America's Bravest (39 page)

“How’d they do?”

“Only nine out of twenty made it through the
entire exercise.”

“I—”

The phone by the bedside rang, jarring them
both. Tony grabbed for it, as both kids were at overnights with
their friends. “Hello.” A pause. “What’s wrong, Gabe?
Jesús!
Of course I’ll come.” He was already climbing out
of bed. “I’ll be right there.”

“What is it?” Sophia asked when he clicked
off.

“My team was in a church fire tonight and
Sydney got hurt.” He grabbed the clothes he’d dropped on the floor.
“She’s asking for me.”

“How hurt is she?”

“They don’t know. She’s on her way to the
hospital in an ambulance.”

“Oh, Tony, I’m sorry. Do you want me to come
with you? I know she’s like a sister to you.”

Grabbing his phone and keys, he said, “No,
I’ll go alone. Shit, I partnered with her for a year and we
depended on each other. I should’ve been there to protect her.”

“Tony, you can’t—” But she was speaking to
his retreating back.

Sighing heavily, Sophia laid down, taking his
condemning words to heart.

oOo

Tony entered the ER treatment room to find
Sydney sitting up in bed, bruises on her right temple and some
bandages on her hands. Battling back the abject fear roiling inside
him, he said from the doorway, “Hey, kiddo.”

Her eyes filled with emotion when she saw
him. “Thanks for coming.”

Tony watched her, trying to downplay his
reaction. “You don’t look too bad. I was expecting worse.”

Gabe, sitting at her side, shook his head.
His face, and Syd’s, were still dirty from the fire. “Concussion,
bruises, the temple thing isn’t good, but she’s okay. I should’ve
waited to call you.”

“
De nada.”
He came fully inside and
approached the bed. There, he stuck his hands in his pockets. “What
happened?”

The rest of the crew was against the wall.
Brody’s face was grim, but fire lit his eyes when he spoke. “The
son of a bitch rigged the pews. He knew we’d have to crawl under
them to check for people who might have gotten into the church at
night. The first pew almost collapsed on her.”

“Almost?”

Felicia pushed off from where she leaned
against the wall. “He screwed up when he jimmied it. The seat
caught on something.”

The details made Tony fume. “How do you know
it was jimmied?”

“Three other pews had the same tampering. We
found the wires and cut marks on the wood.” Gabe’s face was grim.
“He wasn’t taking any chances.”

Tony blew out a heavy breath.
“Jesús!”

Another man he didn’t know stood near the
wall. “Hey, Ramirez. I’m Linc Jackson. I’m subbing for you.”

My replacement.
For a while, the guy
would be a part of this crew like Tony used to be. He’d be with
them when accidents like this happened. And afterward, when they
consoled or celebrated with each other. Or in the middle of the
night when somebody woke in a nightmare. “Nice to meet you.”

Gabe stood. “Okay, let’s get out of here and
give the two of them some privacy.” As he passed Tony, he said,
“Don’t know why she likes you better than us,
bombero,
but
she wouldn’t talk much. She made me call you.”

“That’s ’cause I’m better lookin’.”

“We’ll be back,” Felicia told Syd as the four
of them left.

When they were alone, Sydney peered up at him
with eyes round as saucers.

“I know the real reason you wanted me to
come.” Gently, he sat on the side of the bed. “Come here.” He held
out his arms.

She threw herself into them. He held her
close to him, smelling the smoke and grime on her that he used to
be so familiar with. Even if you were able to get the stink out of
your clothes, it lodged in your pores for days. His hand on her
back, he soothed her hair with the other. Her body trembled and he
heard the quiet tears. She could let down with him, and she knew
it, so he didn’t say anything, just allowed her to vent. She’d seen
him lose it once when he couldn’t save a child.

When she was done, she drew back and swiped
her hands over her cheeks. “Fuck. I hate this. If the guys at other
houses knew I broke down, the women in the department would never
hear the end of it.”

“I won’t tell. Besides,
carina,
we
all let go of it in our own ways.”

“Yeah, well, I’d rather be smashing my fist
against the wall than blubbering all over you.”

“Believe me, this is better.”

