America's Bravest (40 page)

The TV panned to Eve. Lines of fatigue etched
her pretty face, but she sat erect and alert. “Protocol demands the
fire department search the premises after a fire regardless of the
assumption that the church was empty. For example, a homeless
person might have found access and fallen asleep in the pews. Our
people comb the scene no matter what the time or
circumstances.”

“And you’re involved in this case, why?” the
newscaster asked.

“The fire was found to be incendiary.”

Sophia stopped walking on the machine.

“What does that mean?” Brock asked.

“It’s arson.”

“Ah.”

“Somebody set the fire in the sanctuary,” Eve
clarified.

“And a firefighter was hurt.”

Anger sparked in Eve Callahan’s eyes. “Yes,
Firefighter Sydney Sands was injured when a pew collapsed on top of
her. She was taken to Hidden Cove Hospital and released this
morning.”

The newscaster frowned. “There have been an
unusual number of arson-related fires recently, haven’t there,
Captain Callahan? Do you believe they’re connected?

“I do. But I can’t give any details.”

The program went to a commercial, and Sophia
sighed heavily as she stepped off the machine.

“Was it Tony’s crew?” Brock asked. He’d
stopped his walk, too.

“Uh-huh.”

“Then his decision to go off the line was
good. It could have been him trapped under the pew.”

Sophia swallowed hard. “You’re right; his
decision is good.”

Now, if she could only convince herself of
that.

oOo

“Who knows what this is?” Olive Hennessy
asked as she stood before a five foot high, fifteen foot long
structure.

A very bright, very eager recruit who Tony
had come to like in the two weeks he’d been at the Academy raised
his hand.

“Kyle, go ahead.”

“It’s a training maze. It’s built like a
house, with stairs and doorways and a roof.”

“That’s correct. The goal of this exercise is
to find your way through it…blindfolded.” Grumbles through the
crowd. Tony remembered his own first experience in the maze. To him
it had been a challenge, which he’d aced, like everything else in
the Academy.

She held up a black strip of cloth. “Who can
tell me why we cover your eyes?”

A female recruit with excellent physical
skills answered. “Because the smoke in a fire can get so thick it’s
like
being blindfolded.”

“Good. Oh,” Olive said as if it was an
afterthought, “One more thing. Certain barriers have been put up,
like those you’ll invariably encounter in a real-life situation at
some point. So you might find a wall blocking your way or missing
steps. You have to use your ingenuity to get around any obstacles
and make your way to the other side.” She glanced over at Tony.
“Firefighter Ramirez will set you up and get you ready to go in.
Good luck.”

Tony found himself looking forward to today.
He liked helping newbies with their training. It was enough. It
was.
After last week’s arson fire, he was sure he’d made
the right decision to change jobs. He could picture Sydney bruised
and battered in that hospital bed. This time, he’d been in the
loved one’s position. He’d felt a fear so great, he hadn’t known
what to do with it. He shuddered to think of Sophia routinely
living with that kind of terror.

Banishing the thought, Tony crossed to the
structure, which had been built off the gym, and picked up a
blindfold as the recruits gathered around him. They’d suited up in
their full turnout gear, then gotten in line. “A few pointers. Feel
your way through this, like you learned in your training manuals.
You won’t be able to stand up because the ceilings aren’t high
enough, but that’s okay. We crawl in most fires. Who knows
why?”

“Because it’s cooler on the floor. Heat
rises.” The recruit hadn’t raised his hand, but these kids were
nervous, so he let it go.

He lifted a sample air mask. “Second, breathe
as easy as you can. If you run out of air, you lose points.” He was
grading each recruit on his performance, and this training would
count heavily on the evaluations they were given each week.

Some of them shifted from one foot to the
other.

“Finally, you’ll get another chance at this
if you screw it up.”

Audible exhales in the room.

Of course, John Kyle volunteered to go
first.

Tony walked with him to the doorway of the
house. “Any problems I should know about, Recruit Kyle?
Claustrophobia, fear of confined spaces or heights?”

“No, sir.”

“Then, go. Good luck.”

