.
You’ll want to take a look and make sure there’s no damage to the wood along that wall, but I suspect most of the damage is cosmetic.
This type of fire can spread quickly. Honestly, I’m surprised that it wasn’t worse.
You must’ve seen the fire the moment it broke out. ”
The couple looked at each other in confusion, and Francie shook her head.
“Our dog started barking like crazy, so Gary went to look out the back window to see what he was barking at. That’s when he saw some smoke coming out of the hay bales and then flames.
I immediately called 9-1-1, but they said that someone had already reported the fire, and that a unit was on the way.
I’d barely had the chance to tell Gary when we heard the sirens.
We had to rush to get the gate open for you all. ”
Someone else had called it in? Leslie hadn’t even noticed the smoke until they had neared the Tippin’s house.
She took in the area around them. The house and barn stood in a large clearing that included at least an acre between them.
But beyond that, trees and shrubs lined the property.
There was no way someone had seen the smoke from the road or a neighboring house.
Goose bumps peppered her skin, and the hair stood on the back of her neck. She had the unmistakable feeling they were being watched followed by an urgency she couldn’t explain.