She rolled her eyes. “When that thing hit my
head, I kept thinking, what if I die here? What will happen to
Daisy?”

“Your mother would take care of her.”

“She’s getting on in years.”

“Then make Sophia and me guardians. We
already love Daisy. My kids do, too.”

“Oh, Tony. Thanks. I’ll think seriously about
that. I guess I was wondering if Ken would…” She trailed off, her
face flushing.

“Oh, no. Tell me you’re not seeing him
again.”

Sturdy shoulders straightened. “No, of course
not . But I wish he was helping to raise Daisy.”

Shifting his position, he grabbed her hand.
“You’re a beautiful woman. You need a guy who’s free, who loves you
more than anything else in the world.”

“Like you love Sophia.”

“That’s right.”

She snorted. “If only there were more like
you.”

He gave her a half grin. “Sorry, doll, I’m
one of a kind.”

She laughed, as he meant her to.

“Did you ever feel this uneasy about the
danger, Tony?”

“Of course, we all do. Being a firefighter is
tough physically, but most people don’t realize the emotional toll
it takes on us.”

From the doorway, he heard, “Yeah? Want to
tell me about all that?”

Glancing over to the entrance, Tony saw…hell,
Parker Allen? “How did you get in here?”

Her violet eyes widened and she flipped back
skeins of dark hair. Tonight she was dressed in a skirt and
sweater, which fit her well. “I charmed a male doctor.”

“What do you want?” Tony asked.

“I thought I’d do a blog on injuries. Seems
you guys have had a lot of them lately.”

“I’m fine, Ms. Allen. Thanks for asking.”
Syd’s tone was sarcastic.

For a minute, genuine emotion crossed Allen’s
face. Tony wondered briefly if there was more to this woman than
they all thought. “Oh, sorry. Glad you’re fine. I heard the pews
were rigged.”

“How on earth could you know that?” A crazy
idea hit Tony and all concern for Allen fled. “Unless…you did
it.”

Her face scrunched up. “What are you talking
about?”

Tony stood. “There’s an arsonist on the
loose. You seem to have quite a few details about tonight’s fire
that couldn’t possibly have been made public.”

She gave him a haughty look. “Boy, are you
guys desperate. I must be really getting under your skin.”

“You are, and you know it.” Tony felt anger
built and flow over. “Maybe if we’d had another firefighter on duty
tonight, Syd would have been safer. But thanks to your blog, the
crew got cut from six to five.”

Something that looked like regret flashed
briefly in her eyes. “The mayor was going to do that anyway. I
facilitated the process. You’re looking for reasons why I’m taking
you on.”

“We don’t need to look,” Syd blurted out. “We
know plenty of reasons.”

“What does that mean?”

“We’ll let you wonder.”

“I’m glad you’re all right. I’ll include your
views in the tomorrow’s blog if you talk to me tonight.”

Tony stepped close to Syd. “Over my dead
body.”

Syd sat up straighter. “I wouldn’t do it
anyway. Now, get out of here.”

“Your loss,” Allen said shrugging. With that
she turned and swaggered out.

Concerned, Tony looked to Syd. “You think she
might be the torch?”

“I wouldn’t put anything past that woman. We
know why she has a grudge against us. Who knows how her background
screwed her up?”

“Yeah, but she’d have needed help to pull off
some of these things. She wouldn’t be physically able rig the pews
tonight, I don’t think.”

“Maybe she’s in cahoots with the torch.”

He sat back down and Syd took his hand this
time. “Distract me. How you doing over at the Academy?”

“I like it enough. It’s more challenging than
I thought it would be. But I hate these reviews we have to give the
recruits every Friday. All the teachers get together and rank them
on appearance, performance, attitude, knowledge of material and
EMS. The other staff aren’t always nice.”

She squeezed his hands. “You must really miss
it.”

“What?”

“Being on the line. You know. With us. Come
on, Tony, you can tell me.”

He waited a long time before he admitted, “I
do. Like I’d miss my right arm if I lost it.”

“I’m so sorry, buddy.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Mostly because Tony had learned something
tonight. He’d never been on the other end of worrying about one of
the crew. It simply didn’t happen when they were all working
together. But now that he was away from the actual firefighting,
he’d been scared shitless that something worse had happened to
Sydney. That was how Sophia must have felt for years. And for the
first time, Tony admitted he was truly done with line work; he
couldn’t keep putting his wife through what he’d just
experienced.

