Page 2

TWO

F inally, some action. The Rescue 5 truck sped down the road, sirens blaring. Firefighter Bryce Crawford welcomed the sound, itching to get out and do something after a long shift of sitting around. Sitting around and talking.

A guy could only handle so much of that. Especially when he had very little of interest to contribute to the conversation. Life had settled into a very dull routine lately. And he didn’t know how to shake loose from it.

“Yo, Lieutenant, you gonna tell us about your hot date last night or what?” Ridge called from the driver’s seat. They sped past the downtown stores.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Bryce tinkered with the device in his hands. Hopefully the hint of something that wasn’t there would keep Ridge from asking for more details. They had a job to do and a fire to put out. One disaster was enough to worry about. The call couldn’t be any worse than his dinner with Sarai Green last night.

His mother wanted him to date a “good Christian girl.” But Sarai had been about as interesting as oatmeal. Plain oatmeal. No brown sugar and cream. No cinnamon or apple. No taste whatsoever.

The whole date had been a flop. She’d declined dessert and asked for him to take her home as soon as the server brought the check.

Dating used to be fun. Easy. Dance a little, drink a little, show a girl a good time. But since coming to faith almost a year ago, Bryce didn’t know how to navigate that world anymore. And all the old haunts felt weirdly empty. Wasn’t this faith thing supposed to make things easier? Clearer?

He was supposed to be a new man.

If so, Sarai was obviously not impressed with the new Bryce Crawford.

Not that he could blame her. The old Bryce had been so much more interesting. And that’s who people expected. So, guess he should just focus on the job once more and forget about his social life for the time being.

Bryce checked his thermal imaging camera.

“The TIC working?” Zack Stephens asked. Ridge parked the truck among the other rescue vehicles in the warehouse district.

“Yup. Let’s go.” They hopped out of the truck.

“So you’re really not gonna tell us about the date?” Eddie Rice asked as he shouldered his air tank. The chaos of multiple sirens, crews running around trucks and setting up hoses, and bystanders gawking surrounded them.

“Dude, have I ever gone into detail about my dates?”

“I just wanna learn from a master. How do you do it?” Rice asked.

Zack chuckled as he jammed his hands into his gloves. “You’re on a roll now. Third date this week. I thought you were losing your game for a while there. What was it, nine months without a date?”

“That was, like, a year ago. And it was just a little dry spell.” Back when he’d hoped he could find Penny Mitchell after she’d left town without a word. But she’d cut him out of her life. Eventually he’d gotten the hint and had to move on. And what these guys didn’t need to know was that most of those “dates” were Bryce sitting with his dad watching his favorite fishing show, playing chess, or taking him to the men’s discipleship group at his church.

He’d tried telling the guys the truth the first time. Of course, they hadn’t believed him. It’d become a joke around the firehouse. “Playing chess” was now code for “hot date.” After that he hadn’t even attempted to explain. He’d let the guys draw their own conclusions.

But no other woman had gotten to him like Penny had. He kept trying. He must’ve been desperate to think it would be sweet, straightlaced Sarai that would get him out of this funk. Her idea of a good time was knitting and watching British period dramas.

Everyone was settling down though. His brother Logan seemed to have found his purpose fighting fires out in Montana. His mother was a steady rock for his father. Now his sister Andi was married to Jude, and here he was. Alone.

At least he had his team.

The guys approached the warehouse engulfed in flames. Truck 14 was already busy hooking hoses up. Bryce checked in with the other lieutenant, Amelia Patterson.

“What’s the call?” Bryce asked her, talking loudly over the noise of the trucks and sirens.

“Truck 14 has water on. Need you and your guys to clear the building. The main entrance is too hot. Looks like two side entrances you can use.”

“You got it.” Bryce jogged over to Rice, Ridge, and Stephens. “We’re up. We need to find access and clear the building from the inside. Stephens and Rice go around the other way. Ridge, you’re with me. We’ll take this alley.”

Flames shot out the transom windows above their heads.

“The front of the building is too hot. Let’s go around the side.” Using the TIC, Bryce checked for hotspots from the outside. “The south wall is our best access point.”

Bryce led Ridge to the side door and shoved his irons, fork side first, into the seam. “Hit!”