The first five recruits—three young women and
two guys—went through the maze successfully. He gave them each a
perfect ten. But the sixth ran into trouble. After a reasonable
length of time, he crossed to the doorway. “Recruit Smith, you okay
in there?”

No answer.

“Smith?”

Still, nothing.

“Damn it,” he said under his breath. He
stepped inside the maze. It was tight in here, stale smelling, with
a hint of sweat. Dropping to his knees, he made his way to the
first barrier easily because he wasn’t blindfolded. There, he found
Recruit Smith huddled up in a ball beside a wall. “Smith, you
okay?”

The girl said nothing.

“Take off your air mask.” When she did, he
removed the blindfold. And got a good look at her. Dark haired,
with big eyes, she reminded him of Syd, who also had a fear of
confined spaces.

“Get scared, Smith?”

She nodded.

“It’s okay, not everybody makes it on the
first try.”

Her eyes welled. Hell!

“Honest. I got a friend on my old crew and
she’s been a firefighter for five years. She finally made it
through a pipe-crawl training for the first time.”

“Really?” There was so much hope on Smith’s
young face, he had to smile.

“If you like, I’m sure she could talk to you
about how she beats her fear.”

“That’d be great.” She hesitated.
“Firefighter Ramirez, how come you’re not as mean as some of the
other instructors? Lieutenant Snyder would have reamed me out for
getting stuck. He threatened to kick Bobby Schaefer out of the
class because he couldn’t make it up the ropes.”

“I don’t know about the nice part. But you’re
learning. And teachers don’t have to be stern. Now follow me
out.”

Later that day, Tony was in the training
office, and Olive Hennessy came inside. She scanned the area and
then closed the door.

“Got a minute, Tony?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“I heard what happened in the training maze
today with Smith.” Her face was inscrutable.

Hell, had he done something wrong already?
“Yeah?”

“The kids were buzzing that you didn’t yell
at her.”

“Yelling’s really not my style.”

A smile flirted with her lips and she edged
her hip on the corner of the desk. “None of the recruits after her
failed the maze. Why do you think that is?”

“I have no idea.”

“I do. They were relaxed. They knew they
weren’t going to get their heads bitten off if they couldn’t
succeed on the first try.”

“What are you saying, Olive?”

“That there’s a difference between strictness
and jumping all over the recruits. Some of the line guys come out
here and behave like assholes.”

He grinned. “They’re assholes on the line,
too.”

She stood. “I always liked you, Tony. But I
never figured you’d be such a good teacher. I hope you’re here to
stay.”

“I am, and thanks for the compliment.”

After she left, Tony stared down at the
picture of Sophia, Miguel and Marianna on his desk. Huh! Maybe this
wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

oOo

Sophia and Tony sat in the dining room of the
Hidden Cove Hideaway while soft piano music drifted around them.
Her husband was drop-dead handsome tonight in a gray suit and tie,
his dark hair black in the lights from above and his eyes, for
once, not bleak. She’d been shocked when she got home from work
today and he said he’d made arrangements for Miguel and Mari to
stay overnight with Gabe and Rachel and their kids, and for her to
get dressed up. He wouldn’t tell her where they were going.

“This is so much fun, Tony.” She tasted the
tart Chardonnay he ordered for her. He was having a beer. “We
haven’t done this kind of thing in a long time.”

“Ryan O’Malley recommended this place. He
brought Felicia here once before they…really got together, I
guess.”

She took pleasure in the muted music, the
lights twinkling dimly from the corners, the fire blazing off to
the side. “It’s gorgeous.”

They’d ordered dessert when Whitney Houston’s
“I Will Always Love You” began to play. “Oh, Tony. Remember this
song? We loved it when we first got together.”

“Want to dance?”

“Of course.”

They fell into each other’s arms on the small
dance floor. Suddenly, Sophia felt like she was young again,
floating around with her boyfriend. Often, when she thought back to
those days, she wondered who those people ever were.

As he held her close, she could smell his
scent. “Hmm, is that new aftershave?”

“Uh-huh. I figured now that I don’t stink of
smoke anymore, I could buy some good stuff. It was expensive.”

“But worth it.”

Drawing her even closer, he put his lips to
her hair. “I always loved how
your
hair smelled.”

