America's Bravest

Author’s Note: In 1997, I published the first
of my seven firefighter novels. Since that time, I’ve received
hundreds of requests for more firefighter books. AMERICA’S BRAVEST
is my answer to these loyal fans. Though the novellas certainly
stand alone, I decided to go back to the Hidden Cove Fire
Department Rescue Squad first developed in AFTER THE FIRE, ON THE
LINE and NOTHING MORE TO LOSE. I’ve started the new tales with the
cousin of the Malvaso clan, Gabriel “Gabe” Malvaso, and went on to
tell the stories of the individuals in his group. You’ll meet six
new firefighters, and hear their stories in a different way: each
character has his or her own novella, where the love story is told
in full, and other themes continue over the entire six novellas.
This project turned out to be much longer and fully developed than
I initially expected, and, I think this is some of the best work
I’ve ever done. Kathy Shay

America’s Bravest

An Anthology by Kathryn
Shay

“Powerhouse author Shay follows up
After the Fire
with another dramatic and dynamic thriller. Her
complex and unforgettable characters breathe life into this truly
intense novel.” Romantic Times Book Club

“Shay’s powerful characters and emotional
topics strike a chord with her readers and have earned her a well
deserved place among the top romance authors.” Waldenbooks Romantic
Reader

“Superb contemporary romance that grabs
you in the prologue and won’t let go until you’ve read the final
page. Bravo, Ms. Shay!” The Romance Readers Connection

“One of the best running collections on
the market today.” A Reader

Copyright 2011, Kathryn Shay

Cover art by Patricia Ryan

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After The Fire

On The Line

Nothing More To Lose

Someone To Believe In

Close to You

Taking The Heat

Trust in Me

Promises To Keep

Ties That Bind

Still The One

Someone Like You

Maybe This Time

The Betrayal

The Father Factor

Just One Night

A Price Worth Paying

Finally a Family

Michael’s Family

Practice Makes Perfect

A Place to Belong

Against the Odds

The Serenity House Trilogy boxed set

Home for Christmas

Cop of the Year

Because It’s Christmas

Count on Me

Bayview Heights Trilogy boxed set

America’s Bravest boxed set

Novella number one in the AMERICA’S
BRAVEST SERIES

Kathryn Shay

Dreading the news he was about to give,
Captain Gabe Malvaso stared out at his group of firefighters, who
sat in the big couches and stuffed recliners of the common room of
Firehouse 7. In the back by the door to the kitchen stood the
Hidden Cove Fire Department brass. A warm July breeze drifted in
through the many open windows, but the soothing morning wasn’t
going to help Gabe’s cause. His men and women trusted him, and so
far in his eight years as their officer, he hadn’t had to deliver
any bombs about cutbacks. From the rear, his cousin Mitch, now a
battalion chief, nodded his encouragement.

Gabe cleared his throat. “Let’s get started.
There’s been a lot of rumors going around and you can probably tell
from Chiefs Malvaso and Erikson being at this little gathering that
something’s coming down. And yeah, it’s what you expect.”

Murmurs rumbled through his group: Felicia
White, his serious, aloof lieutenant who he already talked to about
this; his paramedic, Brody O’Malley, a lively ladies’ man that
everybody liked; firefighters Tony Ramirez, quiet and excellent at
his job, Sydney Sands, their feisty rookie and, finally, Rachel
Wellington—sometimes called
Princess
because of her classy
background. She was a good firefighter and sensible at work.

And with her steel-blond hair and wide eyes,
she was about the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.
That
had
been causing Gabe problems for a while now.

O’Malley spoke up first. “So, somebody’s
going to get the ax on Rescue 7, right Cap?”

“Yep. And on Quint and Midi 7, too.” Those
were the other two rigs in the firehouse, the first performing fire
rescue operations, the latter a medical truck. The groups who rode
them also had separate officers. “They’re having their own meeting.
But we’re all cutting back on each shift.”

Sydney, the group member with the least
experience at the on the squad, shook her head. “Oh, hell!”

“Syd, you’ll still have a job, though it’ll
be another station house. You have some seniority in the department
as a whole; plus we’re expecting retirements soon.”

She lifted her chin to keep up a good front,
but her young face tensed, telling Gabe she was upset. The
twenty-three-year-old already had had a lot of tough stuff to deal
with in life. “I’ll have to break in a new bunch of clowns.”

The others didn’t joke. Losing a brother—or
sister—that you fought fires side by side with was serious business
in any fire department. And theirs was a special group, an
experiment of sorts in affirmative action. Their rescue squad,
which went to every fire in their area, was comprised of three men
and three women to demonstrate how liberated the department was and
to promote the recruitment of women. So far, after eighteen months,
the experiment had worked well.

From behind Sands, Tony Ramirez put his hand
on her shoulder and squeezed it. She covered his briefly with hers.
The two often paired up inside a building and they’d become fast
friends.

“I know this is hard for all of us,” Gabe
added. “But we got no choice, guys.”

“Yeah, we don’t have to like it, though.”
O’Malley’s tone was angry. Brody was a good guy but he couldn’t
censor his words, and he caused Gabe grief from time to time.

“Chief Erikson is here today to give you some
more information on what’s gone down and to answer any questions
you have.” He nodded to the back of the room where Cal stood with
Mitch. “Ready, Chief?”