On edge, Sophia had asked Isabel to take a
coffee break with her and they sat in a secluded corner of the
cafeteria, sipping the hot brew.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” her sister said. “I
know something is.”

“Tony quit the line.”

“Excuse me?”

“I made him quit the line. He’s working at
the Fire Academy.”

“Why would you take something he loved so
much away from him?” Isabel’s total shock—and accusatory
tone—ripped into her already fragile composure.

Sophia started to cry. “I’m a horrible
person. I did it for selfish reasons.”

“You’re one of the most unselfish people I
know.”

“Not in this. I’m afraid, Izzy, all the time
for him. I can’t deal with risks he takes.”

Her sister sat back and watched her. “Have
you tried counseling?”

“No, and I won’t. Look,” she said
defensively, “it’s solved. He’s off the line.”

“Oh, honey, this is far from solved.”

Sophia left the cafeteria feeling worse than
she had before she confided in her sister. She worked hard all
morning, trying to shake off her sadness, but it clung to her like
a shroud. At noon, she headed to the hospital gym to work out
instead of eating. It was small in comparison to most exercise
facilities but was big enough for the medical staff to run around
the track, use the aerobic and weight machines and sit in a
whirlpool. Once on the treadmill, she started slow as she watched
the TV announcer talk about the president’s new job initiative. But
her thoughts were with her husband. In some ways, she knew Isabel
was right. Sophia would never forget the bleak expression on his
face when he’d found out Sydney had been hurt.

I should’ve been there to protect
her.

Sophia hadn’t known that her husband felt so
protective of the young girl. Or was it his grief over losing his
position on the line? His attempts at hiding his real feelings were
heartbreaking.

Last night, she’d tried to wait up for him
but fell asleep. At three, though, she’d awoken and his side of the
bed was empty, so she got up to check to see if his car was in the
garage. And found him instead, sitting outside in the cold October
air, smoking a cigarette.…

She put on a robe and went to join him.
“Tony?” she asked. “Are you okay?” Oh, God. “Is it Syd?”

The moon cast him in shadows. But she knew
what she’d see if she could look into his eyes. “Syd’s okay.
Concussion, bruises.”

“Oh, good. Mind if I sit?”

“No, don’t do that. Go back to bed. I’ll be
right in.”

Instead she took a chair. Grasped his free
hand. “I’m sorry she was hurt.”

“Me, too. Part of the job,” he said. “Of
course, you know that.”

“Still, I feel bad. For her and you. I know
you’re hurting over taking the Academy position. Talk to me about
it.”

The moon cast his face in harsh planes and
shadows. “I found something out tonight.”

“What?”

“That I’m never going back on the line.” He
laced their fingers together. “Willingly.”

“What do you mean?”

For a long time, he explained to her how
terrified he was for his friend, how he’d never felt that way
before when he’d worked with Syd and the others, and how it was a
cold slap in the face when he experienced exactly what she’d been
going through all these years.

But instead of making her feel better, she
ached for him. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.”

He shook his head. “No,
carina,
I’m
sorry for all I put your through. My change in jobs will be good
for us.”

That was hard to believe then, when she’d
gone back to bed alone because he’d wanted to stay up by himself
for a while, and now, in the pale light of day.

“Hey, exercise is supposed to release
endorphins. You look like you’re in pain.” Brock, dressed in a
slick sweat suit, had come into the machine room and took the
treadmill next to her. He seemed rested and fit and happy, compared
to her husband, who’d been exhausted and haggard last night.
Briefly, she wondered how Brock’s wife dealt with the long hours
and his focus on medicine. Maybe Susan Carrington was simply
stronger than Sophia was.

They made small talk and Sophia was winding
down her workout when something on the TV caught her attention. The
newscaster’s voice came over a clip of the fire last night.

“And in local news, firefighters were called
to the scene of a church fire at one o’clock this morning. Search
and rescue teams were sent in to check for trapped victims. Captain
Eve Callahan is here to explain why.”