After the song ended, they went back to the
table and were greeted by a different scent—chocolate lava
cake.”

Sophia tasted hers. “Oh, my God, this is so
sweet and rich, it’s orgasmic.”

“Hold off on that, will you? I’ll give you
orgasmic later.”

The sexy banter was fun. It had been a while
since they’d engaged in it. Purposely, she put the spoon to her
mouth and licked. “I know a little bit about giving orgasms myself,
hombre.”

“I know you do, babe.” He reached in his
pocket and drew something out, handed it to her.

“What’s this key card for?”

“Room 21. Ryan said to ask for that one.”

“We’re staying
here
tonight?”

“We are.”

“Oh, Tony, this is so cool.”

“
Te amore, querida.”

“I love you, too.”

“Now, hurry up and finish that cake. I’m as
hard as a rock watching you eat it.”

“Oh, goodie.”

Twenty minutes later, they stumbled into the
room. He slammed the door shut and pressed her against the heavy
wood. “
Dios mio
, I can’t wait to get inside you.”

She grabbed his crotch. It was like granite.
“Don’t wait. I’m ready.”

Yanking up the skirt of her black dress, he
ripped off her panties. Thank God she hadn’t worn hose. She
loosened his belt, tore it off, yanked open his zipper, releasing
his hard length. He lifted her up, and she banded her legs around
him. He moved in. And…

Nothing.

For a minute, she didn’t know what happened.
Then she felt the soft flesh against her belly. “Tony?”

He leaned his head on her forehead.
“Fuck!”

“What…?” She placed her hand on his neck.
“It’s okay. This has happened before.”

When he was so exhausted from being up with a
colicky Mari during the night. When he’d broken his leg. When he
was worried sick about where their next meal was coming from.

“Yeah, maybe three times.” His voice was
hoarse.
“Jesús,
I was so ready.”

“Um, let’s take a Jacuzzi, relax and try
again.”

“Yeah, okay, sure.”

They did that. And other things, but nothing
worked.

Despite their best efforts, that night, Tony
was unable to make love to his wife.

Jack Harrison’s office was painted a slate
blue, with Berber carpeting on the floor, like he and Sophia had
put in their basement. He imagined Jack’s space got a lot of
traffic, given the rigors of firefighting, and needed a durable
rug.

The man stood and shook his hand. “Good to
see you, Tony.” A friendly smile. “I was wondering when you were
going to make it down here.”

He cocked his head.

“No one was talking out of turn. Noah
Callahan mentioned it was a condition of you taking the
instructor’s job. He didn’t say why, though.”

To keep tabs on me.

“I see.” At Jack’s request, Tony sat on a
cushiony chair and clasped his hands together. He knew he’d done
harder things in his life, but this ranked right up there. “I, um…”
He looked down at his feet. “I don’t know where to start.” After a
moment, he looked up. “Can you help me with that?”

“Tell me why you took the job at the Academy.
From what I hear, you’re one of the best line firefighters in the
department.”

They were going to jump right in. He
hated
this. But suddenly, he was besieged by the memory of
having Sophia up against the door—could anything be more
sexy?—Friday night and going flat on her. Only an idiot wouldn’t
relate it to the changes he’d made in his life.

Just say it,
hombre.

“After Teddy Thompson died over in Camden
Cove, my wife wasn’t handling the danger I was in on the line.”

“Define
handling the danger.”

“She started to worry all the time. Have
panic attacks over it.”

“How long have you been married, Tony?”

“Eighteen years.”

Harrison’s brows cocked as he checked the
information sheet Tony had filled out this morning in preparation
for this visit. “And you’re only thirty-four.”

“Me and Sophia have been sweethearts since
middle school. I know it sounds silly, but we knew then we’d be
together forever.”

“It doesn’t sound silly. And you were
right.”

“I got her pregnant at fifteen and we got
married.”

Again, he checked the record. “It doesn’t say
you have an eighteen-year-old child.”

Tony swallowed hard and he felt everything
drain out of him. Even after all these years, it still hurt. “She
had him stillborn. It was a nightmare for us, and I don’t think
Sophia ever got over it.”