Erikson pushed off the wall. “As I’ll ever
be.” The tall, powerfully built man strode to the front with a
commanding presence. Though Gabe wanted to climb the HCFD ladder as
quickly as possible, he didn’t envy the chief today. Designated by
the top fire guy, Noah Callahan, all the battalion chiefs would be
answering tough questions this week.

“Hi, all. I’m not going to mince words.
You’ve heard the rumors. For budget reasons, the mayor’s cutting
ten percent of the fire department. But it gets worse. The town
newspaper, the
Hidden Cove Herald,
which recently went to
online publication, has been running a daily blog by a reporter,
Parker Allen. She named the thing
Make It Right
, which
galls me. Of course, she’s in full agreement with the cutbacks but
wants more of our hide.”

O’Malley raised his hand.

“Yeah, Brody, what?”

“Do the powers-that-be know without a sixth
firefighter, we’re all in more danger than usual?”

“I think they do.”

“Hell, Cal, firefighters were everybody’s
heroes when our guys ran into the towers on 9/11. Now we’re just
another organization to be cut.”

At the mention of 9/11, everybody went
silent. The events of that day had changed Americans, none more
than firefighters. Gabe and several members of the HCFD had gone
down ten years ago to work at the pile, and some of the people
sitting before him had lost relatives or close friends. O’Malley
seemed to take it the hardest every year.

Cal’s expression was grim. “Life isn’t fair,
I know.”

“I don’t mean any disrespect, Chief. Honest.
But it galls me where the government chooses to cut. My brother
Ryan says the same thing is happening in the police department. Ten
percent across the board.”

“I know about the HCPD and I don’t like it
any more than you do. And you’re not going to like what else Lois
Lane is bitching about.”

More grumbling. Gabe didn’t know what the
chief was referring to.

“She’s making noise in that blog of hers
about our
downtime
. She wonders why people see us in
supermarkets shopping together”—because it was the only way to get
groceries for the meals they had to eat at the house—“and why we’re
seen at Subway Station”— to have a freakin’ meal out once or
twice—“and why we’re on Facebook and Twitter and other websites
while on duty.”

Felicia raised her hand. One thing Gabe liked
about his second in command was that she only spoke when she had
something to say.

“Yeah, Lieutenant?”

“I’m guessing we can be more circumspect
about being seen too much around town for a while, but the Facebook
thing is totally bogus. We’re always waiting for a call, and it can
be tedious. No reason why we shouldn’t be online after we do
housework and training.”

Gabe remembered an adage about the fire
department:
A firefighter’s job is hours of boredom, seconds of
terror.

Felicia wasn’t done. “I’d like to spearhead
some kind of publicity campaign to have our routine better
understood by the public.”

“Good idea, Lieutenant.” The chief scanned
the others. “Anybody want to work on that with Felicia?”

Sands spoke up. “I will, even if I’m at
another firehouse.”

Wellington, who rarely said much, also jumped
in. “I’d help, but then it’ll be the women taking over again. That
sucks.”

The guys laughed. Brody tossed out, “We
volunteer Ramirez. He’s as pretty as the rest of you.”

More chuckles around. It broke the tension,
and Gabe was glad for the levity. The group had dubbed Tony and his
spouse Sophia
the beautiful people
because they both were,
well, beautiful. He reminded Gabe of a young Jimmy Smits and she
resembled Jennifer Lopez.

“All right, go for it,” the chief finished.
“And I appreciate you not getting on me too badly. Believe me, the
HCFD administrators are furious about the cuts and Allen’s crusade.
That’s all I have to say.”

Gabe went back to the front. “Why don’t you
take an hour to decompress, shoot the shit about the news and then
we’ll start housework.”

“Oh, that cheers me up,” Sydney groused.

“Come on, girl.” Ramirez tugged on her arm.
“You can have the first piece of the coffee cake Sophia sent
in.”

They dispersed, except for Wellington. She
stayed seated and looked over at him. Jesus, those eyes of hers
about killed him sometimes. Though he couldn’t see their color from
here, he knew they were hazel with specks of gold in them. He
braced himself for the full onslaught of her presence—especially if
she had on that bath lotion she wore after a shower—when she stood
and took a step toward him.

oOo

Rachel was trying to stay away from the
captain of her group, really she was, but she had to talk to him
now. She only hesitated because he was visibly upset. He’d lost
kids in fires—a firefighter’s worst nightmare—and once when a
tanker crashed, spilling gasoline all over a highway, he’d laid
foam on the flames with a steady hand. Even when the red devil
reignited, it hadn’t fazed him. Now, he was concerned for his
group, and he wasn’t afraid to let it show. Which was one more
thing that she found unbelievably attractive about him. Before she
could reach him, though, his cousin came up to him from the other
side. “Hey, buddy.”

Rachel backed off and sat down when they
hugged.

Gabe smiled broadly. “It was great seeing
Megan at the camp.”

The Hidden Cove firefighters and police
officers had begun a summer camp, Hale’s Haven, for the children of
slain department members three years ago, and the organization grew
bigger every year. Rachel had volunteered for a week this year but
not the one Gabe had worked at. Intentionally.

“Yeah, she’s busy with our toddler, her job
and my teenagers,” Mitch told him. “I’m glad she could get away to
work at the camp.”

“I hear Sabina’s been a great help.”

Mitch had bought his mother’s house when he
and his cop wife married, and now grandma took care of her namesake
their three-year-old, Sabby.

“She has.” He patted Gabe on the shoulder.
“Gotta run. I just wanted to touch base. You did as good as you
could today.”