Page 79 of Controlled Burn

Caleb

Coffee or no coffee, that was the question. Meaning, should I stop at Connections and get a cup of foo-foo coffee, as both Keith and my dad called it, or should I go on to work and make myself a cup there? On the one hand, it was a waste of money to spend so much on a cup when there was free coffee at work, but on the other hand, it was so, so good. Besides, I was about to drive right by.

I heard my phone ring and laughed. That man had ESP or something, like he knew when I needed someone with a logical head to step in and tell me what to do. He’d texted me good morning already, and it was early for him to be calling me, but I wasn’t complaining, that was for sure.

I looked at the display on my dash before I pressed the button to answer the call, but to my surprise, it wasn’t Keith at all. It was my dad. That was weird. He should be at work this morning, as well. Shit, I hoped he and Keith didn’t get into it at the station.

I hit the button on my steering wheel. “Morning, Dad.”

He was silent for a second, but then he said, “Is that road noise I hear? Are you driving?”

I swear that man was so overprotective. “Yeah, Dad, I’m headed to work, but it’s hands-free. It’s safe. You know I don’t use my phone while I drive.”

Even before it was time for me to get my license, he started with the stories of horrible car accidents he’d worked that had been caused by using the phone while driving.

“I know you don’t, Caleb,” he said, an unusually serious tone to his voice. “But I need you to find a place to pull over.”

My breath caught in my throat. Something was wrong. It couldn’t be Keith. Their shift had just started, and he hadn’t sent me a text telling me they were going out on a call. There was no way.

I forced myself to take a couple of deep breaths as I found a place to pull over. I turned into an empty sporting goods store parking lot and killed the engine.

“Okay. I’m parked. What is it?”

My mind kept insisting that it couldn’t be Keith, but somewhere deep inside, I knew it was, and I braced myself for the news.

“First of all, he’s alive, Caleb, okay? Do you hear me? Keith is alive.”

“But?” My voice cracked as I blinked back the tears that were already starting to form.

“We got a call as soon as our shift started.” He paused and drew in a breath. “Keith was injured. He fell through the floor of the old Vesper Hotel. We got him out, but he’s hurt, Caleb. We don’t know anything yet. They’re taking him to Vesper Regional by ambulance. I’m headed there now. I’ll wait for you out front.”

I took in a deep, shaky breath. Keith had been hurt. Keith had fallen through the floor. “Okay, I’m headed there now. I’ll call Giles, and he can open the library for me. Or not. Whatever. I’m on my way.”

I closed my eyes and just sat there for a second. This was exactly what I’d been afraid of. Silly man, running into burning buildings like he was some kind of superhero. But he wasn’t. He was just a man. I lost the battle with my tears as they started running down my face.

Fuck! I yelled as I hit the steering wheel. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

I took a few calming breaths and picked up the phone, hitting the button to call Giles. He picked up right away.

“Hey, Caleb, what’s up? Are you running late?”

I tried to speak, to tell him what was going on, but nothing would come out.

“Caleb, are you there?”

I sniffed and then tried again. “Yeah, I’m here. Listen, Keith has been hurt. In a fire. I, umm, I have to go to the hospital. I can’t, umm, I can’t…”

“Damn, of course you can’t. You just go to the hospital. I’ll take care of getting the library open. Don’t worry about it, okay? As soon as Nadine gets here, I’ll—”

“You don’t—”

“Don’t you dare tell me I don’t need to be there. I’ll be there, you hear me?”

I let out a weak chuckle. “Yeah, Giles. I hear you.”

I ended the call, started the car back up, and turned towards the hospital.

My dad was waiting for me outside the entrance to the emergency room, just like he said he would be, and I rushed to him.

---