Ridge hit the pike end with his ax. The door swung open. Smoke poured out, blocking visibility, but with the imaging screen, they stayed low and navigated through the big open area. Most of the heat and damage seemed to be in the front of the building.

“I thought this place was abandoned.” Ridge spoke through the microphone in his helmet.

“Like Bryce’s love life.” Zack busted up laughing from somewhere on the other side of the building.

Bryce ignored it. He and Ridge stepped around a pile of pallets right inside the doorway and entered the main part of the warehouse. “We can’t assume anything. Let’s clear it out quickly. It’s chili night and I’m hungry.”

Through the smoke, tall metal shelves, some full of boxes, towered over them, creating aisles. They cleared each one, then met up with Rice and Stephens in the middle of the warehouse. Flames from the front moved closer toward them.

“What about that office up there?” Rice pointed up a metal staircase. A bank of glass windows would’ve allowed someone to watch from above and see the whole warehouse.

“We better check.” Bryce yanked on the railing. No give. He went behind the staircase and hung from one of the treads above his head. It didn’t budge.

“How are we doing in there, Lieutenant?” Chief James’s voice came through the speakers.

“So far it’s clear. We have one more section of upper offices.” Bryce pointed for the others to start up the stairs.

“The water’s not doing much. You boys better get a move on it.”

“Yes, sir,” Bryce answered the chief, then followed the others. “Looks like the stairs will hold. But we gotta be fast. Let’s go.” They began to climb up.

A scream from somewhere deeper in the building stopped them mid-step.

“Did you hear that?” Ridge asked.

Bryce nodded, the hair on his neck standing on end. Through the smoke and flames, he couldn’t see the floor anymore. Fires had an assortment of strange sounds. Animal-like roars. Groans and screeches were common as building materials warped and collapsed.

After another three count, Rice resumed climbing. “Guess it was nothing.”

But Bryce couldn’t leave it. Not if someone needed rescuing. “You three clear that office. I’ll check it out and meet you back down on the floor.”

Zack paused. “You sure? Maybe I should?—”

“Go ahead. We’ll see who finishes first. Winner gets the biggest piece of cornbread.”

“You’re the boss.” Zack chuckled.

“Stick close together. Be quick but thorough in that office. Got it?”

“Sure thing.” Stephens continued climbing behind Eddie. Bryce quickly descended the steps and made it back to the concrete floor. He wouldn’t let any of his men go at it alone. If someone were to take that risk, it would be him.

“Hello? Anyone here? This is the Last Chance County Fire and Rescue.” He bellowed as loud as he could and stopped to listen. No response. Bryce jogged down the last aisle. Fire already chewed through the front offices and headed toward the open warehouse floor. The cardboard boxes alone would be instant fuel.

He spoke into the radio. “Anything in the office?”

“Almost clear. Nothing so far. But catching heat imaging from the vents. It’s in the walls,” Eddie answered him.

Heat from the vents? Bryce’s gut lurched. “Get out of there! The fire is below you.”

“But Stephens is clearing the inner off?—”

“Grab him and get out! You hear me, Rice?”

“Yeah—” His voice cut out.

Bryce spun and ran back toward the stairs. Zack, Ridge, and Eddie burst out of the office door and started clambering down. When they reached the concrete floor, Bryce breathed easier. But that had been close. “All right, there’s no one here. Let’s get out of?—”

The ground shook. Bryce fell to the floor, knocked down by a blast of hot force. The windows from the upper floor office shattered, raining down glass. A high-pitched note rang in his ears.

Dizzy and disoriented, Bryce tried to stand, only making it to his knees before he had to stop and catch his breath. He tried to shake the ringing away as he searched through the smoke and dust for the others.

“Rice! Stephens!” He stood up. One of the metal shelves teetered. Fell toward them. Bryce leaped away, skidded across the cement floor, and collapsed against a door. He coughed and tried to stand. Pushing off the ground, his hand came up sticky. He wiped it on his pants, leaving a red smear.

Wait. Was that blood?

“Bryce, we gotta get out of here!” Stephens’s voice came through the comms. “Where are you?”

Bryce looked around. The wall of crumbled shelving must’ve cut him off from the other three. The whole room was on fire now. The roof in the front of the building groaned. Sections of ceiling fell.

“I’m fine. Where’s Eddie and Ridge?”

“I’m fine.” Eddie’s voice came through the speaker. “I think Ridge is hurt.”

