On Fire. Jan Hambright
mystical, unworldly or unobtainable. He’d have the goods on Ms. Dawson. All of them. And when he did, she’d go down easy.
He stepped into the hallway, moving back to the watch room where he’d left his briefcase and cane. But before he reached the door, pain knifed into him, stealing his breath.
Sucking up against the wall for support, he waited for the pain to subside.
Taking a couple of deep breaths, he pushed away, gritted his teeth and put one foot in front of the other. He made it into the tiny cubicle, cursing the Chicago arsonist who’d destroyed his body and his life.
Chapter Two
Kade’s fire pager went off in the dark. A series of repetitive beeps signaled an alert and forced him awake in an instant.
He bolted out of bed, looking for his boots, bunker pants and turnout coat, but they weren’t there.
Orienting himself in the room, he brushed his face with his hands as reality set in. You could take the fireman out of the station, but instinct would always be a part of him, embedded in his DNA.
A range of emergency tones sounded, right behind the beeps.
Kade stilled, waiting for the information to come over the airwaves.
“Engine Company 44, Ladder company 10, Medical unit 6, Incident Commander Fisk. Please respond to an apartment fire, 816 Forrest Grove Road.”
Kade dressed, grabbed his cell phone and dialed 911.
“Montgomery 911, what’s your emergency?”
“Fire Investigator Decker, I’ll be responding to the apartment fire. Can you repeat the location?”
“Copy that. Eight-One-Six Forrest Grove Road.”
Forrest Grove…
Terror sliced into his comprehension.
He closed the phone, adrenaline pumping in his veins, sending his heart rate through the roof.
His mother’s apartment building was on fire.
SAVANNAH SAT UP in a cold sweat, a vise of panic around her heart. There was menace in the air, heavy and pervasive.
She threw back the covers and climbed out of bed. In a daze, she pulled on her robe and pushed her feet into her slippers.
She would go to him, she had to go.
KADE TOOK THE CORNER at Forrest Grove and Freemont on two wheels.
The glow of flames against the night sky shook him like an earthquake, opening a deep crevice on his normally smooth facade.
His mom was spending her first night in the building.
A helpless sensation pooled in his chest.
Rolling up to the scene, he assessed the response to keep his sanity.
The top floor of the two-story building was ablaze. Flames licked out of blown windows, acrid smoke turned the night sky blacker. Shaken, soot-covered residents milled on the lawn, but his mother wasn’t among them.
Panic constricted his gut as he jumped out of the car and charged toward the incident commander standing near the ladder truck.
“Fisk?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s the status?” The ladder truck was fully extended, and Kade lifted his gaze to the corner apartment.
His heart stopped.
His mom stood on the balcony of her apartment, waving her arms.
He jetted toward the ladder, biting back a curse, but Fisk blocked his path and shouted an order above the noise of the pump. Strands of fire hose snaked along the ground, hissing and bulging with water. A couple of firemen opened the hose valve and turned the stream on the flames.
“That’s my mother up there!”
Fisk turned his gaze to the balcony.
“I’m going up!”
“No way!” The IC didn’t budge.
Rage blasted through his veins as he stared into Fisk’s sweat-streaked face.
“Turnouts. Where are they?”
Fisk grabbed his shoulder. “I can’t let you go.” Was it pity he saw in the veteran’s eyes, or concern? He didn’t know, but it did little to squelch his anger.
A fireman in full turnout gear bound up the ladder, moving toward Kade’s mother in quick increments.
Kade let out the breath he’d been holding and stepped back, focused on the man doing the job he’d done so many times he could do it blindfolded.
The fireman covered the distance and reached the balcony in a light spray of water from below that cooled the air around them to a breathable temperature.
His emotions settled the instant he saw his mom climb onto the ladder.
In a matter of minutes, she was being helped down and into his arms. “Thank God you’re all right. What happened?”
“I went out on the balcony and the door locked behind me. I couldn’t get back in, then the fire started. I don’t know how the door got locked.”
Uneasiness edged up his spine. “I’ll check it out, Mom.” He glanced up as the EMTs approached to assess his mother’s condition, but when he looked past them, his rage exploded.
There she stood, nightgown and all.
Savannah Dawson.
“Take good care of her.” He handed his mother off and charged toward Savannah like a man on fire, his flaming emotions barely contained inside his body.
Was she responsible for this? He’d get it out of her, no matter what.
THE WORD STARTED in a low monotone, grinding against Savannah’s eardrums. Over and over the sound repeated, until it turned into a single word.
Clarity flooded her brain and washed her into full consciousness in one jarring instant.
“Savannah! Savannah!”
She pulled free from his grasp, whirled and charged forward, only to come face-to-face with a wall of heat.
Stumbling backward, she slammed into his chest and turned to face the embodiment of her nightmare. Kade Decker. But she wasn’t dreaming. She pulled in a breath and nearly choked on the smoky air.
“Where am I?” Her skin tingled as he held her shoulders. She focused on his face in the glow of the flames, the fire in his eyes as emblazoned as the building behind them.
His anger was palpable. She could taste the bitter words on the end of his tongue, feel the excruciating pain that radiated from deep in his body, enraging his nerves to the point of disintegration.
She backed away, severing the physical bond between them, but it left her weak.
“How’d you do it, Dr. Dawson? Do you have an accomplice? Someone to torch the place while you stand outside in your nightie and watch?”
He stepped toward her.
She backed up, lifting her chin, daring him to continue with his tirade. He was judge, jury and extinguisher.
“You’ve lost it, Decker. I’d never hurt your mom or anyone else.”
Her words acted like a slap against his stubbled cheek and he sobered, taking another step toward her.
“You admit you know this is her building? Where’d you get the information?”
She swallowed hard, aware that she’d said too much, drawn his suspicions around her like a strait-jacket. Escape was impossible; he’d never believe she’d gotten the facts from his own mind, from