Bryce lifted a section of metal from the pile. More fell. A flaming piece of insulation dropped from the ceiling, forcing Bryce back against the wall again.

“Talk to me! What’s going on?” Bryce tried to keep the panic out of his voice.

“Ridge is pinned. He’s not moving.”

Bryce had to get over there. Help them. But a wave of dizziness hit him. He leaned on the door in the wall to catch his balance. His eye caught on the dark-red puddle under his boots. Was he injured? Bleeding somewhere?

Everything hurt, but nothing felt like an open wound. He kneeled down and peered closer. The puddle seeped out from under the door. Maybe some kind of storage area. And was that blonde hair?

Someone was in there!

“Ridge! Wake up, man.” Zack sounded panicked. “I think he’s got a broken leg. And he’s knocked out.”

Chief James’s voice came through the intercom. “What’s going on?”

“We got a man down. We need help.” Eddie coughed and gave their location.

How was Bryce going to get his guys out of this?

“I’ve got an injured civilian too.” Bryce looked around for his pry bar and ax.

They needed to get Ridge out. Now. And whoever was caught behind this door. Bryce spotted his tools. Grabbed them off the floor as he listened through the comms. Sounded like Izan Collins and Amelia Patterson were already there, stabilizing Ridge’s leg and lifting him out on a backboard. They must’ve entered from the other side of the building.

Bryce moved back to the door with his irons in hand. Jamming the pike end in the seam between the door and the frame, he torqued the tool up and popped the lock. The door swung out. On the ground lay a female, long blonde hair splayed over her face and the floor. Her black leather jacket was covered in dust and debris. A paint can rolled near her head. She moaned.

Good. She was still alive. But the fire was moving closer, already eating up the mountain of shelving and boxes.

“Ma’am, can you hear me?” Bryce asked.

“Roof is caving in! Crawford, get out of there!” the chief yelled over the radio.

Without another thought, Bryce scooped her up in his arms. No time to stabilize her, so hopefully they weren’t dealing with a spine or neck injury. He ran out of the closet and headed for the side door. A pile of wood pallets fueled the flames, almost cutting off their exit.

With a loud screech, a section of the metal stairs fell and clanged as it hit the cement, sending up a shower of sparks. More of the ceiling fell.

He was going to have to make a run for it. He adjusted his hold on the woman in his arms. She moaned again, starting to rouse.

Bryce kept his back to the flames and ran for the open door he had come through with Ridge. They spilled into the alley just as the roof collapsed.

Bryce jogged with the woman out to the front of the warehouse, where the ambulance and other trucks were parked on the street.

“We need a medic!”

Maybe it was his yelling, but the woman stiffened in his arms, lifted her head. The hair that had covered her face fell away, allowing big green eyes to stare back at him. Green eyes he knew well. Bryce stopped moving.

“Penny?”

Her jaw dropped open. “What are you doing here?” Her voice cracked. She must be able to see him through the mask.

“Rescuing you, apparently.” Because maybe God did answer prayers. Here she was, back in his arms.

Penny winced, eyelids slamming shut tight as if she were in pain. “You can put me down now.”

Or maybe not.

“What are you doing here?” Bryce asked her.

Before she could say anything, Kianna Russell rushed over to them with a cot. Bryce carefully laid Penny down. She immediately pushed herself up.

Kianna tried holding her down. “Ma’am, you need to lie still. You were?—”

“I’m fine. I need to sit up.”

“You really shouldn’t sit right now. You have a head injury and could make it worse?—”

“You want a head injury yourself? I told you, I’m fine.” There was that mix of fierceness and fire that was all Penny Mitchell. “I don’t need treatment. I need to go.”

Kianna huffed. “You shouldn’t?—”

“Don’t even try, Russell. You won’t get through to her.” Bryce stepped up to the cot, removing his mask and helmet, his gaze tracing the lines of Penny’s beautiful face. Even now, with ash and blood smeared across her cheek, long blonde hair tangled and matted, she could stop his heart with one look. She was gorgeous and dangerous.

Why was that combination so appealing?

But when it came down to it, it didn’t matter. He looked down at her, the first time he’d seen her in well over a year. “Guess it’s time for you to run away again, huh.”

She stared at him.

Bryce said, “Won’t be so easy this time.”